Character Creation Discussion Thread

[Saberfan]

On 1/14/2024 at 6:24 PM, DnD_Jedi said:

Thank you, I am glad to hear that.

That being said, you seem to have misunderstood my question again. I'm asking if abilities that debuff enemies to saves vs Destruction Blasts/Kinetic Blasts, or buffing the saves of those abilities. Can also apply to CMD/CMB for the Destruction Blasts/Kinetic Blasts that work on CMB and not saves? CMD already scales far, far faster than saves do, especially at the higher levels, and having these abilities will be rather necessary just to keep up, IMO.

Ah, my mistake. That depends on the specific abilities. Can you list the ones that you intend to take? There's no need to link them, as I've got a large chunk of the Spheres system memorized and the rest can be found with a quick search on the wiki.

On 1/15/2024 at 10:04 AM, DnD_Jedi said:

No, they had specifically been discussing a Sphere's Kineticist that links the Kineitcist's elements with other Spheres. The one I've found, however, is not something I find myself a fan of in the slightest (makes Kineticists Low Casters for no reason at all and nerfs Kinetic Blade hard). So I'll be sticking with just the Scion.

Edit: And now I've found there's an update of that very same homebrew to make it more balanced and focused. Can I play with this instead of the Scion?

Edit 2: Is the Tinker Sphere on the table at all? Specifically, I'm looking at the Augmentation: Spring Boots. Thanks to the build I've got, I have a very high Acrobatics check, and have abilities that make me jump further beyond just modifying my acrobatics check. So, I'm going to very quickly run into the limitation of not being able to jump further than my speed allows, and the Spring Boots Augmentation is, without a doubt, the more flavourful option to help me get past that little issue.

I'll give that homebrew a more thorough lookover when I get back later tonight. I can tell at a glance that it's not the one I had in mind, but I'm willing to look into it at the very least.

Is the Tinker Sphere a homebrew? I don't remember it and it's not on the wiki either, so it's either homebrew or one of the newest releases.

On 1/15/2024 at 11:39 AM, TheRedGoat said:

I don't know that I will try this, but I realized a dumb quirk about having multiclassing. Say I start out as Scholar//Blacksmith. At the next level up, I clearly can't take Hedgewitch on both sides, but I can take it on say the scholar side, and then on the blacksmith side I can take scholar at 2. Then for level three I can take Blacksmith 2 on the Scholar side, and hedgewitch 2 on the Blacksmith side. And as an aside to all of that, I could take features that needlessly stack saying each of those levels counts towards having a familiar, although I believe that does nothing here. That exact set up would only result in a 3rd level familiar, not a 6th level one.

 

Right?

The general rule in gestalt is that identical features don't stack when taken concurrently.

It's also generally a bad idea to make a particular class flip-flop between sides in gestalt, as it makes reverse-engineering things complicated.

2 hours ago, Sundust said:

Conjuration: is there a limit to the number or type of summons (or other "pets," like animal companions and familiars) we can have?

I started building my character and realized that I could have a healer, an alchemist, a crafter, and a beastly warrior all on demand, with little more than Extra Companion a few times. It's practically a whole character in 1 talent.

There isn't, at least to my knowledge from a system standpoint. That said, be aware that more pets means you're likely going to be making exponentially bigger posts when combat rolls around and will have more to manage on any maps we use.

[TheFred]

Extra Companion only gets you a pretty vanilla 7-8 HD toon with little else; for a gestalt game, they're likely to be way understatted without a lot more investment. Plenty of use for them, but not quite a whole extra char for one talent.

[namo]

1 hour ago, Saberfan said:

Is the Tinker Sphere a homebrew? I don't remember it and it's not on the wiki either, so it's either homebrew or one of the newest releases.

No, Tinker Sphere is not yet released, but will official Sphere content in the future. As I understand it, it's kind of a remake of the Tech sphere. (NB: I'm not the person who requested it.)

[DnD_Jedi]

10 hours ago, Saberfan said:

Ah, my mistake. That depends on the specific abilities. Can you list the ones that you intend to take? There's no need to link them, as I've got a large chunk of the Spheres system memorized and the rest can be found with a quick search on the wiki.

Air Blast is the Destructive Blast I intend to take, and then I'm looking at Cascade Failure in the Destruction Sphere, and Empty Infusion from the Infusion Talents in Other Options.

10 hours ago, Saberfan said:

I'll give that homebrew a more thorough lookover when I get back later tonight. I can tell at a glance that it's not the one I had in mind, but I'm willing to look into it at the very least.

Is the Tinker Sphere a homebrew? I don't remember it and it's not on the wiki either, so it's either homebrew or one of the newest releases.

Huh, I'm curious what you were thinking of then.

And the Tinker Sphere is, as namo said, to-be official content. The playtesting is finished, so it's just a matter of releasing it and putting it up on the Wiki. And its a remake of the Tech Sphere, designed to be both more setting agnostic, as well as less, problematic.

[Lamppost]

Cripes. I forgot how it can be a little intimidating to make a higher level character in spheres without knowing much more than the basics.

[Ulysses Dare]

A question regarding experience, do you anticipate the characters leveling up at some point? Or are they set at level nine for the duration of the campaign? Certain build choices don't make much sense if level ten will never happen.

Also, is customizing of magic items permitted? Such as adding new abilities?

Edited January 18 by Ulysses Dare (see edit history)

[Sundust]

Is it safe to assume that the Sphere Shaman operates off of casting modifier for hexes as well as spells?

 

The Sphere Witch includes the language: "Hexes A sphere witch’s hex DCs are equal to 10 + 1/2 class level + her casting ability modifier."

The Sphere Shaman includes no such language.

 

It can make a big difference, e.g., looking at the Lore Shaman's Benefit of Wisdom hex...

Edited January 19 by Sundust (see edit history)

[Saberfan]

On 1/17/2024 at 4:42 AM, DnD_Jedi said:

Air Blast is the Destructive Blast I intend to take, and then I'm looking at Cascade Failure in the Destruction Sphere, and Empty Infusion from the Infusion Talents in Other Options.

Huh, I'm curious what you were thinking of then.

And the Tinker Sphere is, as namo said, to-be official content. The playtesting is finished, so it's just a matter of releasing it and putting it up on the Wiki. And its a remake of the Tech Sphere, designed to be both more setting agnostic, as well as less, problematic.

Those options are fine for modifying Destructive Blast.

The Spheres Kineticist alternate class I was thinking about is quite a bit different. For starters, it's a modified version of Legendary Kineticist class. It also links your initial Element to a Sphere/Package and even covers the third-party Elements like Mind and Viscera. It has more in-depth Destructive Blast/Kinetic Blast interactions. It allows for Spell Points to be used to alleviate potential Burn with a few novel features tying to that mechanic. I only have a transcribed version of the homebrew that the creator sent me over Discord and I don't really feel comfortable sharing it myself without permission given that it's not my own homebrew, but I'll do some digging and see if I can get in contact with the creator to see if they would mind me doing so.

I will tentatively allow the Tinker Sphere, but any official changes or cuts to it down the road will need to be reflected in your character. Does that sound fair?

13 hours ago, Ulysses Dare said:

A question regarding experience, do you anticipate the characters leveling up at some point? Or are they set at level nine for the duration of the campaign? Certain build choices don't make much sense if level ten will never happen.

Also, is customizing of magic items permitted? Such as adding new abilities?

I foresee characters leveling after every contract or so, with the potential to go into epic level or mythic territory if the game goes on long enough. There is no XP track and we'll be using milestone leveling instead.

The customizing of magic items is permitted, yes.

6 hours ago, Sundust said:

Is it safe to assume that the Sphere Shaman operates off of casting modifier for hexes as well as spells?

 

The Sphere Witch includes the language: "Hexes A sphere witch’s hex DCs are equal to 10 + 1/2 class level + her casting ability modifier."

The Sphere Shaman includes no such language.

 

It can make a big difference, e.g., looking at the Lore Shaman's Benefit of Wisdom hex...

I've always ruled that it does because it doesn't really make sense otherwise.

[DnD_Jedi]

6 minutes ago, Saberfan said:

The Spheres Kineticist alternate class I was thinking about is quite a bit different. For starters, it's a modified version of Legendary Kineticist class. It also links your initial Element to a Sphere/Package and even covers the third-party Elements like Mind and Viscera. It has more in-depth Destructive Blast/Kinetic Blast interactions. It allows for Spell Points to be used to alleviate potential Burn with a few novel features tying to that mechanic. I only have a transcribed version of the homebrew that the creator sent me over Discord and I don't really feel comfortable sharing it myself without permission given that it's not my own homebrew, but I'll do some digging and see if I can get in contact with the creator to see if they would mind me doing so.

Huh, I see... I'll make my character with the current version I have. As it does link the Initial Element to a Sphere and does cover third-party Elements like Mind & Viscera. But the only way it alleviates potential Burn through Spell Points is the Arcane Buffer feature, which is what the Scion also had. So it does sound similar.

25 minutes ago, Saberfan said:

I will tentatively allow the Tinker Sphere, but any official changes or cuts to it down the road will need to be reflected in your character. Does that sound fair?

Sure. I only need a single talent from it, so its not a big deal.

[Saberfan]

40 minutes ago, DnD_Jedi said:

Huh, I see... I'll make my character with the current version I have. As it does link the Initial Element to a Sphere and does cover third-party Elements like Mind & Viscera. But the only way it alleviates potential Burn through Spell Points is the Arcane Buffer feature, which is what the Scion also had. So it does sound similar.

Sure. I only need a single talent from it, so its not a big deal.

It is similar enough, but the execution is quite a bit different. Still, I will tentatively allow that version while inquiring into the other version for you.

[Rudra]

Out of curiosity, will the members of the party meet for the first time ingame, or will the group be an already established one, with previous adventures together? or something else? looking at the(many!) apps i see some who appear recent recruits while others imply they have been realmwardens for some time.

the bane of kree background end with her signing the admission form, making her a fresh recruit, but if the party has already worked together i need to modify it a bit

[CraziFuzzy]

A little clarification/confirmation needed, as I'm looking to dip a toe into Spheres of Guile for the first time. There is no defined rule on how trading class skills for a trade tradition works with Gestalt - whether you trade the class skills from one class, or from both. The only precedent I can find is the way the spheres gestalt rules treat the similar thing for Spheres of Might, where you trade proficiencies for a martial tradition - in which case you trade BOTH class's proficiencies for the single martial tradition. I'm assuming the same would apply for Trade Traditions - trading away both class skill lists?

[Azerian Kelimon]

Hi everyone! I'm looking at making a character and I had a question that maybe someone could help clarify for me (doesn't have to be Saberfan, this is more to see if my understanding is correct than anything else). I'm looking at creating a 'gish' type hybrid, combining magic and might into a single harmonious style, and for obvious reasons thought to look at the Mageknight to start off, but am noticing that even Martial Mageknights seem to only get the usual 10 default talents at 20 that the base Mageknight gets. Doesn't this make the Mageknight flat out worse at...well, pretty much everything than just about every other 'gish' class, due to having to make two distinct foci work on half the talents an archetyped specialist on either side would get (like an Elemental Fist Striker, or a Crimson Dancer, or...you get the idea)? Am I missing any secret sauce that makes it an equally valid choice to other options that are trying to achieve similar goals of allowing you to play a magical warrior?

[Faeryl_]

Well, friend, there's one little thing you might've forgotten. This is a Gestalt game. You can have two classes for the price of one! So if you want a gishy character, pick magic on one side and martial on the other for maximum gish.

20 minutes ago, Azerian Kelimon said:

Hi everyone! I'm looking at making a character and I had a question that maybe someone could help clarify for me (doesn't have to be Saberfan, this is more to see if my understanding is correct than anything else). I'm looking at creating a 'gish' type hybrid, combining magic and might into a single harmonious style, and for obvious reasons thought to look at the Mageknight to start off, but am noticing that even Martial Mageknights seem to only get the usual 10 default talents at 20 that the base Mageknight gets. Doesn't this make the Mageknight flat out worse at...well, pretty much everything than just about every other 'gish' class, due to having to make two distinct foci work on half the talents an archetyped specialist on either side would get (like an Elemental Fist Striker, or a Crimson Dancer, or...you get the idea)? Am I missing any secret sauce that makes it an equally valid choice to other options that are trying to achieve similar goals of allowing you to play a magical warrior?

[Azerian Kelimon]

Oh, absolutely, but that's not really the concern. It's more about making sure I can spot what options are a trap and which ones aren't so I can build a character who does what I want them to do. Y'know, classic PF stuff. :P