[Drop Dead Studios] Spheres of Might Open Playtest

[N. Jolly]

Welcome all to the Spheres of Might open playtest! For the past few weeks, we've been running a backer only playtest and gathering quite a lot of data on this new and exciting system, but now we'd like to open it up to the public to get as many people's thoughts and opinions as possible. There has been a TON of changes from the previous preview, and the new open playtest includes the complete roster of spheres and classes which we will be included in the full release as well as new content such as martial traditions, conversion archetypes so that you can use Spheres of Might with traditional Pathfinder classes, drawbacks to allow you to further customize your experience, and more!

While you can comment on the doc directly, we'd prefer you to make longer comments here or on the Drop Dead Studios forum! We're looking forward to seeing what you have to say, so let us know, and let's get this open playtest rolling!

Spheres of Might open playtest

Sphere 1
Sphere 2
Sphere 3
Class 1
Class 2
Additional Rules
Conversion Archetypes

[LuniasM]

Came up with a custom Martial Tradition for a character concept - it's called Projectile Storm. Talents granted are Equipment - Huntsman Training, Athletics, Barrage, and either an Athletics talent or a Barrage talent. The style aims (haha) to use a ranged weapon in close-quarters while staying mobile, and the character I'm working on is a Shortbow-wielding Conscript with Fast Movement, Armor Training, and Studied Target. It's basically Legolas.

I had a thought about the Barrage sphere. One of the most common moves in fantasy is when a character throws out a handful of projectiles or fires a ton of them at once, tearing through enemies in an arc. I think it would be really cool to have a talent that would allow you to attack as a cone-shaped AoE, making one attack roll and applying it against the AC of all creatures in the area - perhaps at a small attack roll penalty.

[khadgar567]

LuniasM wrote:

Came up with a custom Martial Tradition for a character concept - it's called Projectile Storm. Talents granted are Equipment - Huntsman Training, Athletics, Barrage, and either an Athletics talent or a Barrage talent. The style aims (haha) to use a ranged weapon in close-quarters while staying mobile, and the character I'm working on is a Shortbow-wielding Conscript with Fast Movement, Armor Training, and Studied Target. It's basically Legolas.

I had a thought about the Barrage sphere. One of the most common moves in fantasy is when a character throws out a handful of projectiles or fires a ton of them at once, tearing through enemies in an arc. I think it would be really cool to have a talent that would allow you to attack as a cone-shaped AoE, making one attack roll and applying it against the AC of all creatures in the area - perhaps at a small attack roll penalty.

I am not working for drop dead studios but how about waiting for legendery talents mate?

[LuniasM]

khadgar567 wrote:

LuniasM wrote:

Came up with a custom Martial Tradition for a character concept - it's called Projectile Storm. Talents granted are Equipment - Huntsman Training, Athletics, Barrage, and either an Athletics talent or a Barrage talent. The style aims (haha) to use a ranged weapon in close-quarters while staying mobile, and the character I'm working on is a Shortbow-wielding Conscript with Fast Movement, Armor Training, and Studied Target. It's basically Legolas.

I had a thought about the Barrage sphere. One of the most common moves in fantasy is when a character throws out a handful of projectiles or fires a ton of them at once, tearing through enemies in an arc. I think it would be really cool to have a talent that would allow you to attack as a cone-shaped AoE, making one attack roll and applying it against the AC of all creatures in the area - perhaps at a small attack roll penalty.

I am not working for drop dead studios but how about waiting for legendery talents mate?

Because legendary talents aren't available for playtesting yet. I'm not going to refrain from giving suggestions or ideas just because they might show up later. Besides, why should this be a legendary talent? AoE talents are readily available from a number of spheres, such as Alchemy, Lancer, Guardian, and Gladiator. The damage is pretty low, too, at a single arrow per target. Now, if you were to roll a d4 and hit each creature that many times, that would be something worthy of a legendary talent - but that's not what I was suggesting.

[LuniasM]

I have to say, the incanter was largely a swing and a miss for me (mostly due to the low number of poachable abilities) but the Conscript looks very enjoyable.

Even though Scholar's not in the greatest place right now I still find it to be a very interesting class. Rather than a non-magical Wizard I see it as a strange non-magic hybrid of Wizard and Alchemist. I've been toying with it a bit and I like the direction it's going in.

Technician looks so fun to make but sadly real life obligations have kept me from making one yet. Rest assured, I will be making the sniper I've always wanted, and nothing will stop me.

[Robert Jordan]

I was hoping to see some sort of sniping option in the Sniping sphere that synergized well with the Dead Shot deed for gunslinger who wanted to be a sniper. With stealth after a ranged attack requiring a move action kinda kills that whole dynamic.

[Michael Sayre]

Robert Jordan wrote:

I was hoping to see some sort of sniping option in the Sniping sphere that synergized well with the Dead Shot deed for gunslinger who wanted to be a sniper. With stealth after a ranged attack requiring a move action kinda kills that whole dynamic.

So, currently, assuming you enter combat in Stealth with a ranged weapon loaded, you can shoot, duck into cover, reload on the next round, and then shoot again that same round. That's (potentially) 2 rounds of sniping damage where you're completely undetected. In many combats, that should mean the fight is almost over before the enemy even know you're there. I do think that we could maybe buff that up a bit if there are a lot of snipers getting brutalized in round 3, perhaps with either a Scout or Sniper talent that specifically interacts with the sniping function. That's really what Scout's Hidden Focus was for, but I can see that there's a particular choke point of move actions for the weapons we most expect to be used for sniping (like muskets and crossbows), so I'll kick it by the team and see if we can't smooth that out a little.

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

I like what I see. I may end up regretting not backing this.

[Michael Sayre]

SilvercatMoonpaw wrote:

I like what I see. I may end up regretting not backing this.

We are offering preorders for all Kickstarter funded and associated books through our Backerkit page, so it's not too late to order a copy!

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

Ssalarn wrote:

SilvercatMoonpaw wrote:

I like what I see. I may end up regretting not backing this.

We are offering preorders for all Kickstarter funded and associated books through our Backerkit page, so it's not too late to order a copy!

Thank you for the info, but I don't do books, so there isn't any reason for me to need to reserve a copy before the rush.

[Blackwaltzomega]

I like what I see so far, although I've got some thoughts I'd like to share here if that's all right.

-I noticed at one point Extra Combat Talent had a ruling that you could not select it as an option with Martial Flexibility, but that ruling has been removed. Personally I think it might be good to leave that rule as it is, as it's simply closing off something that might be a problem down the line. Being able to flex into any talent, even if you are not natively a sphere user, might be a little much in the way of decision paralysis and I suspect it might artificially inflate Martial Flexibility's value as a class feature. And Martial Flexibility is quite good without being able to schrodinger up a talent, particularly when we start to hit the immediate action activation; combine that with drawbacks and it's probably just easier for everyone, especially the GM, if martial flexibility from a fighter, brawler, or conscript dip didn't make for a lot of stuff in your back pocket that isn't as quick to explain as many of the Brawler's mid-combat tricks.

-The Dueling Sphere is one of my favorites to read, but I keep coming back to the Bleed Air talent. I love the rest of the sphere, but this one weighs on me because it seems really inconsistent in its results compared to the rest of the sphere and a lot is riding on that 1d4. If you roll a 1 with that, you have put a save-or-die on your opponent that can take something from literally hundreds of HP to 0 on a single failed save, which even a lot of the nastier spells can't do. On the other hand, if you roll a 4 with it, it's likely as not the fight will be over before that power kicks in, particularly since Bleed Air is a Round 2 talent. The fact you can do it repeatedly is also a bit of a snarl for me, since it seems like once the target's bleeding it's good sense to try every round you can. I'm aware that Bleed Air isn't anywhere near as nasty as the Suffocation spell, but that is a spell that can't be used until level 9 at the earliest while a Dueling master can start their career with Bleed Air. It seems like it'll whiff between being too good at killing tanky enemies on a failed save like Suffocation but without a limit per diem and kicking in too late and making someone annoyed they spent one of their talents on this and tried to set it up to no avail. I feel like maybe a milder but more consistent effect might be better, such as puncturing a lung against a bleeding enemy and giving a "shortness of breath" sort of debuff right away on a failed save, like inflicting fatigue or interfering with vocalization to really ruin a mage's day.

-I see what the Guardian Sphere is going for but I think some parts of it might need to be refined. The idea for a tanking sphere includes making it easy on anyone trying to heal you to keep you standing even when you take an unholy beating, but it seems like the Delayed Damage Pool's an iffy way to go about that. I feel like making the pool smaller but giving it a more tanking and healing-friendly benefit like being able to turn a certain amount of damage per round into nonlethal damage might fit what the sphere is going for better.

-The Blacksmith's maintenance ability is a neat concept that I really like, but I think you might be better off halving the Sharpen Weapons bonus. At the moment, that +2 and then +4 damage buff is so tempting it weakens the appeal of the other maintenances, and while I assume it's balanced against Bardic Performance in that it doesn't give an attack roll bonus in exchange for twice as much damage, I feel like Sharpen Weapons lasting all day and not requiring any kinds of action from the Blacksmith after its application puts it ahead and it seems likely post-SoM that parties with much higher average BAB that don't miss the hit bonuses much but make ample use of the added damage would become popular. This is less of an issue if the damage starts at +1 and scales to +2 at level 5 and so on, with the added benefit that it means the numerical bonus maintenances all give the same level of bonus to different things. As I said I'm a fan of the Blacksmith's ability to nonmagically buff the party through their gear, but right now I feel like Sharpen Weapons might be strong enough to give people tunnel vision about applying the other maintenances, and I'd be keen to see the others used just as much if not more.

And some positive notes:

-I wasn't expecting to like the Brute Sphere very much, but I love it. Much like the Scoundrel sphere makes playing a dirty trickster into an actual fighting style rather than a break from full attacks, I like that Brute takes a set of maneuvers I never use and actually gives them things I want to do with them like rushing people into walls.

-Fencing and Dueling both have a great feel to them and I like that while there is an implied fighting style going on there it's weapon-agnostic and Dueling can be just as much about knife-fighting or katana swordplay as rapier tricks. I find bleed to be a hugely underutilized mechanic in PF, and I like that Dueling lets you leverage bleeding from "minor inconvenient damage" to a number of ways to bedevil your injured enemies so wounding someone cleverly actually penalizes them.

-I've been keen on looking at where the spheres contribute to non-combat situations as well, and that has made me like the Scout Sphere a lot. Seems like a very good dabbling sphere for a martial that wants to be of some use when swords aren't drawn, and I like that most of the spheres have at least some non-combat applications, although I'm always eager to see more.

-I really like the feel of the Striker. It's a fair bit more complicated than most of the martial classes but it's a very cool combination of abilities and I like how unlike the brawler and monk it's an unarmed fighter that feels a lot less married to a certain style of play. I am tempted to make a Scout-sphere dabbling Striker at some point. With an unarmored focus, mystical fists, and somnambulance, I am amused by the notion of a character who's almost exactly as dangerous when they're fast asleep in their pajamas as when they're fist-fighting in a dungeon.

[Stack]

Note that guardian does have a talent that makes damage from your delayed damage pool into nonlethal damage.

[Michael Sayre]

I pulled Bleed Air out of the base sphere and added it to the Legendary Talents with a BAB +10 prereq, and added a bit of text that allows additional uses of Bleed Air against an opponent who has already failed their save to reduce their time before suffocation by 1 round. That should protect the player from wasting their turn, and move the ability to a point in the game where it should be more consistent with similar spell effects.

[Here4daFreeSwag]

Good to see some free openly spherical might stuff out there. :)

[Zautos']

I did not find any feat that adds Spheres of Might to a character that normally doesn't have it.

Something simular to Basic Magical Training and Advanced Magical Training.

Did i miss that or will you add it later or will there be nothing like it.

[Chance Phillips 187]

I think there is one called Martial Training or something. I used it to get gun kata for my monk.

[Lirya]

My understanding is that Extra Combat Talent can be taken by a character who doesn't have a SoM progression, gaining a Sphere + the ability to use Martial Focus.

[Bardarok]

There is also a thing called martial tradition where a character trades their starting proficiency for a reduced set and some starting talents.

[THUNDER_Jeffro]

I have to say, I'm happy Bleed Air is staying in, even if it's as an Advanced Talent. I agree with the idea that moving it puts it at a power level more in line with other abilities in the game.

[Wraithguard]

If it hasn't been renamed, Basic Combat Training is the feat you are wondering about. I used it on my Vigilante to pick up the Equipment Sphere - Weapon dedication (martial weapons) GM allowed Simple weapons to be included with it.

I picked Spear Flourish as the Talent so I can use my longspear in one hand, utilize a buckler, and benefit from Lethal Grace.

[Grovestrider]

Ssalarn wrote:

I pulled Bleed Air out of the base sphere and added it to the Legendary Talents with a BAB +10 prereq, and added a bit of text that allows additional uses of Bleed Air against an opponent who has already failed their save to reduce their time before suffocation by 1 round. That should protect the player from wasting their turn, and move the ability to a point in the game where it should be more consistent with similar spell effects.

THUNDER_Jeffro wrote:

I have to say, I'm happy Bleed Air is staying in, even if it's as an Advanced Talent. I agree with the idea that moving it puts it at a power level more in line with other abilities in the game.

I am unsure if requiring BAB +10 is necessary though, while Bleed the Air is a Save or Lose/Die effect, it requires some setup and usually isn't immediate. Also, while BAB is a nice round number, if it is meant to mimic level 5 spell effects, wouldn't it be BAB +9 (Because Clerics, Druids, Wizards, etc gain access to level 5 spells at level 9 not 10).

On a separate note, if Legendary Talents are purely at the purview of GM's to decide if they are allowed or not, why do they even have a BAB prerequisites to begin with? I was under the impression that Legendary Talents were different from Advanced Talents in that they wouldn't going to have 'level' prerequisites. So why the change?

[Chance Phillips 187]

NOTE: I meant to say Extra Combat Talent to get gun kata for my monk. (Technically unarmed swordsage in a 3.PF game)

[Michael Sayre]

Grovestrider wrote:

I am unsure if requiring BAB +10 is necessary though, while Bleed the Air is a Save or Lose/Die effect, it requires some setup and usually isn't immediate. Also, while BAB is a nice round number, if it is meant to mimic level 5 spell effects, wouldn't it be BAB +9 (Because Clerics, Druids, Wizards, etc gain access to level 5 spells at level 9 not 10).[/url]

There is a certain amount of value in being able to do something multiple times; simulating a 5th level spell effect an unlimited number of times is more valuable than being able to do something once, so there are certain effects (primarily things like death effects and permanent disabling) that tend to trail caster access to those effects by a level or so, functionally gating that effect to a point where repeated uses are to be expected.

Quote:

On a separate note, if Legendary Talents are purely at the purview of GM's to decide if they are allowed or not, why do they even have a BAB prerequisites to begin with? I was under the impression that Legendary Talents were different from Advanced Talents in that they wouldn't going to have 'level' prerequisites. So why the change?

I'm not aware that we were ever going to do Legendary Talents entirely without prereqs; some Legendary Talents are relatively prereq free, only requiring the base sphere, since they're not something that needs a level gate, but others, like talents that enable sustained flight, some death effects, and anything that imposes a condition whose cure is also level gated, typically have prereqs that keep them in line with the game's expectations.

Legendary Talents are options that push "realism" a lot harder than the core martial options, letting you do things like teleport by cleaving reality, "fly" by kicking through the air, lasso a tornado, etc. Some of those effects are simply "anime extraordinary", where they're not excessively powerful, they're just not something you'd expect to see in a game that leans towards gritty or classic Lord of the Rings style fantasy. Those abilities are Legendary but don't have level restrictions. Other abilities are either particularly powerful or impact the game world in a specific way that can be problematic if it's introduced before the game is ready for it, and those abilities are level gated to the points in the game where they're appropriate.

[Zautos']

Wraithguard wrote:

If it hasn't been renamed, Basic Combat Training is the feat you are wondering about. I used it on my Vigilante to pick up the Equipment Sphere - Weapon dedication (martial weapons) GM allowed Simple weapons to be included with it.

I picked Spear Flourish as the Talent so I can use my longspear in one hand, utilize a buckler, and benefit from Lethal Grace.

i can't find it :(

[Michael Sayre]

Zautos' wrote:

Wraithguard wrote:

If it hasn't been renamed, Basic Combat Training is the feat you are wondering about. I used it on my Vigilante to pick up the Equipment Sphere - Weapon dedication (martial weapons) GM allowed Simple weapons to be included with it.

I picked Spear Flourish as the Talent so I can use my longspear in one hand, utilize a buckler, and benefit from Lethal Grace.

i can't find it :(

Extra Combat Talent should have been updated to not require you to have the Combat Training class feature; it will let you buy into the talents on a 1 to 1 feat exchange. We're also working on a system to allow you to exchange your feats for talents on a more favorable sliding scale, but it was pulled from the playtest while we hammer out a few issues with it.

[Zautos']

Ssalarn wrote:

Zautos' wrote:

Wraithguard wrote:

If it hasn't been renamed, Basic Combat Training is the feat you are wondering about. I used it on my Vigilante to pick up the Equipment Sphere - Weapon dedication (martial weapons) GM allowed Simple weapons to be included with it.

I picked Spear Flourish as the Talent so I can use my longspear in one hand, utilize a buckler, and benefit from Lethal Grace.

i can't find it :(

Extra Combat Talent should have been updated to not require you to have the Combat Training class feature; it will let you buy into the talents on a 1 to 1 feat exchange. We're also working on a system to allow you to exchange your feats for talents on a more favorable sliding scale, but it was pulled from the playtest while we hammer out a few issues with it.

So there will be no feat like

Advanced Magical Training

it could be based on bab and you get half your bab as talents or something.

[Arachnofiend]

Is it intended for the Shadow Warrior Vigilante archetype to only be 3/4 BAB? The full BAB comes from the Avenger specialization, which the archetype replaces, but since it otherwise has the Avenger chassis it doesn't have any of the bonuses the Stalker gets to compensate for lower BAB.

I'm currently playing a Vigilante using the Guardian sphere for some extra bulk, but I feel like the sphere really needs some ways to genuinely heal itself. I feel like the sphere's bonuses would be very powerful for a Paladin, but without Lay On Hands the actual gains from the delayed damage pool are pretty minimal. If you could spend your martial focus to heal that would be great.

And another thing, since I'm planning on putting a feat into the Lancer sphere next level... does Ragdoll Swing also deal damage to the creature being used as a weapon?

[N. Jolly]

Yeah, it's intended to be 3/4 BAB as far as I'm aware.

Also what up party people, we've got new content for you in the way of the new gish classes which mix SoP and SoM as well as Legendary Talents to help you mix up combat in new and legendary ways:

Gish Classes

Legendary Talents

[Arachnofiend]

Cloud Cling is the most Looney Tunes talent I have ever seen, I love it

The Legendary Talents are largely what I was anticipating for this, there's been a lot of good in the basic stuff of course but this category shows exactly how ambitious this project is. Stuff like Cloud Cling and Phasing Lunge show that my faith in the product was not unfounded.

Sword Shooter is a bit too silly for even my tastes, I must admit. :p

[khadgar567]

Is trabadour gains seperate magic talents for each persona or he stuck with 5 talents

[LuniasM]

Gotta say, I haven't had the time to read the entire thing thus far but the sage rework looks much better. It'll take me a bit to start up a build though, I'm working on a Technician right now (so cool!).

[LuniasM]

Could we get an Extra Gadgets feat by the way? +2 or +3 gadgets a day? There's no way to get more gadgets than INT+1/2 Level right now and some builds really want more than that (Support Technician is something I'm considering).

[LuniasM]

While I'm on the subject, I just realized what feels familiar about the Technician - it feels very similar in flavor to the Engineer class of Guild Wars 2. Insights grant access to new gadgets and invention improvements in the same way that equipping a Kit on Engineer grants new "tool belt" abilities and weapon skills. One of the things the class gets is a Healing Kit which can be used to support allies by placing down healing items and debuff cleansers.

That said, I kind of want more support for Medical Insight in the form of invention improvements. For instance, a crossbow improvement which allows you to load up your healing gadget and shoot it at a creature to heal them from range, or a Glove improvement that allows you to use it on yourself as a Swift action. I would also love some way to remove negative conditions on an ally or heal ability damage. This kinda goes hand-in-hand with the Extra Gadgets request from my last post as a support Technician would want to get as many gadgets as possible.

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

N. Jolly wrote:

Gish Classes

That's not very many. Is that because these are going to be in the core book, or is this the playtest for the eventual gish book and you're just starting out?

[Grovestrider]

SilvercatMoonpaw wrote:

N. Jolly wrote:

Gish Classes

That's not very many. Is that because these are going to be in the core book, or is this the playtest for the eventual gish book and you're just starting out?

I believe the main focus of the Gish Book will be archetypes for casting classes (I presume and hope to see to see archetypes for the Armorist, Elementalist, Hedgewitch, Mageknight and Shifter).

[LuniasM]

Krillin should've called his move Severing Ki Disc so Special Beam Cannon wouldn't feel left out.

[Michael Sayre]

LuniasM wrote:

Gotta say, I haven't had the time to read the entire thing thus far but the sage rework looks much better. It'll take me a bit to start up a build though, I'm working on a Technician right now (so cool!).

Thanks! Adam let me take over the task of reworking the Sage and I've been excited to see what people think of it. It might need a couple extra infuser/enhancer talents to round out its healing options since it's pretty firmly in unarchetyped paladin healer territory unless it spends talents on Life sphere; though we did include magic spheres as an option in style talents so we wouldn't have to reprint things we've already written so... We'll see what people think.

SilvercatMoonpaw wrote:

N. Jolly wrote:

Gish Classes

That's not very many. Is that because these are going to be in the core book, or is this the playtest for the eventual gish book and you're just starting out?

The sage and troubadour will be in the gish book, we just want them getting as much exposure as possible, so we're rolling them out alongside the main playtest. The bulk of the gish book will be archetypes.

LuniasM wrote:

Krillin should've called his move Severing Ki Disc so Special Beam Cannon wouldn't feel left out.

Piccolo would probably use Piercing Beam if he were a sage trying to kill a saiyin being grappled by another saiyin... Just sayin'.

[LuniasM]

Ssalarn wrote:

LuniasM wrote:

Krillin should've called his move Severing Ki Disc so Special Beam Cannon wouldn't feel left out.

Piccolo would probably use Piercing Beam if he were a sage trying to kill a saiyin being grappled by another saiyin... Just saiyin.

Fixed that for you.

[khadgar567]

ka me ha me haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!( aka chi gong as destructive blast)

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

Several of the Scholar's Material Impositions would make great options for casters.

[jedi8187]

I love the scholar rework, it'a really nice way to strike a balance in talents. The troubadour is cool too.

[LuniasM]

So I really like the sage rework we've got here. The Esoteric Training packages do a lot to help define the build you're making and the Esotery options are pretty strong too - I only wish there were more to work with!

I've built a Ki Blaster Sage up to Level 4 and thus far I've taken Meteor Shower and Ki Bomb for Esotery at 2 and 4 in that order, plus the Barrage sphere's Spinning Shot and the Static Blast talents. I prioritized Wisdom over Dexterity as I'm using touch attacks and I want my ability DCs to be as high as possible. What I've found is that this build has a strong battlefield presence with damage and control. I can spend 1 of my 8 Ki to deal 2d6 damage and disarm a 15' radius of enemies, or I can spend that ki to increase damage to 4d6 and target four individuals and disarm each separately. I could technically do both in one turn, since Ki Bomb doesn't require an attack action but an attack, and deal up to 16d6 damage with four chances to disarm in a decent area, but that would eat up 5 Ki so probably not.

Anyway, that build is still in progress. I am impressed by the rework thus far, and I may get the chance to playtest it next month. I'm reeeeally looking forward to Level 8 - Enhancer would make this character nearly perfect.

[Reviewman]

Equipment Talent: Polearm mastery
Lancer Legendary Talent: Superb Reach

The short version of my feedback is that reach weapon combat is arguably the strongest form of combat within Pathfinder despite its current limitations and part of its balancing factors is the attempt to mitigate the limitations.

With that in mind removing the dead zone is a very serious balance change for a talent as well as further increasing the reach advantage. Not only is the balance of such changes dubious, but it actively makes combat less interesting by eliminating the dead zone.

What I would most prefer to see changed:

Polearm Mastery: Just have it give an attack penalty to choke up and have it available from low levels. A -5 penalty lets the talent accomplish the goal of letting you keep using your favorite weapon, but makes the previous alternatives like bite attacks, UAS, or spiked armor maintain viability.

Superb Reach: Just remove this. Replace it with anything interesting. If you must keep it then have it only active on your own turn or something.

[Blackwaltzomega]

Reviewman wrote:

Equipment Talent: Polearm mastery

Lancer Legendary Talent: Superb Reach

The short version of my feedback is that reach weapon combat is arguably the strongest form of combat within Pathfinder despite its current limitations and part of its balancing factors is the attempt to mitigate the limitations.

With that in mind removing the dead zone is a very serious balance change for a talent as well as further increasing the reach advantage. Not only is the balance of such changes dubious, but it actively makes combat less interesting by eliminating the dead zone.

What I would most prefer to see changed:

Polearm Mastery: Just have it give an attack penalty to choke up and have it available from low levels. A -5 penalty lets the talent accomplish the goal of letting you keep using your favorite weapon, but makes the previous alternatives like bite attacks, UAS, or spiked armor maintain viability.

Superb Reach: Just remove this. Replace it with anything interesting. If you must keep it then have it only active on your own turn or something.

I'm not necessarily saying I disagree with your general point, but I will say I'm 90% sure ranged weapon combat is inarguably the strongest form of weapon combat in Pathfinder. Still, it's a fair enough point that removing the weakness from polearms entirely does give them a pretty big leg up on ordinary two-handed weapons.

[Reviewman]

Yeah I definitely should have put "melee" in there.

[LuniasM]

So here's that Ki Blaster Sage I've been working on. I forgot to give him traits, but if I did give him traits I'd probably take something to increase Initiative and the trait that allows you to not provoke from the first two squares during a Withdraw. The character concept is a very agile sage with the ability to dash in and out of combats while firing Ki Blasts all over the place. The character's role is ranged damage and control through AoE disarms.

Ki Blaster Sage Build, Levels 1-4:

Ki Blaster Sage 1
Ki Blaster Sage 2
Ki Blaster Sage 3
Ki Blaster Sage 4

More to come!

[LuniasM]

Here's levels 5-8. Like I had predicted earlier, Level 8 was ridiculous for this character. So many new talents, and their debuffing potential skyrocketed with the addition of the Enhancer Esoteric Training and the Mental Escalation Esotery. I'm actually a little worried by their damage potential against clustered enemies, but it would appear that they're in a happy medium between the Nova potential of an Alchemist and the at-will capabilities of a Kineticist - I can do a lower-damage blast with a combat maneuver rider all day, or I can burn my Ki down to deal high damage in an area and Nauseate large groups of foes. This build in particular is much stronger than anything I could've come up with from the original Sage, and at this point it's safe to say I'm confident in this character's ability to perform well in play. That said, I will likely playtest it next month. Very much looking forward to it!

Ki Blaster Sage Build, Levels 5-8::

Ki Blaster Sage 5
Ki Blaster Sage 6
Ki Blaster Sage 7
Ki Blaster Sage 8

[Grovestrider]

I know that none of the Spheres of Might gish archetypes for the Spheres of Power classes are complete, but I was wondering if there is a list of Spheres of Power classes that WILL for sure gain a SoM archetype.

[Michael Sayre]

Grovestrider wrote:

I know that none of the Spheres of Might gish archetypes for the Spheres of Power classes are complete, but I was wondering if there is a list of Spheres of Power classes that WILL for sure gain a SoM archetype.

The plan is to try and hit everything except the Incanter and maybe the Fey Adept. Though I've been playing with a few ideas for the Fey Adept, so even that may end up with an archetype.