| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Spheres of Might (previously Spheres of Combat), the martial counterpart to the Spheres of Power system, has just gone live on kickstarter!
This book expands martial options using the same Sphere-based approach of Spheres of Power: concept-based, available right from 1st level, and filled with all sorts of awesome techniques to make each round of combat visceral and intriguing.
Come take a look and help us bring you Spheres of Might!
Drop Dead Studios:
Here's my conundrum: I have the PDFs for Sphere's of Power and, I believe, all the PDFs for the Expanded Options, including the Hero Lab Files for each.
I would like to have the Hardcover of SoP and SoM, along with the PDF of SoM with the Hero Lab files for SoM.
I don't want/require the POD softcover anything.
Will there be post-Kickstarter availability for a hardcover SoP to be purchased via backerkit?
I would like to see Kickstarter Add-Ons including additional Hardcover copies of Spheres of Power and/or Spheres of Might.
Echoing the request for add-ons, I would love to add an additional hardcover so I can have two at the table. Happy to see your project picking up steam so quickly, I thought I was on the ball with this and I was already the 52nd backer!
@Adam: The Patron Deity icon reads "Patron Diety".
Couple of questions:
* How much of the pre-stretch goal content is complete?
* For those unfamiliar with Spheres of Power, can you clarify the way the system works. Right now it seems cool, and obviously SoP is popular, but I have no idea how the system works.
* Any chance there will be any PDFs with content we can look over? Some examples of play and maybe a class' first few levels?
* What are the other classes? You say there are six, describe three and then say there are "several more". Are they all written/complete?
* Will there be more classes as part of stretch goals?
Also echoing Distant Scholar's request to, where possible delimit delay of the book/ Kickstarter delivery through stretch goal chaos. ;)
In at True Warrior. Can't wait.
|
* For those unfamiliar with Spheres of Power, can you clarify the way the system works. Right now it seems cool, and obviously SoP is popular, but I have no idea how the system works.
Basically in Spheres of Power, casters get daily spell points, and each Talent gives you a Sphere that unlocks "at-will" abilities and/or "spell point" abilities.
One big question is will there be "might points" or some equivalent in Spheres of Might?
in at 60 for the hero lab files for the original SoP.
|
|
The SoM system is more about chaining together cool combos of moves rather than using the same ones repeatedly.
This describes the feel of the system. My question is about the actual mechanics.
Perhaps from this we can deduce that instead of "might points" each Talent has a Trigger (ex. "enemy is prone"), an Action Cost (ex. "attack of opportunity"), and an Effect (ex. "damage plus area effect") to balance it's daily use?
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Couple of questions:* How much of the pre-stretch goal content is complete?
Roughly 70%, with Stack, Jolly, and myself knocking out more on a daily basis. There is already enough material that in-house playtesting is well underway.
* For those unfamiliar with Spheres of Power, can you clarify the way the system works. Right now it seems cool, and obviously SoP is popular, but I have no idea how the system works.
So, in Spheres of Power, magic is broken up into "spheres", like Darkness, Light, Death, Life, Destruction, Creation, etc. Instead of getting spell slots and tiered magic levels like a traditional caster, you build up a particular type of magic, which will have a basic at-will ability and then ways to boost its effectiveness by spending points from a limited pool. So, for example, if you wanted to cast a delayed blast fireball, you'd take the Destruction sphere, a talent to shape your single target blast granted by that sphere into a... well, sphere, another talent to make it deal fire damage, and then the Delayed Magic feat to put it on a timer. Now you've got a delayed blast fireball that deals level appropriate damage, but you pay for that specialization by not having as many other abilities around that (depending on how many talents you have based on class and level).
Where Spheres of Power forces spellcasters to specialize more and progress on a narrower track, Spheres of Might uses similar principles to broaden the focus of martial characters. Each individual sphere and talent is somewhat less powerful than the average feat, but you'll generally be able to combine them more effectively as well as get more of them than you typically would feats. This allows you to either quickly specialize in one of the martial spheres, like Wrestling, giving you a wide array of ways to leverage that particular combat style, or to create a custom combat style by combining two or more spheres.
* Any chance there will be any PDFs with content we can look over? Some examples of play and maybe a class' first few levels?
We'll have an open playtest in the near-ish future (exact details not currently at my fingertips) where a more complete view of the available materials will be available. In the meantime, I can give you an example of what play with the system looks like, though it's fairly generic and doesn't include the detailed mechanics for the abilities discussed-
Example 2
Trish the halfling has spent 4 talents to buy the Duelist Sphere with the ...And Stay Down talent, and the Wrestling Sphere with the Rollercoaster talent. Her and her human friend Joe the Fighter are faced with a deadly drow swashbuckler who Joe just can’t seem to land a hit on. Seeing an opening, Trish dashes forward and grapples the drow, using her free trip attempt from the Wrestling sphere to fling him over her head and initiating her Rollercoaster talent (which allows her to move an opponent up to 10 ft. while both grapplers provoke AoOs for the movement if she succeeds at both her grapple check and the special trip attempt granted by the wrestling sphere). As she and the drow tumble past Joe, Joe takes an attack of opportunity against the prone and grappled drow, now easily hitting its much reduced AC. As Trish and the drow come to a halt, she quickly uses her ...And Stay Down! talent (which allows her to make an attack of opportunity when an opponent lands prone in an adjacent square, inflicting bleed damage that slicks the ground under the opponent) to make an attack of opportunity and slam a dagger into the drow’s chest, leaving the drow bleeding and slipping in a pool of its own blood and requiring it to make an Acrobatics check to stand up again.
So Trish has created her own combat style by combining Dueling and Wrestling into a control and debuff oriented technique chain.
* What are the other classes? You say there are six, describe three and then say there are "several more". Are they all written/complete?
Armiger- Canny mercenary who rapidly swaps between a variety of different weapons.
Blacksmith- Powerful combatant who supports the party through crafting and special "Equipment Maintenance" buffs.
Commander- A "lead from the middle" strategist who can expend his own actions to grant strategic partial actions to his allies.
Conscript- Intuitive warriors who lack formal training but have a gift for developing their own unique style, the conscript is a "toolbox" martial that gives you a flexible chassis you can build in almost any direction you choose.
Sage- Wise warriors who rely on intuition over strength and speed, sages can use their knowledge of anatomy, including pressure points, joint locks, etc. to disable their enemies and allow their allies to fight when wounds or negative conditions would otherwise disable them.
Scholar- Adventurers who use their brains instead of their brawn, identifying enemy’s weaknesses, laying dangerous traps, and leveraging their diverse knowledge to turn the tide of battle.
All of the classes are currently in in-house playtesting, though we intend to add more content and options to the classes as we continue development.
* Will there be more classes as part of stretch goals?
Very, very possible.
Also echoing Distant Scholar's request to, where possible delimit delay of the book/ Kickstarter delivery through stretch goal chaos. ;)
Noted, and a primary goal and frequent topic of discussion amongst the design team.
[...]
Perhaps from this we can deduce that instead of "might points" each Talent has a Trigger (ex. "enemy is prone"), an Action Cost (ex. "attack of opportunity"), and an Effect (ex. "damage plus area effect") to balance it's daily use?
That is pretty much exactly correct.
|
|
Perhaps from this we can deduce that instead of "might points" each Talent has a Trigger (ex. "enemy is prone"), an Action Cost (ex. "attack of opportunity"), and an Effect (ex. "damage plus area effect") to balance it's daily use?That is pretty much exactly correct.
Cool.
Will there be Counters?
Say for example I know my opponent's "style" triggers off of knocking me prone. Will there be alternative ways (aside CMD) for me to prevent her from being able to do that? If so, what might that look like?
|
|
Perhaps from this we can deduce that instead of "might points" each Talent has a Trigger (ex. "enemy is prone"), an Action Cost (ex. "attack of opportunity"), and an Effect (ex. "damage plus area effect") to balance it's daily use?That is pretty much exactly correct.Cool.
Will there be Counters?
Say for example I know my opponent's "style" triggers off of knocking me prone. Will there be alternative ways (aside CMD) for me to prevent her from being able to do that? If so, what might that look like?
The counters exist, and they're pretty varied and dependent on fighting style. In the Boxing (may be renamed to Pugilism? We've gone back and forth on the name) sphere, for example, the entire sphere is built up around the concept of using powerful, reactive counter-punches; you ready an action and then unleash pummeling hell on the poor sucker who triggers it (combos beautifully with the Guardian sphere's marking mechanics, btw). Other counters fall much more naturally under the Trigger, Action, Effect set-up, with the "Trigger" being whatever particular action the talent is meant to react to. Not all of them will stop the action, but some of them will allow you to turn the action to your advantage, like using the Ground Game wrestling talent when an opponent succeeds on a grapple check against you to attempt a trip as an AoO; that trip itself could then link into any number of talents that use triggers like "whenever an opponent lands prone in an adjacent square" or "whenever you succeed at a trip attempt", such as the Rollercoaster wrestling talent, which allows you to move both you and a grappled opponent 10 ft. as a free action when you succeed at a trip attempt against a grappled opponent, with both of you provoking AoOs for the movement. So even though you didn't stop the opponent's action and they're still in control of the grapple, you've turned it into an opportunity for yourself, and hopefully moved into a more defensible or favorable position.
|
|
Fisticuffs?
Will there be a rewrite to how Combat Maneuvers in general work? For example, a common house rule is that maneuvers only provoke an a failed attempt (as opposed to pre-emptively). If not, and if certain "styles" are centered around certain maneuvers, how will these interact with the current feat system (like Improved Trip, Greater Trip, etc)?
Building off that question, how will Combat Maneuvers be made relevant at later levels? For example, if I build a Mighty Martial whose Talents Triggers off of the prone condition, will my toolkit be rendered obsolete against a flying enemy?
And building off that question more generally, with the prospect of Mighty Monsters getting my Evil DM side excited, how will these interact across the various size and movement mode discrepancies of PCs and Monsters?
Finally, concerning Counters, aside from using Talent selection to leverage better positioning (which is really cool!), will there be any sort of Rock-Paper-Scissor dynamics? If so, what might some of these look like?
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Fisticuffs?
Not sure how I feel about that in comparison to the other options in contention, but next time that discussion comes up, I'll mention it.
Will there be a rewrite to how Combat Maneuvers in general work? For example, a common house rule is that maneuvers only provoke an a failed attempt (as opposed to pre-emptively). If not, and if certain "styles" are centered around certain maneuvers, how will these interact with the current feat system (like Improved Trip, Greater Trip, etc)?
We're really trying to avoid system rewrites since one of our big selling points is that this builds off the core rules and knowing said rules means you won't need to relearn them to use this, but if a sphere builds off a particular maneuver, it will give you the tools to effectively use said maneuver.
Building off that question, how will Combat Maneuvers be made relevant at later levels? For example, if I build a Mighty Martial whose Talents Triggers off of the prone condition, will my toolkit be rendered obsolete against a flying enemy?
There may some talents that you really, really want to take for certain maneuvers, but you'll have the ability to make sure opponents can be put in the condition you need them to be in, whether that means breaking the size cap on certain maneuvers, or putting a flying opponent prone. Occasionally you'll also have alternative ways to leverage a style, like the Duelist sphere adding weapon binding to your options with disarm so you have alternatives against natural attackers.
And building off that question more generally, with the prospect of Mighty Monsters getting my Evil DM side excited, how will these interact across the various size and movement mode discrepancies of PCs and Monsters?
I can't answer that without getting much more specific than I'd prefer to prior to the open playtest and while we've still got two months of Kickstarter to wait through, but we have mechanics and options across all spheres to address (and circumvent where necessary) things like size and movement mode limitations.
Finally, concerning Counters, aside from using Talent selection to leverage better positioning (which is really cool!), will there be any sort of Rock-Paper-Scissor dynamics? If so, what might some of these look like?
Currently counters are very much on an "as thematically appropriate" basis for each sphere; we haven't constructed any talent interactions that are specifically designed to defeat other talent sets, largely because it tends to suck when someone shows up who gets to just tell you "no". I, personally, not necessarily speaking for the rest of the team here, would rather each counter be a potential opportunity for both involved depending on how they've built themselves, rather than having a clear winner because someone chose option X and someone else had the misfortune of choosing option Z.
My question: will there be interaction with the stamina system in PFU?
Not beyond what any martial character can already leverage, unless something gets added in stretch goals or as a result of playtest feedback that changes that.
None of us on the design team were big fans of the idea of point or recharge based mechanics when we were discussing how we wanted to implement the system; it felt contrary to the idea of what martial combatants should be, especially in the wider context of a world where these martial characters were adventuring alongside Spheres of Power casters with their stronger array of at-will abilities. Instead, the system uses factors like action economy and opportunity to naturally balance itself without any kind of point expenditure being necessary.
There are some abilities that have additional limiters (some powerful Berzerker sphere abilities can cause fatigue and/or exhaustion for a limited time, for example), but the Unchained stamina system isn't directly incorporated or supported at this time.
|
|
Last relevant question for now:
Do you expect to inherit the difficulties of "timing windows" that many card games have?
It would seem to me that a system built on Triggers and Board-Altering Effects might clash when two Triggers fire simultaneously for two different Mighty Martials whose Effects would be sequentially mutually exclusive. This could perhaps be mostly settled with initiative count, but in the instance of readied actions, I could see this being a potential wrench in the pace and flow of Mighty Combat.
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Last relevant question for now:
Do you expect to inherit the difficulties of "timing windows" that many card games have?
It would seem to me that a system built on Triggers and Board-Altering Effects might clash when two Triggers fire simultaneously for two different Mighty Martials whose Effects would be sequentially mutually exclusive. This could perhaps be mostly settled with initiative count, but in the instance of readied actions, I could see this being a potential wrench in the pace and flow of Mighty Combat.
Having been a CCG player for nearly a decade (retired in the middle), I understand these kinds of issues and will do my hardest as literally the most heroic person in human history to avoid situations like that.
Also we're funded! We'll be working on ideas for stretch goals, but we've got some cool stuff planned!
|
|
Having been a CCG player for nearly a decade (retired in the middle), I understand these kinds of issues and will do my hardest as literally the most heroic person in human history to avoid situations like that.Do you expect to inherit the difficulties of "timing windows" that many card games have?
It would seem to me that a system built on Triggers and Board-Altering Effects might clash when two Triggers fire simultaneously for two different Mighty Martials whose Effects would be sequentially mutually exclusive. This could perhaps be mostly settled with initiative count, but in the instance of readied actions, I could see this being a potential wrench in the pace and flow of Mighty Combat.
Clever design can mitigate this greatly, yes.
But what if, for example, two Mighty Martials who have the same Talent ready the same Trigger - say, both trigger off "prone" and both expect to move the target 10 feet closer - what will be the process for ordering resolution?
|
|
Having been a CCG player for nearly a decade (retired in the middle), I understand these kinds of issues and will do my hardest as literally the most heroic person in human history to avoid situations like that.Do you expect to inherit the difficulties of "timing windows" that many card games have?
It would seem to me that a system built on Triggers and Board-Altering Effects might clash when two Triggers fire simultaneously for two different Mighty Martials whose Effects would be sequentially mutually exclusive. This could perhaps be mostly settled with initiative count, but in the instance of readied actions, I could see this being a potential wrench in the pace and flow of Mighty Combat.
Clever design can mitigate this greatly, yes.
But what if, for example, two Mighty Martials who have the same Talent ready the same Trigger - say, both trigger off "prone" and both expect to move the target 10 feet closer - what will be the process for ordering resolution?
The concept of the "stack" from CCGs should be easily mitigated with existing structures like initiative; obviously the most simple (and possibly least elegant) solution is to have starting initiative decide order of precedence, so we'll always have that as an option. Ehn and I will kick a few other possibilities back and forth though, especially considering that this is really a core system problem; the same issue would come up if two non-SoM characters readied an action to drag an opponent, for example.
|
|
The concept of the "stack" from CCGs should be easily mitigated with existing structures like initiative; obviously the most simple (and possibly least elegant) solution is to have starting initiative decide order of precedence, so we'll always have that as an option. Ehn and I will kick a few other possibilities back and forth though, especially considering that this is really a core system problem; the same issue would come up if two non-SoM characters readied an action to drag an opponent, for example.Having been a CCG player for nearly a decade (retired in the middle), I understand these kinds of issues and will do my hardest as literally the most heroic person in human history to avoid situations like that.Do you expect to inherit the difficulties of "timing windows" that many card games have?
It would seem to me that a system built on Triggers and Board-Altering Effects might clash when two Triggers fire simultaneously for two different Mighty Martials whose Effects would be sequentially mutually exclusive. This could perhaps be mostly settled with initiative count, but in the instance of readied actions, I could see this being a potential wrench in the pace and flow of Mighty Combat.
Clever design can mitigate this greatly, yes.
But what if, for example, two Mighty Martials who have the same Talent ready the same Trigger - say, both trigger off "prone" and both expect to move the target 10 feet closer - what will be the process for ordering resolution?
This is indeed a core system problem, but one I would argue that has been able to go unaddressed because of the "inertia" around making combat maneuvers "work" for martial characters. Part of the reason I am so exited for this project is because you stuck your design flag in this underexplored-but-potentially-rich section of the combat rules. As a consequence, I might expect this longstanding problem to crop up with greater frequency - and I know the last thing you want is for all your lovely design to incidentally slow the pace of play with easily-fixable rules kerfuffles.
Off the top of my head, there is Initiative and Order of Declaration (for ready actions); but also perhaps CMB or BAB?
Congratulations on being funded btw! Can't wait to get my hardcopy in like a year, when my (mostly new-ish) players will be ready for some added martial complexity.
|
|
Last question for reals:
Will Spheres of Might feature mechanical incentives for building martial characters with high mental ability scores?
Because I would love to be able to rock a combat with a martial character who boasted one of the following arrays:
INT > ST/DX/CON > others
or
WIS > ST/DX/CON > others
or
CHA > ST/DX/CON > others
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Last question for reals:
Will Spheres of Might feature mechanical incentives for building martial characters with high mental ability scores?** spoiler omitted **
Yes. The Commander and Scholar are already mental-stat dominant classes, and there are other ways of building into smart, charismatic, or wise combatants who put brains over brawn.
@Rainzax: If all else fails, I suppose there's always opposed rolls... I'd probably go for opposed ability rolls, myself, perhaps based on each class' main ability score?
|
|
I have no problem homebrewing solutions.
I just wanted to be helpful by pointing out something that may slip through the cracks.
Nothing like a self-contained subsystem that expands upon existing systems and plays well with the standing rules including provisions (sidebars, added rules text, etc) for potential problems of interaction/implementation as needed.
|
|
I have no problem homebrewing solutions.
I just wanted to be helpful by pointing out something that may slip through the cracks.
Nothing like a self-contained subsystem that expands upon existing systems and plays well with the standing rules including provisions (sidebars, added rules text, etc) for potential problems of interaction/implementation as needed.
I certainly wasn't offended! You brought up a very good point that a greyish area in the core rules could be exacerbated by a system that may enter that area a bit more, and if nothing else, it gave us a reminder to double-check that rules area and make sure we've dotted our i's and crossed our t's as regards that particular interaction.
By the way, last time I checked, we'd topped $10k and then some, so "THANK YOU!" to everyone who's pledged!
|
|
Suggestion:
Can the dueling sphere (or other appropriate sphere) have an ability that lets you skim off an enemy's magic from their sword and hit them with it, letting you use their weapons bonuses for a turn or attack?
Hmmmm..... That's an interesting suggestion; I don't know that the Dueling sphere would be the correct place for such a mechanic, but I'll keep the idea in mind and share it with the team, see if it sparks any ideas for placement or implementation.
Thank you for the suggestion!
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Yeah my posting here is a reflection of my excitement. I have a feeling that as good as SoP was to improving the casting system (which was a lot), SoM will be an even greater improvement to the martial system by comparison!
What about additional Crossbow support?
(Like, as distinct from the other ranged styles)
How would you define being distinct? Like, what form might this take?
At a certain point, most offensive stuff kind of boils down to "deals damage, does some combat maneuver or other status effect, or both". XD
|
|
"Crossbow only"
Because I never liked that Crossbows could "be just like bows" if they put in the extra feat or two (Rapid Reload, and Crossbow Mastery if heavy) to drop their reload time.
Instead, I'd like to see Crossbows carve out their own niche - and not just by taking an archetype, but actually having their own special feats/talents. I think any player would be okay with extended loading times if that one shot per round packed a wallop and had it's own special chain of abilities that kept it competitive yet distinct from other ranged weapons. Bonus points of the "feel" of light, heavy, and hand crossbows are all slightly different!
|
|
Sniping looks like its going to be better for the high damage crossbows rather than the quick attacking bows (though guns still beat it) since it only increases weapon damage.
Crossbows will probably be best for a combination of sniping and rapid shooting, while bows are best for rapid and guns best for sniping.
Sniping isn't necessarily the "crossbow" sphere, but the Sniping sphere definitely is nice to crossbows.
|
|
Want to make a suggestion you guys probably already thought of, but just in case: A talent to let you use an AoO to use your shield to make a zone of safe space behind you vs area of effect spells, 10ft cone for heavy 15 for tower. So I can do this:
I think we have something in that general wheelhouse in the Shield sphere already, but if not, I'll get on it.
|
|
For your pugilism/boxing/fisticuffs sphere, are there any especially proactive abilities or such that let you punish enemies for failing to attack you, while also punishing them for attacking you? Such as, say, the ability to ready some sort of counterpunch then take a move action through a threatened space, as a full-round action - you get a safe move if your enemy decides not to attack, but you get to counterpunch if they do.
The boxing sphere does this quite well, since it's based around readying attacks, but it also gives you the ability to set up multiple triggers for it; so if a mage wants to cast, you punch. If they move, you punch. They blink, you punch. Really, boxing is the hard counter sphere to a lot of things, and as we have it now, you can burn focus to just take a swing whenever so combat's basically always in your court as long as you're smart about it.
|
|
Will there be options that let you air juggle an opponent?
Actually if you can do any of the cool stuff in the video I'll be happy as can be ^w^
Just to thank the writers of this good work as a backer.
Now as the second preview corfirmed special property additions to normal attacks (at least for the unarmed strikes), I only have to anticipate the wuxia lifespan ability to be included...
For others I decided to put some other points of interest regarding this product's delivery, as I was informed on the other thread.
- The PDF link will be delivered thru DriveThruRPG.
- Add-on products will be issued thru BackerKit.
|
This thread and the other thread should really be merged. They have different info and ideas that I would have easily missed had this thread not been updated as I was browsing the boards
All this excellent info and ideas should be in a single place for greater ease of use and even greater marketing oomph :-)