Sphere-specific drawbacks must be chosen when a practitioner first gains the associated sphere, and grant the practitioner an extra combat talent in the prerequisite sphere. Drawbacks may be removed in place of gaining a new talent through your class progression or by taking the Extra Combat Talent feat.
Wiki Note: If a Base Sphere grants an additional talent (such as via a package selection or drawback) the additional talents do not count as talents spent for abilities that count the number of talents spent in a sphere. (This most often applies to gaining skill points or improving unarmed damage.)
Utility Starts
The [utility start] tag is described in Spheres of Guile. It is only possible to take advantage of a combat sphere as a [utility] talent if your game includes a way to gain combat talents restricted to those with the [utility] tag, such as using one of the variants in Chapter 1.
Piecemeal Utility Starts: If you have a progression or optional replacement that grants a [utility] combat talent or a [utility] magic talent, you can use it to gain a base sphere if you apply a drawback or combination of drawbacks that removes all of that base sphere’s benefits other than skill ranks and [utility] talents (and actions necessary to use such talents).
Active Defense
You do not gain the fatal thrust ability and cannot select (exploit) talents or talents that rely on the sphere’s precision damage. You gain Impassable Defense with this drawback.
Incompatible: Distracting, Defensive Style.
Defensive Style
You do not gain the fatal thrust ability and cannot select (exploit) talents or talents that rely on the sphere’s precision damage. You gain Masterful Defense with this drawback.
Incompatible: Active Defense, Distracting.
Distracting
You do not gain the bonus precision damage from the Fencing sphere. You may not take (exploit) talents, and must take Expert Feint with the bonus talent you receive from this drawback.
Interrogator (Utility Start)
You do not gain the fatal thrust ability. You gain Isolating Repartee as a bonus talent.
Menacing Feint
You do not gain the fatal thrust ability and cannot select (exploit) talents or talents that rely on the sphere’s precision damage. You gain Open Guard with this drawback.
Incompatible: Active Defense, Distracting, Defensive Style.
Virtuous
Source: Spheres Apocrypha: Swashbucklers
You do not gain any ranks in Bluff from the base sphere. You gain Read Foe with this drawback.