[Spheres of Power] How do you make Constructs?

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

The magic item creation rules in Spheres of Power cover most standard magic item conversions because you want the items to use the new magic system anyway. But occasionally you run into items like golems that aren't simply replacing one system with another. Does anyone have any advice on converting golems prerequisites to SoP?

[Bardarok]

I would keep everything the same except change out spell requirements for their appropriate spheres.

Clay Golem
Requirements Craft Construct, animate objects, bless, commune, prayer, resurrection, creator must be caster level 11th; Skill Craft (sculptures) or Craft (pottery) DC 16; Cost 21,500 gp

I'd replace the spell requirements with Enhancement: Animate Object, Fate: Bless, Life: Resuscitate.

Flesh Golem
Vancian: animate dead, bull’s strength, geas/quest, limited wish,
SoP: Death Sphere, Enhancement: Physical Enhancement, Mind: Expanded Charm

Iron Golem
Vancian: cloudkill, geas/quest, limited wish, polymorph any object,
SoP: Death: Drain, Mind: Expanded Charm, Creation: Expanded Materials

Remember you can always ignore a requirement by increasing the craft DC by 5.

If you are using the ritual variant rules you could also require them to have the specific rituals in their ritual book.

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

Bardarok wrote:

Remember you can always ignore a requirement by increasing the craft DC by 5.

Yes, but sometimes that means increasing the DC by something like +35 for 7 missing spells.

Bardarok wrote:

Example Clay Golem

Requirements Craft Construct, animate objects, bless, commune, prayer, resurrection, creator must be caster level 11th; Skill Craft (sculptures) or Craft (pottery) DC 16; Cost 21,500 gp

I'd replace the spell requirements with Enhancement: Animate Object, Fate: Bless, Life: Resuscitate.

I suppose the little detail is what's the limit on spell-to-talent conversion? In that case you replaced 5 spells with 3 (not counting base spheres) talent choices because you could blend three of the spells into one talent. Do you have any advice as to an upper limit of talents required, for those cases when maybe replicating all the spells needed would be prohibitive?

[Bardarok]

If you have a player who really wants to focus on crafting but doesn't want to spread their talents around to thinly then I recommend allowing them to do spell research for ritual spells. That way they can have all the necessary spell effects in their ritual book and cast those as part of creating the golem. That's one extra feat and quite a good one if you allow independent spell research and downtime. Personally I replace the scribe scroll feat that wizards get at first level with the ritual caster feat.

[SilvercatMoonpaw]

Bardarok wrote:

If you have a player who really wants to focus on crafting....

This isn't about players or a GM. I just want to make sure I don't have to ask this question later.

[GM Rednal]

Quote:

Crafting Magic Items

Quick Conversions

In Pathfinder, all pre-written magic items are listed with a set of prerequisites for their creation, often in the form of feats, spells, a minimum caster level, and required material components. When using the Spheres of Power system to create these pre-existing magic items, there are two ways to quickly adapt their prerequisites to fit with the SoP system. These methods require substitutions to be made with either magic talents or rituals.

Magic Talents

When creating a pre-existing magic item, with GM permission, a caster may simply substitute an appropriate magic talent for the required spell: Fire Blast can replace fireball or burning hands, while the Invisibility Illusion talent can substitute for the illusion spell in a similar fashion. The GM is always the final arbiter when determining which talent would replace which spell.

Rituals

For games that employ rituals and/or traditional Pathfinder spellcasting, an SoP caster may use an item’s prerequisite spell as a ritual in order to meet the item’s crafting prerequisites. This can even allow a sphere caster to use the traditional magic item creation rules, using ritual level in place of spell level when determining the cost of a new magic item. When using this method, treat the ritual’s material cost as if it were a spell’s costly material component.

There's no specific limit on spells-to-talents conversion for crafting - some things need more powers known to be crafted, and others need less.

I would, however, probably blend similar spells together into one talent. If you're not sure what the conversion should actually be, you can just go for the basic sphere, following the table given for rituals.

Golems in particular would probably be focused on the Enhancement sphere...