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[Let's Read] Spheres of Power & Might for 5e
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<blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 8364137" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><p style="text-align: center"><strong>Chapter 4: Spheres, Part I</strong></p><p></p><p>By far the longest chapter in the book, we’ll cover the Spheres in four parts. Before beginning there are some universalities I should bring up. Unlike in traditional 5th Edition, a lot of concentration duration sphere effects can last the duration without the need for concentration if Augmented with 2 Spell Points. This means that stackable buffs are easy to do, but can get pretty pricey on a caster’s personal reserves.</p><p></p><p>Secondly, about half of the spheres (11 or 12 depending on what package you take for the Universal sphere) grant a bonus talent when unlocked. This is particularly the case when the default sphere’s effects can’t do much on their own and need a talent to be used to their fullest. Just about every sphere automatically comes with 2 default sphere effects that can either be used just fine on their own or are meant to be used with talents. It’s something that I can see tripping up newcomers, so I figured it’s best to point this out explicitly.</p><p></p><p>Thirdly, talents in a sphere are separated into different types via parenthetical tags, and those that don’t fit into any neat category have the (other) tag. For example, the Destruction sphere has (blast type) talents which determine the damage and negative conditions imposed by the default Destructive Blast sphere effect, while (blast shape) determines in what form the Destructive Blast manifests.</p><p></p><p>Fourthly, most Spheres have Variants, which alter how the caster uses magic from the Sphere. They’re optional and usually take the form of some restriction, like only being able to use one instead of both basic magical sphere effects, a more limited selection of targets or types, or some material or condition that can easily overcome the magic. In exchange for taking a Variant, a spherecaster gains a bonus magic talent of their choice or a specific one typically in line with the Variant’s theme.</p><p></p><p>Finally, every Sphere has Advanced Talents, separated at the end into their own category. They are talents which are either more powerful than the default selections or which can alter the setting assumptions in a significant way. For instance, the Warp sphere’s Planeshift talent may not be appropriate for games where otherworldly realms are unapproachable or sealed off, while the Universal sphere’s Extreme Reach talent can make certain spells affect targets up to several football fields away. Unlike Basic Talents (the default option), Advanced Talents usually have a level-based prerequisite, usually 5th or 11th but sometimes as high as 17th, and a few may even have other talents as prerequisites.</p><p></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/gT2hWT4.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p>The <a href="http://spheres5e.wikidot.com/alteration" target="_blank"><strong>Alteration Sphere</strong></a> allows the caster to transform themselves or other targets into different forms via Shapeshift. Shapeshift forms aren’t stackable, either with themselves or with similar effects such as wildshape, but the caster can apply 1-4 traits to the form based on their level, and learning default forms grants a new set of traits which can be applied to other forms. Alteration talents are split between (genotype) talents which provide a base form along with limbs, speed, natural weapons, and selectable traits, while (trait) talents grant new traits that can be applied to any form. Most genotype and trait talents do not cost Spell Points by default, with exceptions being particularly powerful features like the Construct form’s resistance to nonmagical physical damage or Size Change which can shift one’s size (and thus bonus damage and reach) by 1-4 categories based on level. The Advanced Talents include options such as granting vulnerability/immunity to an energy type, fusing two creatures into a single body, and a literal Save or Die for creatures damaged via the Twisted Body talent (think warping a creature’s form violently). Interestingly there are some traits which are not advanced but level-locked, such as the Undead (genotype)’s incorporeal form requiring the caster to be 15th level in order to bestow it. It’s a bit of an oddity vs the rest of this book, but the choices make sense given their powerful utility.</p><p></p><p><strong>Combos:</strong> The natural weapons of the various genotypes are considered unarmed weapons, which makes the Sphere a nice buff to place on Monks, Tavern Brawlers, and similar bare-knuckle fighting types. The text calls out that spells requiring verbal and/or somatic components may not be able to be cast if the new form cannot gesture or speak appropriately, which makes Alteration a great debuff to use on many enemy spellcasters. Talents that increase one’s reach can be stacked via Augmentation in order for shapeshifters to hit opponents from very far away, and with Spheres of Might’s Guardian sphere and the Equipment sphere’s Polearm Guard talent they can make a lot of opportunity attacks from farther distances. The Enhancement sphere has several talents which can be applied to natural attacks and movement speeds.</p><p></p><p><strong>Existing Comparisons:</strong> One’s mind would immediately leap to the Polymorph spell and the Druid’s Wildshape when looking at this sphere. The advantages of Alteration is that they can be taken by lower-level characters in the case of Polymorph and has a wider variety of creature types to morph into in the case of Wildshape. But what Alteration cannot do is outright give every special ability and replacement hit points of Monster Manual entries; instead the sphere grants a brief template which can be customized via a set of various traits. The sphere’s default duration is shorter, but barring Augmentation it is not limited-use and effectively an at-will feature.</p><p></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/rfEDYW4.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p>The <a href="http://spheres5e.wikidot.com/conjuration" target="_blank"><strong>Conjuration Sphere</strong></a> is your all-purpose minion-summoning sphere. The basic sphere lets you summon an entity known as a companion, whose base stats are determined via a (base) sphere talent, while (form) talents apply further persistent benefits to the companion. Instead of outright summoning entries from the Monster Manual, every (base) talent has a default stat block with several features (usually AC, HP, and proficiency bonus) that increase or are gained based on the spherecaster’s level. Companions by default are limited in that they cannot perform non-Dodge actions unless the summoner spends their bonus action, and only one companion can be summoned at a time.</p><p></p><p>Although there’s a diversity of creature types, some are typecast into certain roles. Giants are by far the best option for melee damage, while fiends start out imp-sized and don’t gain Multiattack or the ability to treat their natural attacks as magical via leveling up, which makes the type a heavier investment to turn into a martial brute. The (form) talents are quite versatile, and range from abilities such as increasing AC and HP, granting proficiency in skills, tools, and saving throws, the ability to Augment new sense types onto them upon their summoning, and even a few minor class features such as a low-level rage, flurry of blows, and sneak attack. Advanced Talents include options such as outright summoning extraplanar Monster Manual entries in the vein of Planar Binding and the removal of the bonus action and one companion at a time restrictions, making the sphere closer in line with typical summoning.</p><p></p><p><strong>Combos:</strong> The Evolved Companion talent is explicitly meant to apply Alteration sphere (trait) talents to the companion. Spells and abilities which can activate via trigger such as the Physical Magic boon or the Universal sphere’s Contingency advanced talent can have a companion activate them via their own actions. The Magical Companion (form) talent grants the companion a casting tradition, which means they can have their own pool of Spell Points to apply magical effects beyond the summoner’s own reserves. Companions can be dismissed on the caster’s turn without an action, allowing for less-risky scouting and setting up of ambush traps.</p><p></p><p><strong>Existing Comparisons:</strong> The various summoning spells such as Conjure Celestial are the closest approximations, although the companion stat blocks have a lot in common with “pet creature” class features such as Tasha’s revised Beastmaster and the Circle of Wildfire’s Wildfire spirit. The summoning default sphere effect is also concentration and has the same duration as most Conjure X Creature spells, although the casting time is far longer at 10 minutes, requiring Augmentation to cast as an action. On its own, the Conjuration sphere is less versatile and powerful than traditional 5e summoning, although like Alteration it has a lower floor of entry and a wider variety of choices in thematic types. You can still replicate shenanigans such as the Pixie dance crew or Planar Binding efreeti via the Advanced Talents, and it’s still a useful sphere given it adds a creature to aid the party.</p><p></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/T3DW7XN.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p>The <a href="http://spheres5e.wikidot.com/creation" target="_blank"><strong>Creation Sphere</strong></a> summons objects like how Conjuration summons creatures. The default sphere abilities allow the caster to Alter touched material via healing or dealing HP damage, while Create can conjure simple objects out of vegetable matter whose size increases with level and whose materials and complexity can be expanded via the right choice of talents. (alter) talent allows the caster to reshape material to greater degrees, such as changing its physical composition to reforging material via crude changes. The majority of talents fall into the (other) category, including catapulting ranged materials to be flung at enemies via a ranged attack (resisted by DEX save rather than an attack roll, perfect for frail and clumsy casters), creating non-harmful objects that can be placed directly on a creature to Restrain them, and making materials out of translucent magical force that can block incorporeal travel. The Advanced Talents include options which can outright disintegrate cubic blocks of material and bypassing their HP, reshaping living creatures by altering the number of limbs and restoring/removing natural senses, and creating food and water...which costs a Spell Point by itself, so no ending world hunger this way.</p><p></p><p>There’s even a table for the hit points and damage threshold of objects by size and material, along with the amount of damage dealt by falling objects based on size (or weapon type if a weapon), which is rather handy.</p><p></p><p><strong>Combos:</strong> The Alchemical Creation talent is useful for people with the Alchemy sphere from Spheres of Might, particularly when creating items they possess as formula/poison talents given that they can use these to greater effect. Talents which can make objects harder to identify as fakes or be made permanent via Exquisite Detail and Permanent Change (an Advanced Talent) can be a good way for PCs to make some quick cash provided they don’t mind the consequences of being exposed as hucksters. Transparency plus Object of Force talents can be useful for providing protection to characters with a gaze-based attack, while using Forge to hollow out a tunnel and using Altered Burst on the roof to make a weaker material can be a good quickly-made pit trap. Spears are an effective weapon to create via the Catapult talent, as they don’t have to be made of iron unlike some other popular weapon and polearm choices.</p><p></p><p><strong>Existing Comparisons:</strong> Spells which immediately come to mind for this are Creation, Shatter, Stone Shape, and Fabricate. Damaging object creation spells such as Conjure Volley and Steel Wind Strike are better replicated via the Destruction sphere given their main purpose is to harm rather than creation in and of itself.</p><p></p><p>The Creation sphere has several advantages over the 5e spells. For one, the sphere effects are cast as an action by default rather than several minutes like Fabricate or Creation. Secondly the size of the affected objects can be increased both by level and via Augmentation, whereas Fabricate can only affect up to Large objects and Creation requires high-level spell slots to affect a similar number of cubic feet. Stone Shape is closest to the Forge talent combined with Expanded Materials to affect stone, but costs a 4th-level slot while the sphere equivalent would be 2 Spell Points. Create Food and Water affects 3 times as many people as the Sustenance sphere talent, but the former is a 3rd level slot while the latter is 1 Spell Point, so they’re about the same. In fact, Sustenance has a longer casting time unless Augmented but has a lower barrier to entry (1st level).</p><p></p><p>While Spell Points are still a limiting factor, given how the core casters only have a couple of 5+ level spell slots to use at a time at all but the highest levels and spherecasters have many ways to boost their Spell Points, a pure mage spherecaster can perform object creation magic faster, at earlier levels, and more often should they so desire.</p><p></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/YA56Sy8.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p>The <a href="http://spheres5e.wikidot.com/dark" target="_blank"><strong>Dark Sphere</strong></a> specializes in the creation and manipulation of darkness. The default sphere ability allows one to create a 15 foot radius of darkness which nonmagical light cannot illuminate, and (darkness) talents can further enhance and alter this ability. The other default ability allows one to apply a (meld) onto a target which is typically a buff, and we have the ability to grant Darkvision 60 feet or +30 feet to it as an existing sense by default. Most (darkness) talents involve imposing various debuffs on those who are within the sphere, such as disadvantage on saving throws, wandering in a random (or controlled by the caster if Augmented) direction, dealing necrotic damage equal to the creature’s Hit Dice, and squares counting as difficult terrain. There are two more beneficial talents, such as Shadow Tag which allows one to know the direction and status of those who pass through the darkness and Tenebrous Legerdemain which allows one to move and steal objects from a distance within the darkness. The (meld) talents include things such as creating a band of blinding darkness around a creature’s head, granting one immunity to negative effects from (darkness) effects, and pulling a target’s shadow off of them to turn into a noncombatant scout. There’s a few nifty (other) talents perfect for roguish types, such as stashing items in an extradimensional shadow space, being treated as covered by lead vs divination, and creating holes of darkness on objects to pass through them. The Advanced Talents include things such as turning incorporeal within one’s own area of darkness, traveling overland via the Plane of Shadow, and turning a Shadow Lurk into a more fully-formed creature that can attack and deliver spells as though it were the caster.</p><p></p><p><strong>Combos:</strong> Characters with darkvision can gain an advantage on adversaries without it via the basic darkness sphere effect if my below interpretation is correct. The Disorienting Darkness talent forcing creatures to move in an unwanted direction is great for directing enemies into waiting combatants and hostile terrain. Darkness talents which impose disadvantage on saving throws or restrain the target’s movement are good for letting allies set up more effective AoE attacks. Obscure Passage’s shadowy holes can be used to create pit traps if the caster knows what’s directly underneath the floor and for creating murder holes for ranged attackers benefitting from Clearsight. One with the Void (turning incorporeal) will be of limited use unless combined with Clinging Darkness to allow the darkness effect to move with an object or creature.</p><p></p><p><strong>Existing Comparisons:</strong> The most immediate spell that comes to mind is the core Darkness spell. The text is a bit unclear as to how similar the default sphere ability is, specifically whether or not those with darkvision can see through it. Apparently those with that sense type can, for there’s a talent called Pure Darkness that reduces Darkvision to 5 feet and reduces the range of all other sense types by half in the radius. This implies that the default darkness can be seen through with that sense type. The radius is also half size unless Augmented via the Greater Darkness talent. The Darkvision meld talent is similar to the spell of the same name, although it can be cast at will but has a longer casting time unless Augmented and a shorter duration. The various debuffs don’t have many equivalent effects, at least in regards to requiring or playing off of shadow magic themes. Most of them aren’t augmented meaning that they can be used at will but require affected creatures to be within a relatively small AoE. The turning incorporeal is similar to the Etherealness spell, albeit it has a lower minimum level requirement and stricter conditions. As both it and the basic darkness sphere effects are concentration, the latter has to be Augmented, making it rather pricey over time in terms of Spell Point cost.</p><p></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/0a8s79J.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p>The <a href="http://spheres5e.wikidot.com/death" target="_blank"><strong>Death Sphere</strong></a> is the other major minion-summoning sphere. Its default sphere abilities include a debuffing ranged attack known as Ghost Strike which has a base ability to increase a target’s exhaustion level, while Reanimate turns the remains of an appropriate creature type into an undead under the caster’s mental thrall. Like Conjuration there are (undead) talents which determine the undead’s base stat block, while (reanimate) talents allow for the addition of persistent enhancements onto such undead creatures. (ghost strike) talents are different in that they grant new forms of debuffing actions, such as imposing curses on a target, making them vulnerable to slashing/piercing/bludgeoning damage,* short-duration paralysis, and necrotic damage that grants the caster temporary hit points. (reanimate) talents are persistent benefits, many of which have to be Augmented to apply, and include things such as granting natural attacks or higher damage die on existing attacks, the ability to impose the Frightened condition on a failed Wisdom save, applying the Troop template to an (undead) stat block if cast within a mass grave or similar area, granting proficiencies in weapons/armor/skills/etc, and applying (trait) and (genotype) talents from the Alteration sphere. The various (undead) talent stat blocks include iconic creatures such as Ghouls, Shadows, and Skeletons, who tend to have variable Hit Points based on the reanimated target, their AC is equal to the caster’s sphere DC, and have their own means of being reanimated. For example, Zombies require a corpse, Will-O-Wisps a dying 0 HP target (or who died within 3 rounds of the Reanimate casting), and specters and poltergeists objects of the deceased.</p><p></p><p>*or downgrading immunity to resistant to “normal”</p><p></p><p>Interestingly the various condition immunities and special abilities typical to undead aren’t universal on all stat blocks; even Poltergeists and Shadows don’t start out Incorporeal by default, and (reanimate) talents are meant to fill in the gaps. Advanced Talents include the ability to project one’s spirit to the Ethereal and Astral Planes, able to reanimate more powerful types of undead such as mummies and vampire spawn, and allowing reanimated creatures to gain partial access to any spells or martial spheres they had in life.</p><p></p><p>There is one talent I do have to call out: Trained allows creatures with class levels to retain all nonmagical features from those levels. As NPCs are not built with class levels by default, and one cannot use the Death sphere to reanimate someone with a Challenge Rating greater than 1/4th the caster’s level, this is useless as-is. You can’t use it to reanimate your fellow PCs into undead unless they’re wildly underleveled, and NPCs who do have some class features such as Sneak Attack aren’t really built in the same fashion as PCs and so are highly subject to GM Fiat.</p><p></p><p><strong>Combos:</strong> Ghost Strike is good for setting up targets for debilitating attacks, and Vulnerability is great given how common physical attacks are for characters and undead minions. Abilities that can buff characters are useful for undead, as mentioned under Alteration and Conjuration. </p><p></p><p><strong>Existing Comparisons:</strong> In comparison to the Conjuration sphere, Reanimate has a faster default casting time but a shorter duration. Additionally undead reduced to 0 hit points cannot be reanimated again, unlike summoned creatures who cannot be summoned again until the caster finishes a long rest. Finally, the Death sphere by default allows the simultaneous maintenance of multiple undead, up to one’s proficiency bonus. Undead still require a bonus action to take non-Dodge actions, although they can still defend themselves from hostile creatures if not commanded and the bonus action enhances all undead. This makes Death a better hordemaster style sphere than Conjuration.</p><p></p><p>As for the official rules, one cannot help but look at the Animate Dead, Create Undead, Summon Undead, and Danse Macabre spells. Generally speaking such spells have longer durations, although the instantaneous ones get out of the caster’s control if not cast again in 24 hours. Summon Undead is closer in line with the Death sphere in that it has a default template and variable AC and HP, although it has a limited number of special abilities whereas the Death sphere has a larger amount of customization via (reanimate) talents. Additionally, the official spells require undead minions to remain close by to be animated/under the caster’s control, whereas the Death sphere has no maximum range. In fact, there is a talent which lets the caster perceive senses through their undead minions, and talents which grant them incorporeal movement are Basic to take* which makes the Death sphere great for scouting purposes. Additionally, the four official spells don’t have options for incorporeal undead, while Spheres does via talents. While the sample stat blocks for the higher-power undead may not be equal to their Monster Manual counterparts, they do allow for a PC to have their own coterie of vampire spawn should they so desire.</p><p></p><p>*Other means of becoming or granting incorporeality in Spheres of Power require either an Advanced talent or 15th level minimum for the Alteration sphere.</p><p></p><p><strong>Troops:</strong> This new rule is meant to simulate masses of otherwise-identical creatures attacking as an organized force. It’s a simple template added onto a creature, where the damage of their non-magical weapon attacks increase by two sizes (d4 to d6, d6 to d10, etc) and doubles the number of dice rolled. The latter effect applies for as long as the troop’s HP value is 51% to 100% of its maximum value. In Spheres of Power, the Troop template is applied to Conjuration companions via an Advanced Talent or a basic talent for Death’s undead minions. In the latter case the caster can only maintain a single Troop and no other undead at a time.</p><p></p><p>As you can tell, the Troop template is a great way to buff up the damage value of a minion stat block’s attacks. But it doesn’t make them hardier or more resistant to damage.</p><p></p><p><strong>Thoughts So Far:</strong> The first couple of Spheres have a wide assortment of neat features, with an emphasis on lower barriers of entry and Augmented effects being more the exception than the norm. They tend to not be as powerful as the official spells by default, but Augmentations can help bridge the gap. Given how shapeshifting and summoning spells in traditional D&D tend to be overpowered given that they out and out add monsters of wildly varying balance to the PCs’ sides, creating default templates which are improved via level and talents is a good compromise.</p><p></p><p>I felt a bit iffy on the Dark sphere. While granting darkvision can be useful in a party of humans, the commonality of that sense type on both sides of the GM screen means that getting the more interesting abilities is a bit of a talent tax. Creation suffers a similar fate in that it requires a talent to be able to create materials besides non-living vegetable matter unless one dips for a restrictive Variant. And Death seems a bit powerful, especially when paired up besides Conjuration; even if the latter sphere makes it easier to summon minions, the types of places most adventurers go to have no shortage of the dead and the dying. But overall, all five spheres have various useful abilities for a variety of caster concepts.</p><p></p><p><strong>Join us next time as we stat up Shantae and cover the next five spheres!</strong></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Libertad, post: 8364137, member: 6750502"] [center][b]Chapter 4: Spheres, Part I[/b][/center] By far the longest chapter in the book, we’ll cover the Spheres in four parts. Before beginning there are some universalities I should bring up. Unlike in traditional 5th Edition, a lot of concentration duration sphere effects can last the duration without the need for concentration if Augmented with 2 Spell Points. This means that stackable buffs are easy to do, but can get pretty pricey on a caster’s personal reserves. Secondly, about half of the spheres (11 or 12 depending on what package you take for the Universal sphere) grant a bonus talent when unlocked. This is particularly the case when the default sphere’s effects can’t do much on their own and need a talent to be used to their fullest. Just about every sphere automatically comes with 2 default sphere effects that can either be used just fine on their own or are meant to be used with talents. It’s something that I can see tripping up newcomers, so I figured it’s best to point this out explicitly. Thirdly, talents in a sphere are separated into different types via parenthetical tags, and those that don’t fit into any neat category have the (other) tag. For example, the Destruction sphere has (blast type) talents which determine the damage and negative conditions imposed by the default Destructive Blast sphere effect, while (blast shape) determines in what form the Destructive Blast manifests. Fourthly, most Spheres have Variants, which alter how the caster uses magic from the Sphere. They’re optional and usually take the form of some restriction, like only being able to use one instead of both basic magical sphere effects, a more limited selection of targets or types, or some material or condition that can easily overcome the magic. In exchange for taking a Variant, a spherecaster gains a bonus magic talent of their choice or a specific one typically in line with the Variant’s theme. Finally, every Sphere has Advanced Talents, separated at the end into their own category. They are talents which are either more powerful than the default selections or which can alter the setting assumptions in a significant way. For instance, the Warp sphere’s Planeshift talent may not be appropriate for games where otherworldly realms are unapproachable or sealed off, while the Universal sphere’s Extreme Reach talent can make certain spells affect targets up to several football fields away. Unlike Basic Talents (the default option), Advanced Talents usually have a level-based prerequisite, usually 5th or 11th but sometimes as high as 17th, and a few may even have other talents as prerequisites. [img]https://i.imgur.com/gT2hWT4.png[/img] The [url=http://spheres5e.wikidot.com/alteration][b]Alteration Sphere[/b][/url] allows the caster to transform themselves or other targets into different forms via Shapeshift. Shapeshift forms aren’t stackable, either with themselves or with similar effects such as wildshape, but the caster can apply 1-4 traits to the form based on their level, and learning default forms grants a new set of traits which can be applied to other forms. Alteration talents are split between (genotype) talents which provide a base form along with limbs, speed, natural weapons, and selectable traits, while (trait) talents grant new traits that can be applied to any form. Most genotype and trait talents do not cost Spell Points by default, with exceptions being particularly powerful features like the Construct form’s resistance to nonmagical physical damage or Size Change which can shift one’s size (and thus bonus damage and reach) by 1-4 categories based on level. The Advanced Talents include options such as granting vulnerability/immunity to an energy type, fusing two creatures into a single body, and a literal Save or Die for creatures damaged via the Twisted Body talent (think warping a creature’s form violently). Interestingly there are some traits which are not advanced but level-locked, such as the Undead (genotype)’s incorporeal form requiring the caster to be 15th level in order to bestow it. It’s a bit of an oddity vs the rest of this book, but the choices make sense given their powerful utility. [b]Combos:[/b] The natural weapons of the various genotypes are considered unarmed weapons, which makes the Sphere a nice buff to place on Monks, Tavern Brawlers, and similar bare-knuckle fighting types. The text calls out that spells requiring verbal and/or somatic components may not be able to be cast if the new form cannot gesture or speak appropriately, which makes Alteration a great debuff to use on many enemy spellcasters. Talents that increase one’s reach can be stacked via Augmentation in order for shapeshifters to hit opponents from very far away, and with Spheres of Might’s Guardian sphere and the Equipment sphere’s Polearm Guard talent they can make a lot of opportunity attacks from farther distances. The Enhancement sphere has several talents which can be applied to natural attacks and movement speeds. [b]Existing Comparisons:[/b] One’s mind would immediately leap to the Polymorph spell and the Druid’s Wildshape when looking at this sphere. The advantages of Alteration is that they can be taken by lower-level characters in the case of Polymorph and has a wider variety of creature types to morph into in the case of Wildshape. But what Alteration cannot do is outright give every special ability and replacement hit points of Monster Manual entries; instead the sphere grants a brief template which can be customized via a set of various traits. The sphere’s default duration is shorter, but barring Augmentation it is not limited-use and effectively an at-will feature. [img]https://i.imgur.com/rfEDYW4.png[/img] The [url=http://spheres5e.wikidot.com/conjuration][b]Conjuration Sphere[/b][/url] is your all-purpose minion-summoning sphere. The basic sphere lets you summon an entity known as a companion, whose base stats are determined via a (base) sphere talent, while (form) talents apply further persistent benefits to the companion. Instead of outright summoning entries from the Monster Manual, every (base) talent has a default stat block with several features (usually AC, HP, and proficiency bonus) that increase or are gained based on the spherecaster’s level. Companions by default are limited in that they cannot perform non-Dodge actions unless the summoner spends their bonus action, and only one companion can be summoned at a time. Although there’s a diversity of creature types, some are typecast into certain roles. Giants are by far the best option for melee damage, while fiends start out imp-sized and don’t gain Multiattack or the ability to treat their natural attacks as magical via leveling up, which makes the type a heavier investment to turn into a martial brute. The (form) talents are quite versatile, and range from abilities such as increasing AC and HP, granting proficiency in skills, tools, and saving throws, the ability to Augment new sense types onto them upon their summoning, and even a few minor class features such as a low-level rage, flurry of blows, and sneak attack. Advanced Talents include options such as outright summoning extraplanar Monster Manual entries in the vein of Planar Binding and the removal of the bonus action and one companion at a time restrictions, making the sphere closer in line with typical summoning. [b]Combos:[/b] The Evolved Companion talent is explicitly meant to apply Alteration sphere (trait) talents to the companion. Spells and abilities which can activate via trigger such as the Physical Magic boon or the Universal sphere’s Contingency advanced talent can have a companion activate them via their own actions. The Magical Companion (form) talent grants the companion a casting tradition, which means they can have their own pool of Spell Points to apply magical effects beyond the summoner’s own reserves. Companions can be dismissed on the caster’s turn without an action, allowing for less-risky scouting and setting up of ambush traps. [b]Existing Comparisons:[/b] The various summoning spells such as Conjure Celestial are the closest approximations, although the companion stat blocks have a lot in common with “pet creature” class features such as Tasha’s revised Beastmaster and the Circle of Wildfire’s Wildfire spirit. The summoning default sphere effect is also concentration and has the same duration as most Conjure X Creature spells, although the casting time is far longer at 10 minutes, requiring Augmentation to cast as an action. On its own, the Conjuration sphere is less versatile and powerful than traditional 5e summoning, although like Alteration it has a lower floor of entry and a wider variety of choices in thematic types. You can still replicate shenanigans such as the Pixie dance crew or Planar Binding efreeti via the Advanced Talents, and it’s still a useful sphere given it adds a creature to aid the party. [img]https://i.imgur.com/T3DW7XN.png[/img] The [url=http://spheres5e.wikidot.com/creation][b]Creation Sphere[/b][/url] summons objects like how Conjuration summons creatures. The default sphere abilities allow the caster to Alter touched material via healing or dealing HP damage, while Create can conjure simple objects out of vegetable matter whose size increases with level and whose materials and complexity can be expanded via the right choice of talents. (alter) talent allows the caster to reshape material to greater degrees, such as changing its physical composition to reforging material via crude changes. The majority of talents fall into the (other) category, including catapulting ranged materials to be flung at enemies via a ranged attack (resisted by DEX save rather than an attack roll, perfect for frail and clumsy casters), creating non-harmful objects that can be placed directly on a creature to Restrain them, and making materials out of translucent magical force that can block incorporeal travel. The Advanced Talents include options which can outright disintegrate cubic blocks of material and bypassing their HP, reshaping living creatures by altering the number of limbs and restoring/removing natural senses, and creating food and water...which costs a Spell Point by itself, so no ending world hunger this way. There’s even a table for the hit points and damage threshold of objects by size and material, along with the amount of damage dealt by falling objects based on size (or weapon type if a weapon), which is rather handy. [b]Combos:[/b] The Alchemical Creation talent is useful for people with the Alchemy sphere from Spheres of Might, particularly when creating items they possess as formula/poison talents given that they can use these to greater effect. Talents which can make objects harder to identify as fakes or be made permanent via Exquisite Detail and Permanent Change (an Advanced Talent) can be a good way for PCs to make some quick cash provided they don’t mind the consequences of being exposed as hucksters. Transparency plus Object of Force talents can be useful for providing protection to characters with a gaze-based attack, while using Forge to hollow out a tunnel and using Altered Burst on the roof to make a weaker material can be a good quickly-made pit trap. Spears are an effective weapon to create via the Catapult talent, as they don’t have to be made of iron unlike some other popular weapon and polearm choices. [b]Existing Comparisons:[/b] Spells which immediately come to mind for this are Creation, Shatter, Stone Shape, and Fabricate. Damaging object creation spells such as Conjure Volley and Steel Wind Strike are better replicated via the Destruction sphere given their main purpose is to harm rather than creation in and of itself. The Creation sphere has several advantages over the 5e spells. For one, the sphere effects are cast as an action by default rather than several minutes like Fabricate or Creation. Secondly the size of the affected objects can be increased both by level and via Augmentation, whereas Fabricate can only affect up to Large objects and Creation requires high-level spell slots to affect a similar number of cubic feet. Stone Shape is closest to the Forge talent combined with Expanded Materials to affect stone, but costs a 4th-level slot while the sphere equivalent would be 2 Spell Points. Create Food and Water affects 3 times as many people as the Sustenance sphere talent, but the former is a 3rd level slot while the latter is 1 Spell Point, so they’re about the same. In fact, Sustenance has a longer casting time unless Augmented but has a lower barrier to entry (1st level). While Spell Points are still a limiting factor, given how the core casters only have a couple of 5+ level spell slots to use at a time at all but the highest levels and spherecasters have many ways to boost their Spell Points, a pure mage spherecaster can perform object creation magic faster, at earlier levels, and more often should they so desire. [img]https://i.imgur.com/YA56Sy8.png[/img] The [url=http://spheres5e.wikidot.com/dark][b]Dark Sphere[/b][/url] specializes in the creation and manipulation of darkness. The default sphere ability allows one to create a 15 foot radius of darkness which nonmagical light cannot illuminate, and (darkness) talents can further enhance and alter this ability. The other default ability allows one to apply a (meld) onto a target which is typically a buff, and we have the ability to grant Darkvision 60 feet or +30 feet to it as an existing sense by default. Most (darkness) talents involve imposing various debuffs on those who are within the sphere, such as disadvantage on saving throws, wandering in a random (or controlled by the caster if Augmented) direction, dealing necrotic damage equal to the creature’s Hit Dice, and squares counting as difficult terrain. There are two more beneficial talents, such as Shadow Tag which allows one to know the direction and status of those who pass through the darkness and Tenebrous Legerdemain which allows one to move and steal objects from a distance within the darkness. The (meld) talents include things such as creating a band of blinding darkness around a creature’s head, granting one immunity to negative effects from (darkness) effects, and pulling a target’s shadow off of them to turn into a noncombatant scout. There’s a few nifty (other) talents perfect for roguish types, such as stashing items in an extradimensional shadow space, being treated as covered by lead vs divination, and creating holes of darkness on objects to pass through them. The Advanced Talents include things such as turning incorporeal within one’s own area of darkness, traveling overland via the Plane of Shadow, and turning a Shadow Lurk into a more fully-formed creature that can attack and deliver spells as though it were the caster. [b]Combos:[/b] Characters with darkvision can gain an advantage on adversaries without it via the basic darkness sphere effect if my below interpretation is correct. The Disorienting Darkness talent forcing creatures to move in an unwanted direction is great for directing enemies into waiting combatants and hostile terrain. Darkness talents which impose disadvantage on saving throws or restrain the target’s movement are good for letting allies set up more effective AoE attacks. Obscure Passage’s shadowy holes can be used to create pit traps if the caster knows what’s directly underneath the floor and for creating murder holes for ranged attackers benefitting from Clearsight. One with the Void (turning incorporeal) will be of limited use unless combined with Clinging Darkness to allow the darkness effect to move with an object or creature. [b]Existing Comparisons:[/b] The most immediate spell that comes to mind is the core Darkness spell. The text is a bit unclear as to how similar the default sphere ability is, specifically whether or not those with darkvision can see through it. Apparently those with that sense type can, for there’s a talent called Pure Darkness that reduces Darkvision to 5 feet and reduces the range of all other sense types by half in the radius. This implies that the default darkness can be seen through with that sense type. The radius is also half size unless Augmented via the Greater Darkness talent. The Darkvision meld talent is similar to the spell of the same name, although it can be cast at will but has a longer casting time unless Augmented and a shorter duration. The various debuffs don’t have many equivalent effects, at least in regards to requiring or playing off of shadow magic themes. Most of them aren’t augmented meaning that they can be used at will but require affected creatures to be within a relatively small AoE. The turning incorporeal is similar to the Etherealness spell, albeit it has a lower minimum level requirement and stricter conditions. As both it and the basic darkness sphere effects are concentration, the latter has to be Augmented, making it rather pricey over time in terms of Spell Point cost. [img]https://i.imgur.com/0a8s79J.png[/img] The [url=http://spheres5e.wikidot.com/death][b]Death Sphere[/b][/url] is the other major minion-summoning sphere. Its default sphere abilities include a debuffing ranged attack known as Ghost Strike which has a base ability to increase a target’s exhaustion level, while Reanimate turns the remains of an appropriate creature type into an undead under the caster’s mental thrall. Like Conjuration there are (undead) talents which determine the undead’s base stat block, while (reanimate) talents allow for the addition of persistent enhancements onto such undead creatures. (ghost strike) talents are different in that they grant new forms of debuffing actions, such as imposing curses on a target, making them vulnerable to slashing/piercing/bludgeoning damage,* short-duration paralysis, and necrotic damage that grants the caster temporary hit points. (reanimate) talents are persistent benefits, many of which have to be Augmented to apply, and include things such as granting natural attacks or higher damage die on existing attacks, the ability to impose the Frightened condition on a failed Wisdom save, applying the Troop template to an (undead) stat block if cast within a mass grave or similar area, granting proficiencies in weapons/armor/skills/etc, and applying (trait) and (genotype) talents from the Alteration sphere. The various (undead) talent stat blocks include iconic creatures such as Ghouls, Shadows, and Skeletons, who tend to have variable Hit Points based on the reanimated target, their AC is equal to the caster’s sphere DC, and have their own means of being reanimated. For example, Zombies require a corpse, Will-O-Wisps a dying 0 HP target (or who died within 3 rounds of the Reanimate casting), and specters and poltergeists objects of the deceased. *or downgrading immunity to resistant to “normal” Interestingly the various condition immunities and special abilities typical to undead aren’t universal on all stat blocks; even Poltergeists and Shadows don’t start out Incorporeal by default, and (reanimate) talents are meant to fill in the gaps. Advanced Talents include the ability to project one’s spirit to the Ethereal and Astral Planes, able to reanimate more powerful types of undead such as mummies and vampire spawn, and allowing reanimated creatures to gain partial access to any spells or martial spheres they had in life. There is one talent I do have to call out: Trained allows creatures with class levels to retain all nonmagical features from those levels. As NPCs are not built with class levels by default, and one cannot use the Death sphere to reanimate someone with a Challenge Rating greater than 1/4th the caster’s level, this is useless as-is. You can’t use it to reanimate your fellow PCs into undead unless they’re wildly underleveled, and NPCs who do have some class features such as Sneak Attack aren’t really built in the same fashion as PCs and so are highly subject to GM Fiat. [b]Combos:[/b] Ghost Strike is good for setting up targets for debilitating attacks, and Vulnerability is great given how common physical attacks are for characters and undead minions. Abilities that can buff characters are useful for undead, as mentioned under Alteration and Conjuration. [b]Existing Comparisons:[/b] In comparison to the Conjuration sphere, Reanimate has a faster default casting time but a shorter duration. Additionally undead reduced to 0 hit points cannot be reanimated again, unlike summoned creatures who cannot be summoned again until the caster finishes a long rest. Finally, the Death sphere by default allows the simultaneous maintenance of multiple undead, up to one’s proficiency bonus. Undead still require a bonus action to take non-Dodge actions, although they can still defend themselves from hostile creatures if not commanded and the bonus action enhances all undead. This makes Death a better hordemaster style sphere than Conjuration. As for the official rules, one cannot help but look at the Animate Dead, Create Undead, Summon Undead, and Danse Macabre spells. Generally speaking such spells have longer durations, although the instantaneous ones get out of the caster’s control if not cast again in 24 hours. Summon Undead is closer in line with the Death sphere in that it has a default template and variable AC and HP, although it has a limited number of special abilities whereas the Death sphere has a larger amount of customization via (reanimate) talents. Additionally, the official spells require undead minions to remain close by to be animated/under the caster’s control, whereas the Death sphere has no maximum range. In fact, there is a talent which lets the caster perceive senses through their undead minions, and talents which grant them incorporeal movement are Basic to take* which makes the Death sphere great for scouting purposes. Additionally, the four official spells don’t have options for incorporeal undead, while Spheres does via talents. While the sample stat blocks for the higher-power undead may not be equal to their Monster Manual counterparts, they do allow for a PC to have their own coterie of vampire spawn should they so desire. *Other means of becoming or granting incorporeality in Spheres of Power require either an Advanced talent or 15th level minimum for the Alteration sphere. [b]Troops:[/b] This new rule is meant to simulate masses of otherwise-identical creatures attacking as an organized force. It’s a simple template added onto a creature, where the damage of their non-magical weapon attacks increase by two sizes (d4 to d6, d6 to d10, etc) and doubles the number of dice rolled. The latter effect applies for as long as the troop’s HP value is 51% to 100% of its maximum value. In Spheres of Power, the Troop template is applied to Conjuration companions via an Advanced Talent or a basic talent for Death’s undead minions. In the latter case the caster can only maintain a single Troop and no other undead at a time. As you can tell, the Troop template is a great way to buff up the damage value of a minion stat block’s attacks. But it doesn’t make them hardier or more resistant to damage. [b]Thoughts So Far:[/b] The first couple of Spheres have a wide assortment of neat features, with an emphasis on lower barriers of entry and Augmented effects being more the exception than the norm. They tend to not be as powerful as the official spells by default, but Augmentations can help bridge the gap. Given how shapeshifting and summoning spells in traditional D&D tend to be overpowered given that they out and out add monsters of wildly varying balance to the PCs’ sides, creating default templates which are improved via level and talents is a good compromise. I felt a bit iffy on the Dark sphere. While granting darkvision can be useful in a party of humans, the commonality of that sense type on both sides of the GM screen means that getting the more interesting abilities is a bit of a talent tax. Creation suffers a similar fate in that it requires a talent to be able to create materials besides non-living vegetable matter unless one dips for a restrictive Variant. And Death seems a bit powerful, especially when paired up besides Conjuration; even if the latter sphere makes it easier to summon minions, the types of places most adventurers go to have no shortage of the dead and the dying. But overall, all five spheres have various useful abilities for a variety of caster concepts. [b]Join us next time as we stat up Shantae and cover the next five spheres![/b] [/QUOTE]
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