(Drop Dead Studios) Spheres of Power: Official Support Thread

[cantroy]

Thanks again. As usual, it is a pleasure communicating with you! Hey, I see the sphere staff is still in here. Did you have any luck getting that coded to work yet? If so, how would I implement it? I'll see if you posted earlier in this thread on that, but I "built" the staff I have using adjustments (+ to sphere casting level and the like).

[TheIronGolem]

Sphere Staves are in a half-done state, and that half got put on hold while I worked on Expanded Options. All that NICsopSpSt business is an artifact of that work. It shouldn't have gotten out into the wild, but I was careless.

I haven't looked at that code in a few weeks, but when I left off of it, staves were kinda-sorta working, in that they correctly applied their enhancement bonus to your caster level with the relevant sphere(s), and you could add talents and additional spheres to a staff. But I was hung up on getting staff-based talents to show up on the hero (so that, for example, the talents on a Life staff would add dice to the hero's Cure ability). And I haven't even started on getting it to calculate the price of the staff.

That reminds me: it's time for an utterly informal, wildly unscientific poll!

Expanded Options is close to going out the door, and DDS has given me permission to proceed how I see fit in terms of order of future content. So after Expanded is out, I can either pick a Sphere Handbook to implement, OR I can circle back and take another run at some of the harder content like Sphere Staves that require in-depth UI work.

So which would you prefer? And if it's a Handbook you want, which one?

[dereth66]

i kinda like the handbooks, they add a lot more to depth of some of the charecters and add new ones, and also they may give you other ideas not only for new books, but on how to implement the staff's, but thats jst my thinking

[EldritchWeaver]

Originally Posted by TheIronGolem

That reminds me: it's time for an utterly informal, wildly unscientific poll!

Expanded Options is close to going out the door, and DDS has given me permission to proceed how I see fit in terms of order of future content. So after Expanded is out, I can either pick a Sphere Handbook to implement, OR I can circle back and take another run at some of the harder content like Sphere Staves that require in-depth UI work.

So which would you prefer? And if it's a Handbook you want, which one?

How close are you from finishing that staves part? If it less work than a handbook, I would prefer that. Also, going through all handbooks before you finish a core part of the magic system doesn't feel right. In the worst case, I can add new magic talents myself. (Which reminds me: Can you please add a magic talent "other" like "Profession (other)"? I want to do be able to add a magic talent on the fly to a character and later replace it properly, once I have time.)

[TheIronGolem]

Originally Posted by EldritchWeaver

(Which reminds me: Can you please add a magic talent "other" like "Profession (other)"? I want to do be able to add a magic talent on the fly to a character and later replace it properly, once I have time.)

I've just finished this and it will be in the next update.

[Ualaa]

While I'm eagerly awaiting the handbooks, having the base book as a solid foundation, makes more sense to me.

Sphere Staves would have my vote, prior to handbooks.

Incidentally, are each of the handbooks their own purchase... or can they be taken as a package/subscription, even if that package is gradually added to over time?

[TheIronGolem]

Originally Posted by Ualaa

Incidentally, are each of the handbooks their own purchase... or can they be taken as a package/subscription, even if that package is gradually added to over time?

I plan to work under the assumption that each is a separate purchase, at least in terms of technical dependencies. Obviously each sphere handbook should depend on you having vanilla SoP, and whatever Paizo content they build off of, but none of the handbooks should depend on each other.

As for how they'll be sold, that is a question above my pay grade. Packaging handbooks together is certainly possible, and I've advised DDS of that. But I can't say for sure right now how it's going to work.

[EldritchWeaver]

Originally Posted by TheIronGolem

I plan to work under the assumption that each is a separate purchase, at least in terms of technical dependencies. Obviously each sphere handbook should depend on you having vanilla SoP, and whatever Paizo content they build off of, but none of the handbooks should depend on each other.

As for how they'll be sold, that is a question above my pay grade. Packaging handbooks together is certainly possible, and I've advised DDS of that. But I can't say for sure right now how it's going to work.

That is a bit of a of problem as some handbooks do use stuff from other handbooks. Especially if they reference PoW stuff that might not have a HL representation yet.

[TheIronGolem]

Well, PoW doesn't worry me, because PoW is in the Pathfinder Pack, which is free and well-supported by the community so I can safely make it a dependency. And I know PoW well enough to add anything that SoP needs to it.

If there are inter-handbook dependencies then that might require some finessing, but I have some ideas about how to approach that.

In the meantime, behold!

[EldritchWeaver]

Originally Posted by TheIronGolem

In the meantime, behold!

*Bows to mighty staff editor*

Your servant awaits you!