Interest in 5e Spheres of Power (and Might)

[EDTA]

So I really like the Spheres of Power and Might systems by Drop Dead Studios. Very customizable, modular, just the sort of thing I generally dig and it's reasonably popular in Pathfinder ads here, with dedicated games popping up every so often.

 

DDS also made a Spheres system for 5e which, well, doesn't appear to be as popular as the Pathfinder version. But I think it's a really good adaptation of the rules, and even works really well with the framework of 5e in my opinion. A lot of the 'spheres-isms' get applied to things that were already present in 5e. They also redid some of the spheres and general talent themes and from what I've seen it all seems like it works, making for some interesting options.

 

But the problem as I said before is this system doesn't seem to be that popular. I sort of resigned myself to there not being any ads in the future until recently where there was a hint that maybe a GM was open to it in a game they were starting and it actually seemed to garner some interest. That game never materialized, but it got me thinking about 5e spheres again. Honestly, I don't know how easy the system is to pick up. I knew the Pathfinder version so the 5e version was intuitive and streamlined for me, but maybe it isn't if it's all new to you. In the past I heard arguments that sounded like some 5e fans didn't like the increased complexity it offers but honestly I don't think it's all that bad. More than most of 5e by itself sure, but not anything I think is excessive.

 

So that's where I'm at now, I wanted to see what the overall interest level was around here now, if it's something people would want to see a game or two for. I will start this discussion by saying I've run games in the past but I've also pretty much come to the realization that there is no part of running a game I enjoy. I'd only be looking to play, which I realize is the massive ask. Way more people would be interested trying a new system if you ran the games yourself, but honestly I don't see that happening.

 

That out of the way, the rules are freely available in a pretty nice wiki even. I've been looking at a few different third party RPG wikis lately and the DDS people do a better job at them than most. You can see it here: http://spheres5e.wikidot.com

[Faeryl_]

I was accepted into exactly one 5e spheres game several years back. It was the only one I ever saw. That game didn't even get off the ground once the GM seemed to ghost us after a couple of introductory posts. Alas, that is a danger present regardless of system. That said, I want to say that I, at least, am interested in the system. I could never run a game though, oh no. I can barely manage Pokemon Tabletop and Spheres5e is far more complicated than that. With luck, there will be someone out there that would consider running such a game.

[EDTA]

I suppose that was a little expected. Spheres seems complex so getting people to look deeper can be an ask. But really I think a lot of it is intuitive and maybe a little more complex but not all that complicated!

 

On the magic side of things, you basically have cantrips as base effects that you can scale up by spending a resource, spell points, the amount you can spend at a time capped by your proficiency bonus. That's wild to me, that they took and applied something that was already in 5e, applied a spheres concept to it, and the execution made perfect sense. Or how a lot of the dual sphere and common sphere themes on the magic side of things that got covered by feats or redundant talents are governed by a brand new Universal sphere since 5e spheres has both fewer feats and fewer talents than Pathfinder. And really the implementation makes me wonder why they didn't do that from the start in Pathfinder. Same with Destruction gaining new options as you take different base spheres.

 

On the martial side, you see that feat issues pop up a bit more because a lot of the base effects and scaling up winds up replicating feats from across the system. As someone who gets annoyed by the lackluster implementation of feats in 5e, this is definitely up my alley. And a lot of the emphasis on maneuvers draw on rules that already existed in the system, albeit sometimes optional ones from the DMG. But that's also really neat to me. As an adaptation, at least as far as I've dealt with it, it doesn't feel like trying to cram Spheres into a 5e shaped hole, it actually seems like thought was put into the translation. Sure there are probably some wrinkles, but I think it works and it's a shame it doesn't seem to be more popular.