Converting PF1 spells to Starfinder: Ablative Sphere

Still converting Pathfinder 1st edition spells to Starfinder, and going back to alphabetical order, with ablative sphere. (You can find an index of the spells that have been converted to-date here).

While the original spell works very differently from this, having just converted ablative barrier, I liked how this rewrite ties into it to form a logical family of spells. This isn’t a perfect match for the original PF1 spell, but works well with Starfinder’s combat assumptions and is still a great hook for a spell.

Ablative Sphere
Classes mystic 3-6, technomancer 3-6
School abjuration [force]
Casting Time 1 standard action
Range touch
Area 10-foot-radius sphere
Duration 1 minute/level

Ablative sphere is a force effect that creates an immobile 10-foot sphere of defensive energy centered on one corner of your space when you cast it. It grants protection as a force field to any creature within its area, against any attack or effect from outside of its area. It has no effect on attacks against targets outside its area, even if the attack’s line of effect passes through the spell, nor on attacks originating within its area (even if they target a creature also in the area). All creatures within an ablative sphere share a single pool of temporary HP granted by the spell, which regenerate at the beginning of your turn each round.

The temporary hit points from an ablative sphere do not stack with those from an actual force field or an effect that specifies it functions as a force field (such as ablative barrier). If you have such temporary HP while within an ablative sphere, each point of damage done lowers the temporary HP granted by both the sphere and the force field effect. When you cast this spell, any previous ablative sphere you cast ends. The type of force field the ablative sphere emulates depends on the level of the spell.

3rd Level Spell: Brown force field
4th Level Spell: Purple force field
5th Level Spell: Black force field
6th Level Spell: White force field

PATREON
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About Owen K.C. Stephens

Owen K.C. Stephens Owen Kirker Clifford Stephens is a full-time ttRPG Writer, designer, developer, publisher, and consultant. He's the publisher for Rogue Genius Games, and has served as the Starfinder Design Lead for Paizo Publishing, the Freeport and Pathfinder RPG developer for Green Ronin, a developer for Rite Publishing, and the Editor-in-Chief for Evil Genius Games. Owen has written game material for numerous other companies, including Wizards of the Coast, Kobold Press, White Wolf, Steve Jackson Games and Upper Deck. He also consults, freelances, and in the off season, sleeps. He has a Pateon which supports his online work. You can find it at https://www.patreon.com/OwenKCStephens

Posted on February 22, 2022, in Game Design, Starfinder Development and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink. Leave a comment.

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