You can place enhancements on creatures and objects, altering their properties. When you first gain the Enhancement sphere, you gain the degrade and enhance abilities and one (enhance) or (degrade) talent of your choice.
Degrade
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 30 feet
Duration: Concentration, up to 10 minutes
Target: 1 creature or object
Cost: 0 sp
Saving Throw: Wisdom
You can degrade a creature or object within range. The target is allowed a Wisdom saving throw to negate the effect on itself or objects in its possession. At the end of each of its turns, an affected creature can make a Wisdom saving throw. On a success, the effect ends for that creature or an object in its possession.
Augment 2 sp: The effect persists for the remaining duration without concentration. This augment may be applied after the effect is cast on your turn without an action.
Enhance
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 30 feet
Duration: Concentration, up to 10 minutes
Target: 1 creature or object
Cost: 0 sp
Saving Throw: Wisdom
You can enhance a creature or object within range. If targeting a creature or intelligent item that doesn’t want to be enhanced (or an item in the possession of a creature that doesn’t want their item enhanced), the target is allowed a Wisdom saving throw to negate the effect. At the end of each of its turns, an affected creature can make a Wisdom saving throw. On a success, the effect ends for that creature or an object in its possession.
Augment 2 sp: The effect persists for the remaining duration without concentration. This augment may be applied after the effect is cast on your turn without an action.
If an ability grants both degrade and enhance options, attempting to apply the degrade option to a target under the effects of the enhance, or vice versa, requires you to succeed on a spellcasting ability check against the sphere DC of the existing effect; if successful, you counter the previous effect rather than applying the new one.
Talents marked as (degrade) or (enhance) grant you new options you can bestow. When using a degrade or enhance ability, you choose one option among those you possess to bestow.
Some talents have a spell point cost different than the base degrade or enhance abilities; these replace the base cost of the ability when used.
Enhancement Basic Talents
Enhance and Degrade Talents
Animate Object (degrade, enhance)
Degrade
You can degrade a creature of the construct type, causing it to be restrained if it fails its saving throw.
Enhance
Cost: 2 sp
You can enhance a Tiny object, bestowing movement and a semblance of life. The object obeys your command and understands your language, but as it is not intelligent, it can only obey simple commands such as ‘move’, ‘fight’, ‘guard’, ‘stop’, etc.
If you animate an enemy’s weapon, the weapon cannot move and attack while it is being held, but the wielder must pass a Dexterity saving throw equal to your Enhancement sphere DC each round they hold the item or lose their action fighting their weapon for control. If you animate a creature’s armor or clothing, the creature becomes grappled and must pass a Dexterity saving throw each round or also be restrained.
As a bonus action, you can mentally command any creature you made with this effect if the creature is within 500 feet of you (if you control multiple creatures, you can command any or all of them at the same time, issuing the same command to each one). You decide what action the creature will take and where it will move during its next turn, or you can issue a general command, such as to guard a particular chamber or corridor. If you issue no commands, the creature only uses the Disengage, Dodge, or Hide actions to defend itself the best it can against hostile creatures. Once given an order, the creature continues to follow it until its task is complete.
An animated object is a construct with AC, hit points, attacks, Strength, and Dexterity determined by its size. Its Constitution is 10 and its Intelligence and Wisdom are 3, and its Charisma is 1. Its speed is 30 feet; if the object lacks legs or other appendages it can use for locomotion, it instead has a flying speed of 30 feet and can hover. If the object is securely attached to a surface or a larger object, such as a chain bolted to a wall, its speed is 0. It has blindsight with a radius of 30 feet and is blind beyond that distance. When the animated object drops to 0 hit points, it reverts to its original object form, and any remaining damage carries over to its original object form.
If you command an object to attack, it can make a single melee attack against a creature within 5 feet of it. It makes a slam attack with an attack bonus and bludgeoning damage determined by its size. The GM might rule that a specific object inflicts slashing or piercing damage based on its form, or other types of damage as appropriate (such as fire damage for an animated torch).
The maximum size of the object you can target increases by one size category at 5th level (Small), 11th (Medium), and 17th level (Large).
Augment 1 sp: You can target an object one size larger than normal.
Augment 2 sp: You can target an object two sizes larger than normal.
Table: Animate Object
Size | HP | AC | Str | Dex | Attack |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tiny | 20 | 18 | 4 | 18 | +8 to hit, 1d4 + 4 damage |
Small | 25 | 16 | 6 | 14 | +6 to hit, 1d8 + 2 damage |
Medium | 40 | 13 | 10 | 12 | +5 to hit, 2d6 + 1 damage |
Large | 50 | 10 | 14 | 10 | +6 to hit, 2d10 + 2 damage |
Huge | 80 | 10 | 18 | 6 | +8 to hit, 2d12 + 4 damage |
Gargantuan | 120 | 10 | 22 | 4 | +10 to hit, 3d12 + 6 damage |
Optional Rule: Animating Structural Features With this optional rule, Animate Object can be used on portions of structures, allowing casters to animate a hallway within a castle or the front door of a cottage. Objects animated in this way are immobile.
In exchange for this limitation, the animated portion of the structure may attack creatures that are within reach of any of its surfaces, and is immune to any effect that would move it that couldn’t also move the structure it is a component of.
Bestow Intelligence (degrade, enhance)
Degrade
You can degrade a creature of the construct type, reducing its intelligence score to 2 (unless it would be lower) and removing its ability to speak or understand any languages.
Augment 1 sp: The affected construct is also stunned for 1d4 rounds.
Enhance
Cost: 1 sp
You can enhance a tree, an object, or a creature with no Intelligence or an Intelligence of 3 or less, granting it temporary intelligence. The target gains an Intelligence of 10 and the ability to speak and understand one language you know. If you are targeting a magic object or tree, it also gains senses similar to a human’s and a Wisdom or Charisma of 10. This does not grant the target extra abilities nor the ability to move. If a target creature had immunity to psychic damage or the charmed or frightened conditions due to being mindless, it loses those immunities.
The creature or object is friendly towards you, but does not gain greater insight into its surroundings before it gained intelligence (thus, an intelligent rock could not tell you who passed by it before it gained sentience, nor an intelligent tree describe a creature who climbed it the day before), nor does it automatically obey your commands, although it will usually provide favors and aid that is not too dangerous.
If you possess the Animate Object talent, it gains the following augment:
Augment 1 sp: Your animated object gains intelligence, as the Bestow Intelligence enhancement. The object still obeys you explicitly even though it is now intelligent.
Deadly Weapon (degrade, enhance)
You gain the following abilities:
Keen Weapon
Degrade
You can degrade a weapon, natural weapon, or unarmed strike; attacks made with this weapon treat all damage dice rolled as having rolled a 1 and are incapable of making critical hits.
Enhance
You can enhance a weapon, natural weapon, or unarmed strike; attacks made with this weapon score a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20.
Pursuant Ammunition
Degrade
You can degrade a ranged weapon or ranged natural weapon, granting ammunition fired out of it a rudimentary mind. Ranged attacks made with this weapon have disadvantage. If such an attack misses and there is a creature allied with the attacker within 30 feet of the target, the ammunition veers toward the ally. Roll a new attack, without disadvantage from this ability, against the AC of the nearest ally of the attacker and apply the result of the attack to that creature.
Enhance
You can enhance a ranged weapon or ranged natural weapon, granting ammunition fired out of it a rudimentary mind. Ranged attacks with that weapon treat the target’s cover level as one lower (full cover becomes three-quarters cover, three quarters cover becomes half cover, half cover is ignored). To target a creature with total cover, there must be a gap in the cover large enough to fit the ammunition through.
Versatile Weapon
Enhance
You can enhance a weapon, natural weapon, or unarmed strike, causing it to be treated as a chosen type of material for the purposes of bypassing damage resistance.
Energy Weapon (enhance)
Enhance
You can enhance a weapon, allowing it to deal an additional 1d6 damage of either acid, cold, fire, lightning, necrotic, radiant, or thunder, chosen when the ability is cast. A weapon cannot benefit from more than one instance of this effect; if cast on a weapon already benefiting from this ability, the previous instance ends.
Enhance Equipment (degrade, enhance)
Enhance
You can enhance a weapon, natural weapon, suit of armor, or shield, making it count as magic and granting it a bonus to attack and damage rolls (if a weapon or natural weapon) or to AC (if armor) equal to half your proficiency bonus, rounded down. This does not stack with any magic bonus to attack and damage rolls or to AC already granted by the item. You can treat clothing or a creature’s body as armor for the purpose of applying AC. Objects that could be used as improvised weapons may benefit from this effect.
Degrade
You can degrade a weapon, natural weapon, suit of armor, or shield. Any magical bonuses to attack, damage, or AC from the target are suppressed for the duration.
Enhance Poison (degrade, enhance)
You gain the following abilities:
Corrosive Poison
Enhance
You can enhance a natural weapon or object that deals poison damage, rendering it corrosive, changing the poison damage to acid damage.
Enhance Virulence
Degrade
You can degrade a dose of poison; any creature making a saving throw against the effects of the dose of poison has advantage on the saving throw. You can apply this degrade effect to a natural weapon that deals poison damage or inflicts the poisoned condition; the effects apply to all attacks made with it for the duration of the effect. You can degrade one source of poison damage or the poisoned condition affecting a creature; the creature gains advantage on saving throws against the targeted effect.
Enhance
You can enhance a dose of poison; any creature making a saving throw against the effects of the dose of poison have disadvantage on the saving throw. You can apply this enhance effect to a natural weapon that deals poison damage or inflicts the poisoned condition; the effects apply to the next successful attack made with it.
Enhance Size (degrade, enhance)
You gain the following enhance abilities:
Enhance Capacity
Degrade
You can degrade creatures, reducing their carrying capacity to 1/4th its usual amount.
Augment 1 sp: The creature’s carrying capacity is instead reduced to 1/8th.
Enhance
You can enhance creatures, doubling their carrying capacity.
Augment 1 sp: The creature’s carrying capacity is instead multiplied by 4.
Improved Flexibility
Degrade
You can degrade a creature, forcing it to be treated as one size larger when squeezing through tight places.
Enhance
You can enhance a creature, allowing it to be treated as one size smaller when squeezing through tight places.
False Energy (enhance)
You gain the following enhance abilities:
Ignore Exhaustion
Enhance
You can apply an enhancement to a creature, allowing it to temporarily treat its exhaustion level as a number of levels lower equal to your proficiency bonus. The target is still exhausted for the purpose of effects that increase exhaustion, but the target can only die of exhaustion if their reduced exhaustion value is 6 or greater. The creature also adds your level to their Constitution score for the purpose of how long it may hold its breath or run before making Constitution checks. As a side effect, applying this enhancement to a sleeping creature causes it to immediately wake up.
Resist Debilitation
Enhance
You can enhance creatures, allowing them to ignore a reduction to one ability score, up to twice your proficiency bonus.
Manipulate Hardness (degrade, enhance)
You can manipulate the durability of objects. Targeting a creature’s worn equipment does not grant the benefit to the creature.
Degrade
You can degrade an object, giving it vulnerability to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage. If the target has resistance to one of these damage types, it loses that resistance instead of gaining vulnerability. If the target was immune to a damage type, it instead loses its immunity and gains resistance.
Augment 2 sp: You can apply this effect to a creature.
Enhance
You can enhance an object to give it resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage.
Augment 2 sp: You can apply this effect to a creature.
Mental Enhancement (degrade, enhance)
You gain the following abilities:
Enhance Focus
Degrade
You can degrade creatures. The target cannot add its proficiency bonus to any skill or tool ability check it makes.
Enhance
You can enhance creatures. Choose one skill or tool proficiency; when making an ability check using that skill or tool, the affected creature may choose to treat the result as if they had rolled a 10 instead of rolling.
Enhance Mind
Degrade
You can degrade creatures, imposing disadvantage on Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma ability checks.
Enhance
You can enhance creatures, granting them advantage on Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma ability checks.
Muffle Sound (degrade, enhance)
Degrade
You can degrade a creature or object, amplifying any sound it creates. Wisdom (Perception) checks made to hear any sounds it makes gain advantage. Affected creatures and creatures in possession of affected objects take disadvantage on Stealth.
Enhance
You can enhance a creature or object, muffling any sound it creates. Wisdom (Perception) checks made to hear any sounds it makes suffer disadvantage.
Physical Enhancement (degrade, enhance)
You gain the following abilities:
Enhance Physique
Degrade
You can degrade creatures, imposing disadvantage on Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution ability checks.
Enhance
You can enhance creatures, granting them advantage on either Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution ability checks.
Superior Reflexes
Degrade
You can degrade creatures, giving them disadvantage on initiative checks and removing their ability to make opportunity attacks. If this effect is applied after initiative has been rolled, roll the affected creature’s initiative again, applying disadvantage. The creature acts on the new initiative if it is lower than the original, otherwise the original initiative is maintained.
Enhance
You can enhance creatures, giving them advantage on initiative checks and allowing them to make one opportunity attack each round without spending their reaction. If this effect is applied after initiative has been rolled, roll the affected creature’s initiative again, applying advantage. The creature acts on the new initiative if it is higher than the original, otherwise the original initiative is maintained.
Speed Control (degrade, enhance)
Degrade
You can degrade a creature, halving one movement speed.
Augment 1 sp: the creature cannot take the Disengage action.
Augment 1 sp: You completely remove one of a creature’s special movement speeds, such as flight or burrowing; if the creature in question has a natural flight speed, they glide safely to the ground.
Enhance
You can enhance creatures, granting them a +10 foot bonus to any movement speed it possesses. This speed bonus increases by +5 feet at 5th (15 feet), 11th (20 feet), and 17th (25 feet) levels.
Staunch Resistance (degrade, enhance)
Degrade
You can degrade creatures, giving them disadvantage on all saving throws.
Enhance
You can enhance creatures, granting them proficiency with one saving throw.
Steal Ability (degrade)
You gain the following abilities:
Steal Senses
Degrade
Cost: 1 sp
You can degrade creatures, causing them to become either blind or deaf (your choice), or to lose one special sense such as the scent ability, Tremorsense, Blindsense, Blindsight, etc.
Still Tongue
Degrade
You can degrade creatures, rendering them incapable of speech and unable to supply verbal components. If it has telepathy or some other means of communicating without speech (including sign language or writing), you can render one such means of communication impossible instead.
Weight Control (degrade, enhance)
Degrade
You can degrade an object or creature, doubling its weight and reducing all movement speeds by 10 feet, and making it unable to take the Dash action.
Enhance
You can enhance an object or creature, reducing its weight or even making it weightless. You can make Tiny creatures and objects weightless at 1st level, which improves to Small objects at 5th level, Medium objects at 11th level, and Large objects at 17th level.
Targets one size too big are instead reduced to half-weight, while objects one size smaller than your maximum can instead be made to float.
The following effects happen to targets that are half-weight, weightless, or floating. These effects stack (thus, a weightless object would receive both the weightless and half-weight effects).
- Half-Weight: A half-weight creature suffers disadvantage on checks made to resist being shoved.
- Weightless: A weightless creature or object counts as being one size smaller than normal when determining who can lift it through effects determined by size, such as through telekinesis or the Rock Throw talent (see Spheres of Might). Larger weightless weapons do not give disadvantage when wielded by a creature one size too small for it.
- Floating: You can choose to move the target up or down 20 feet per round. While you cannot make an object or creature move any direction other than up or down, this can easily be combined with telekinesis, wind power, or pushing off a wall (at half the target’s usual speed) to create flight-like effects. Unwilling creatures are allowed a new saving throw each round to negate this effect on themselves, but they may suffer falling damage if successful.
Augment 1 sp: Increase the size object you can affect increases by 2 size categories.
Other Talents
Dual Enhancement
Augment 1 sp: Whenever you degrade or enhance with a (degrade) or (enhance) talent that gives you multiple options, you can select two options from that individual talent. For example, you could use Enhance Equipment to have a shield give a bonus to attack and damage (if used to make attacks) as well as AC.
Augment 2 sp: Whenever you use a degrade or enhance ability, you can choose to bestow two different options that you possess with a single casting. For example if you have the Energy Weapon (enhance) talent and the Enhance Equipment (enhance) talent, you can choose to bestow both enhance options when using the enhance ability. The spell point costs of each of the two (enhance) talents are combined, and it is treated as a single sphere effect for the purpose of countering and dispelling.
Advanced Enhancement Talents
Bestow Sentience
Prerequisites: Enhancement sphere (Animate Object, Bestow Intelligence), 11th level or higher.
Augment 3 sp: You can increase the casting time of your Bestow Intelligence enhance to 24 hours to bring a beast, body, tree, or magic object to full sentience. This is an instantaneous effect, and as such is a permanent change and cannot be dispelled. This has no effect on a creature with an Intelligence of 3 or higher.
This ability may manifest in one of the following ways:
- You transform a tree into an intelligent animated object, granting it the benefits of your Animate Object and Bestow Intelligence enhancements.
- You transform a beast into an awakened beast, giving it the benefits of Bestow Intelligence permanently.
- You grant life to an empty body. This could be a body created through the Fleshcraft and Create Raw Materials Creation advanced talents, or a body crafted from parts of other recently slain bodies sewed together. The created creature is a simple being (no background, no class, 10 in all ability scores and 4 hp, race determined by the body’s composition), but with GM permission may roll ability scores normally and be trained to gain its own class and background.
- You transform a magical object into an intelligent item with a 10 Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. The item must be a permanent magical item (thus scrolls, wands, potions, etc. cannot be enhanced in this way), and the item does not gain any powers.
The target creature usually shares your alignment and is charmed by you for 30 days or until you or your companions do anything harmful to it. When the charmed condition ends, the creature chooses whether to remain friendly to you, based on how you treated it while it was charmed.
Referential Enhancements
Prerequisites: Enhancement sphere, Universal sphere (Extended (metasphere), Mass (metasphere)), 15th level or higher.
Augment 2 sp: Whenever you augment a degrade or enhance ability with the Mass (metasphere) talent, you can have the degrade or enhance ability affect a 30 foot sphere instead. If you do so, the effect’s duration changes to 1 week, no concentration is required, and it affects all valid targets that are within the area; the benefits and penalties fade immediately if the target leaves the area.
Upon using this talent, you can exclude targets from the effect based on some visible or audible criterion. This would allow you to, say, have Enhance Equipment affect any swords within the area, or have Steal Ability apply only to creatures who are not prominently showing a particular badge.
Reverse Gravity (enhance)
Prerequisites: Enhancement sphere (Weight Control), 15th level or higher.
Augment 2 sp: You can enhance an area of up to 10 10-foot cubes, arranged contiguously. Within this area, gravity reverses. Unattached objects and creatures in the area fall upward and reach the top of the area in 1 round. If a solid object (such as a ceiling) is encountered in this fall, falling objects and creatures strike it in the same manner as they would during a normal downward fall. If an object or creature reaches the top of the area without striking anything, it remains there, oscillating slightly, until the effect ends. At the end of the duration, affected objects and creatures fall downward.
Provided it has something to hold onto, a creature caught in the area can attempt a Dexterity saving throw to secure itself and not fall upward. Creatures who can fly or levitate can keep themselves from falling.
Variants
Entropic Specialist
You cannot use the enhance ability. You gain a bonus talent, but both the talent gained from taking this sphere and the bonus talent gained from this variant must be (degrade, enhance) talents.
Personal Magics
You can only target yourself and your own equipment with your degrade and enhance ability, regardless of the Enhancement sphere’s range. Any enhance effect bestowed on an object ceases to function when the object is not in your possession at the end of your turn. You gain an (enhance) talent as a bonus talent.
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