On the subject of Spheres, I found this at <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SV2GGWtGTEC2Sgm9i2_L-yjIVQIH_xmmlUo2adZUZF8/edit" rel="nofollow">https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SV2GGWtGTEC2Sgm9i2_L-yjIVQIH_xmmlUo2adZUZF8/edit</a> and I am not sure I confused myself any less with it. All:
Spells of this sphere represent the basic class abilities that should
be available to all priest characters, regardless of specialization.
Spells that deal with direct manifestations of a deity’s power, such as
bless, chant, and gate are included, as well as a few spells that are so
general that all priests may make use of them, such as detect magic,
remove curse, and atonement. Animal
(Combined into Nature): Spells that influence or alter creatures are
found in the sphere of animal. Most animal spells do not affect people.
Powers of nature or husbandry often grant spells of this sphere. Astral
(Combined into Travel): The astral sphere deals with communication and
movement between the various planes of existence. Priesthoods of
philosophy or travel sometimes have access to this sphere. Chaos:
Priests with access to this sphere command spell powers that increase
randomness and confusion to the world around them. Deities of mischief
and ill luck often grant spells of chaos. Charm:
Charm spells usually affect the attitudes and actions of people. Powers
of love, trickery, or art often grant access to this sphere. The sphere
is also useful when dealing with hostile enemies or unbelievers, and
many expansive faiths deal with this sphere as well. Combat
(Combined into War): Naturally, combat spells are used to attack or
injure the enemies of the faith. Since most priests have an interest in
self-defense, a great number of faiths have access to the sphere of
combat. Creation
(Combined into Travel): Creation spells allow the priest to produce
food, water, light, or other things from nothing. Create water and
continual light are good examples. Prime creator powers often grant
access to this sphere. Death:
Spells of the necromantic sphere deal with the forces of life and
death, including raise dead and resurrect. These spells are also quite
useful in dealing with undead monsters. Divination:
This useful sphere allows the priest to discern the safest course of
action, detect hidden things, or discover hidden knowledge. It is the
province of deities of learning and wisdom. Elemental:
The four basic elements of creation—air, earth, fire, and water—are
dealt with in this sphere. Powers of nature or powers with elemental
interests typically grant access to at least part of this sphere. Very
few priests have access to all four elements. Guardian:
Priesthoods charged with the protection of holy places often have
access to this sphere. Spells that help a guardian to perform his task
are included as well as spells that create or enforce magical barriers
over a person or area. Law:
The sphere of law is the antithesis of the sphere of chaos. Law spells
concentrate on the principle of obedience and the strength of the group
over the strength of the individual. Deities of rulership and community
are likely to have influence in this sphere. Life:
This sphere deals with all forms of healing spells, except those which
restore life or manipulate the subject’s life force. Nature:
This sphere deals with plants, vegetation, and spells that influence or
alter creatures of all kinds, from agricultural to wilderness settings.
Powers of nature, agriculture, or husbandry often grant spells of this
sphere. Plant
(Combined into Nature): This sphere deals with plants and vegetation of
all kinds, from agricultural to wilderness settings. Priests of nature
or agriculture are often granted access to this sphere. Protection:
While this sphere is related to the guardian sphere, protection spells
generally enable the priest to protect people, not places. Many of these
spells are very useful in combat, and militant priests often have
access to this sphere. Shadow:
All the spells in this sphere are linked by the common effects of
shadow and darkness. The cleric can make use of a number of illusion
spells dealing with the Demiplane of Shadow and shadow stuff, including
shadow monsters, darkness 15’ radius, and shadow walk. Summoning:
Summoning spells call creatures to serve the priest. Even
extradimensional creatures can be summoned at higher levels. This sphere
has been revised to include a modest selection of spells suitable for
dismissing summoned creatures. Sun:
Solar spells deal with light of different qualities in a variety of
ways. Spells such as starshine and Sol’s searing orb are included in the
sphere of sun. Travel:
Spells of this sphere provide aid and comfort to travelers and
pilgrims. Deities of wayfarers both peaceful and militant may make these
spells available to their followers. War:
Unlike the sphere of combat, the sphere of war deals specifically with
magic useful on the battlefield in clashes between armies. War spells
can affect hundreds of soldiers at a time. Wards
(Combined into Guardian): The sphere of wards includes spells that
provide protection for clearly defined areas, ranging from single
objects to whole communities. It is related to the sphere of guardian,
but the sphere of wards only creates barriers or obstacles to deter
intrusion; ward spells do not necessarily enhance the priest’s ability
to defend the area. In addition, many ward spells are cooperative in
nature and provide protection for bodies of believers instead of holy
sites. Weather:
This sphere is concerned with the forces of weather, including wind,
fog, lightning, and weather control. Powers of nature and tempests often
have influence in this sphere. ----------- At <a href="http://www.seads.org/TSR/clerics_and_priests.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.seads.org/TSR/clerics_and_priests.htm</a> I found: All refers
to spells usable by any priest, regardless of mythos. There are no
Powers (deities) of the Sphere of All. This group includes spells the
priest needs to perform basic functions. Animal spells are
those that affect or alter creatures. It does not include spells that
affect people. Deities of nature and husbandry typically operate in this
sphere. Astral is a small sphere of spells that enable
movement or communication between the different planes of existence. The
masters of a plane or particularly meddlesome powers often grant spells
from this sphere. Charm spells are those that affect the
attitudes and actions of people. Deities of love, beauty, trickery, and
art often allow access to this sphere. Combat spells are those
that can be used to directly attack or harm the enemies of the priest
or his mythos. These are often granted by deities of war or death. Creation spells
enable the priest to produce something from nothing, often to benefit
his followers. This sphere can fill many different roles, from a
provider to a trickster. Divination enables the priest to
learn the safest course of action in a particular situation, find a
hidden item, or recover long-forgotten information. Deities of wisdom
and knowledge typically have access to this sphere. Elemental spells
are all those that affect the four basic elements of creation--earth,
air, fire, and water. Nature deities, elemental deities, those
representing or protecting various crafts, and the deities of sailors
would all draw spells from this sphere. Guardian spells place
magical sentries over an item or person. These spells are more active
than protection spells because they create an actual guardian creature
of some type. Protective, healing, and trickster deities may all grant
spells of this sphere. Healing spells are those that cure
diseases, remove afflictions, or heal wounds. These spells cannot
restore life or regrow lost limbs. Healing spells can be reversed to
cause injury, but such use is restricted to evil priests. Protective and
merciful deities are most likely to grant these spells, while nature
deities may have lesser access to them. Necromantic spells
restore to a creature some element of its life-force that has been
totally destroyed. It might be life, a limb, or an experience level.
These spells in reverse are powerfully destructive, and are used only by
extremely evil priests. Deities of life or death are most likely to act
in this sphere. Plant spells affect plants, ranging from
simple agriculture (improving crops and the like) to communicating with
plant-like creatures. Agricultural and nature Powers grant spells in
this sphere. Protection spells create mystical shields to
defend the priest or his charges from evil attacks. War and protective
deities are most likely to use these, although one devoted to mercy and
kindness might also bestow these spells. Summoning spells
serve to call creatures from other places, or even other dimensions, to
the service of the priest. Such service is often against the will of the
creature, so casting these spells often involves great risk. Since
creatures summoned often cause great harm and destruction, these spells
are sometimes bestowed by war or death powers. Sun spells are
those dealing in the basic powers of the solar universe--the purity of
light and its counterpart darkness. Sun spells are very common with
nature, agricultural, or life-giving powers. Weather spells
enable the priest to manipulate the forces of weather. Such manipulation
can be as simple as providing rain to parched fields, or as complex as
unbridling the power of a raging tempest. Not surprisingly, these tend
to be the province of nature and agricultural powers and appear in the
repertoire of sea and ocean powers. I then found references to other Spheres such as: <a href="http://home.online.no/~rahag/AD&D/Spells_&_Magic" rel="nofollow">http://home.online.no/~rahag/AD&D/Spells_&_Magic</a>.... The standard spheres from the Player’s Handbook are the spheres of all, animal, astral, charm, combat, creation, divination, elemental (with the lesser spheres of air, earth, fire, and water ), g uardian, healing, necromantic, plant, protection, summoning, sun, and weather. In addition, the Tome of Magic adds the spheres of chaos, law, numbers, thought, time, travelers, war, and wards. Figuring out what fits for a Kemetic Pantheon priest is challenging, mostly because of exclusions. For Horukh I figured Animal wouldn’t apply much, since he wouldn’t want to get critters in trouble, and Astral is way above his pay grade. Charm would probably be a no-go, but I am unsure. I used to be concerned about taking Creation
because I was afraid I’d step on Kryikh’s fine feathered toes, but
after gaming with Gray a while, I know it’s cool. It could be exciting
too, with Horukh’s engineering acumen, divine insights in Creation , and Kryikh’s arcane abilities with Transmutation , working together could be terrific. Nextly, Divination seemed obvious because of Horukh’s curse of visions, but maybe not; Necromantic,
though, makes a lot of sense because of the Kemetic dogma of life,
death, undeath, transformation, rebirth and so forth---it isn’t
automatically evil stuff. I don’t see Summoning ever coming into play, and Weather makes
sense for someone who is a seabird like he is. I haven’t read up on
the Tome of Magic Spheres yet except an excerpt from someone’s website
of the Thought sphere, which seemed logical. Lastly for this post, This
document looked very interesting, since it has pretty much the whole
neat-o shebang for priest spells as far as I can tell: <a href="http://www.istari.org/gnba/spells/gnpb/priests.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.istari.org/gnba/spells/gnpb/priests.pdf</a>
