Spheres of Magic is an alternate look at magic in D&D. Instead of spell slots and a spell list based on a class, you choose Spheres of Magic, each with their own base abilities and talents. These basic abilities always have a version that can be done for free. You can spent spell points to augment those abilities in various ways. As you increase in power, you gain access to more talents and spheres, giving you more options as a spell caster.

Although I own their books for Magic (and the more recent Spheres of Might for martial characters), they also publish all of their material for free on their wiki and on Drivethru RPG. They have versions for PF1, 3.5, and now 5E. I own all three.

I will explain some of this as I show the character for today, a Warforged Outlander who has escaped from his makers. As is their way, he is simply named Ward.

Character Sheet: Page 1 and Page 2

The Character

Ward has wandered far since his escape and before. He was created to deal with simple threats around his maker’s home. His destructive blasts and protective wards were useful in stopping things like animals or bandits that wandered into the compound. He was as happy as he could be, knowing no other life.

Until he realized he was a slave. When he had seen something outside through the gate one day, he attempted to follow and was hit with a shock by one of the makers. He was threatened and hurt, and suddenly became afraid of the makers. The next chance he got, he broke through the gate, and fought his way to safety. In the escape, he was damaged and now his magic hurts him if he augments a spell when he casts it, so he has to resist the urge to let it solve all his problems.

They were not ready for his escape that day and chased him for months until Ward finally lost them. Now, he wanders the lands, no other goal than to help free anyone that has been enslaved and to avoid the old masters until he is strong enough to come back and overthrow them.

The Experience

TLDR; I love this magic system, especially in 5E. Its the core D&D rules with the ability to create a very distinct spell caster, if you want. Have fun!

TL Part:

I had the concept of a warforged mage that was forced to fight for his makers. He escaped – how to be determined in game – and is a wandering wizard who acts like Robin Hood. That changed through character creation as I was making choices about talents and class and such.

He ended as an Incanter, the generic “sphere caster” class for a pure caster. I took the Outlander Background and choose the Kineticist as his Tradition. This choice changed the way I could cast spells profoundly. Kineticists were born with the ability to harness and channel destructive energy from within. It moves your Key Casting Ability (usually Int, Wis or Cha for caster) to Constitution because now, to use a spell point, you have to spend the same amount in HP (reducing your maximum) and roll 1d6 every turn until you roll a 6 before you can spend them again at all.

You also get the boons of Fortified Casting and Overcharge. The first is why you get to use Con and Overcharge lets you take a level of exhaustion (as part of casting) to increase your proficiency bonus by one for the next casting you do.

You see how neat that is? Ward has to be played differently, because he can kill himself by casting spells!

If you want the same feel as the normal casters, they have the a Traditional Magic tradition that simulates it, but still uses sphere effects. You can even create a tradition of your own, as they created a system to help you make it. And it can exist along side the standard spell system without any difficulty.

This is the reason I like the system, as I like personal magic use and this can create very unique spellcasters. It is a wonderful GMs tool as well, if you want to limit the ways of casting magic to only a few types, and have completely different traditions for groups that they meet on the way. You could create Avatar-style Benders with this system fairly easy with Mental Focus and Somatic Casting x2. Now you need a high level of discipline and skill in the martial arts to cast a spell. Then just choose Elementalist or Incanter, depending on your take.

The system does require knowing a decent amount about it (what the spheres/talents are and how they interact with each other) to make a good character, so I recommend you use the Quick Builds on your first go at it. After you have played it, you can see how things might fit together more and can rebuild or create another character.

That is what I do with my PCs after the first few sessions: just fix any of those synergy-related mistakes you made when you didn’t know how to play and let’s get back to the fun! I really hate video games make you earn a respec unless I get one for free. Being penalized for not knowing the system is a huge turnoff in games for me. If I want to play a certain character, I want them optimized for that. Not the same as min-maxing, just making sure that the cool things I want to do are supported by the stats on the sheet. I am OK with losing something else on the sheet to get the character I want, but I DO want a respec before the campaign gets set in, you know?

Alright. I am tired. I will let you go now. Have fun!