When a character uses Spell Components to cast a spell, are those components "consumed" as in, do you not have said components anymore?
My recent understanding is that if you spend the 5gp for a pouch of components (which is considerable, looking at how worthless some individual components are) you are considered to have everything you need forever, barring anything costly. This leads me to imply that a component is NOT consumed by the casting of a spell, and that anytime you want to cast that spell, you simply get out the components from you pouch as you prepare them (which helps explain the time for preparing).
I have also read something about enhanced spell components and that they may have an effect on the spell in question. Would it be considerable for a character to use such a component on a regular basis, if spell components are not consumed?
E.G. let's say I convince my GM that I have somehow obtained (or even quested for) a feather from a celestial eagle rather than a regular one. Now, I want to use that feather to cast Eagle's Splendor for a +6 CHA rather than the regular +4, because the celestial feather is more special than a regular one. If I keep that feather, would I be able to always cast eagle's spendor for +6 CHA?
In addition, could something like this be used as precedent for creating new items to enhance spellcasters?
Material (M)
A material component consists of one or more physical substances or objects that are annihilated by the spell energies in the casting process. Unless a cost is given for a material component, the cost is negligible. Don't bother to keep track of material components with negligible cost. Assume you have all you need as long as you have your spell component pouch.
Components are destroyed. It's assumed that many components are very common items and easily obtained or collected day to day at little to no cost so this is simply a rule written to keep certain GM's and Players from wasting everyone's time with tedious shopping and bookkeeping.
this sort of thing sets dangerous precedents. your gm would be insane to allow this. once this genie is let out of the bottle it's very hard to get him back in.
this sort of thing sets dangerous precedents. your gm would be insane to allow this. once this genie is let out of the bottle it's very hard to get him back in.
"Power Components" were a thing introduced in Dragon magazine. I like them a lot and I don't see how this is 'insane'; the system is balanced by the rarity of the components and the fact that they are used up upon casting.
Celestial eagle feathers don't have a cost associated with them, so you can assume you have an infinite amount of them in your pouch, just like any other spell component.
Are there any other limitations to power components? I seriously doubt this was the intent of the designers.
power components i think would be something that needs to be quested for and found, or is rather costly
again, i love giving caster characters something to spend their money on since they really don't care about weapons, making them a lot more cost effective compared to melee classes
i guess I'm one of those 'certain GMs'. I track and fuss with components for Wizards (Sorcerers don't need them, its a part of their heritage) and employ both 'power components' and 'spell foci' in game with spell points. I also have 'get arounds' if you're short an eye of newt.
I just reviewed the power components article from dragon and I was mistaken, it is the UA power component rules that boost spell power (though they are called metamagic components, as they replicate metamagic feats). Both articles have costs associated with each power component; you can use those numbers to figure out logical costs for other components.
The specific example of a feather from a celestial eagle is problematic as a single celestial eagle would yield an absurd number of components.
I stole mine from HypertextD20. Several of my players have shopping lists...