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[Let's Read] Spheres of Power & Might for 5e
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<blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 8365904" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><p style="text-align: center"><strong>Chapter 4: Spheres, Part 3</strong></p><p></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/Kddh5Uf.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p>The <a href="http://spheres5e.wikidot.com/life" target="_blank"><strong>Life Sphere</strong></a> covers the healing arts, from hit points to negative status effects and various maladies. Life is notable for having three default sphere abilities: Cure heals 1d8 to 4d8 + Key Ability Modifier hit points for 1 Spell Point, Invigorate gives a creature temporary hit points equal to the caster’s proficiency bonus, and Restore ends or suppresses the blinded/deafened/paralyzed/poisoned conditions or one disease for 1 Spell Point. The sphere has no special tags, and the various talents enhance these three abilities in some shape. Talents include expanding the number of curable Conditions for Restore, Adrenaline Surge allows a target effected by a Life sphere ability to perform a reaction from a list of six choices (move up to speed, make an attack, stand from prone, etc), transferring cured diseases and conditions onto a nearby target, automatically diagnosing any conditions affecting a living creature with a bonus action, healing a greater number of HP at once ([5 x level] + KAM), and reviving a target who has been dead for no longer than 1 round at the cost of increasing their exhaustion. The four Advanced Talents include regenerating lost limbs, the ability to simultaneously cure all conditions affecting a target with one Augmented casting, and two that can resurrect creatures from the dead with Greater Resurrection having less restrictions.</p><p></p><p><strong>Combos:</strong> As the default sphere effects are touch range, taking the Universal sphere’s Reaching talent allows one to heal at range. Adrenaline Surge is useful for granting allies additional attacks and movement, while the Universal sphere’s Contingency effect combined with a healing or resurrection spell can be useful in saving a character from a dire fate.</p><p></p><p><strong>Existing Comparisons:</strong> The various healing spells are the most direct comparisons, particularly Cure Wounds, Lesser & Greater Restoration, and False Life for the default sphere effects. The Life sphere by default can emulate Cure Wounds and Lesser Restoration, the latter of which is a 2nd level spell, allowing a spherecaster to have a lower barrier for entry. Heal is similar to the Greater Healing talent, while Greater Restoration is akin to Restore Mind and Restore Movement talents, with Remove Curse closest to the Break Enchantment talent. Heal has a lower default amount it can restore at the level it’s attained by a Cleric (70 HP at 11th level vs Greater Healing’s 55 + KAM at 11th level), but Greater Healing can restore up to 100 HP + KAM whereas Heal can only do 90 hit points at most but also cures blindness, deafness, and disease at the same time. Detect Disease and Poison is closest to the Diagnose talent, but the latter can cover a wider variety of conditions and also is at-will given it has 0 Spell Point cost by default. Vancian casting edges out when it comes to granting temporary hit points, where False Life can give a maximum of 48 temporary hit points via a 9th level slot whereas the Life sphere can grant a maximum of 20 with the Greater Invigorate talent. However, False Life lasts for 1 hour, while Invigorate can be augmented to last until the next long rest. Additionally, there’s a talent which allows the spherecaster to heal undead and constructs, something the default healing spells cannot do.</p><p></p><p>For Greater Restoration, the default spell requires 100 gp as a consumable material component, which is a point against its favor, although it is but a single spell while spherecasters wishing to emulate it closely will need to take 4 talents. The Resurrection talent functions a bit differently from the spell of the same name; it doesn’t require expensive material components, but it doesn’t neutralize any diseases or poisons afflicting the creature when it died, nor does it restore missing body parts. On the other hand, the caster doesn’t have disadvantage on d20 rolls until the next long rest. The True Resurrection talent requires no components but affects creatures who have been dead for 100 years rather than the core spell’s 200, and the disadvantage on d20 rolls is applied. The Resurrection and Greater Resurrection talents have prerequisites of 11th and 15th level, meaning that spherecasters learn them 2 levels earlier than core Clerics.</p><p></p><p>Mass versions and multi-targeting via higher level spell slots can be emulated via the Universal sphere’s Mass talent (again a lower max amount but not as costly as high-level spell slots), although the only thing that the Life sphere cannot emulate is the Reincarnate spell. Which ironically can be done via the optional Wild Magic rules in the back of this book.</p><p></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/CO3rEvi.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p>The <a href="http://spheres5e.wikidot.com/light" target="_blank"><strong>Light Sphere</strong></a> focuses on creating and manipulating light. It has three default abilities: glow causes a creature or object to shed magical light, brighten increases the radius of a glowing object’s shed light, and lens is a personal buff/debuff that bends or alters light. (glow) talents apply various effects on objects and creatures glowing, such as granting them saves against the frightened condition, imposing a penalty on attack rolls and Perception checks (blind if Augmented), restraining a creature and prevent it from extradimensional travel if it can’t succeed on a casting ability check, transform into light to move through solid objects, make a creature appear larger which increases its reach and damage with weapon attacks (and it’s not Concentration which makes it great for buffing), and cause creatures to be fascinated by the glow or compelled to follow it on failed saving throws. (lens) talents include such options as allowing a creature to hide more easily, gain infravision, can spend a reaction once per round to impose disadvantage on an oncoming attack, and allow a target to see farther areas via 1-4 90 degree angles (see around corners basically). (nimbus) talents are 0 Spell Point augmentations which can make a glowing object shine differently, such as double or quadruple distance, in a cone area, or as a trail of light. The two Advanced Talents include the ability to extend a glow to a 2-5 mile radius, while the other allows a target to be in two places at once by splitting into refracted light and reappearing in one of the two areas on their next action or when they’re attacked.</p><p></p><p><strong>Combos:</strong> Encompassing Light’s damage/reach increase goes well with sphere and spell abilities that increase size and therefore reach. Lure Light is good for getting creatures to walk into traps and ambushes set up by the party. Divination (sense) talents that allow a creature to rely upon non-visual senses are good ways for them to avoid harmful Light sphere abilities when in close proximity to affected enemies. Periscope’s ability to see around corners is great for ranged builds and abilities dependent upon line of sight.</p><p></p><p><strong>Existing Comparisons:</strong> Dancing Lights, Daylight, Faerie Fire, and Light are the closest talents, with Pyrotechnics, Sacred Flame, and Sickening Radiance close to the more offensive talents. There’s no real ability to make Light sphere effects permanent like 5e’s Continual Light spell, while Color Spray and Sunbeam are best emulated via the Destruction sphere’s Radiant blast type given it can impose blindness along with the Chain Blast and Sculpt blast shape talent. Moonbeam has no real approximation; forcing a shapechanger to go back to their original form likely falls under the Dispel package of the Universal sphere.</p><p></p><p>As for the Light sphere’s default effects, it has a much farther range of 120 feet vs the Light cantrip’s touch, although brighten and glow’s duration are much shorter and Concentration-based at 1 and 10 minutes respectively. There is a talent called Dancing Lights which allows the caster to not have to target a creature or object to make a glow effect, although the ability to form into a shiny humanoid is better emulated via the Illusion sphere. Sacred Flame has its closest equivalent with the Flare talent, although the latter can deal half damage to adjacent targets and can be augmented to affect multiple targets glowing if the Dual Light talent is possessed. Faerie Fire’s closest equivalent is the Guiding Light talent which grants advantage on attack rolls targeting the glowing creature, but to be multi-target the Mass talent of Universal will be necessary. Sickening Radiance’s damage and exhaustion is closest to the Sunstroke talent, albeit the latter deals much less damage and doesn’t make it impossible to be invisible unless used in conjunction with Revealing Light. Better means of dealing damage with exhaustion can be accomplished via Destruction's Draining or Scorching blast type talents, although they deal different damage types. Pyrotechnics’ blinding ability has its counterpart in Blinding Light, although the latter has a much larger affectible radius. Extradimensional travel blocking is perhaps the most unique talent; the closest core spell is Forbiddance, which takes a longer time to cast but covers a wider area and lasts longer.</p><p></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/H5uRVMS.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p>The <a href="http://spheres5e.wikidot.com/mind" target="_blank"><strong>Mind Sphere</strong></a> covers mental compulsions of all kinds. Its sole default ability involves placing a Charm on a creature, with a Spell Point cost based on its level of power: Lesser, Greater, and Powerful. Lesser charms cost nothing but those who succeed on a save cannot be affected again until the next long rest, while being able to access Powerful Charms requires a talent. There’s also a table of Requests ranging from “Very Simple” to “Against the Creature’s Nature” in determining how far one can push their charms. The only descriptive tag is (charm), talents which range from removing particular memories, making a subject regard the caster in a friendlier light, causing them to be Frightened, buffs that can grant bonuses to checks and saves, involuntary movement, reading minds, and seeing through another target’s senses. You can only affect creatures of your same type (usually humanoid) unless you take the Expanded Charm talent. Advanced Talents include making a target undetectable to a specific creature, inducing permanent madness, creating a mental bond where the caster and subject treat each other as the same target for mental effects, and outright mind control.</p><p></p><p><strong>Combos:</strong> The Courage and Inspiration talents are great buffs for virtually any ally or build given the widely applicable bonuses to rolls. Mind Spy and Project Thoughts are good for scouting purposes by keeping contact between the caster and target, while Illusion spells that create false environments and objects can make requests of an enchanted target seem more reasonable if they fall for the illusion.</p><p></p><p><strong>Existing Comparisons:</strong> Naturally the School of Enchantment comes to mind! There’s an awful lot of highly similar talents to existing spells, even down to the names in the cases of Confusion, Enthrall, and Suggestion. The Mind sphere has a bit of a talent tax in that it can only affect one creature type by default, and its default range of 30 feet makes it rather short-range in comparison to some longer-range spells such as Confusion and Enthrall. The Lesser Charm versions are akin to nerfed versions of existing spells, with the Greater Charm versions akin to the default effects. But a few things the Mind sphere can do that the official spells can’t are potentially higher maximum ranges if supplemented with the Universal sphere’s Reaching talent, targets don’t automatically know that they’ve been charmed at the end of a talent’s duration, longer-duration Concentration versions of Command and Enthrall, a Sleep spell that is single-target by default but targets Wisdom rather than hit points, and a Powerful Charm version of Fear which can make affected targets unable to take actions. I also cannot find an equivalent spell to the Inspiration talent’s Greater and Powerful Charm versions, which grant +2d4 to an ability check or attack roll and allow the target to reroll the d20 and add the bonus in the case of Powerful.</p><p></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/OPtKrR8.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p>The <a href="http://spheres5e.wikidot.com/nature" target="_blank"><strong>Nature Sphere</strong></a> covers a very broad concept. Its two default abilities are geomancy, which manipulates surrounding elements of the environment, and spirit which buffs the caster with spiritual energy. Upon gaining access to Nature the caster chooses one of six packages corresponding to natural elements: Air, Earth, Fire, Metal, Plant, or Water. Each package grants 3 abilities, such as Water allowing the caster to generate fog, freeze liquids, and whirlpools, or Plant which causes an AoE entanglement via vegetation, spontaneously grow nourishing plants, and cause nearby plants to come to life and pummel targets within their reach. One can learn an additional package via a talent that can be taken multiple times.</p><p></p><p>Some (geomancy) talents require the caster to have an existing package in line with the favored element, while others have none but grant more abilities the more packages the caster already has. These talents include the ability to create a volume of material appropriate to their package, further manipulate elements such as sculpting stone and generating waves to push targets, reshaping metal equipment or chilling and heating them to dangerous temperatures, and creating hazardous terrain such as stone spikes and toxic air. The (spirit) talents are buffs that include allowing the caster to speak with animals and natural materials, a rechargeable breath weapon dealing damage appropriate to a possessed geomancy package, gaining resistance to appropriate damage types, alternative and easier means of movement such as airwalking and melding into solid objects, and creating weapon attacks such as a bramble burst from wooden weapons or summoned thrown icicles. Advanced Talents include making powerful natural phenomena such as earthquakes, eruptions of boiling water which rapidly cool to freezing temperatures, the ability to explode into fire and revive like a phoenix, and massive growth of plant life in a 1 mile radius.</p><p></p><p><strong>Combos:</strong> Destruction sphere talents which can Draw on Nature can be used in conjunction with Create Nature to supply the needed material, and is explicitly called out as an Augmented option. The Metal geomancy package and accompanying talents can be used to create and enhance metal weapons and armor. The limited visibility of various fog-like effects combine nicely with non-visual Divination (sense) talents. Air Mastery’s ability to breathe in and release gaseous effects can be used to move around Destruction sphere talents benefiting from the Cloud (blast shape). Forge Earth can be used to make walls and barriers thinner for easier passage for travel and divination-based abilities.</p><p></p><p><strong>Existing Comparisons:</strong> This sphere draws heavily from the Druid’s spell list, and attempts at holistically covering all those spells is beyond this review. One thing I will point out is that there’s no equivalent to the Goodberry spell. The Nourishment ability of the basic Plant geomancy package does a similar thing for physical sustenance, but they don’t restore hit points. The Speak with Beasts talent is similar to Speak with Animals, although it requires Concentration and cannot be cast as a ritual. The Chill Metal and Heat Metal talents are akin to the Heat Metal spell, although the talents have a lower damage cap (4d8 vs the core’s 9d8) but cost no Spell Points by default so can be used at-will. The Hazardous Terrain talent’s creation of spiky ice or rocks is akin to Spike Growth, although they cost no Spell Points by default, don’t require Concentration, and deal less damage (equal to caster’s level vs 2d4 per 5 feet) but act as caltrops so can decrease an affected target’s movement. The Wall of Stone spell is similar to Create Nature’s earth geomancy option, although it can create a larger area of effect which can become permanent, while Creature Nature’s duration is instantaneous so it’s “permanent” by default. Move Earth is similar to the Forge Earth talent and Manipulate Nature’s sculpt stone option, the latter of which targets smaller areas of effect and has shorter ranges but are instantaneous and not Concentration effects. The Earthquake talent is similar to the spell of the same name but doesn’t deal damage to structures in contact with the ground.</p><p></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/sveQ3nW.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p>The <a href="http://spheres5e.wikidot.com/protection" target="_blank"><strong>Protection Sphere</strong></a> provides options for casters to better defend themselves and their allies. The sphere provides three (technically two) basic sphere abilities. Aegis is a personal buff that is granted to a target and comes with a default option to replace a character’s AC with the caster’s Sphere DC; Succor is a long-range reaction-based sacrifice of an existing aegis to provide an immediate benefit; and Wards are cylindrical AoEs which provide a benefit to those within during its duration. Ward automatically comes with an existing option, Barrier, which creates a transparent cylindrical wall that can block attacks and movement from crossing. There are three talent tags named after each ability, but there’s a fourth (barrier) tag which improves the default Ward option. More than a few talents have two tags, most commonly (aegis) and (ward) and can be cast in either of those two ways.</p><p></p><p>(aegis) talents are versatile and range from granting energy resistance, the ability to survive without air, can exclude a number of targets equal to their Proficiency Bonus from AoE abilities, impose disadvantage on attack rolls directed to allies within 10 feet, resistance to nonmagical bludgeoning/piercing/slashing damage, and dealing psychic damage to those who harm the bearer. There’s only 2 (barrier) talents, one of which can reshape the barrier into a dome or sphere, and another that can shape it into flat vertical panels and the caster can restore hit points to a damaged barrier. (succor) talents include granting immediate resistance to an incoming attack, reroll a saving throw just rolled, and dealing psychic damage to an attacker (and can stack with the aegis version if the attacked party is benefiting from such a spell). (ward) talents include preventing those within from disguising or concealing themselves if they fail a Wisdom save, can exclude an element of a particular physical material, form of energy, or physical properties from entering into the ward on a failed failed Strength check, and a spell suppression field that prevents magical abilities from being used unless the user’s spellcasting ability check beats the spell/sphere DC. Advanced Talents grant Augmented versions of greater effects to existing talents, such as immunity to most environmental conditions and resistance to several energy types, an actual antimagic field, and making a target undetectable via divination magic.</p><p></p><p><strong>Combos:</strong> Friendship is useful for blaster-caster types who don’t want to worry about friendly fire. Guardian is good for tanks who want to impose penalties on creatures who choose to attack other targets. Barrier is good for herding enemies into a closed area to be affected by abilities that don’t require attacks to cross, such as coming from underneath. Obscurity and the Unplottable talents are good for roguish and scouting types, The Shield aegis acts as a normal shield, meaning that it can be enhanced via the Enhancement sphere’s Enhance Equipment talent and can benefit from Shield sphere talents from Spheres of Might.</p><p></p><p><strong>Existing Comparisons:</strong> Abjuration magic and spells which conjure walls are the most immediate comparisons. The default Armored aegis ability is similar to Mage Armor although it can have a potentially higher max AC depending on the caster’s Sphere DC. The Shield aegis is similar to Shield of Faith, although the Protection sphere has a much shorter touch range by default than SoF’s 60 feet. Peacebound is similar to Sanctuary save in that the talent does not allow for the option of the attacker choosing a new target, instead preventing them from doing harm at all on a failed save. Energy Resistance is like Protection from Energy except for a shorter initial duration and can be turned into a ward form rather than being single-target. Protected Health is similar to Protection from Poison in regards to advantage on saves and resistance, but neutralizing poison is better covered by the Life sphere. The Anti-Magic Aura talent is like Antimagic Field except that it has a lower minimum level to take (11th vs most core caster’s 15th) and a shorter duration by default unless lengthened via Universal’s Extend talent. Unplottable is similar to Nondetection, although it has a much higher minimum level than the core spell (15th vs 5th), the first time in this book we have a Sphere option being later-level than a core equivalent. Exclusion is akin to Antilife Shell but can cover a wider variety of creatures and materials. There’s no equivalent talents for Warding Bond or Shield.</p><p></p><p><strong>Thoughts So Far:</strong> A lot of these spheres have trade-offs both ways in comparison to core spells, albeit some of them are a bit more restrictive than previous entries. Mind’s talent tax to effect other creature types is rather punishing unless you’re just dipping in it for buffs to grant to fellow party members or you’re dedicated to being an enchanter. Life has a clear advantage in being cost-efficient in terms of consumable materials and being able to heal more maladies at lower levels, and Adrenaline Surge is pretty handy in that it makes healing mid-combat a more attractive option by effectively granting party members additional actions. Light is a bit of a hard sell given that the default sphere is akin to a single cantrip that may be of limited use in a Darkvision-heavy party, although it has some useful talents like the extradimensional-blocking Bound Light. Nature has many attractive options given the commonality of certain elements, although some packages may be more situational depending on the terrain type in an adventure unless one takes Create Nature. Protection seems to have the biggest downgrade on account of the non-Succor abilities being touch-range by default, and multi-targeting aegis abilities via the Mass talent will have a very short duration unless further Augmented by the Extend talent.</p><p></p><p><strong>Join us next time as we cover the rest of the spheres in this chapter and stat up Aang from Avatar: the Last Airbender!</strong></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Libertad, post: 8365904, member: 6750502"] [center][b]Chapter 4: Spheres, Part 3[/b][/center] [img]https://i.imgur.com/Kddh5Uf.png[/img] The [url=http://spheres5e.wikidot.com/life][b]Life Sphere[/b][/url] covers the healing arts, from hit points to negative status effects and various maladies. Life is notable for having three default sphere abilities: Cure heals 1d8 to 4d8 + Key Ability Modifier hit points for 1 Spell Point, Invigorate gives a creature temporary hit points equal to the caster’s proficiency bonus, and Restore ends or suppresses the blinded/deafened/paralyzed/poisoned conditions or one disease for 1 Spell Point. The sphere has no special tags, and the various talents enhance these three abilities in some shape. Talents include expanding the number of curable Conditions for Restore, Adrenaline Surge allows a target effected by a Life sphere ability to perform a reaction from a list of six choices (move up to speed, make an attack, stand from prone, etc), transferring cured diseases and conditions onto a nearby target, automatically diagnosing any conditions affecting a living creature with a bonus action, healing a greater number of HP at once ([5 x level] + KAM), and reviving a target who has been dead for no longer than 1 round at the cost of increasing their exhaustion. The four Advanced Talents include regenerating lost limbs, the ability to simultaneously cure all conditions affecting a target with one Augmented casting, and two that can resurrect creatures from the dead with Greater Resurrection having less restrictions. [b]Combos:[/b] As the default sphere effects are touch range, taking the Universal sphere’s Reaching talent allows one to heal at range. Adrenaline Surge is useful for granting allies additional attacks and movement, while the Universal sphere’s Contingency effect combined with a healing or resurrection spell can be useful in saving a character from a dire fate. [b]Existing Comparisons:[/b] The various healing spells are the most direct comparisons, particularly Cure Wounds, Lesser & Greater Restoration, and False Life for the default sphere effects. The Life sphere by default can emulate Cure Wounds and Lesser Restoration, the latter of which is a 2nd level spell, allowing a spherecaster to have a lower barrier for entry. Heal is similar to the Greater Healing talent, while Greater Restoration is akin to Restore Mind and Restore Movement talents, with Remove Curse closest to the Break Enchantment talent. Heal has a lower default amount it can restore at the level it’s attained by a Cleric (70 HP at 11th level vs Greater Healing’s 55 + KAM at 11th level), but Greater Healing can restore up to 100 HP + KAM whereas Heal can only do 90 hit points at most but also cures blindness, deafness, and disease at the same time. Detect Disease and Poison is closest to the Diagnose talent, but the latter can cover a wider variety of conditions and also is at-will given it has 0 Spell Point cost by default. Vancian casting edges out when it comes to granting temporary hit points, where False Life can give a maximum of 48 temporary hit points via a 9th level slot whereas the Life sphere can grant a maximum of 20 with the Greater Invigorate talent. However, False Life lasts for 1 hour, while Invigorate can be augmented to last until the next long rest. Additionally, there’s a talent which allows the spherecaster to heal undead and constructs, something the default healing spells cannot do. For Greater Restoration, the default spell requires 100 gp as a consumable material component, which is a point against its favor, although it is but a single spell while spherecasters wishing to emulate it closely will need to take 4 talents. The Resurrection talent functions a bit differently from the spell of the same name; it doesn’t require expensive material components, but it doesn’t neutralize any diseases or poisons afflicting the creature when it died, nor does it restore missing body parts. On the other hand, the caster doesn’t have disadvantage on d20 rolls until the next long rest. The True Resurrection talent requires no components but affects creatures who have been dead for 100 years rather than the core spell’s 200, and the disadvantage on d20 rolls is applied. The Resurrection and Greater Resurrection talents have prerequisites of 11th and 15th level, meaning that spherecasters learn them 2 levels earlier than core Clerics. Mass versions and multi-targeting via higher level spell slots can be emulated via the Universal sphere’s Mass talent (again a lower max amount but not as costly as high-level spell slots), although the only thing that the Life sphere cannot emulate is the Reincarnate spell. Which ironically can be done via the optional Wild Magic rules in the back of this book. [img]https://i.imgur.com/CO3rEvi.png[/img] The [url=http://spheres5e.wikidot.com/light][b]Light Sphere[/b][/url] focuses on creating and manipulating light. It has three default abilities: glow causes a creature or object to shed magical light, brighten increases the radius of a glowing object’s shed light, and lens is a personal buff/debuff that bends or alters light. (glow) talents apply various effects on objects and creatures glowing, such as granting them saves against the frightened condition, imposing a penalty on attack rolls and Perception checks (blind if Augmented), restraining a creature and prevent it from extradimensional travel if it can’t succeed on a casting ability check, transform into light to move through solid objects, make a creature appear larger which increases its reach and damage with weapon attacks (and it’s not Concentration which makes it great for buffing), and cause creatures to be fascinated by the glow or compelled to follow it on failed saving throws. (lens) talents include such options as allowing a creature to hide more easily, gain infravision, can spend a reaction once per round to impose disadvantage on an oncoming attack, and allow a target to see farther areas via 1-4 90 degree angles (see around corners basically). (nimbus) talents are 0 Spell Point augmentations which can make a glowing object shine differently, such as double or quadruple distance, in a cone area, or as a trail of light. The two Advanced Talents include the ability to extend a glow to a 2-5 mile radius, while the other allows a target to be in two places at once by splitting into refracted light and reappearing in one of the two areas on their next action or when they’re attacked. [b]Combos:[/b] Encompassing Light’s damage/reach increase goes well with sphere and spell abilities that increase size and therefore reach. Lure Light is good for getting creatures to walk into traps and ambushes set up by the party. Divination (sense) talents that allow a creature to rely upon non-visual senses are good ways for them to avoid harmful Light sphere abilities when in close proximity to affected enemies. Periscope’s ability to see around corners is great for ranged builds and abilities dependent upon line of sight. [b]Existing Comparisons:[/b] Dancing Lights, Daylight, Faerie Fire, and Light are the closest talents, with Pyrotechnics, Sacred Flame, and Sickening Radiance close to the more offensive talents. There’s no real ability to make Light sphere effects permanent like 5e’s Continual Light spell, while Color Spray and Sunbeam are best emulated via the Destruction sphere’s Radiant blast type given it can impose blindness along with the Chain Blast and Sculpt blast shape talent. Moonbeam has no real approximation; forcing a shapechanger to go back to their original form likely falls under the Dispel package of the Universal sphere. As for the Light sphere’s default effects, it has a much farther range of 120 feet vs the Light cantrip’s touch, although brighten and glow’s duration are much shorter and Concentration-based at 1 and 10 minutes respectively. There is a talent called Dancing Lights which allows the caster to not have to target a creature or object to make a glow effect, although the ability to form into a shiny humanoid is better emulated via the Illusion sphere. Sacred Flame has its closest equivalent with the Flare talent, although the latter can deal half damage to adjacent targets and can be augmented to affect multiple targets glowing if the Dual Light talent is possessed. Faerie Fire’s closest equivalent is the Guiding Light talent which grants advantage on attack rolls targeting the glowing creature, but to be multi-target the Mass talent of Universal will be necessary. Sickening Radiance’s damage and exhaustion is closest to the Sunstroke talent, albeit the latter deals much less damage and doesn’t make it impossible to be invisible unless used in conjunction with Revealing Light. Better means of dealing damage with exhaustion can be accomplished via Destruction's Draining or Scorching blast type talents, although they deal different damage types. Pyrotechnics’ blinding ability has its counterpart in Blinding Light, although the latter has a much larger affectible radius. Extradimensional travel blocking is perhaps the most unique talent; the closest core spell is Forbiddance, which takes a longer time to cast but covers a wider area and lasts longer. [img]https://i.imgur.com/H5uRVMS.png[/img] The [url=http://spheres5e.wikidot.com/mind][b]Mind Sphere[/b][/url] covers mental compulsions of all kinds. Its sole default ability involves placing a Charm on a creature, with a Spell Point cost based on its level of power: Lesser, Greater, and Powerful. Lesser charms cost nothing but those who succeed on a save cannot be affected again until the next long rest, while being able to access Powerful Charms requires a talent. There’s also a table of Requests ranging from “Very Simple” to “Against the Creature’s Nature” in determining how far one can push their charms. The only descriptive tag is (charm), talents which range from removing particular memories, making a subject regard the caster in a friendlier light, causing them to be Frightened, buffs that can grant bonuses to checks and saves, involuntary movement, reading minds, and seeing through another target’s senses. You can only affect creatures of your same type (usually humanoid) unless you take the Expanded Charm talent. Advanced Talents include making a target undetectable to a specific creature, inducing permanent madness, creating a mental bond where the caster and subject treat each other as the same target for mental effects, and outright mind control. [b]Combos:[/b] The Courage and Inspiration talents are great buffs for virtually any ally or build given the widely applicable bonuses to rolls. Mind Spy and Project Thoughts are good for scouting purposes by keeping contact between the caster and target, while Illusion spells that create false environments and objects can make requests of an enchanted target seem more reasonable if they fall for the illusion. [b]Existing Comparisons:[/b] Naturally the School of Enchantment comes to mind! There’s an awful lot of highly similar talents to existing spells, even down to the names in the cases of Confusion, Enthrall, and Suggestion. The Mind sphere has a bit of a talent tax in that it can only affect one creature type by default, and its default range of 30 feet makes it rather short-range in comparison to some longer-range spells such as Confusion and Enthrall. The Lesser Charm versions are akin to nerfed versions of existing spells, with the Greater Charm versions akin to the default effects. But a few things the Mind sphere can do that the official spells can’t are potentially higher maximum ranges if supplemented with the Universal sphere’s Reaching talent, targets don’t automatically know that they’ve been charmed at the end of a talent’s duration, longer-duration Concentration versions of Command and Enthrall, a Sleep spell that is single-target by default but targets Wisdom rather than hit points, and a Powerful Charm version of Fear which can make affected targets unable to take actions. I also cannot find an equivalent spell to the Inspiration talent’s Greater and Powerful Charm versions, which grant +2d4 to an ability check or attack roll and allow the target to reroll the d20 and add the bonus in the case of Powerful. [img]https://i.imgur.com/OPtKrR8.png[/img] The [url=http://spheres5e.wikidot.com/nature][b]Nature Sphere[/b][/url] covers a very broad concept. Its two default abilities are geomancy, which manipulates surrounding elements of the environment, and spirit which buffs the caster with spiritual energy. Upon gaining access to Nature the caster chooses one of six packages corresponding to natural elements: Air, Earth, Fire, Metal, Plant, or Water. Each package grants 3 abilities, such as Water allowing the caster to generate fog, freeze liquids, and whirlpools, or Plant which causes an AoE entanglement via vegetation, spontaneously grow nourishing plants, and cause nearby plants to come to life and pummel targets within their reach. One can learn an additional package via a talent that can be taken multiple times. Some (geomancy) talents require the caster to have an existing package in line with the favored element, while others have none but grant more abilities the more packages the caster already has. These talents include the ability to create a volume of material appropriate to their package, further manipulate elements such as sculpting stone and generating waves to push targets, reshaping metal equipment or chilling and heating them to dangerous temperatures, and creating hazardous terrain such as stone spikes and toxic air. The (spirit) talents are buffs that include allowing the caster to speak with animals and natural materials, a rechargeable breath weapon dealing damage appropriate to a possessed geomancy package, gaining resistance to appropriate damage types, alternative and easier means of movement such as airwalking and melding into solid objects, and creating weapon attacks such as a bramble burst from wooden weapons or summoned thrown icicles. Advanced Talents include making powerful natural phenomena such as earthquakes, eruptions of boiling water which rapidly cool to freezing temperatures, the ability to explode into fire and revive like a phoenix, and massive growth of plant life in a 1 mile radius. [b]Combos:[/b] Destruction sphere talents which can Draw on Nature can be used in conjunction with Create Nature to supply the needed material, and is explicitly called out as an Augmented option. The Metal geomancy package and accompanying talents can be used to create and enhance metal weapons and armor. The limited visibility of various fog-like effects combine nicely with non-visual Divination (sense) talents. Air Mastery’s ability to breathe in and release gaseous effects can be used to move around Destruction sphere talents benefiting from the Cloud (blast shape). Forge Earth can be used to make walls and barriers thinner for easier passage for travel and divination-based abilities. [b]Existing Comparisons:[/b] This sphere draws heavily from the Druid’s spell list, and attempts at holistically covering all those spells is beyond this review. One thing I will point out is that there’s no equivalent to the Goodberry spell. The Nourishment ability of the basic Plant geomancy package does a similar thing for physical sustenance, but they don’t restore hit points. The Speak with Beasts talent is similar to Speak with Animals, although it requires Concentration and cannot be cast as a ritual. The Chill Metal and Heat Metal talents are akin to the Heat Metal spell, although the talents have a lower damage cap (4d8 vs the core’s 9d8) but cost no Spell Points by default so can be used at-will. The Hazardous Terrain talent’s creation of spiky ice or rocks is akin to Spike Growth, although they cost no Spell Points by default, don’t require Concentration, and deal less damage (equal to caster’s level vs 2d4 per 5 feet) but act as caltrops so can decrease an affected target’s movement. The Wall of Stone spell is similar to Create Nature’s earth geomancy option, although it can create a larger area of effect which can become permanent, while Creature Nature’s duration is instantaneous so it’s “permanent” by default. Move Earth is similar to the Forge Earth talent and Manipulate Nature’s sculpt stone option, the latter of which targets smaller areas of effect and has shorter ranges but are instantaneous and not Concentration effects. The Earthquake talent is similar to the spell of the same name but doesn’t deal damage to structures in contact with the ground. [img]https://i.imgur.com/sveQ3nW.png[/img] The [url=http://spheres5e.wikidot.com/protection][b]Protection Sphere[/b][/url] provides options for casters to better defend themselves and their allies. The sphere provides three (technically two) basic sphere abilities. Aegis is a personal buff that is granted to a target and comes with a default option to replace a character’s AC with the caster’s Sphere DC; Succor is a long-range reaction-based sacrifice of an existing aegis to provide an immediate benefit; and Wards are cylindrical AoEs which provide a benefit to those within during its duration. Ward automatically comes with an existing option, Barrier, which creates a transparent cylindrical wall that can block attacks and movement from crossing. There are three talent tags named after each ability, but there’s a fourth (barrier) tag which improves the default Ward option. More than a few talents have two tags, most commonly (aegis) and (ward) and can be cast in either of those two ways. (aegis) talents are versatile and range from granting energy resistance, the ability to survive without air, can exclude a number of targets equal to their Proficiency Bonus from AoE abilities, impose disadvantage on attack rolls directed to allies within 10 feet, resistance to nonmagical bludgeoning/piercing/slashing damage, and dealing psychic damage to those who harm the bearer. There’s only 2 (barrier) talents, one of which can reshape the barrier into a dome or sphere, and another that can shape it into flat vertical panels and the caster can restore hit points to a damaged barrier. (succor) talents include granting immediate resistance to an incoming attack, reroll a saving throw just rolled, and dealing psychic damage to an attacker (and can stack with the aegis version if the attacked party is benefiting from such a spell). (ward) talents include preventing those within from disguising or concealing themselves if they fail a Wisdom save, can exclude an element of a particular physical material, form of energy, or physical properties from entering into the ward on a failed failed Strength check, and a spell suppression field that prevents magical abilities from being used unless the user’s spellcasting ability check beats the spell/sphere DC. Advanced Talents grant Augmented versions of greater effects to existing talents, such as immunity to most environmental conditions and resistance to several energy types, an actual antimagic field, and making a target undetectable via divination magic. [b]Combos:[/b] Friendship is useful for blaster-caster types who don’t want to worry about friendly fire. Guardian is good for tanks who want to impose penalties on creatures who choose to attack other targets. Barrier is good for herding enemies into a closed area to be affected by abilities that don’t require attacks to cross, such as coming from underneath. Obscurity and the Unplottable talents are good for roguish and scouting types, The Shield aegis acts as a normal shield, meaning that it can be enhanced via the Enhancement sphere’s Enhance Equipment talent and can benefit from Shield sphere talents from Spheres of Might. [b]Existing Comparisons:[/b] Abjuration magic and spells which conjure walls are the most immediate comparisons. The default Armored aegis ability is similar to Mage Armor although it can have a potentially higher max AC depending on the caster’s Sphere DC. The Shield aegis is similar to Shield of Faith, although the Protection sphere has a much shorter touch range by default than SoF’s 60 feet. Peacebound is similar to Sanctuary save in that the talent does not allow for the option of the attacker choosing a new target, instead preventing them from doing harm at all on a failed save. Energy Resistance is like Protection from Energy except for a shorter initial duration and can be turned into a ward form rather than being single-target. Protected Health is similar to Protection from Poison in regards to advantage on saves and resistance, but neutralizing poison is better covered by the Life sphere. The Anti-Magic Aura talent is like Antimagic Field except that it has a lower minimum level to take (11th vs most core caster’s 15th) and a shorter duration by default unless lengthened via Universal’s Extend talent. Unplottable is similar to Nondetection, although it has a much higher minimum level than the core spell (15th vs 5th), the first time in this book we have a Sphere option being later-level than a core equivalent. Exclusion is akin to Antilife Shell but can cover a wider variety of creatures and materials. There’s no equivalent talents for Warding Bond or Shield. [b]Thoughts So Far:[/b] A lot of these spheres have trade-offs both ways in comparison to core spells, albeit some of them are a bit more restrictive than previous entries. Mind’s talent tax to effect other creature types is rather punishing unless you’re just dipping in it for buffs to grant to fellow party members or you’re dedicated to being an enchanter. Life has a clear advantage in being cost-efficient in terms of consumable materials and being able to heal more maladies at lower levels, and Adrenaline Surge is pretty handy in that it makes healing mid-combat a more attractive option by effectively granting party members additional actions. Light is a bit of a hard sell given that the default sphere is akin to a single cantrip that may be of limited use in a Darkvision-heavy party, although it has some useful talents like the extradimensional-blocking Bound Light. Nature has many attractive options given the commonality of certain elements, although some packages may be more situational depending on the terrain type in an adventure unless one takes Create Nature. Protection seems to have the biggest downgrade on account of the non-Succor abilities being touch-range by default, and multi-targeting aegis abilities via the Mass talent will have a very short duration unless further Augmented by the Extend talent. [b]Join us next time as we cover the rest of the spheres in this chapter and stat up Aang from Avatar: the Last Airbender![/b] [/QUOTE]
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[Let's Read] Spheres of Power & Might for 5e
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