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Spheres of Power
Publisher: Drop Dead Studios
by Robert G. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/06/2019 10:11:29

Vancian magic. A magic system modeled after a series of novels called Thy Dying Earth, by Jack Vance. Gary Gygax was a fan of Vance’s writing, and when Gary designed Dungeons & Dragons, he used Vance’s depiction of magic as his default magic system. Spells are grouped by level, from weakest (1st level) to most powerful (9th level). You can study only so many spells per level per day. And you forget them once you cast them, so you have to study them again day after day after day. This magic system became such a sacred cow of D&D that it persists into the most modern versions of the game, including Pathfinder.

Players throughout the years have commented that, despite being a genetic marker for D&D and its descendants, it’s an odd design choice. The Vancian magic system is rather restrictive in how it depicts spell casters, and doesn’t give much room for players to create magic-users from other literary traditions. Elric didn’t use Vancian magic. Gandalf didn’t either. Neither did Merlin, or Harry Potter, or any other wizard other than those in The Dying Earth series. Why are mages forced into such a narrow paradigm for magic?

Spheres of Power by Drop Dead Studios is an attempt to answer that question. This 229-page book offers GMs and players a completely alternate magic system, replacing Vancian magic with a very versatile toolkit that allows you to create virtually any kind of magic-using character. The book begins by explaining the core concepts of Spheres of Power, and how magic works in the system. The next chapter details 20 of the eponymous spheres. Chapter 3 presents us with 11 new base classes that utilize the SoP system. Also included in this chapter are archetypes for converting core Pathfinder spellcasting classes to the Spheres of Power system, and a prestige class.

It then moves on to discuss four advanced magic systems, listed as optional by the publisher, all of which gives ways for potent magic to be expressed in-game. Next up are Player Options, which include spellcasting traditions, casting drawbacks and boons. An entire chapter is dedicated to using magic items with Spheres of Power, and how magic items are affected by the system. We conclude the publication with a chapter on how to use the book, and discusses using concepts built around the use of magic to create thematic, evocative campaigns with magic that helps to define the campaign world in specific ways.

What are the main differences that Spheres of Power offers us? First, it eliminates the schools of magic from Dungeons & Dragons and its iterations (abjuration, necromancy, evocation, etc.) and re-groups magic effects into twenty thematic ‘spheres’: Alteration, conjuration, creation, dark, death, destruction, divination, enchantment, fate, illusion, life, light, mind, nature, protection, telekinesis, time, war, warp and weather. Each sphere delivers what it promises on the label: Wanna call lightning from the sky? Weather sphere. Get answers to unknowable truths? Divination sphere. Dominate people’s actions? Mind sphere. Almost any spell in D&D or Pathfinder can be expressed through the use of spheres.

Casters are classified into three groups. High casters are primary magic-users. Folks like wizards, sorcerers, clerics and druids would be considered high casters in Spheres of Power. Mid-casters are your hybrid types, who have a strong magical ability combined with other non-magic class abilities. The bard and magus would be good examples. Finally, low casters are classes that get minor magical powers, but it really just isn’t their main shtick. Folks like paladins and rangers would be examples of low casters.

Magic is accessed by selecting a sphere. Each sphere has a basic ability or two. For example, the Time sphere grants the caster the ability the ability to use a limited version of either the haste or slow spell. Once a sphere is chosen, you may choose additional talents within that sphere as you increase in level, or you can choose another sphere, granting you the base power of that sphere as well. All casters begin with a minimum of 2 talents. Talents are used to gain access to a sphere, and then to learn talents within that sphere. Additional talents are gained at a fixed rate based upon your class’s classification of high, mid- or low caster.

Here’s where Spheres of Power really differentiates itself as a magic system: A talent can be used as many times as you want. Until the cows come home. Ad infinitum. No more ‘fire and forget’ spells a la Vancian magic. If you want to use a Destructive Blast (base ability from the Destruction sphere) all day long, you can! Now, you may be thinking that this is unbalanced and makes magic-users far too powerful, but the system is very well designed to make base talents useful, but not overly powerful. If you want to add some oomph to your talents, Spheres of Power gives us a spell point pool. Most talents require the caster to concentrate on the effect in order to keep it persistent. But if you don’t want to concentrate on a talent, you can spend a spell point to give it a fixed duration, allowing the caster to use another talent without the first one expiring.

Each sphere features an average of about 20 talents, each one allowing the caster to perform an additional magical effect in the sphere. This provides a very wide array of abilities for the caster to choose. The caster can choose to sample from as many spheres as they desire. You can hyper-specialize in a single sphere or two, or you can sample from a dozen different spheres, it’s all up to your concept of the character.

The classes presented in Spheres of Power do a nice job of demonstrating the effectiveness of the system. From the Armorist, who uses Spheres to summon magical weapons and armor to amplify his combat prowess, to the Incanter, a ‘build-your-own-caster’ who receives a metric crap-ton of talents, the classes are diverse, well-balanced and thematic. 11 such classes are presented, each with its own unique use of the Spheres system.

The Advanced Magic section is interesting in that it implies through its inclusion that the core Spheres talents really reflect the power of spells in core Pathfinder to around 5th level spells. Advanced magic offers us ways to extend the power of Spherecasting up to the traditional power of 9th level spells. This is good to know as a GM; if you want to run a low-magic game, the core Spheres of Power system would be perfect. Advanced talents simply extend the SoP system (with a minimum 10th level requirement) to include talents that emulate high-level spells in Pathfinder. Rituals give Spherecasters a way to access spells from the core game, but at a greater casting time, typically not usable in combat. Spellcrafting is a way to create new talents through the combination of different spheres and talents. Incantations are similar to rituals, but serve more as a plot device, as a way to fill gaps in the character’s abilities and as a means of flavoring the campaign world.

The second main way that Spheres of Power differentiates itself and adds a great amount of customization for both players and GMs is the section on Casting Traditions. These are like templates that you add to the Spheres of Power system, which alters the ways that the character accesses and wields magical power. Each tradition brings a set of drawbacks and boons that constrain the application of spherecasting, giving it a particular theme. For example, the Runist tradition makes casting take longer, requires hand gestures to use a talent, and requires a successful skill check to use a talent. Thematically, think of a type of runic magic that requires the caster to inscribe a rune on a surface in order to draw forth a magical effect. I see this as a really great fit for dwarven magic users! There are 14 different traditions offered, with advice on how to create your own traditions.

I have used Spheres of Power in my current Curse of the Crimson Throne campaign. The group has an Armorist, an Incanter focused on the Fate and Life spheres and another Incanter focused on the Dark and Fate spheres, so the system is getting a good test-run. From what I’ve seen so far through 6 levels of play, the Spheres of Power magic system is working very well. Overall, it is less powerful than the core magic system of Pathfinder, but in my mind, this is a feature, not a bug. Casters still fill an important role during combat, but don’t become so powerful that they eclipse other non-magical classes at mid- to high levels. My players seem to enjoy the openness of the system; they can realize their character’s concept more easily, and the system gives them more versatility to customize their characters to their exact specifications.

An added bonus (a huge benefit for me) is that Hero Lab files are available for purchase for Spheres of Power. I have purchased and used these files, and they are great! I can build characters quickly, and the files comply totally to the source document. All classes, spheres, archetypes, prestige classes, feats, advanced magic rules and traditions are included in the files. Furthermore, I have received great support from the Hero Lab community when developing content that uses the SoP system. For example, I was able to successfully create an archetype for the Dragonrider class (Super Genius Games) that uses SoP; with some help from the HL community, it works great. Well done, Hero Lab editors!

Conclusion: If I created a d20 fantasy RPG, Spheres of Power is the system I would choose as my core magic engine. The beating heart of the system is 20 spheres, each with a base power. Additional powers in each sphere can be added through talents. It’s simple, it’s elegant, it’s balanced with respect to other classes in the game, and it’s thoroughly functional. You can customize the power level of the system through advanced magic, sculpt the thematic feel of magic in your campaign world through traditions, and you can use the 11 new classes as a delivery vehicle for Sphere magic in your game.

With Spheres of Power, I can shape magic into whatever form fits my concept of the game world. It gives me a simple set of tools and a robust engine with which to create my perfect concept of magic, whatever that might be, and effectively execute the concept in my game. This is a great book, one that changes the way that playing Pathfinder feels, in a positive way. Adam Meyers, Owen K.C. Stephens, Thomas Keene and Ryan Ricks have produced a fantastic magic system which better allows GMs to create the magic that they want in their world. The simplicity of the system, coupled with the vast customization options, make Spheres of Power a highly recommended replacement for the confining Vancian box offered by the Pathfinder RPG. My rating: 10 out of 10!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Spheres of Power
Publisher: Drop Dead Studios
by Perry T. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 06/21/2019 10:27:01

Amazing set of options expanding on the Pathfinder system. I use them extensivly and it's so much easier to build fun thematic characters than using the standard casting mechanisms.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Spheres of Power
Publisher: Drop Dead Studios
by Noneya B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/10/2019 10:28:22

This is perhaps the best work ever put out for Pathfinder. It reimagines casting in the Pathfinder system without Vancian magic, lowers the casting classes down to around Tier 3 so the game is no longer shattered into pieces while still making casting feel wonderful and thematic and putting more choices and flavor into player's hands (which is truly amazing given the over all power drop). I am proud to have backed the original kickstarter and am proud to back the ultimate edition kickstarter.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Spheres of Power
Publisher: Drop Dead Studios
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 12/21/2015 04:23:07

An Endzeitgeist.com review

Spheres of Power is one massive book - 230 pages, 1 page front cover, 2 pages of editorial, 1 page SRD, 3 pages of KS-backer-thanks, 2 pages of ToC, 1 page back cover, leaving us with no less than 220 (!!!) pages of content, so let's dive in!

As you can glean from the sheer length of this book, my usual in-depth analysis would bloat this review to extents unprecedented, so instead, I will paint in somewhat broader strokes than usual - also, since, apart from the well-written chapter-introduction fluff-texts, the vast majority of content herein is CRUNCH.

So, the basic principle is pretty simple: Spheres of Power represents an alternate magic system that can work as a substitution for the default vancian casting and alongside it. Personally, I'd suggest using it as a replacement, mainly for a couple of reasons. For one, there is the factor of terminology. Spheres of Power utilizes the term "Caster Level" to mean something different - basically, it could be likened to the base attack bonus and, similarly, there are full, 3/4 and 1/2 progressions for classes and the like you'd convert to the system: Paladins, for example, would adhere to 1/2 CL-progression as "low casters." Saving throws are no longer based on spell levels, and instead adhere to the classic 10 + 1/2 caster level +casting ability modifier, if appropriate. Casting ability modifiers (CAM) are dependent on the respective class used. Casting time ranges from 1 hour to 1 swift action and distances adhere to pretty much the concise close, medium, long distinction we already know from spells.

Characters utilizing the Spheres of Power-system also utilize spell points equal to class level + casting ability modifier. It should be noted that the multiclass rulings for these basic components are VERY smooth and easy to grasp. Spheres of Power also introduces the MSB and MSD - Magic Skill Bonus and Magic Skill Defense. MSB is equal to total levels in casting classes; MSD is equal to 11 + total levels in casting classes. This becomes relevant in instances of pure concentration or when pitting your magical force against another caster becomes the relevant thing you're trying to do. Concentration is d20+MSB+ability modifier - for spell-level interactions, an effect's spell level is equal to 1/2 caster level, with the option of manifesting a magical effect voluntarily at a lower caster level to render concentration easier. Penetrating SR is done via d20+MSB - simple, elegant and the same ease also works for any call for CL-checks: You instead roll MSB.

...

And that's about the basics. The system's core rules fit comfortably on two pages. That's a GOOD thing. Even better, the presentation is so simple and concise, it renders grasping the system hilariously easy. There also is no divine/arcane divide anymore, just fyi - so yes, false gods and the like...suddenly a much more likely narrative option. It gets better: Magic is divided not into traditional schools and subschools, but into spheres. Each time your caster level increases, you get magic talents - these can be used to unlock new spheres OR to learn special tricks within your available spheres.

You see, each sphere has basic abilities that work at-will (byebye, 5-minute adventuring day/nova issue...)...and others, that require the expenditure of spell points. Hence, you can actually remain relevant as a caster sans burning through your resources and still shine in your core competences - though, obviously, burning through your resources will yield its own benefits. This basic system also allows for exceedingly simple customization of existing classes into the frame-work of spheres of power, meaning you will not be missing out on your favorite 3pp-class or archetype, just because your group opted to go for Spheres of Power.

From the very get-go, this radically changes how magic and particularly, magic specialists, work - you no longer have a specialization represented in things you can't do, but rather by the things you CAN do AND, at the same time, you get magic that is less prone to resulting in nigh-godlike omnipotence casters at high levels - basically, sphere casters will excel at their given fields, with literally your choices each level mattering more than your class or its access to ridiculous amounts of resources, but at the same time, they will be at the same time more restricted. Magic at once becomes more manageable, but also more reliable and less bursty than in the vancian default. A total of 20 spheres are provided and each covers a significant array of utterly awesome options.

Let's take the Alteration-sphere as the first example, shall we? If you're like me and have been delving into the gritty details of shapechanging and its mechanics, you'll have noticed a serious array of pretty complicated details hiding in the proverbial shadows of polymorph-y effects - granted, the issues have been mitigated a bit by Pathfinder, but there still are ample instances wherein a particular modification of one's body becomes problematic and requires some dedicated close-reading. Alteration's basic ability, Shapeshift, requires a standard action to activate and shifts either you or a touched creature, with a duration of concentration. Unwilling creatures receive a save and necessitate the expenditure of 1 spell point to shift.

Additionally, you can expend 1 spell point to maintain shapeshift for 1 round/caster level sans concentration for 1 spell point. The ability is codified properly as a polymorph effect, and yes, we get rules for interactions between shapeshift effects, allowing you to MSB-check to see which shift prevails. Targets affected lose extraordinary and supernatural abilities and instead gain those noted...and yes, equipment and magic item activation is also properly covered. Disguise-interaction can be found and intriguingly, targets can also be partially changed via blank form, granting them e.g. low-light or darkvision, natural attacks (all sporting the proper primary/secondary classification) or cosmetic appearances.

Now this is the extent of things you can do with just access to the sphere - sans talents. Add talents into the fray and things become really interesting: Want to transform into animals or makes other creatures into humanoids? Check. Just affect the mind of the target, for a lycanthrope-like berserk, animalistic state? Check. Add lunging to natural attacks? Check. Poach amid nice monster abilities à la trip or tremorsense? Yup. Size changes? Bingo. You won't be able to do them all unless you specialize, but if you wanted a shapechanger with a focus on the undead and vermin...well, here you go, 2 talents and you're covered. And btw.: I am only lightly touching on the options one single sphere allows you to have...now contemplate what you can build with 20 of them!

Obviously, the material provided herein not only shows some extreme care regarding its rules-language and set-up, it also needs, by virtue of its "alternate system"-ambition, be able to cover the most divisive aspects of magic, the ones with the most potential for issues...and beyond complexity beasts like aforementioned alteration, there are two spheres that pretty much exemplify the basic tenets of combat-centric magic: Destruction and Life. Destruction's base ability is somewhat notorious, since it originally provided force-damage blasts at-will...which is a pretty nasty, since it is the best damage-type you can conceivably have and makes incorporeal foes too easy to eliminate. It is my happy duty to report that the damage-type has since been changed to bludgeoning, rendering the warlock-y blasting the sphere grants as a base ability less problematic.

The scaling of +1d6 every odd level and the limited range still maintain reasons for non-magical ranged weapons to exist, though you can use talents to extend the range - again, a matter of player agenda. Each blast can be further customized by one blast shape and one blast type talent, which allows for some form of control. Now, yes, this is a pretty simple means of adding warlock-y blasting capacity to your caster, but at the same time, this is the one sphere I'm not completely blown away by - mainly, since I'm a huge fan of the highly customizable ethermagic introduced in Interjection Games' Strange Magic-book: The variety there and the unique options as well as the damage-scaling are a tad bit more precise and refined and personally, I consider the resource-management there a bit more compelling...but know what? If you're mathematically up to the task, you can fuse the two/recodify ethermagic as its own sphere - the easy basic structure of spheres of power allows for such blending and ultimate, that is perhaps the biggest strength of the system.

The Life sphere, then, would be the other means by which a system could be broken: After all, this one is all about healing and by now you know how much I loathe any system that provides infinite healing. The Life sphere does just that...and at the same time, it doesn't. The base, at-will ability, allows you to provide temporary hit points to a touched target, but only up to your CL and only when the target is injured - basically, you can band-aid minor injuries, while major ones require the expenditure of spell points for proper healing, which the sphere also provides. While quite a few minor negative conditions and even ability damage can thus be alleviated via the expenditure of spell points, the tying to the resources of the respective character (remember: One pool of points for ALL spheres...), suddenly, we have an interesting resource-management game here that emphasizes the severity of different injuries by virtue of whether they can be covered by invigorate or not. My one gripe here is that invigorate's scaling could have been a tad bit less linear at higher levels, when damage far eclipses its usefulness, but then again, I can modify that to properly fit my own tenets with just a modicum of preparation and basic math. The impressive component with this sphere, at least in my book, is that it manages to provide an infinite source of HP-replenishment without breaking the game in play - even in relatively gritty contexts. Flavor-wise, it also does not suffer from in-game logic issues that haunt similar solutions or healing surges...so yes, consider me thoroughly impressed.

These three spheres, highlighting some of the most problematic potential aspects, should provide enough insight on why this system as a base set-up, has merit...but we're not just left with it. Instead, we get no less than 11 (!!!) base classes.

Since my usual in-depth analysis would bloat this horribly, please bear with me as I'm going through them at an enhanced pace:

The Armorist: d10, 2+Int skills, full BAB, good Fort-save 1/2 caster progression via Wis. This guy can create special bonded equipment (weapon, armor, etc.) with preset enchantments and swap between them on the fly in combat. Like it!

The Elementalist: d8, 4+Int skills 3/4 BAB, good Fort- and Ref-save 3/4 caster progression via Cha. Take the Destruction sphere for free with slightly better elemental enhancements as well as some monk-y tricks like evasion. Another Airbender-esque class. Okay when you're looking for it with Spheres, but I've seen cooler takes on the concept.

The Eliciter: d8, 4+Int skills per level, 3/4 BAB, good Will-save, 3/4 caster progression via Cha. This guy is pretty much the instigator/enchantment-type of manipulator who supplements his spellcasting via 3+1/2 class level hypnotism-abilities; If gaslighting, (de-)buffing and generally being a good face is something you enjoy, then that's a great class for the subject matter.

The Fey Adept: d8, 4+Int skills per level, good Will-save, 1/2 BAB, full caster progression via Cha. If the name wasn't ample clue - here we get the illusion sphere as a bonus talent and generally supplement these tricks with shadow/nature-themed tricks. If creative illusions and fooling foes with nasty tricks is your game, then this is the one you want. Also, obviously, if you like the slightly sinister tint of fey-type material. (In Midgard, this would e.g. be interesting...)

The Hedgewitch: d8, 6+Int skills per level, 3/4 BAB, good Will-save, 3/4 caster progression via either Int, Wis or Cha, chosen at first level. This class chooses a tradition that can be considered a thematic "bloodline"-like concept that represents different takes on the concept of the witch, with individual, exclusive customization options.

The Incanter: d6, 2+Int skills per level, 1/2 BAB, good Will-save, full caster progression via Int, Wis or Cha. This essentially can be summed up as the full-caster grab-bag class - basically, you can trade in things like domains and bloodlines (obviously minus spells and the like) for specialization points, which can be gained by losing the bonus feats of the class in ever-increasing amounts. The class also allows for such specializations to modify the spheres. Nice one.

The Mageknight: d10, 2+Int skills per level, Full BAB, good Fort- and Will-saves, 1/2 caster progression via Int, Cha or Wis. This would be the pala, bloodrager, magus-y garb-bag class. With Stalwart (evasion for Fort-and Will-saves), it has one of my pet-peeve abilities at 3rd level and over all, feels a bit like it doesn't really manage the grab-bag aspect that well...nor its own schtick. Among the classes presented herein, it's perhaps one of the conceptually weaker ones.

The Shifter: d8,4+Int skills, 3/4 BAB, good Fort- And Ref-saves, 3/4 caster progression via Wis, would, surprise, be the kind of druidy/alteration-sphere-specialist that lets you (and allies) go full blown wolpertinger via further natural attack/tricks and customization options.

The Soul Weaver: d6, 2+Int skills, 1/2 BAB, good Will-saves, full caster progression via Cha. This would be the healer/cleric/necromancer-type character that is determined by channel energy and the duality of blessings and blights. Nice one!

The Symbiat: d8, 4+Int skills, 3/4 BAB, good Ref- and Will-saves, 3/4 caster progression via Int. perhaps the class with the coolest fluff: Basically, you have a strange psionic aberration from the far realms/outer dark fused with your very souls, granting better tricks of the Mind and Telekinesis spheres and psionic-flavored additional tricks. Anime-Psion, the class, effectively. I like it enough to be thinking about how to blend this with DSP's psionics.

The Thaumaturge: d8, 4+Int skills per level, 3/4 BAB, good Will-save, full caster progression via Int, Wis or Cha. Theme-wise, this one is a bit occult-y, having the ability to enhance his tricks for the chance of backlash and a general sense of the Spheres of Power-class for the grittier games...make no mistake, though: These guys can still go pretty much blast-happy on foes.

All right, so that would be the base-classes...but that's not even close to the end of this massive book. Instead, next, there are archetypes - in fact, one for each core class. Don't want to do the conversion work? Here's what you need. Neat! The 10-level bokor PrC would be particularly feasible for campaigns featuring both spells and sphere-casting, since it can be envisioned as a hybrid vancian/sphere-caster. Nice if you require the like; personally, I think Spheres work better as a substitution.

Okay, where things get interesting, at least for me, is with the advanced magic-chapter: Instead of smashing these components into the design of the vanilla spheres, the advanced magic talents provided can be envisioned as the rather brutal options: 2-mile darkness? Check. Tsunamis and summoning? Check - This section is absolutely, marvelously, brilliant. Why? Because it does right what so many systems like this do not get: There is a lot table-variation out there. From low-fantasy grit to epic high-fantasy, from magic suffused space-opera to horror-esque sci-fantasy, there are infinite ways to play the game - and this chapter collects the high-fantasy, huge AoE, narrative effects and takes that requirement off the GM's shoulders: No skimming through the spheres and disallowing certain options - simply restrict this chapter (or unlock) it at your leisure and there you go. Quite honestly, this is absolutely stunning: Want to play a game where PCs can unleash tsunamis against dragon-fleets? Allow! Want to play gritty survival at low levels? Ban (at least for the PCs...)! Simple, elegant and as tightly phrased and presented as possible. A joy to read and a fistpump-worthy hell yeah moment if there ever was one.

Secondly, rituals deserve special mention - know how I mentioned that imho, this works best as a substitution? If you're like me, you will have rolled your eyes and thought: "Oh great, so module xyz, which banks on spell zyx, now won't work." Enter rituals. Basically, this allows you to redesign spells into sphere-based rituals that duplicate the spell's effects and aligns them with spheres. While personally, I'm not a big fan of adding the power imbalance of the triple scaling axis of spells back in, particularly when a module requires the like, a limited system-transparency is thus maintained...and you can still tinker with the casting time (which is increased significantly) even further: This allows magic to have a Sword & Sorcery-style flair: Sure, there is the quick sphere-casting...and then, there is the time-consuming, dread, city-leveling rituals...and you can add wonderful lists of exotic components to the fray for further adventuring opportunities and means for the PCs to foil evil ritualists. Optional pricing and tables of strange effects further supplement this use of the rules.

The Spellcrafting system that allows you to make your own magical effects, at least to me, somewhat pales in its actual requirement (seeing how many spells can be converted), but who am I to complain...particularly when my beauties, one of my favorite sub-systems, incantations, are covered as well? This book, at this point on my initial read, had achieved an almost creepy level of "EZG likes it" - something further escalated by the copious player options that not only manage to get counterspelling and circle casting and contingencies right; no, beyond mere feats and the like, it was the accumulation of casting traditions that further elated me to levels of joy seldom obtained: Basically, you choose boons and drawbacks for casting traditions, representing benefits and drawbacks of individual approaches to magic, with general and sphere-specific ones all coming together in one glorious customization fest that should have both players and GMS alike grin from ear to ear.

Okay, but what about the magic items? One whole chapter is devoted to magic items, crafting and modified effects, further underlining the massively-detailed, holistic approach of the book. And yes, you'd be right in a way that this book may sound daunting at first glance - it's really not. Also thanks to a massive chapter guiding you through the implementation of rules, the cherry-picking process and manipulation/creation of more of them - before actually delving into several brief sketches of sample campaign settings sporting the rules- Oh, and, just in case you're like me a grumpy guy and now would begin complaining about "magic not existing in its own vacuum" and things like "world consistency" - what about no less than 6 sample organizations, including traits and TPA/CPA-levels? Heck yes.

But, you know me: I'll still complain over the lack of NPCs. Well, we get those as well. And skeleton/zombie/animated object toolkits. Oh, and char-sheets.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are top-notch -while I noticed very minor inconsistencies here and there (one ability reading: (primary...) while another read (Primary...) and the like, at this point, any complaints about those sound hollow. One pet-peeve of mine makes me constantly cringe, though: The books gets cold damage wrong, constantly referring to it as "frost damage" etc. - something that btw. also extends to the expansion..but at least it is consistent in this glitch.

Layout adheres to a beautiful 2-column full-color standard with ample of original full-color artworks. The book comes fully bookmarked for your convenience and provides an interactive version of the char-sheet. Unfortunately, I do not own the physical copy of this book, so no, I can't comment on that version.

Adam Meyers, Owen K.C. Stephens, Thomas Keene, Ryan Ricks - gentlemen, you have me utterly flabbergasted. It's time to come clean here: I wasn't excited about this book in the least. Not at all. I saw the KS and literally thought "Meh, don't need it." You see, the pitch of avatar/fiction-like spellcasting simply didn't appeal too much to me. Damn, was I wrong. For one, sphere casting is much (MUCH!) better balanced than vacian spellcasting and the introduction of the material herein should end the martial/caster-strife for most groups. Secondly, this book actually manages something just about unprecedented: It manages to account for table variations in an almost uncanny way: You can use Spheres of Power with Interjection Games-classes, psionics, Akashic Mysteries...and actually get a balanced, cool game. similarly, you could highly restrict it and go full-blown gritty...or utterly anime-style high-fantasy. This system's modularity is a thing of true beauty, its easy means for potential expansion a milestone. Now granted, there are some minor aspects I am not a fan of - stalwart, the destruction-sphere's blasting and similar elements all didn't blow me away - but see, that's the beauty of the system: By means of its elegance and relatively open design, I see no reason why a capable GM couldn't tweak, mesh and blend the living hell out of this system.

Beyond an increased emphasis on meaningful player-agenda, tight rules-language and a holistic claim it actually manages to fulfill, spheres of power also has these cool tidbits: From the advanced customization to relics and incantations, this massive book takes just about anything you could complain about and tells you "Jep, already covered that...here." This may very well be one of the, if not the most refined, yet open casting systems I've seen in a long, long time - one that still can, but doesn't need to, draw on the vast canon of published Pathfinder-material.

If the above, gushing monologue wasn't ample clue for you: Spheres of Power is a phenomenal book, a tome of a quality you only rarely get to see and one that is, quite frankly, significantly better than the limited KS-pitch back in the day ever made me hope it could be. Spheres of Power is a universally, absolutely superb book, one that cannot only inspire characters or the like - it can inspire campaigns. It is my firm conviction that this book belongs into the library of the distinguished Pathfinder-GM: There is an exceedingly high chance that my next campaign will use these rules (alongside non-vancian casting classes by e.g. Dreamscarred Press and Interjection Games) to take a complete break from vancian spellcasting. Not because I don't like spells and the vancian system - quite the contrary, actually. However, because I believe that using this book and using different spellcasting methods lets you tell a whole cosmos of different tales, of different power-levels and dichotomies between casters and non-casters.

I'll say it again - Spheres of Power is one of the most impressive books I've read in a long while; it may not be perfect, but it is a thorough inspiration and I staunchly believe that any group can benefit from at least contemplating using this book when starting a new campaign (or initiating a magic-altering event/switching settings, etc.). Spheres of Power is a milestone-level book I will certainly try to get in print. My final verdict will clock in at 5 stars, seal of approval, nomination as a candidate for my Top Ten of 2015 as well as the EZG Essentials-tag, since its facilitation for story-telling and its ridiculously high scavenging/system-fusion potential. A stellar tome, well worth every cent of its fair asking price.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Spheres of Power
Publisher: Drop Dead Studios
by Brian P. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/27/2015 20:00:03

One of the aspects of D&D I've never really liked, and part of the reason I drifted away from the game for almost a decade, is the magic system. You can't really talk about "realism" in magical systems without sounding like a pretentious idiot, so about the best justification I can offer is that it didn't match the expectations I had developed from reading The Wheel of Time and Darkover and The Dark is Rising, and all the ways I found to fix it either increased the disparity between casters and martial characters--spell points being the most obvious example--or required a ton of work, like rewriting all the spell lists.

Well, I'm sure that Spheres of Power required a ton of work, but I didn't have to do it. And it provides a completely new magic system that turns D&D's magic from "lighting candles to literally doing anything" to one that requires casters to focus on a few specific areas.

Gone is the arcane/divine split. Gone are long lists of spells. Instead, there are twenty spheres, each of which has about twenty talents to modify them. A wizard with the Destruction sphere can throw blasts of concussive force at nearby enemies, and can take talents to allow them to throw lightning or fire, hit enemies further away, or create explosions. One with the Warp sphere can teleport nearby, and can take talents to teleport further, teleport enemies, or cross dimensional barriers. And so on with Alteration, Creation, Detection, Life, Mind, Nature, Telekinesis, and all the other spheres. Access is controlled by spell points, which most--but not all--talents require and almost no base sphere abilities do. And spell points are relatively limited. A 20th level Incanter, the most magic-focused class, won't have more than a couple dozen.

This is great. One of the major problems with D&D magic is that wizards can do their job and everyone else's job as well, and the solution to the problem has always been to force them to pick an area of competence, but previous attempts rarely went far enough. And the at-will sphere abilities means that low-level wizards don't have to cast their couple spells and then pull out the crossbow for the rest of the day. You can have pyromancers and diviners and necromancers and shadowbinders and demonologists and all the literary kinds of more focused wizards without requiring custom spell lists and without requiring a player to deliberately limit themselves for the sake of the concept.

I don't usually like effects-based magic systems as much as I do exception-based ones, because saying, "I cast Melf's Minute Meteors!" is much more interesting than saying, "I use Destruction and spend a spell point for the frost blast talent." However, Spheres of Power includes several subsystems to allow for the best of both worlds. The Ritual system is a way to import existing D&D spells into the new framework, so the game can still have spells that the existing spheres can't easily replicate like animal messenger. The Spellcraft system lets wizards combine sphere effects to create unique powers only they know, two examples of which are a Destruction/Mind combo that freezes the targets with ice and slows their thoughts as well; and a Nature/Protection combo that coats the targets in vines that provide armor and grapple their enemies. Finally, the Incantations system is ported over as well. There's an embarrassment of riches.

There are new classes, which seem to work well but are hampered by uninspiring names. The Incanter is the one with the most spheres, the Thaumaturge is one that focuses on demoniac powers, and the Armorist creates a personalized set of weapons and armor, basically like a magical girl. I guess it's because archmage, warlock, and soulknife were already taken. Fey Adept and Shifter aren't so bad, but are still a bit uninspired. That's the disadvantage of coming in a bit late, though.

There's a section on adapting the magic system to the world, with a system of boons and penalties available to create magical traditions that can only use certain parts of spheres--lycanthropic wizards who can only use Alteration on themselves, for example--require staves or gems to use magic, need gestures and words of power like traditional D&D wizards, suffer Constitution or hit point damage to use spells, can't use certain spheres at all, and so on. The example given is a world where all magic is performed by elemental martial artists who control their powers through katas, which probably sounds familiar to you.

There's a few example worlds and organizations implementing the rules, but each world is only a little over a page. There's essentially no fluff at all except for those worlds and a few chapter fiction pieces, but really the book is packed full already and there's no reason to make it longer.

Without exaggeration, Spheres of Power is exactly what I'm looking for in a magic system for D&D and is probably the first book I've read in over a decade that made me seriously consider running a D&D game. If LFQW is getting you down, or if enormous spell lists are becoming unmanageable, or if you're sick of having to account for Scry and Fry when planning anything above 10th level encounters, check it out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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