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Spell Component Pouch: A spellcaster with a spell component pouch is assumed to have all the material components and focuses needed for spellcasting, except for those components that have a specific cost, divine focuses, and focuses that wouldn't fit in a pouch.
I have for sometime wondered of the huge advantage of an unending supply of material components. Yes it is 5GP and most of the stuff it is supplying are things that could easily be found laying around, if you wanted to roleplay it. Yes this is simpler and most DM's are not a stickler for resource management. Because lets face it most of us do not want to play a nickle and dime game. I do however like some resource management and I also like having a player go "oh a cobweb I will need one of those for a spell."
So my long winded question is thus: If you were to put a cap on how many spells a spell component pouch can hold, what would it be? As well as, If there is a limit to said resource would you lower the price?
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Soooooo...what? Your going to make people buy 2 of them? What purpose does that serve in the game?
And your players already can go, "oh, a cobweb! I'll need that one for a spell I know." That's just role-playing your character. I've seen that happen at tables all over the place where spell casters will grab things for use in spells even when by the rules they're not required to take care of it.
I'm not against material components, record keeping or anything like that though. We're gamers, we can read rules and do math.
Hey, I like tracking my inexpensive components.
Some of them overlap, so you can make strategic choices.
Man, I am a huge nerd.
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Soooooo...what? Your going to make people buy 2 of them? What purpose does that serve in the game?
And your players already can go, "oh, a cobweb! I'll need that one for a spell I know." That's just role-playing your character. I've seen that happen at tables all over the place where spell casters will grab things for use in spells even when by the rules they're not required to take care of it.
I'm not against material components, record keeping or anything like that though. We're gamers, we can read rules and do math.
no I have arbitrarily had a player buy a new one even though he didn't need it since it had been two years game time and it just did not make any sense that it was a forever pouch.
the mundane doesn't have to be explicitly played out in-game (ie, a fighter can buy a whetstone but doesn't have to RP sharpening his weapon everyday) but it can be to great effect, as mentioned above. It's the little details that can make a campaign come alive.
We had a fastidious mage who would constantly use prestidigitation/mending to keep his clothes looking sharp. necessary? no. entertaining? very much so.
no I have arbitrarily had a player buy a new one even though he didn't need it since it had been two years game time and it just did not make any sense that it was a forever pouch.
Seems fair.
As a GM I would say that many of the components are "salvageable", e.g. feathers from drake nests, bat guano from any encounter in caves, etc. Really a lot of the inexpensive spell components are things you would have a hard time actually buying rather than foraging (in the absence of a dedicated spell component market).
That said, I love when players micromanage components or better yet "explain" the metaphysics of components. This kind of behavior is rewarded with special components that will duplicate metamagic feats as a one time effect.
Keep lovin' the Vance.
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Hmm, I don't have problems with the common things like cobwebs. It's the things like dragonscales that bug me. Apparently, dragonscales don't have a specific cost. You can have an endless supply of dragonscales (Of all colours) at no cost. I honestly like the idea of having to go around slaying dragons for dragonscales just so you can turn into that kind of dragon. That's where I would draw the line.
Spell Component Pouch: A spellcaster with a spell component pouch is assumed to have all the material components and focuses needed for spellcasting, except for those components that have a specific cost, divine focuses, and focuses that wouldn't fit in a pouch.
I have for sometime wondered of the huge advantage of an unending supply of material components. Yes it is 5GP and most of the stuff it is supplying are things that could easily be found laying around, if you wanted to roleplay it. Yes this is simpler and most DM's are not a stickler for resource management. Because lets face it most of us do not want to play a nickle and dime game. I do however like some resource management and I also like having a player go "oh a cobweb I will need one of those for a spell."
So my long winded question is thus: If you were to put a cap on how many spells a spell component pouch can hold, what would it be? As well as, If there is a limit to said resource would you lower the price?
I have always just assumed the caster refills them as needed. We just don't make him spend any actual money on it. He might even gather a few of them on his own during down time if it's a part of an animal such as a toad for example.
Hmm, I don't have problems with the common things like cobwebs. It's the things like dragonscales that bug me. Apparently, dragonscales don't have a specific cost. You can have an endless supply of dragonscales (Of all colours) at no cost. I honestly like the idea of having to go around slaying dragons for dragonscales just so you can turn into that kind of dragon. That's where I would draw the line.
I guess it depends on the dragon. Wyverns are dragons, just not DRAGONS, for example. Kill one wyvern, BAM, several thousand (at least) scales. Demand for wyvern scales? Hmm...castings of Form of the Dragon spell...anything else? No?
So one dead wyvern will supply several dozen wizards and sorcerers (who need to be high level, keep in mind, just to cast the spell) literally for decades. So yeah, I can see these things selling (individually) for something like 1 silver piece each (thus being below the threshold for actually having a cost in the spell description).
Now, if it's DRAGON scales you need, this really depends on the frequency of dragons in the world. If they're relatively abundant, I think young ones (too small to be used for armoring purposes) will still have thousands of scales that'll sell for cheap. If dragons are scarce, ancient and powerful (Smaug), yeah, scales won't be cheap.
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In my family game, we always assumed that part of the 1 hour of studying the spellbook is also used gathering components from the local campsite, city, or wherever we happen to be at. My character even roleplayed exchanging components with Wizard NPCs because it was a customary thing for him to do when meeting new practitioners of the arts. Really out of place things, like the dragonscales that were mentioned upthread, were also included in the "expensive material components" list, and something I always had to either buy separately, or pluck them myself.
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You could roll it into the cost of membership of any Wizards Guild.
They can pick through the stores every time they're in town.
Or you could have things delivered door to door, by teams of enterprising urchins.
Long-term adventuring out of town is more of a stretch.
It probably wouldn't impress your player to come back from a year-long trek through the Underdark, to find the Elementalists Outfitters had left a sack of bat sh!t in his front porch the day he left.
Once I played a Dread Necromancer in a funny campaign.
I was used to utilize a undead summoning spell that required bones from a living thing to
cast. And it was very delightful to roleplay how I obtained these. ( Cut off fallen enemies hands and feets)
Well let's say that my in game brother, a paladin no less, weren't pleased when he discovered this.
Sooo as others say, it can be fun when roleplayed but only when it thus matter.
Best.