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[Let's Read] Spheres of Power & Might for 5e
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<blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 8374293" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><p style="text-align: center"><strong>Chapter 4: Spheres, Part 2</strong></p><p></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/EjzbxLM.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p>The <a href="http://spheres5e.wikidot.com/berserker" target="_blank"><strong>Berserker Sphere</strong></a> is our next combat-heavy sphere. Its two base abilities include Adrenaline where one suffers a -2 AC for a round in order to gain the benefits of a buff, and Batter which is a Special Attack made with a melee or thrown weapon which “batters” a target to make them vulnerable to other Berserker talents. The former ability involves making use of (adrenaline) talents such as reducing all incoming damage by one’s proficiency bonus, increasing one’s land speed by 5-20 feet depending on level, and expending martial focus to reroll a missed weapon attack roll. The latter ability makes use of (exertion) talents which apply a debuff to a target* such as -1d4 on all attack rolls, being unable to take bonus actions/reactions on a failed CON save or stunned if already battered. There’s a lot of other untyped talents, such as Brutal Strike which takes the -5 attack/+10 damage of Great Weapon Master but extends it to any melee/thrown weapon when battering a target, Bloody Counter where the character lets a melee attack auto-hit them in exchange for performing a counterattack along with an (exertion) talent, and Deathless which grants advantage on all death saves and helps them recover faster when stabilized at 0 HP. Legendary Talents include using a weapon attack to tear a fabric in space-time to perform long-range teleportation in exchange for an exhaustion level, severing a target’s limb if critting and expending martial focus, and the ability to raise surrounding terrain and create holes when using the Shatter Earth talent.</p><p></p><p>*Shatter Earth, which turns surrounding squares into difficult terrain by shattering the ground instead of hitting a creature.</p><p></p><p>There is one Legendary Talent that leaves things unclear rules-wise. Spell Sunder only has a 5th level prerequisite and allows one to temporarily dispel ongoing spell effects on a target when attacking them. But it briefly references the Brutal Strike talent as part of the required action. As that talent is not a prerequisite, it begs the question of whether or not it is necessary in the use of Spell Sunder.</p><p></p><p><strong>Combos:</strong> The Fencing sphere’s Parry & Riposte can reduce an attack’s damage via your own weapon damage roll, so the +10 bonus from Brutal Strike can be very helpful for this if the GM rules that it can apply. Additionally, the -5 penalty can be further mitigated via the many ways of gaining advantage, and the Fencing sphere’s Fatal Thrust base ability can help even further in rerolling one of the advantage d20s. The Juggernaut (adrenaline) talent makes one immune to difficult terrain and movement-slowing effects, which lines up well with Athletics sphere talents that grant alternative movement speeds being treated as difficult terrain. Furthermore, Shatter Earth can affect stone or a softer material, while Athletics Terrain Glide can only move through dirt or loose soil; the former talent combined with Alter Terrain in making a 5 foot deep hole can thus bypass any hard surfaces in buildings and roads to tunnel underground if the climate allows for it. The Equipment sphere’s Throwing Mastery talent is useful in applying a boomerang effect to thrown weapon attacks so you don’t have to waste actions drawing new weapons after the throw. The Atavism Legendary Talent lets one be treated as their original creature type or Beast for beneficial effects such as Beast Bond. A fellow PC with the Beastmastery sphere’s Bronco Buster talent can treat the Berserker-user as a mount and let them gain the benefits of (ride) talents. A few Legendary Talents in the Wrestling sphere have the Shatter Earth talent as a prerequisite.</p><p></p><p><strong>Existing Comparisons:</strong> The two benefits of Great Weapon Master exist as separate talents with wider applications beyond that feat’s Heavy quality prerequisite. The Mobile feat and Ranger’s Land Stride can allow one to move normally through difficult terrain, albeit under different circumstances than the Juggernaut talent. The Destruction sphere’s Slowing blast type talent has a similar action negation/stun effect as the Heavy Swing talent. The Great Destroyer talent’s double damage to and advantage on breaking objects is actually the same as the Siege Monster monster quality, although the talent’s advantage part is an added bonus. The Battlemaster Fighter’s Sweeping Attack is similar to Reaper’s Momentum in granting a cleavelike bonus attack on another target, although Battlemaster just does one additional attack while Reaper’s is potentially unlimited albeit at the cost of a hefty -5 penalty to all attack rolls.</p><p></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/PUeLOdY.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p>The <a href="http://spheres5e.wikidot.com/brute" target="_blank"><strong>Brute Sphere</strong></a> is the other “strong guy” offensive sphere, centering around the use of shove and overrun actions. It grants proficiency in the Athletics skill (or +1 talent if already proficient) and its base ability allows one to move a shoved target even further by a number of feet equal to the result they failed by and also suffering bludgeoning damage. (manhandle) talents are added effects on top of shoving, such as imposing disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks for 1 round on a failed CON save, reducing their movement speed to 0 on a failed DEX save, immediately making a second shove to push them even further, or being able to perform a follow-up disarm (and a Scoundrel’s trick talent if applicable) or grapple check. Untagged talents include being able to shove a creature into another target and make a free shove attempt to knock them prone, can shove a target as a bonus action whenever you damage them with a melee weapon, a temporary “surge of strength” which grants several possible benefits in exchange for later exhaustion, and dealing an additional 1d6 bludgeoning damage for every 5 feet a shoved target would otherwise move when they collide with a wall, large object, or other creature that halts their shoved movement. The Legendary Talents include a bunch of non-shoving related “super strength” effects, such clapping one’s hand to generate an AoE burst dealing thunder damage, stomping the ground to create an AoE effect to knock nearby targets prone, and a (manhandle) talent which can temporarily throw a target into the Ethereal Plane.</p><p></p><p><strong>Combos:</strong> As shove and overrun attempts rely upon the Athletics skill, the Athletics sphere’s Mighty Conditioning allows one to substitute Dexterity for a Brute focused build. The Scholar’s Physics Study similarly lets them substitute their Key Ability Modifier for uses of shoving, grappling, and Brute sphere effects. The Perpetual Motion applying a second shove attempt combined with Hammer can add up to a lot of d6s when slamming a foe into a wall or similar solid structure. Muscular Surge’s effective size increase can work well with the grappling-focused Wrestling sphere, while the Conscript’s Brawler subclass can further enhance one’s effective size category. Get Over Here specifically calls out the use of various “tether” style abilities from Spheres of Power as well as Athletic’s Rope Swing talent in regards to applying shove attempts to tethered creatures. The Robbery (manhandle) talent lets one apply a Scoundrel sphere (trick) talent when stealing from a shoved target. The Dropkick talent’s jump-based movement can benefit from talents which increase movement and jump distance such as Athletic’s Polearm Vault and Brute’s own Muscular Surge. A huge amount of other spheres have talents that relate to shoving: Barrage’s Mixed Barrage, Beastmastery’s Mounted Maneuvers, Dual Wielding’s Combo Maneuvers and High-Low Combination, Equipment’s Versatile Shield, Gladiator’s Boast base ability and several talents (Exemplar, Cow Enemy, Daunting, Derision), Guardian’s Guardians Focus, Leadership’s Opportunistic Teamwork, Shield’s Smashing Counter, Warleader’s Deadly Herdsman, and Wrestling’s Ground Game.</p><p></p><p><strong>Existing Comparisons:</strong> As far as I can tell the vast majority of the Brute sphere is original content, and from what I could find in the official rules the only subclasses and feats that make reference specifically to shoving in the triggering of special abilities is the PHB’s Shield Master whose equivalent was covered by Equipment’s Versatile Shield talent. The Battlemaster’s Pushing Attack sounds like it’d qualify as a similarity, but it’s not actually a shove in terms of game mechanics even though it performs pretty much the same result.</p><p></p><p>It’s not a 5e option, but back during 3rd Edition there was a popular Fighter subclass known as the Dungeoncrasher. Its major class feature gave some rather massive damage bonuses when the Fighter pushed foes into walls and other solid structures, and I see a lot of its inspiration in the Hammer talent.</p><p></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/GxutAvj.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p>The <a href="http://spheres5e.wikidot.com/dual-wielding" target="_blank"><strong>Dual Wielding Sphere</strong></a> covers two-weapon fighting both melee and ranged. It grants three base abilities: can expend your martial focus to make an off-hand attack without needing to spend a bonus action, +1 to AC when wielding a separate melee weapon in each hand, and can draw or stow two one-handed weapons at once. Its (dual-wield) talents grant added effects to one’s offhand attack, such as substituting an attack for a grapple, shove, or Help action, not provoking opportunity attacks from damaged creatures for 1 turn, and making an additional attack provided that attack targets a different creature. Other talents include being able to have both wielded weapons deal the same damage die and type if so desired, able to two-weapon fighting with non-light weapons, and expending martial focus to shove a creature if both the main and offhand attacks hit. The two Legendary Talents include doing an AoE spin attack against all foes within 15 feet <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdyFfD2lInQ" target="_blank">and the ability to wield a third weapon in a mouth or a third prehensile limb if possessed.</a></p><p></p><p><strong>Combos:</strong> The Two-Weapon Fighting Fighting Style is great when paired with this sphere in granting bonus damage to the offhand attack, something the Dual Wielding sphere doesn’t grant oddly enough. Combo Maneuvers and High-Low Combination work well with the Brute sphere, while Perfect Set-Up is good for the Fencing sphere’s (feint) talents and Fatal Thrust ability given its granting of the Help action. Dancing Display’s negation of opportunity attacks is good when paired with Athletics’ Dizzying Tumble given it requires moving away from a hostile creature. The Shield sphere’s Guarded Stance treats a held weapon as a shield, allowing one to make use of that sphere’s core ability and talents when dual-wielding. Furthermore, Dual-Wielding’s Focusing Defense and Shield’s Reactive Defense both rely on taking the Dodge action, and the former’s AC bonus makes it more likely for the latter’s ability to trigger. A weapon benefiting from an unorthodox damage type via a magic property or spell enhancement can apply this benefit to another held weapon courtesy of Asynchronous Swing.</p><p></p><p>Finally, Dual Wielding is great for builds reliant upon making many attacks. The base ability lets one make an off-hand attack via no action by expending martial focus. The Greater Focus feat and the Conscript’s Master of Combat class feature grant additional independently-maintained martial focuses, while Extra Attack, Action Surge (from either the Fighter or the Alter Ego’s Hero Persona), a Haste effect from the spell of the same name or the Time sphere’s Adjusted Frequency, and the bonus action attack from Barrage’s Barrage ability, the Equipment sphere’s Hand Crossbow Mastery, a Scimitar of Speed magic item, or even just a regular two-weapon fighting offhand attack (on top of the expended martial focus’ no-actions) can add up to a lot of attacks per round.</p><p></p><p><strong>Existing Comparisons:</strong> Two of Dual Wielding’s base abilities and one talent copied the Dual Wielder feat benefits from the Player’s Handbook. Besides that, there’s not many other official feats, subclasses, and spells that specifically make reference to offhand attacks that I know of. The Dancing Display opportunity attack-negating talent is similar to the Swashbuckler Rogue’s Fancy Footwork class feature, although that feature merely involves making a melee attack with no other bells or whistles.</p><p></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/vtLlmnQ.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p>The <a href="http://spheres5e.wikidot.com/fencing" target="_blank"><strong>Fencing Sphere</strong></a> focuses on nimble maneuvers to set up enemies for debilitating strikes. Its core abilities include Fatal Thrust which allows one to reroll one of the d20 rolls for melee attacks made with advantage, and Feint where you can choose to grant the Help action to yourself and thus gain advantage on the next attack roll made. Using Help in giving someone (including yourself) an attack roll advantage is called a “feint” which (exploit) talents require but apply only to your own attacks. However, these talents don’t require that they be made with melee attacks; only Fatal Thrust specifically calls this out, so you can totally “Help yourself” when using a ranged weapon and apply an (exploit).</p><p></p><p>(exploit) talents center around various debuffs, such as making the target lose the ability to make opportunity attacks for 1 round, falling prone on a failed DEX save, moving them 5 feet to a different space within reach, or expending martial focus to blind an opponent for 1 minute or until they spend an Action to unblind themselves. Untagged talents include being able to feint as a bonus action, a “blade bind” which grapples the target but allows them to also break free if they drop the held weapon beyond the usual means of countering grapples, expending martial focus to parry a melee attack by reducing its damage by an amount equal to your weapon damage roll, and treating one’s melee reach as 5 feet more but suffering -2 penalty on attacks vs adjacent targets. Legendary Talents include the ability to parry ranged and spell attacks, an (exploit) that can temporarily increase a target’s exhaustion level and stack with itself, a “vacuum cut” which increases a melee attack’s reach by 30 feet, and a more advanced “vacuum slice” that instead targets all opponents in a 30 foot line.</p><p></p><p><strong>Combos:</strong> Expert Feint reducing a feint to a bonus action is helpful for Conscript Knaves and Rogues given it grants them an easy means of applying Sneak Attack. The Conscript Warrior’s Reckless attack grants advantage on attacks and thus opens up the use of (exploit) talents. The attack penalties for Berserker’s Brutal Strike and Sniper’s Deadly Shot talents can be mitigated via Feints and Fatal Thrust in the case of Brutal Strike. The opportunity attack negation by Distracting Blades works similarly to Dual-Wielding’s Dancing Display in regards to using abilities such as Athletic’s Dizzying Tumble. The movement reduction on Leg Slash can combine nicely with similar effects such as Alchemy’s Alchemical Ice and Paralytic Venom, Barrage’s Suppressing Fire, Berserker’s Leg-Smasher and Sever, Dual-Wielding’s Dizzying Combination, and the Time sphere’s Adjusted Frequency or Destruction’s Slowing blast type. Lunge’s reach increase goes nicely with Equipment’s Polearm Guard and the Guardian sphere’s Patrol package in regards to triggering opportunity attacks from farther away along with some close-range battlefield control. Berserker’s Brutal Strike damage bonus can be helpful if allowed to be added to Parry and Riposte: the latter talent doesn’t require an attack roll, so while +10 damage reduction may seem a bit powerful it can only apply to a target that’s been battered if ruled in such a way. Traitorous Blade’s bonus action attack with a disarmed weapon can synergize with Dual Wielding if made as an offhand attack. Bind Weapon’s grappling effect can synergize with the Wrestling sphere, particularly (slam) talents. Dual-Wielding’s Perfect Set-Up lets one use the Help action in place of an off-hand attack and can be used for opening up an (exploit) use.</p><p></p><p><strong>Existing Comparisons:</strong> Fencing’s Footwork talent is similar to Athletics’ Tumbling Recovery, although the former can only be triggered on a reaction while the latter can trigger on a bonus action but requires one to drop prone in order to use. The few talents that involve disarming a target are similar to the Battlemaster’s Disarming Attack maneuver, although that one merely disarms and adds bonus damage, while Fencing’s talents do other things instead of damage such as a blade bind grapple or catching and then attacking with that weapon. The Battlemaster’s Feinting Attack and Lunging Attack also do similar things to Fencing sphere abilities, although the former maneuver only works on creatures within 5 feet and the latter only applies to one attack made that turn.</p><p></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/TBaM3xf.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p>The <a href="http://spheres5e.wikidot.com/gladiator" target="_blank"><strong>Gladiator Sphere</strong></a> makes use of psychological tricks in demoralizing one’s foes and instilling confidence in oneself and one’s allies. The default abilities are Boast and Demoralize. The former triggers as a reaction whenever the character crits, KOs, or grapples/shoves a hostile creature, and comes with a base (boast) ability that grants oneself advantage on their next attack roll or contested ability check. The latter is an action that imposes the Frightened condition on a target within 30 feet who fails a CHA save or a bonus action if martial focus is expended. (boast) talents provide new boasts the character can make, such as forcing a foe to choose a new target or waste a hostile action on a failed WIS save until the start of your next turn, allowing nearby allies to hide even when observed by calling attention to yourself, and letting nearby allies make new saving throws against ongoing effects. (demoralize) talents allow for new uses and additions to the base ability, such as performing as a bonus action with no martial focus expending when damaging/grappling/shoving an enemy, using it as a reaction when critting/KOing a foe, and targeting additional foes at once. (fear) are talents which apply only to targets already Frightened of the character, granting advantage on attack rolls or provoking opportunity attacks when the Frightend target fails an attack/grapple/shove attempt. There’s many untagged talents, such as new means of performing boasts and doubling the range of Boast and Demoralize. Legendary Talents include Frightening hostile opponents within 30 feet if they fail a WIS save (no action required), automatically critting vs frightened enemies with a CR less than one’s proficiency bonus, and expending martial focus to ignore a target’s immunity to the frightened condition (albeit they save with advantage).</p><p></p><p><strong>Combos:</strong> As many talents rely upon shoves and grapples, Gladiator goes well with talents from the Brute and Wrestling spheres. Alchemy’s Frightening Hallucinogen, Barroom’s Menacing Belch, Retribution’s Terrifying Hook and Violent Pressure, Warleader sphere’s Frightful Roar, and Wrestling’s Grandstanding Slam provide other means of applying the Frightened condition and thus (fear) talent effects. For Spheres of Power, Conjuration’s Frightful Presence, Dark’s Fearful Darkness, Death’s Frightful reanimate talent, Destruction’s Fire and Frightful blast type talents, Illusion’s Illusionary Obstruction, and Mind’s Fear talents also grant the Frightened condition. The Distracting Display Boast is useful for Sneak Attackers, possessors of the Scout sphere, and others who require hiding from one’s opponents in order to maximize their potential. Two or more characters with the Menace talent and/or the Destruction sphere’s Confining blast type can more effectively box in a target and/or force them into an ideal direction of movement.</p><p></p><p><strong>Existing Comparisons:</strong> The Battlemaster’s Menacing Attack is similar in imposing the Frightened condition on a target via a damaging attack, although Gladiator provides a wider means of doing so. The Berserker Barbarian’s Intimidating Presence can also do this, having very similar wording to the Demoralize ability albeit Gladiator doesn’t end if line of sight or distance limits are broken a successful save doesn’t negate further uses of Demoralize to that same creature. There are other frighten effects such as the Archfey Warlock’s Fey Presence or the Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer’s capstone ability, but those are usually rest-based and target an AoE effect for targets (which the Aura of Fear Legendary Talent can also do and at a lower level than the Sorcerer). The reaction-based boasts have some rather open-ended buffs which make it hard to directly trace specific official spells and features for them.</p><p></p><p><strong>Thoughts So Far:</strong> The Berserker sphere feels a bit like a Barbarian But Not Quite in its focus on powerful strikes and direct offense. It is a bit of a heavy talent investment for the offensive side of things, as the only talent granted for free is an (adrenaline) one rather than the more offensive (exertion) choices. There’s a few talents which grant a boon when a target’s reduced to 0 HP, particularly the martial focus restoration one, which in comparison to similar choices in other spheres is going to be relatively rarer unless you’re fighting low-HP mooks a lot, while the -5 attack talents are risky propositions unless you have means of gaining easy advantage. Additionally Shatter Earth seems a popular prerequisite for other Legendary Talents, but given that it doesn’t trigger when hitting a foe and its affected squares are rather few it doesn’t really feel worth using when there are spells which can cover a wider AoE like Destruction’s Physical blast type combined with the right blast shape talents. It’s for these reasons that Berserker ranks relatively low for me.</p><p></p><p>I like Brute more in the fact that it has a good amount of debuff and battlefield control options for brawny fighter types, and the super-strength Legendary Talents are pretty cool. It has a lot of synergy with other spheres given how common the shove maneuver is in Spheres of Might, and I can see a lot of characters taking Follow-Through to knock around enemies when attacking them. I’m a bit mum on Dual-Wielding: the major focus on offhand weapon attacks is a bit unfortunate when such attacks don’t add ability modifiers to damage, so I feel that most people taking this sphere are going to select classes granting access to the Two-Weapon Fighting Style in order to make up for this which is rather limiting for the otherwise open-ended Spheres system. Fencing has a surprising amount of applicability to builds besides finesseable quick fighters as one would presume, which makes me rate it highly. Gladiator is another one that rates rather low for me. The triggers for Boast means that one needs to specialize in shoves and grapples to make it occur more often unless one invests in talent taxes that also allow one to boast when succeeding on saving throws or when an attack/grapple/shove misses the character. While the (boast) talents include various useful effects, it does push one into making use of Brute and/or Wrestling sphere talents to be useful. As for Demoralize, while there’s a Legendary Talent which bypasses this, <a href="https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/163369/which-conditions-are-the-most-monsters-immune-to-and-which-are-the-fewest-immun" target="_blank">the Frightened condition is one of the more common ones for monsters to be immune to, on par with Charmed and only less common than Poisoned.</a> On the other hand, while one of its talents grants proficiency (or double proficiency if already proficient) in Intimidate, I do like how the (demoralize) and (fear) talents mean that a character doesn’t need the Intimidate skill or even a high Charisma to instill fear and dread in their opponents.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Libertad, post: 8374293, member: 6750502"] [center][b]Chapter 4: Spheres, Part 2[/b][/center] [img]https://i.imgur.com/EjzbxLM.png[/img] The [url=http://spheres5e.wikidot.com/berserker][b]Berserker Sphere[/b][/url] is our next combat-heavy sphere. Its two base abilities include Adrenaline where one suffers a -2 AC for a round in order to gain the benefits of a buff, and Batter which is a Special Attack made with a melee or thrown weapon which “batters” a target to make them vulnerable to other Berserker talents. The former ability involves making use of (adrenaline) talents such as reducing all incoming damage by one’s proficiency bonus, increasing one’s land speed by 5-20 feet depending on level, and expending martial focus to reroll a missed weapon attack roll. The latter ability makes use of (exertion) talents which apply a debuff to a target* such as -1d4 on all attack rolls, being unable to take bonus actions/reactions on a failed CON save or stunned if already battered. There’s a lot of other untyped talents, such as Brutal Strike which takes the -5 attack/+10 damage of Great Weapon Master but extends it to any melee/thrown weapon when battering a target, Bloody Counter where the character lets a melee attack auto-hit them in exchange for performing a counterattack along with an (exertion) talent, and Deathless which grants advantage on all death saves and helps them recover faster when stabilized at 0 HP. Legendary Talents include using a weapon attack to tear a fabric in space-time to perform long-range teleportation in exchange for an exhaustion level, severing a target’s limb if critting and expending martial focus, and the ability to raise surrounding terrain and create holes when using the Shatter Earth talent. *Shatter Earth, which turns surrounding squares into difficult terrain by shattering the ground instead of hitting a creature. There is one Legendary Talent that leaves things unclear rules-wise. Spell Sunder only has a 5th level prerequisite and allows one to temporarily dispel ongoing spell effects on a target when attacking them. But it briefly references the Brutal Strike talent as part of the required action. As that talent is not a prerequisite, it begs the question of whether or not it is necessary in the use of Spell Sunder. [b]Combos:[/b] The Fencing sphere’s Parry & Riposte can reduce an attack’s damage via your own weapon damage roll, so the +10 bonus from Brutal Strike can be very helpful for this if the GM rules that it can apply. Additionally, the -5 penalty can be further mitigated via the many ways of gaining advantage, and the Fencing sphere’s Fatal Thrust base ability can help even further in rerolling one of the advantage d20s. The Juggernaut (adrenaline) talent makes one immune to difficult terrain and movement-slowing effects, which lines up well with Athletics sphere talents that grant alternative movement speeds being treated as difficult terrain. Furthermore, Shatter Earth can affect stone or a softer material, while Athletics Terrain Glide can only move through dirt or loose soil; the former talent combined with Alter Terrain in making a 5 foot deep hole can thus bypass any hard surfaces in buildings and roads to tunnel underground if the climate allows for it. The Equipment sphere’s Throwing Mastery talent is useful in applying a boomerang effect to thrown weapon attacks so you don’t have to waste actions drawing new weapons after the throw. The Atavism Legendary Talent lets one be treated as their original creature type or Beast for beneficial effects such as Beast Bond. A fellow PC with the Beastmastery sphere’s Bronco Buster talent can treat the Berserker-user as a mount and let them gain the benefits of (ride) talents. A few Legendary Talents in the Wrestling sphere have the Shatter Earth talent as a prerequisite. [b]Existing Comparisons:[/b] The two benefits of Great Weapon Master exist as separate talents with wider applications beyond that feat’s Heavy quality prerequisite. The Mobile feat and Ranger’s Land Stride can allow one to move normally through difficult terrain, albeit under different circumstances than the Juggernaut talent. The Destruction sphere’s Slowing blast type talent has a similar action negation/stun effect as the Heavy Swing talent. The Great Destroyer talent’s double damage to and advantage on breaking objects is actually the same as the Siege Monster monster quality, although the talent’s advantage part is an added bonus. The Battlemaster Fighter’s Sweeping Attack is similar to Reaper’s Momentum in granting a cleavelike bonus attack on another target, although Battlemaster just does one additional attack while Reaper’s is potentially unlimited albeit at the cost of a hefty -5 penalty to all attack rolls. [img]https://i.imgur.com/PUeLOdY.png[/img] The [url=http://spheres5e.wikidot.com/brute][b]Brute Sphere[/b][/url] is the other “strong guy” offensive sphere, centering around the use of shove and overrun actions. It grants proficiency in the Athletics skill (or +1 talent if already proficient) and its base ability allows one to move a shoved target even further by a number of feet equal to the result they failed by and also suffering bludgeoning damage. (manhandle) talents are added effects on top of shoving, such as imposing disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks for 1 round on a failed CON save, reducing their movement speed to 0 on a failed DEX save, immediately making a second shove to push them even further, or being able to perform a follow-up disarm (and a Scoundrel’s trick talent if applicable) or grapple check. Untagged talents include being able to shove a creature into another target and make a free shove attempt to knock them prone, can shove a target as a bonus action whenever you damage them with a melee weapon, a temporary “surge of strength” which grants several possible benefits in exchange for later exhaustion, and dealing an additional 1d6 bludgeoning damage for every 5 feet a shoved target would otherwise move when they collide with a wall, large object, or other creature that halts their shoved movement. The Legendary Talents include a bunch of non-shoving related “super strength” effects, such clapping one’s hand to generate an AoE burst dealing thunder damage, stomping the ground to create an AoE effect to knock nearby targets prone, and a (manhandle) talent which can temporarily throw a target into the Ethereal Plane. [b]Combos:[/b] As shove and overrun attempts rely upon the Athletics skill, the Athletics sphere’s Mighty Conditioning allows one to substitute Dexterity for a Brute focused build. The Scholar’s Physics Study similarly lets them substitute their Key Ability Modifier for uses of shoving, grappling, and Brute sphere effects. The Perpetual Motion applying a second shove attempt combined with Hammer can add up to a lot of d6s when slamming a foe into a wall or similar solid structure. Muscular Surge’s effective size increase can work well with the grappling-focused Wrestling sphere, while the Conscript’s Brawler subclass can further enhance one’s effective size category. Get Over Here specifically calls out the use of various “tether” style abilities from Spheres of Power as well as Athletic’s Rope Swing talent in regards to applying shove attempts to tethered creatures. The Robbery (manhandle) talent lets one apply a Scoundrel sphere (trick) talent when stealing from a shoved target. The Dropkick talent’s jump-based movement can benefit from talents which increase movement and jump distance such as Athletic’s Polearm Vault and Brute’s own Muscular Surge. A huge amount of other spheres have talents that relate to shoving: Barrage’s Mixed Barrage, Beastmastery’s Mounted Maneuvers, Dual Wielding’s Combo Maneuvers and High-Low Combination, Equipment’s Versatile Shield, Gladiator’s Boast base ability and several talents (Exemplar, Cow Enemy, Daunting, Derision), Guardian’s Guardians Focus, Leadership’s Opportunistic Teamwork, Shield’s Smashing Counter, Warleader’s Deadly Herdsman, and Wrestling’s Ground Game. [b]Existing Comparisons:[/b] As far as I can tell the vast majority of the Brute sphere is original content, and from what I could find in the official rules the only subclasses and feats that make reference specifically to shoving in the triggering of special abilities is the PHB’s Shield Master whose equivalent was covered by Equipment’s Versatile Shield talent. The Battlemaster’s Pushing Attack sounds like it’d qualify as a similarity, but it’s not actually a shove in terms of game mechanics even though it performs pretty much the same result. It’s not a 5e option, but back during 3rd Edition there was a popular Fighter subclass known as the Dungeoncrasher. Its major class feature gave some rather massive damage bonuses when the Fighter pushed foes into walls and other solid structures, and I see a lot of its inspiration in the Hammer talent. [img]https://i.imgur.com/GxutAvj.png[/img] The [url=http://spheres5e.wikidot.com/dual-wielding][b]Dual Wielding Sphere[/b][/url] covers two-weapon fighting both melee and ranged. It grants three base abilities: can expend your martial focus to make an off-hand attack without needing to spend a bonus action, +1 to AC when wielding a separate melee weapon in each hand, and can draw or stow two one-handed weapons at once. Its (dual-wield) talents grant added effects to one’s offhand attack, such as substituting an attack for a grapple, shove, or Help action, not provoking opportunity attacks from damaged creatures for 1 turn, and making an additional attack provided that attack targets a different creature. Other talents include being able to have both wielded weapons deal the same damage die and type if so desired, able to two-weapon fighting with non-light weapons, and expending martial focus to shove a creature if both the main and offhand attacks hit. The two Legendary Talents include doing an AoE spin attack against all foes within 15 feet [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdyFfD2lInQ]and the ability to wield a third weapon in a mouth or a third prehensile limb if possessed.[/url] [b]Combos:[/b] The Two-Weapon Fighting Fighting Style is great when paired with this sphere in granting bonus damage to the offhand attack, something the Dual Wielding sphere doesn’t grant oddly enough. Combo Maneuvers and High-Low Combination work well with the Brute sphere, while Perfect Set-Up is good for the Fencing sphere’s (feint) talents and Fatal Thrust ability given its granting of the Help action. Dancing Display’s negation of opportunity attacks is good when paired with Athletics’ Dizzying Tumble given it requires moving away from a hostile creature. The Shield sphere’s Guarded Stance treats a held weapon as a shield, allowing one to make use of that sphere’s core ability and talents when dual-wielding. Furthermore, Dual-Wielding’s Focusing Defense and Shield’s Reactive Defense both rely on taking the Dodge action, and the former’s AC bonus makes it more likely for the latter’s ability to trigger. A weapon benefiting from an unorthodox damage type via a magic property or spell enhancement can apply this benefit to another held weapon courtesy of Asynchronous Swing. Finally, Dual Wielding is great for builds reliant upon making many attacks. The base ability lets one make an off-hand attack via no action by expending martial focus. The Greater Focus feat and the Conscript’s Master of Combat class feature grant additional independently-maintained martial focuses, while Extra Attack, Action Surge (from either the Fighter or the Alter Ego’s Hero Persona), a Haste effect from the spell of the same name or the Time sphere’s Adjusted Frequency, and the bonus action attack from Barrage’s Barrage ability, the Equipment sphere’s Hand Crossbow Mastery, a Scimitar of Speed magic item, or even just a regular two-weapon fighting offhand attack (on top of the expended martial focus’ no-actions) can add up to a lot of attacks per round. [b]Existing Comparisons:[/b] Two of Dual Wielding’s base abilities and one talent copied the Dual Wielder feat benefits from the Player’s Handbook. Besides that, there’s not many other official feats, subclasses, and spells that specifically make reference to offhand attacks that I know of. The Dancing Display opportunity attack-negating talent is similar to the Swashbuckler Rogue’s Fancy Footwork class feature, although that feature merely involves making a melee attack with no other bells or whistles. [img]https://i.imgur.com/vtLlmnQ.png[/img] The [url=http://spheres5e.wikidot.com/fencing][b]Fencing Sphere[/b][/url] focuses on nimble maneuvers to set up enemies for debilitating strikes. Its core abilities include Fatal Thrust which allows one to reroll one of the d20 rolls for melee attacks made with advantage, and Feint where you can choose to grant the Help action to yourself and thus gain advantage on the next attack roll made. Using Help in giving someone (including yourself) an attack roll advantage is called a “feint” which (exploit) talents require but apply only to your own attacks. However, these talents don’t require that they be made with melee attacks; only Fatal Thrust specifically calls this out, so you can totally “Help yourself” when using a ranged weapon and apply an (exploit). (exploit) talents center around various debuffs, such as making the target lose the ability to make opportunity attacks for 1 round, falling prone on a failed DEX save, moving them 5 feet to a different space within reach, or expending martial focus to blind an opponent for 1 minute or until they spend an Action to unblind themselves. Untagged talents include being able to feint as a bonus action, a “blade bind” which grapples the target but allows them to also break free if they drop the held weapon beyond the usual means of countering grapples, expending martial focus to parry a melee attack by reducing its damage by an amount equal to your weapon damage roll, and treating one’s melee reach as 5 feet more but suffering -2 penalty on attacks vs adjacent targets. Legendary Talents include the ability to parry ranged and spell attacks, an (exploit) that can temporarily increase a target’s exhaustion level and stack with itself, a “vacuum cut” which increases a melee attack’s reach by 30 feet, and a more advanced “vacuum slice” that instead targets all opponents in a 30 foot line. [b]Combos:[/b] Expert Feint reducing a feint to a bonus action is helpful for Conscript Knaves and Rogues given it grants them an easy means of applying Sneak Attack. The Conscript Warrior’s Reckless attack grants advantage on attacks and thus opens up the use of (exploit) talents. The attack penalties for Berserker’s Brutal Strike and Sniper’s Deadly Shot talents can be mitigated via Feints and Fatal Thrust in the case of Brutal Strike. The opportunity attack negation by Distracting Blades works similarly to Dual-Wielding’s Dancing Display in regards to using abilities such as Athletic’s Dizzying Tumble. The movement reduction on Leg Slash can combine nicely with similar effects such as Alchemy’s Alchemical Ice and Paralytic Venom, Barrage’s Suppressing Fire, Berserker’s Leg-Smasher and Sever, Dual-Wielding’s Dizzying Combination, and the Time sphere’s Adjusted Frequency or Destruction’s Slowing blast type. Lunge’s reach increase goes nicely with Equipment’s Polearm Guard and the Guardian sphere’s Patrol package in regards to triggering opportunity attacks from farther away along with some close-range battlefield control. Berserker’s Brutal Strike damage bonus can be helpful if allowed to be added to Parry and Riposte: the latter talent doesn’t require an attack roll, so while +10 damage reduction may seem a bit powerful it can only apply to a target that’s been battered if ruled in such a way. Traitorous Blade’s bonus action attack with a disarmed weapon can synergize with Dual Wielding if made as an offhand attack. Bind Weapon’s grappling effect can synergize with the Wrestling sphere, particularly (slam) talents. Dual-Wielding’s Perfect Set-Up lets one use the Help action in place of an off-hand attack and can be used for opening up an (exploit) use. [b]Existing Comparisons:[/b] Fencing’s Footwork talent is similar to Athletics’ Tumbling Recovery, although the former can only be triggered on a reaction while the latter can trigger on a bonus action but requires one to drop prone in order to use. The few talents that involve disarming a target are similar to the Battlemaster’s Disarming Attack maneuver, although that one merely disarms and adds bonus damage, while Fencing’s talents do other things instead of damage such as a blade bind grapple or catching and then attacking with that weapon. The Battlemaster’s Feinting Attack and Lunging Attack also do similar things to Fencing sphere abilities, although the former maneuver only works on creatures within 5 feet and the latter only applies to one attack made that turn. [img]https://i.imgur.com/TBaM3xf.png[/img] The [url=http://spheres5e.wikidot.com/gladiator][b]Gladiator Sphere[/b][/url] makes use of psychological tricks in demoralizing one’s foes and instilling confidence in oneself and one’s allies. The default abilities are Boast and Demoralize. The former triggers as a reaction whenever the character crits, KOs, or grapples/shoves a hostile creature, and comes with a base (boast) ability that grants oneself advantage on their next attack roll or contested ability check. The latter is an action that imposes the Frightened condition on a target within 30 feet who fails a CHA save or a bonus action if martial focus is expended. (boast) talents provide new boasts the character can make, such as forcing a foe to choose a new target or waste a hostile action on a failed WIS save until the start of your next turn, allowing nearby allies to hide even when observed by calling attention to yourself, and letting nearby allies make new saving throws against ongoing effects. (demoralize) talents allow for new uses and additions to the base ability, such as performing as a bonus action with no martial focus expending when damaging/grappling/shoving an enemy, using it as a reaction when critting/KOing a foe, and targeting additional foes at once. (fear) are talents which apply only to targets already Frightened of the character, granting advantage on attack rolls or provoking opportunity attacks when the Frightend target fails an attack/grapple/shove attempt. There’s many untagged talents, such as new means of performing boasts and doubling the range of Boast and Demoralize. Legendary Talents include Frightening hostile opponents within 30 feet if they fail a WIS save (no action required), automatically critting vs frightened enemies with a CR less than one’s proficiency bonus, and expending martial focus to ignore a target’s immunity to the frightened condition (albeit they save with advantage). [b]Combos:[/b] As many talents rely upon shoves and grapples, Gladiator goes well with talents from the Brute and Wrestling spheres. Alchemy’s Frightening Hallucinogen, Barroom’s Menacing Belch, Retribution’s Terrifying Hook and Violent Pressure, Warleader sphere’s Frightful Roar, and Wrestling’s Grandstanding Slam provide other means of applying the Frightened condition and thus (fear) talent effects. For Spheres of Power, Conjuration’s Frightful Presence, Dark’s Fearful Darkness, Death’s Frightful reanimate talent, Destruction’s Fire and Frightful blast type talents, Illusion’s Illusionary Obstruction, and Mind’s Fear talents also grant the Frightened condition. The Distracting Display Boast is useful for Sneak Attackers, possessors of the Scout sphere, and others who require hiding from one’s opponents in order to maximize their potential. Two or more characters with the Menace talent and/or the Destruction sphere’s Confining blast type can more effectively box in a target and/or force them into an ideal direction of movement. [b]Existing Comparisons:[/b] The Battlemaster’s Menacing Attack is similar in imposing the Frightened condition on a target via a damaging attack, although Gladiator provides a wider means of doing so. The Berserker Barbarian’s Intimidating Presence can also do this, having very similar wording to the Demoralize ability albeit Gladiator doesn’t end if line of sight or distance limits are broken a successful save doesn’t negate further uses of Demoralize to that same creature. There are other frighten effects such as the Archfey Warlock’s Fey Presence or the Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer’s capstone ability, but those are usually rest-based and target an AoE effect for targets (which the Aura of Fear Legendary Talent can also do and at a lower level than the Sorcerer). The reaction-based boasts have some rather open-ended buffs which make it hard to directly trace specific official spells and features for them. [b]Thoughts So Far:[/b] The Berserker sphere feels a bit like a Barbarian But Not Quite in its focus on powerful strikes and direct offense. It is a bit of a heavy talent investment for the offensive side of things, as the only talent granted for free is an (adrenaline) one rather than the more offensive (exertion) choices. There’s a few talents which grant a boon when a target’s reduced to 0 HP, particularly the martial focus restoration one, which in comparison to similar choices in other spheres is going to be relatively rarer unless you’re fighting low-HP mooks a lot, while the -5 attack talents are risky propositions unless you have means of gaining easy advantage. Additionally Shatter Earth seems a popular prerequisite for other Legendary Talents, but given that it doesn’t trigger when hitting a foe and its affected squares are rather few it doesn’t really feel worth using when there are spells which can cover a wider AoE like Destruction’s Physical blast type combined with the right blast shape talents. It’s for these reasons that Berserker ranks relatively low for me. I like Brute more in the fact that it has a good amount of debuff and battlefield control options for brawny fighter types, and the super-strength Legendary Talents are pretty cool. It has a lot of synergy with other spheres given how common the shove maneuver is in Spheres of Might, and I can see a lot of characters taking Follow-Through to knock around enemies when attacking them. I’m a bit mum on Dual-Wielding: the major focus on offhand weapon attacks is a bit unfortunate when such attacks don’t add ability modifiers to damage, so I feel that most people taking this sphere are going to select classes granting access to the Two-Weapon Fighting Style in order to make up for this which is rather limiting for the otherwise open-ended Spheres system. Fencing has a surprising amount of applicability to builds besides finesseable quick fighters as one would presume, which makes me rate it highly. Gladiator is another one that rates rather low for me. The triggers for Boast means that one needs to specialize in shoves and grapples to make it occur more often unless one invests in talent taxes that also allow one to boast when succeeding on saving throws or when an attack/grapple/shove misses the character. While the (boast) talents include various useful effects, it does push one into making use of Brute and/or Wrestling sphere talents to be useful. As for Demoralize, while there’s a Legendary Talent which bypasses this, [url=https://rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/163369/which-conditions-are-the-most-monsters-immune-to-and-which-are-the-fewest-immun]the Frightened condition is one of the more common ones for monsters to be immune to, on par with Charmed and only less common than Poisoned.[/url] On the other hand, while one of its talents grants proficiency (or double proficiency if already proficient) in Intimidate, I do like how the (demoralize) and (fear) talents mean that a character doesn’t need the Intimidate skill or even a high Charisma to instill fear and dread in their opponents. [/QUOTE]
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