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).
Closed Hand
You do not gain the sweep ability. You gain Shattering Palm with this drawback.
Incompatible: Enlightened Focus, Hardened Palm, Savage Combatant, Soft Style.
Enlightened Focus
You do not gain the sweep ability. You gain Mystic Fists with this drawback.
Incompatible: Hardened Palm, Savage Combatant.
Hardened Palm
You do not gain the sweep ability. You gain Iron Fist with this drawback.
Incompatible: Enlightened Focus, Savage Combatant.
Savage Combatant
You do not gain the sweep ability. You must take Tear Flesh as the bonus talent gained from taking this drawback.
Soft Style
The Open Hand sphere does not grant increased unarmed damage, confer the benefits of Improved Unarmed Strike, or count as a sphere focused on unarmed combat. You do not treat Improved Unarmed Strike as an associated feat, and cannot select this drawback if you gained the Open Hand sphere instead of gaining Improved Unarmed Strike. You gain Greater Trip with this drawback.
Incompatible: Closed Hand, Enlightened Focus, Hardened Palm, Savage Combatant