Player’s Option and Spheres of Access

While the general definitions of the spheres have remained the same for Player’s Option: Spells & Magic, a number of spells have been rearranged for purposes of game balance. Many spells have been added to the sphere of all in order to provide all priests with the basic spell powers that should be available to them. Some other spells have been assigned to different schools to better define the roles and strengths of clerics, druids, and other specialty priests. For example, reflecting pool was originally designed as a druid spell, but in AD&D 2nd Edition it became a divination spell available to clerics. In this book, reflecting pool has been placed in the sphere of elemental water, where druids have access to it but clerics do not. Refer to Appendix 4 for a complete and accurate listing of which spells belong where.

Cleric Sphere Access: As part of the reorganization of the spheres of access, clerics lose access to the sphere of sun and the elemental spheres of air and fire. Clerics retain minor access to the elemental spheres of water and earth. The cleric only loses a dozen or so spells he formerly had access to, and most of these were spells that had previously belonged to the druid in the original AD&D.

Druid Sphere Access: Similarly, druids lose access to the sphere of divination, but gain major access to the sphere of sun. Again, this takes away spells that blur the line between the druid and cleric’s spellcasting powers, while restoring a number of spells that druids formerly had access to in the original AD&D game.

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