So I know that wizards have all kinds of weird stuff to use in their spells for foci or material components, and I am pretty sure that clerics have to bear their holy symbol when casting spells (though I cant find this in the rules).
My question is, do Druids have to do anything like this? do they have to have a twig from tehir sacred groves, a holy mushroom, etc?
do Druids have to do anything like this? do they have to have a twig from tehir sacred groves, a holy mushroom, etc?
Holly and Mistletoe: Druids commonly use these plants as divine focuses when casting spells.
For Clerics, I can see how this rule makes a LOT of sense, but isn't necessary in my opinion... The mechanic is weak. More often than not, our groups have been known to have their holy symbols built into their favored weapon. We charge a little bit more for that in character creation, but it makes it far simpler to deal with.
It just seems like an arbitrary rule when you look at the broader scope of the game, so we don't pay it much mind.
If anything, it's fluffed very heavily. Clerics and paladins are always considered to be carrying a spare whenever they might want to hand it off to a potential convert. I guess we figure they carve them in their downtime (those days/weeks when you move your max overland speed, make a single check each day for encounters, and have nothing to do).
Druids I have played usually opt to take a deity and "naturize" them, rather than pick a nature deity. I had a dwarf that worshiped Moradin, but also had a deep connection to the natural world and the elements, and so focused on Moradin's "stony" and "mountainous" aspects, less on the forging and whatnot. He never used a holy symbol.
Since we're talking about spell foci...
Do you folks tend to rule that the feat Eschew Materials permits you to leave out inexpensive arcane foci as well as inexpensive arcane material components?
Otherwise it seems silly that a sorcerer can cast Fireball, say, without fiddling with sulphur and bat guano, but must pull out a crystal prism every time he wants to cast Read Magic. :/
Since we're talking about spell foci...
Do you folks tend to rule that the feat Eschew Materials permits you to leave out inexpensive arcane foci as well as inexpensive arcane material components?
Otherwise it seems silly that a sorcerer can cast Fireball, say, without fiddling with sulphur and bat guano, but must pull out a crystal prism every time he wants to cast Read Magic. :/
By RAW the Eschew Materials feat ignores any spell component that cost less than one gold. I was never aware that read magic cost anything. It might. I am just to lazy to check right now, but I will before my next game.
Trouble is that material components and focus items are technically different things. Read magic has no material component, but it has a focus component.
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Trouble is that material components and focus items are technically different things. Read magic has no material component, but it has a focus component.
Focus (F): A focus component is a prop of some sort. Unlike a material component, a focus is not consumed when the spell is cast and can be reused. As with material components, the cost for a focus is negligible unless a price is given. Assume that focus components of negligible cost are in your spell component pouch.
By RAW the feat only covers material components, but if you still had to buy the bag it would defeat the purpose of the feat so I think it was just an error that never got fixed. I allow for the focus.
Yeah, thanks! I do that too when I GM, but it bugged me so I wanted to see what others thought.
As said nature druid can use Holly and Mistletoe, a druid affiliated to a nature god will use the holy symbol of that god...
I usually require the use of a special shield for the cleric in order to bear their holy symbol, or they can put it in their weapon...
What is important, for me, is that, like the wizard, you can strip a cleric of his holy symbol to hinder his casting... ;)
I have a players who has a tankard as holy symbol (dwarf divinity of drinking and barbarian)... Ok it was an artifact given to him by his god himself the one time he died... The only power it has was : create chaotic beer when you put liquid in it... :p
Holy symbol can become an important part of the game... He would rather die than lose his tankard ;)