History TabletopGame / SpheresOfPower

** The Studied Scout feat combines the Scout sphere ability with the base game Investigator's Study Foe ability for doubly-awesome analysis.

* BadassBookworm: The Scholar class relies on using its intelligence as a combat power through such things as alchemy and AwesomenessByAnalysis.

** ''Spheres of Guile'' will continue the trend, with talents based around making plans, talking really well (Communication and Bluster), getting into areas you shouldn't (Subterfuge and Infiltration), or gathering non-magical herbs (Herbology). Only Spellhacking is magic-adjacent, and that's more about using existing magic items in unusual ways rather than having innate magical powers.

* HeWhoFightsMonsters: A literal case in the Reaper class. They choose a favored enemy at level 1 — dragons, lycanthropes, undead, magical beasts, or aberrations with the base class; constructs or magic-users with archetypes — and then slowly gain traits, physical and mental, from that enemy type as they gain levels. At level 20, they must choose whether to fully surrender their humanity to gain the monster's type and more monstrous powers, or reassert their humanity and lose all their monstrous powers in exchange for fast healing, five feats, and immunity to certain effects. The archetypes don't get a choice: machine cultists fully become constructs whether they want to or not, magekillers become living zones of null magic.

** Spheres of Guile drawbacks let you swap out the associated skills for some spheres as well, letting you Investigate with Heal checks instead of Sense Motive, pick and use herbs with Profession (chef) instead of (herbalist), or survive in the wilderness with Profession (architect) instead of Survival, among others.

* PsychicLink: Achieved via the Project Thoughts and Read Thoughts talents from the Mind sphere.
** The Communication sphere essentially lets you perform a mundane version of this.

* TheRedMage: It's easy enough to invest equally in the Destruction and Life sphere to both harm and heal. (The Life sphere by itself can be used to deal damage with the Affliction talent, but you still need Destruction for the full range of elemental magic that the Red Mage is known for)

** ''Legends of the Spheres'' introduces the Theorist class, a Power/Guile combo with powerful spellcasting, but the central theme of the class is using the Study sphere to develop "models" of the world and adding bonus dice to rolls involving those models (Morality model lets you increase concentration checks, Social model buffs Charisma, Mathematical model increases attack rolls, etc).

* MagicMusic / MusicalAssassin: The Skilled Casting (Perform) drawback can let you play one of these.

** The Blood sphere has the Gory Armaments talent, letting a spherecaster create weapons out of their own blood [[CastFromHitPoints at the cost of some of their health]]. There's an archetype of Armorist that lets them use Gory Armaments more easily than other Blood sphere casters.

** There's many ''Spheres of Power'' classes that don't get armor options by default, including Incanter, Fey Adept, Soul Weaver, and Symbiat (though Symbiat does get d8 HD and a monk-like AC bonus that scales with Intelligence and level).

** ''Legends of the Spheres'', the book that gives rules for interactions between Power, Might, and Guile, introduces the Theorist class, a Power/Guile class with powerful spellcasting, but the central theme of the class is using the Study sphere to develop "models" of the world and adding bonus dice to rolls involving those models (Morality model lets you increase concentration checks, Social model buffs Charisma, Mathematical model increases attack rolls, etc).

* CastFromHitPoints: While not literally, the Draining Casting drawback deals unhealable nonlethal damage to you each time you spend spell points (whether on sphere abilities or class abilities). Only a good night's rest can restore those lost hit points.
* CatGirl: ''The Catgirl's Handbook'' is a bunch of new abilities for catgirls...and everyone else; many of the abilities just have punny cat names.

** {{Downplayed}} but present among the new classes the game introduces. The Armorist and Mageknight have the best fighting skills but the worst casting abilities (though they have their own magical abilities), in contrast with the SquishyWizard classes (Incanter, Fey Adept, and Soul Weaver) that have full casting but bad close-combat abilities. The rest of the ''Spheres of Power'' classes are either somewhere in between (Hedgewitch, Eliciter, Symbiat), or the Thaumaturge (which mixes things up: the high casting power of the squishy wizards, the bad talent gain of the fighters, and the average attack bonus and hit points of the in-between classes)

** The Tech sphere uses vaguely-defined "charges" (which can be magical with the [[MagiTek Mana Engineering]] Drawback) to power its devices. The later technological sphere Tinker (not to be confused with the 5e Tinkerer sphere) adds equally-vaguely-defined "batteries" in place of charges.

** One can see multiple examples of Red Mages from Franchise/FinalFantasy, including the Elementalist's nature as a midcaster with decent martial capabilities and its artwork consisting of a crimson clad, rapier wielding mage(with a particular resemblence to Genesis from VideoGame/CrisisCore) or the Prodigy and its potential to use multiple sphere effects per turn while having a jack of all trades bent. However, nowhere is it more apparent than in the new Crimson Dancer, at least aesthetically, with the crimson hat, coat and rapier. It's also not that hard to make a Red Mage given the right class and sphere combinations. Elementalist and Hedgewitch, both 3/4 combat 3/4 caster level classes with options for combat sphere talents, are particularly suited to the Red Mage lifestyle.

* SpontaneousWeaponCreation: The specialty of the Armorist class, in two flavors: bound equipment, which is set once chosen and can't be easily changed, and summoned equipment, which is flexible but not as powerful. They can also conjure InstantArmor and spellcasting implements as bound or summoned equipment.

** The Leadership and Beastmastery spheres are (per WordOfGod) intended as non-magical equivalents in the ''Spheres of Might'' system, though Tech sphere drones can also be used as non-magical equivalents.

* TrapMaster: The Trap sphere allows you to make dart and snare traps out of random scraps more or less at will, with little setup and no cost.

** There's also a feat called Transformation, which lets you pick almost any Alteration base form (fluffed as any animal - or plant creature - you want) and turn into it at will, even if you don't have the Alteration sphere. [[HalfHumanHybrid Hybrid Transformation]] is an upgrade.

** The Shifter class, as its name suggests, is entirely based around this. (Not to be confused with the first-party class of the same name, which is ''also'' based around this)

** In addition to the general Verbal Casting drawback (which requires that you speak loudly and clearly in order to cast spells), The Fate sphere has a category of talents explicitly called (word), and the Fey Adept archetype Word Witch gives up the base class's ability to manipulate shadowstuff for the ability to literally turn words like "Fire" and "Lightning" into blasts of the corresponding element. (Oddly, the Word Witch has no particular affinity for (word) talents other than being full casters)
** In ''Guile'', Envoys have an ability called Weakening Words, which deals up to 5d10+Charisma damage just from talking to the opponent, and if the Envoy has "influence" over the target, the damage scales even higher (up to 8d10+Charisma). This damage is normally non-lethal, but can be converted to lethal sonic damage with the Howling Words flair.

** ''Spheres of Guile'' adds Skill Leverage to the pile, which lets you improve skill checks in various ways.

** The Diagram Magic casting drawback is a reference to the magic syatem of ''Manga/FullMetalAlchemist'', and the Prepared Diagram drawback feat, which allows you to place a pre-made and reusable diagram on gloves, tattoos, rings, etc., is a reference to characters in that series who have pre-drawn and reusable alchemy circles (like Roy Mustang's gloves).

* WordsCanBreakMyBones: In addition to the general Verbal Casting drawback (which requires that you speak loudly and clearly in order to cast spells), The Fate sphere has a category of talents explicitly called (word), and the Fey Adept archetype Word Witch gives up the base class's ability to manipulate shadowstuff for the ability to literally turn words like "Fire" and "Lightning" into blasts of the corresponding element. (Oddly, the Word Witch has no particular affinity for (word) talents other than being full casters)

** The Darkness Defender archetype for Sentinel is named for and based on Darkness from ''LightNovel/{{Konosuba}}''.

A series of {{Sourcebook}}s for 1st Edition ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' by Drop Dead Studios, ''Spheres of Power'' started out as an alternate magic system that attempted to avert LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards. Rather than use VancianMagic, it treats magic more like a TechTree. This prevents the [[TierInducedScrappy Clerics, Druids, and Wizards]] from being [[MasterOfAll all powerful]], as there are only a limited amount of points to invest. It also makes a balance between the various magical classes by having magical skill (shown via caster level) be inverse to martial skill (base attack bonus); High Casters are {{Squishy Wizard}}s with the best bonus to magic, but usually the worst to physical combat. Low Casters are {{Magic Knight}}s with the best at martial skill and specialized magical abilities, but are far behind the curve on regular spellcasting. Meanwhile, Mid Casters get to be JackOfAllStats, having equal martial and magical ability.

** The Electrokinetic archetype for Elementalists has a fair bit of ''Manga/ACertainScientificRailgun'' to it.

A third system, ''Spheres of Guile'', based around skill rolls and social settings (but still combat-capable if required) had a [[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/adammeyers/spheres-of-guile-and-ultimate-engineering successful Kickstarter in early 2022]], with playtesting beginning shortly after the Kickstarter ended, and looking to end in October or November 2022. Spheres include things like Investigation (based around Perception and Sense Motive), Bluster (based around Bluff and Intimidate), and Vocation (which gives additional class skills), with fifteen spheres in all.

A third system, ''Spheres of Guile'', based around skill rolls and social settings (but still combat-capable if required) had a [[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/adammeyers/spheres-of-guile-and-ultimate-engineering successful Kickstarter in early 2022]], with playtesting beginning shortly after the Kickstarter ended. Spheres include things like Investigation (based around Perception and Sense Motive), Bluster (based around Bluff and Intimidate), and Vocation (which gives additional class skills), and a dozen others.

''Spheres of Origin'' is a similarly-named but less-expansive race-building system, with only three spheres and a lot of suggested DM oversight.

** In 2020, they released ''The Jester's Handbook'', which introduced new — and, again, actually legitimately useful — talents for every sphere, combat and magical (including Bear) that were all based on bad puns, silly ideas, or both (like the new Blood sphere talent Hemo Goblin, which summons a goblin made of blood that relentlessly attacks the person whose blood it was made from for 24 hours; or the new Fencing sphere talent Expert Fence, which lets you build a "metaphorical fence" out of nothing that actually blocks attacks; or the Beastmastery legendary talent [[Literature/{{Narnia}} Lions and Wardrobes]] that lets you turn your animal companion into [[https://imgur.com/r/gametales/tAV3wHl Sir Bearington]]). It also has one category of talent that doesn't yet exist (Extraordinary Talent) for a sphere that doesn't yet exist (Communication sphere), as a preview for future content. [[note]]This turned out to be for ''Spheres of Guile'', with Extraordinary talents being the Guile equivalent of Advanced and Legendary talents.[[/note]]

** The Scholar class and the Alchemy sphere allow someone to partially replicate the feats of the Alchemist. However, the Alchemist uses magic to empower his bombs and extracts, while ''Spheres of Might'' alchemy is pure science.
** ''Spheres of Guile'' will continue the trend, with talents based around making plans, talking really well (Communication and Bluster), or gathering non-magical herbs (Herbology). Only Spellhacking is magic-adjacent, and that's more about using existing magic items in unusual ways rather than having innate magical powers.

* CastFromHitPoints: While not literally, the Draining Casting drawback deals unhealable nonlethal damage to you each time you spend spell points (whether on sphere abilities or class abilities).
* CatGirl: ''The Catgirl's Handbook'' is a bunch of new abilities for catgirls...and everyone else; most of the abilities just have punny cat names.

** On the ''Spheres of Might'' side, Scholars can do this with the Lead or Silver martial impositions; if they have both, they can do a Greater Dispel.

** Another Armorst archetype, the Symbiotic Knight, is basically ComicBook/{{Venom}}.
** The Harmacist archetype for Scholar has a few oblique references to [=GLaDOS=], particularly the Deadly Nightblade knack and its neurotoxin. (Though the name is also an indirect reference to ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing's'' Deadly Lampblade effect)

** One can see multiple examples of Red Mages from Franchise/FinalFantasy, including the Elementalist's nature as a midcaster with decent martial capabilities and its artwork consisting of a crimson clad, rapier wielding mage(with a particular resemblence to Genesis from VideoGame/CrisisCore) or the Prodigy and its potential to use multiple sphere effects per turn while having a jack of all trades bent. However, nowhere is it more apparent than in the new Crimson Dancer, at least aesthetically, with the crimson hat, coat and rapier. It's also not that hard to make a Red Mage given the right class and sphere combinations.

* SoulPower: The Soul Weaver class, who commands spirits and can use them to conjure and empower undead.

* SpontaneousWeaponCreation: The speciality of the Armorist class, in two flavors: bound equipment, which is set once chosen and can't be easily changed, and summoned equipment, which is flexible but not as powerful. They can also conjure InstantArmor and spellcasting implements as bound or summoned equipment.
* SquishyWizard: There's many ''Spheres of Power'' classes that don't get armor options by default, including Incanter, Fey Adept, Soul Weaver, and Symbiat, but ''Spheres of Might'' adds a ''non-magical'' squishy wizard: the Scholar, who has the same low hit points and base attack attack bonus as the full spellcasting classes, and whose main class abilities are small single-target explosives called flashbangs that can be created at will (and enhanced with other abilities), and non-magical healing skills. Like all Might classes, they can wear light armor by default and can get heavier armor proficiency through talents, but with their low HP and lack of class-based defenses, they're better off at range. That said, with the right Knacks, the Scholar can also learn magic talents, subverting the subversion.
* SummonMagic: The whole point of the Conjuration Sphere, which summons companions similar to summoner eidolons to fight alongside the caster. The Leadership and Beastmastery spheres are (per WordOfGod) intended as non-magical equivalents in the ''Spheres of Might'' system, though Tech sphere drones can also be used as non-magical equivalents.

A series of {{Sourcebook}}s for 1st Edition ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' by Drop Dead Studios, Spheres of Power started out as an alternate magic system that attempted to avert LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards. Rather than use VancianMagic, it treats magic more like a TechTree. This prevents the [[TierInducedScrappy Clerics, Druids, and Wizards]] from being [[MasterOfAll all powerful]], as there are only a limited amount of points to invest. It also makes a balance between the various magical classes by having magical skill (shown via caster level) be inverse to martial skill (base attack bonus); High Casters are {{Squishy Wizard}}s with the best bonus to magic, but usually the worst to physical combat. Low Casters are {{Magic Knight}}s with the best at martial skill and specialized magical abilities, but are far behind the curve on regular spellcasting. Meanwhile, Mid Casters get to be JackOfAllStats, having equal martial and magical ability.

Drop Dead Studios also plans to expand the Sphere system into 2nd Edition ''Pathfinder'' and 5th Edition ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''. The 5th Edition Spheres (nicknamed "5pheres") Kickstarter, which includes both Power and Might, reached its goal in less than 24 hours, and the books were released on March 3, 2021. The system is somewhat simplified because 5th Edition has fewer moving parts than Pathfinder, but the spirit is there. Spheres of Guile will also be expanded to 5th Edition after its release for Pathfinder, and the intention is to release all three for Pathfinder 2e simultaneously.

** In 2020, they released ''The Jester's Handbook'', which introduced new — and, again, actually legitimately useful — talents for every sphere, combat and magical (including Bear) that were all based on bad puns, silly ideas, or both (like the new Blood sphere talent Hemo Goblin, which summons a goblin made of blood that relentlessly attacks the person whose blood it was made from for 24 hours; or the new Fencing sphere talent Expert Fence, which lets you build a "metaphorical fence" out of nothing that actually blocks attacks; or the Beastmastery legendary talent [[Literature/{{Narnia}} Lions and Wardrobes]] that lets you turn your animal companion into [[https://imgur.com/r/gametales/tAV3wHl Sir Bearington]]). It also has one category of talent that doesn't yet exist (Extraordinary Talent) for a sphere that doesn't yet exist (Communication sphere), as a preview for future content.

** The base Scouting function of the Scout sphere is essentially this. Analyze an opponent to learn their strengths and weaknesses (up to twice per round - Knowledge as a free action, Perception as a swift action). Other Scout talents let you learn even more about Scouted targets (up to and including their ''game statistics''), provide buffs, or eventually let you read the target's mind.

** ''Spheres of Guile'' will continue the trend, with talents based around making plans, talking really well (Communication and Bluster), or gathering non-magical herbs (Herbology). Only Spellhacking is magic-adjascent, and that's more about using existing magic items in unusual ways rather than having innate magical powers.

* BlackMage: The Elementalist, or anyone that invests into the Destruction sphere.

* TheBlacksmith: The Blacksmith class from Spheres of Might. They're something of a SupportPartyMember, with persistent buffs granted through equipment maintenance and techniques for [[WreckedWeapon sundering enemy gear]]. At the same time, they also make for excellent front-liners due to having high hit dice and full base attack progression (like Fighters) and full combat talent progression, using Constitution as a power stat, and having abilities designed to wreck opponents' armor (including natural armor).

** On the Spheres of Might side, Scholars can do this with the Lead or Silver martial impositions; if they have both, they can do a Greater Dispel.

** The Destruction sphere's destructive blast, especially with the Destructive Touch drawback, or Energy Strike plus an unarmed attack.

** The base Warp ability lets you teleport short distance, and the Quick Teleport lets you attack immediately afterward.

* HelicopterPack: One of the Technician's possible inventions.

** The Elemontalist is an Elementalist archetype (from the Jester's Handbook) based on attacking with lemon juice. "Elemontalists are proud warriors of the citric arts, drawing powerful and refreshing might from the most powerful of scurvy deterrents."

* MagicallyIneptFighter: {{Downplayed}} but present among the new classes the game introduces. The Armorist and Mageknight have the best fighting skills but the worst casting abilities (though they have their own magical abilities), in contrast with the SquishyWizard classes (Incanter, Fey Adept, and Soul Weaver) that have full casting but middling close-combat abilities. The rest of the Spheres of Power classes are either somewhere in between, or the Thaumaturge, which gets full casting and an average BAB in exchange for CripplingOverspecialization due to its limited talent allotments.

** Even in Spheres of Power, the Mage Knight and Armorist are full martial classes with magic powers. They can access the same magical spheres as other spherecasting classes, they just get fewer talents and lower base caster level. Instead, they get specialized powers for their class (which are also magic, like adding magic damage to weapon strikes, or magically creating and animating weapons).

* MagicMusic / MusicalAssassin: The Skilled Casting (Perform) can let you play one of these.
* MagicStaff: Doubles as both a weapon and AmplifierArtifact. Subverted in Ultimate Spheres of Power, where an implement can take any form, not just a staff.

** Other classes and feats have their own numerical resources that fuel their abilities: resolve (Conscript specialization), reserve (Sentinels), guile (Hedgewitches with the Charlatan path), and kismet (Ordained Hunters, Lucky Bastards, and anyone with a Chance feat), as well as first-party holdovers grit, panache, inspiration, and ki, which get new uses. The Sage class has a ki pool, but it's treated in all ways as spell points (including not working for abilities that normally require ki).
** The Tech sphere uses vaguely-defined "charges" (which can be magical with the [[MagiTek Mana Engineering]] Drawback) to power its devices.
** Spheres of Guile adds Skill Leverage to the pile.

** The legendary talents from Spheres of Might are made of this. Unlike Spheres of Power advanced talents, legendary talents aren't necessarily game-breaking, just more magical than some dungeon masters may like. How did you [[ImpossibleTheft steal someone's polymorph spell]], returning them to normal and turning you into a dragon instead? You're just ''that good''.

** The example on how to use the rules to define magic is obviously a [[LawyerFriendlyCameo homage]] to ''Franchise/AvatarTheLastAirbender''. [[https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=21518074&postcount=4 Per the creators]], the Elementalist class is also explicitly a reference to ''Avatar''.

* SphereOfDestruction: The Explosive Orb talent, while a tad bit smaller than many others, certainly qualifies. The Energy Nova talent does something similar, but centered on the caster (who is unharmed). Ultimate Spheres of Power nerfs both abilities a bit (the removal of the Orb Expert feat likewise removes a caster level buff to Explosive Orb's area and range, while Energy Nova was folded into Sculpt Blast and now costs a spell point), but they're still both pretty potent.

* SquishyWizard: There's many Spheres of Power classes that don't get armor options by default, including Incanter, Fey Adept, Soul Weaver, and Symbiat, but Spheres of Might adds a ''non-magical'' squishy wizard: the Scholar, who has the same low hit points and base attack attack bonus as the full spellcasting classes, and whose main class abilities are small single-target explosives called flashbangs that can be created at will (and enhanced with other abilities), and non-magical healing skills. Like all Might classes, they can wear light armor by default and can get heavier armor proficiency through talents, but with their low HP and lack of class-based defenses, they're better off at range. That said, with the right Knacks, the Scholar can also learn magic talents, subverting the subversion.
* SummonMagic: The whole point of the Conjuration Sphere, which summons companions similar to summoner eidolons to fight alongside the caster. The Leadership and Beastmastery spheres are (per WordOfGod) intended as non-magical equivalents in the Spheres of Might system, though Tech sphere drones can also be used as non-magical equivalents.

** To a lesser extent, the Armiger from Spheres of Might, who can swap weapons in and out instantly.

* TrapMaster: The Trap sphere allows you to make dart and snare traps out of random scraps.

** Everything in the Bear Sphere and the Jester's and Catgirl's Handbooks from the AprilFoolsDay releases. Among others:
*** The Elemontalist is an Elementalist archetype based on attacking with lemon juice. "Elemontalists are proud warriors of the citric arts, drawing powerful and refreshing might from the most powerful of scurvy deterrents."
*** The Trap drawback that allows specialization in trap doors is called "Adoorable."

*** The Elemontalist is an Elementalist archetype based on attacking with lemon juice.
--> Elemontalists are proud warriors of the citric arts, drawing powerful and refreshing might from the most powerful of scurvy deterrents.