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How much life can you get out of one spell component pouch?
It does reach an end if you aren't actively looking for more materials to fill it.
Its assumed that a caster is refilling it with things he/she finds along the way when possible and buying in town what he/she can't find otherwise.
EX: Fight one dire bat = Year supply of Guano.
It's just not necessary to role play scooping Guano into a bag.
Dragonscales and dragon blood and devil eyes?
Just a note on the devil eyes: You won't be getting these that easy because you would have to take them and keep the devil alive or go into hell, kill one and take it's eyes and then come back to the Prime Material Plane.
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Actually, if you do make a spellcaster track his costly components then you will find out that it can get pretty expensive when casting certain spells so he/she will have to choose whether to spend money on certain components or magic gear, scrolls, wands, etc...
*Sigh* I already specified inexpensive components... which is everything worth less than 1 gp, according to the rules. I of course would track the cost of the diamonds and other expensive material components. Nobody is saying that you shouldn't. We're talking about bat guano and pieces of string.
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Actually, if you do make a spellcaster track his costly components then you will find out that it can get pretty expensive when casting certain spells so he/she will have to choose whether to spend money on certain components or magic gear, scrolls, wands, etc...*Sigh* I already specified inexpensive components... which is everything worth less than 1 gp, according to the rules. I of course would track the cost of the diamonds and other expensive material components. Nobody is saying that you shouldn't. We're talking about bat guano and pieces of string.
I'm not talking about the inexpensive components, which one could arguably say that dragonscales aren't cheap.
How much life can you get out of one spell component pouch?
It does reach an end if you aren't actively looking for more materials to fill it.
Its assumed that a caster is refilling it with things he/she finds along the way when possible and buying in town what he/she can't find otherwise.
EX: Fight one dire bat = Year supply of Guano.
It's just not necessary to role play scooping Guano into a bag.
Dragonscales and dragon blood and devil eyes?
Just a note on the devil eyes: You won't be getting these that easy because you would have to take them and keep the devil alive or go into hell, kill one and take it's eyes and then come back to the Prime Material Plane.
If I were an unscrupulous caster and there was a market for it I'd planar bind an imp. Give it some way to regenerate (cast regenerate, etc) and cut it's eyes out every day (or multiple times per day depending on how I gave it regeneration). It's gorey and certainly non-good, but it's an imp. I'm sure someone could justify that to themselves and sleep like a baby. Maybe even churches. Maybe even the church of Asmodeus does that as a punishment. There are probably better devils than imps suited for just that task. Perhaps even low level Tieflings or something with it's own regeneration ability. The latter being the preferred method. Perhaps something with the devil version of the fiendish template.
It's a magical world. Just because it's hard for us in the real world doesn't mean it's hard in magical fantasy land.
Edit: Same goes for dragon scales. There are many things with scales of the dragon type that are much easier to catch than an elder wyrm.
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How much life can you get out of one spell component pouch?
It does reach an end if you aren't actively looking for more materials to fill it.
Its assumed that a caster is refilling it with things he/she finds along the way when possible and buying in town what he/she can't find otherwise.
EX: Fight one dire bat = Year supply of Guano.
It's just not necessary to role play scooping Guano into a bag.
Dragonscales and dragon blood and devil eyes?
Just a note on the devil eyes: You won't be getting these that easy because you would have to take them and keep the devil alive or go into hell, kill one and take it's eyes and then come back to the Prime Material Plane.
These items have no associated cost. Per the rules (which have already been posted a couple times) these come in a 5gp spell component pouch. Thus you have as many dragonscales and dragon's blood and devil eyes as you need to get you through. They are considered thus considered inexpensive components per the rules.
Now if you wish to houserule it differently, completely understandable. But that's a houserule, not RAW.
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How much life can you get out of one spell component pouch?
It does reach an end if you aren't actively looking for more materials to fill it.
Its assumed that a caster is refilling it with things he/she finds along the way when possible and buying in town what he/she can't find otherwise.
EX: Fight one dire bat = Year supply of Guano.
It's just not necessary to role play scooping Guano into a bag.
Dragonscales and dragon blood and devil eyes?
Just a note on the devil eyes: You won't be getting these that easy because you would have to take them and keep the devil alive or go into hell, kill one and take it's eyes and then come back to the Prime Material Plane.
These items have no associated cost. Per the rules (which have already been posted a couple times) these come in a 5gp spell component pouch. Thus you have as many dragonscales and dragon's blood and devil eyes as you need to get you through. They are considered thus considered inexpensive components per the rules.
Now if you wish to houserule it differently, completely understandable. But that's a houserule, not RAW.
That's not what we are talking about.
Those things are listed in the book and their prices so yes I do.Out of curiosity, do you track every copper your PCs spend on food and drink? Make them buy new clothes every year or six months or more often? Charge them for every night they stay in an inn? Bowstrings? To maintain and repair broken equipment?I'm sure good few actually ignore spell components because I see people posting their Wizards and they spend all their cash in items which doesn't leave much room for the purchasing of spell components. If you go through the lists of spells then you will find that some of them aren't so cheap. For example, the Wall of Iron spell costs 50gp per casting. Mnemonic Enhancer will cost you a 50gp Focus and you have to find some black dragon blood which may not be easy and may be expensive.
If you don't really enforce all spell components then you essentially make "Eschew Materials" worthless.
I track spell components and I ask the spell casters where they got some of the more exotic components because if there is no way they could have gotten it then they won't be casting that spell until they actually find some.
I bet this gets hand waved a good bit.
So since these spell components don't have prices listed, how can you justify charging for them?
BTW, how often do your PCs have to replace stuff? How long is a set of clothes good for? Or a waterskin? Backpack? Vials?
Did you notice that the Healer's and Disguise Kits come with a usage number?
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A single dragon scale is worth less than 1 gp. The price is not listed in the spell description, therefore its worth is relatively small. Maybe the local MagicMart gets it from a friendly gold who donates the scales he sheds. Same goes for every single other material component with a nonspecified cost.
If you personally want to make dragon scales or devil's blood particularly difficult to procure or more expensive than is suggested, you're welcome to, but you have to understand that you're using a houserule to limit certain spells.
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Those things are listed in the book and their prices so yes I do.Out of curiosity, do you track every copper your PCs spend on food and drink? Make them buy new clothes every year or six months or more often? Charge them for every night they stay in an inn? Bowstrings? To maintain and repair broken equipment?I'm sure good few actually ignore spell components because I see people posting their Wizards and they spend all their cash in items which doesn't leave much room for the purchasing of spell components. If you go through the lists of spells then you will find that some of them aren't so cheap. For example, the Wall of Iron spell costs 50gp per casting. Mnemonic Enhancer will cost you a 50gp Focus and you have to find some black dragon blood which may not be easy and may be expensive.
If you don't really enforce all spell components then you essentially make "Eschew Materials" worthless.
I track spell components and I ask the spell casters where they got some of the more exotic components because if there is no way they could have gotten it then they won't be casting that spell until they actually find some.
I bet this gets hand waved a good bit.
So since these spell components don't have prices listed, how can you justify charging for them?
BTW, how often do your PCs have to replace stuff? How long is a set of clothes good for? Or a waterskin? Backpack? Vials?
Did you notice that the Healer's and Disguise Kits come with a usage number?
Never said I charged for non costly components.
I'm just pointing out how some of the component rules make no sense.
They make plenty of sense from a game design perspective.
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They make plenty of sense from a game design perspective.
Oh yeah it really makes sense for a pouch costing you 5gp can contain an almost infinite number of rare and exotic noncostly materials that would be extremely hard to find depending on your campaign and your world.
Oh yeah, makes perfect sense.
Yes it's a houserule but please explain to me how you are making life more difficult for arguably the most powerful class in the game.
You're making life more annoying for your players because you don't like a class. The rules don't work the way you're describing it simply because it would only annoy the players, and the game is about having fun.
How about fully explain this in detail because it's absurd as hell to be honest?
Whats absurd about it? Your fighter has a monthly living expense thats so low there's no point keeping track of it. He goes to the store he gets milk, bread, eggs, meat, a mug of beer and some oil for his sword and some sand to keep the rust out of his armor.
Your wizard goes to the store he gets milk, bread, eggs, meat, a bottle of wine, some sand for his component pouch, some cob webs and a catipiler's cocoon.
I mean boo hoo freakin hoo.
Someone had a wizard steal their lunch money...
They make plenty of sense from a game design perspective.Oh yeah it really makes sense for a pouch costing you 5gp can contain an almost infinite number of rare and exotic noncostly materials that would be extremely hard to find depending on your campaign and your world.
Oh yeah, makes perfect sense.
Oh, sorry, I must have accidentally said "logical sense" somewhere and my eyes keep glancing over it.
Fact is, forcing people to keep track of a theoretically infinite number of useless b~&*#@$! items whose only purpose is to be used as spell components is a terrible mechanic. It's the equivalent of going to someone's house, but every time you want to boot up the Wii and play Super Smash Bros. you had to count how many grains of rice your friend has left in a jar. It's tedious, boring, and completely worthless. It serves absolutely no purpose from a design perspective, no matter how much sense it would make in-game.
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But it's true. Making a wizard track spell components does literally nothing to reduce their in-game abilities, unless you get to the point of playing a game of Statblocks & Spreadsheets and track every individual piece of string or poop and restricting its availability....All it serves is to annoy the player with incredibly irrelevant minutiae.
Actually, if you do make a spellcaster track his costly components then you will find out that it can get pretty expensive when casting certain spells so he/she will have to choose whether to spend money on certain components or magic gear, scrolls, wands, etc...
Shallowsoul, what does your post have to do with Alice's?
She was answering the topic of a GM who tracked every pinch of sand, every spider leg, every ball of fluff, etc.Nobody has suggested not tracking components with a listed cost, except for one poster who introduced an 'Improved Eschew Materials' feat, which isn't stricly making them free, so much as changing the gp cost to a feat cost, and which many players would consider more costly in the long run, given gps usually get given out in the thousands, while PCs have finite feats.
Dragonscales and dragon blood and devil eyes?
You have a point, that these things shouldn't be considered common, so should either;
be given a listed cost, to force casters to account for them or harvest them,
OR
be changed to some mundane material, which can be justified as being found in any grocer's store.
Apparently dragons shed their scales, and ship them out wholesale to pad their hoards a little bit...
Apparently dragons shed their scales, and ship them out wholesale to pad their hoards a little bit...
If i could sell the trimmings from my haircuts and fingernail clippings I would too.
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Yes it's a houserule but please explain to me how you are making life more difficult for arguably the most powerful class in the game.You're making life more annoying for your players because you don't like a class. The rules don't work the way you're describing it simply because it would only annoy the players, and the game is about having fun.
How about fully explain this in detail because it's absurd as hell to be honest?Whats absurd about it? Your fighter has a monthly living expense thats so low there's no point keeping track of it. He goes to the store he gets milk, bread, eggs, meat, a mug of beer and some oil for his sword and some sand to keep the rust out of his armor.
Your wizard goes to the store he gets milk, bread, eggs, meat, a bottle of wine, some sand for his component pouch, some cob webs and a catipiler's cocoon.
I mean boo hoo freakin hoo.Someone had a wizard steal their lunch money...
Actually Wizards are my favorite class. I was playing an elven magic user since 1985 so I've debunked your little theory there.
Some of us like for the rules and fluff to actually makes sense.
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Apparently dragons shed their scales, and ship them out wholesale to pad their hoards a little bit...
I've always pictured it like a bazaar type thing. Adventuring group A kills a dragon. While looting is occurring, Wizard (or other spellcaster, or heck martial) happens to loot scales. Plus the dragon you're obviously going to have skinned for dragonscale armor.
Go to town, trade a bunch of the looted scale for other components (example, your devil eyes). I mean, how many scales do you get, even after the dragon's been skinned. Hundreds? No way you'll use that many, so might as well get other things. And now the economy has dragonscales.
Another example of adventurer's helping the community.
Out of curiosity, do you track every copper your PCs spend on food and drink? Make them buy new clothes every year or six months or more often? Charge them for every night they stay in an inn? Bowstrings? To maintain and repair broken equipment?
every single piece of it, and change the names, even introduce some other coins and cost more or less in some places. i still play in avistan, but i´ll guess when i take my party for the south (mwangi expanse) i would change all the coins for other names and are made of iron for the purpose of cost, and dump the coins which the golds are played at all. i change all the prices from gold to silver and thats how i play them.
Copper = Centimos (Spanish medieval coin)
Silver = Shields (european medieval coin)
Gold = Talent (a roman B.C coin)
platin = lire (another B.C. coin)
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i use the Credits Cards from eberron and the Kundarak´s bank net
also i introduce some others for make flavor:
Dinar (15 shields)
Dirhem (15 Dinar)
this two kind of coin are usualy used for the merchants, to trade between them or trading with a realm, king or alike with big transactions. its rare to found one, and those which brings one becomes suspicious for the merchants. sometimes the merchant pays heps debts with this coins in a way of grattitude from extremal thankful.
Cross (50 lire): this is the coin of the clergy, with theyre deities symbols on one side and the realm´s flagg from they were made at the other. qith this coins. used to trade between the merchants orkingdoms. extremely rare and is probably the players never knows them
Crowns (1000 lire): the kingdom coin, the kingdom flag in one side, a crown can´t be traded in the realmss at war.
used to trade between kings. and theyre value can vary from one realm to another (depending on theyre relation).
usualy in the fantasy tales was said "the king would recompense for killing the dragon and bring the princess alive 25 crowns" have nothing more to say
and for big ammounts, there are Ingots (one copper ingot 25 shields, silver ingot 250 shields. gold ingot 2500 shields platin ingot 25000 crowns)
phew... its complicated
Some of us like for the rules and fluff to actually makes sense.
By and large it does.
1)If there is a demand for it, there is an economy for it. I have NO idea where i would find caterpillar cocoons this time of year... because no one needs or wants caterpillar cocoons. If someone was buying them I'd collect them when i was out hiking.
2) The pouch does not contain an infinite amount of sand/whatever. Its simply abstracted to. The CHARACTER does in fact refill it. That doesn't mean that the player does. The player doesn't keep track of toilet paper, whiping thier butts, going to the bathroom, or every single meal they eat either: the character still does these things.
Some of us like for the rules and fluff to actually makes sense.By and large it does.
1)If there is a demand for it, there is an economy for it. I have NO idea where i would find caterpillar cocoons this time of year... because no one needs or wants caterpillar cocoons. If someone was buying them I'd collect them when i was out hiking.
2) The pouch does not contain an infinite amount of sand/whatever. Its simply abstracted to. The CHARACTER does in fact refill it. That doesn't mean that the player does. The player doesn't keep track of toilet paper, whiping thier butts, going to the bathroom, or every single meal they eat either: the character still does these things.
dude this argue have no sense, there are a lot of flaver and the things to do always be optional for the players!!
record the weight, the coins, where they carry anything (chest, back, backpack...), how they cast an spell and how they track evrything... actualy i have one player with a bard character who song and rhimes his spells (you fell the skin harder with this magical armor [mage armor], Dogs, Cats, and Rabits, for this time you feel dazzy [daze]) simply theyre are people who search the flavor...and there is not!!
i dont like the rules at all (spells which magicaly forget after you cast it... errrr rrrrrright tell me, how they can forget? if i prepare the same spell every day... how the he"# i forget it again and again and aigain? ok fireball is a 3 pages spell, but, i learn it in the magic school, prepare every day and "ups i forget that spell again"?)
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You could do away with M components entirely (except for the pricey ones), and by that I mean "change all spell descriptions so they don't mention M components at all except for costly ones") and not affect the game one bit--except in the rare circumstances where your wizard's spell component pouch has been stolen, which is a circumstance where the GM is being a jerk anyway. :)
I'm not convinced by this statement, on two levels;
First, it ignores that there are actual in-game implications to a spell having a material requirement, even when the materials are free of gp cost. And that is the action cost, and opportunity cost, of having to be able to access those components.
Casting while shape-shifted, casting while you're grappled, are both hindered further than normal, if there is a material component.
A default wizard or cleric, trying to deal with a grappling opponent, without the Eschew Materials feat, has to succeed in a grapple check to access their materials, before than can even begin to perform the somatic gestures to cast (and deal with the concentration checks associated with their grappled condition, ongoing damage, etc).
A sorcerer in the same situation can cut out the first check, they need only pass the concentration check; no pouches to access, no mundane materials to handle.
This makes them more difficult to capture; if they can keep their head, pass the concentration check, then they can give their attacker a facefull of flames, while the wizard flops around on the floor, straining for his belt.
Secondly, I don't consider preventing the wizard accessing his components to be a jerk move. If the creatures are intelligent enough to think of it, it's a valid tactic. And if they've annoyed some important BBEG, enough for them to send assassins after them, it's going to be one of the opening moves.
Man, I should stop reading SKR's posts. The fact that he's probably going to be one of the main developers for PF 2e is NOT encouraging. Apparently he believes that fantasy worlds should have remarkably liberal prisons.
I think it more likely that mister Reynolds thinks putting the PCs in a prison situation is a jerk move.
And here's me, thinking 'A4: The Dungeons of The Slavelords' was one of the iconic, groundbreaking modules of all time....
Railroading the PCs into jail shouldn't be happening on a regular basis.
But you'd have a much harder time justifying why you aren't having opponents (especially wild beasts, like crocs and snakes) grapple the casters. I mean, these creatures exist to be observed in the real world. That's what they do.
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You could do away with M components entirely (except for the pricey ones), and by that I mean "change all spell descriptions so they don't mention M components at all except for costly ones") and not affect the game one bit--except in the rare circumstances where your wizard's spell component pouch has been stolen, which is a circumstance where the GM is being a jerk anyway. :)
Did SKR actually say a DM is a jerk for stealing a component pouch? So does he think a GM is a jerk if her sunders an item or actually kills a character.
I hope he doesn't continue to let his opinion influence the actual rules of the game.
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Shallowsoul...
Dude.
We get it. If you enforced all the little rules, Wizards aren't gods.
You aren't wrong.
But it is a problem that you have to micromanage the system for balance.
That is something that should be addressed, but these rampages you've been on for the last few weeks aren't helping your case.
Just sayin'
Those things are listed in the book and their prices so yes I do.Out of curiosity, do you track every copper your PCs spend on food and drink? Make them buy new clothes every year or six months or more often? Charge them for every night they stay in an inn? Bowstrings? To maintain and repair broken equipment?
Even though the Cost of Living rules covers all of that already?
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Shallowsoul...
Dude.
We get it. If you enforced all the little rules, Wizards aren't gods.
You aren't wrong.
But it is a problem that you have to micromanage the system for balance.
That is something that should be addressed, but these rampages you've been on for the last few weeks aren't helping your case.
Just sayin'
Encumbrance, ammo, spell component costs are all a part of the rules that people over look or hand wave so much to the point that when someone actually does enforce them they are looked at as an odd ball or just someone trying to punish the players.
Not my fault that people feel like they can claim to play by the rules but still handwave things they feel aren't important.
These are forums where discussions about the game takes place, this is what they are for. They are not only for singing the games praises.
Edit: People gripe and complain all the time about spellcasters being all powerful with no weaknesses and yet when you start to point out those weaknesses they gripe and complain that you are punishing the players or being a jerk.
Can't have it both ways I'm afraid.
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Even though the Cost of Living rules covers all of that already?Those things are listed in the book and their prices so yes I do.Out of curiosity, do you track every copper your PCs spend on food and drink? Make them buy new clothes every year or six months or more often? Charge them for every night they stay in an inn? Bowstrings? To maintain and repair broken equipment?
Those aren't rules actually, it's advice because they think everyone will get annoyed if every gp is accounted for.
Sometimes the devs that write this stuff make no sense. They go to the trouble of listing out the prices for everything and then go on to say that they don't recommend actually doing this.
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Even though the Cost of Living rules covers all of that already?Those things are listed in the book and their prices so yes I do.Out of curiosity, do you track every copper your PCs spend on food and drink? Make them buy new clothes every year or six months or more often? Charge them for every night they stay in an inn? Bowstrings? To maintain and repair broken equipment?
You can certainly handle these minor expenditures in detail during play, but tracking every time a PC pays for a room, buys water, or pays a gate tax can swiftly become obnoxious and tiresome. If you're not really into tracking these minor costs of living, you can choose to simply ignore these small payments. A more realistic and easier-to-use method is to have PCs pay a recurring cost of living tax. At the start of every game month, a PC must pay an amount of gold equal to the lifestyle bracket he wishes to live in—if he can't afford his desired bracket, he drops down to the first one he can afford.
geez, that Cost of Living stuff just ruins the game...
geez, that Cost of Living stuff just ruins the game...
Are you being serious or snarky? It's hard to tell in this medium.
For those who handwave anything less than 1 gp, do you give the sorcerer an extra bonus feat?
We're not handwaving, we are playing as it is written in the rules.
Man, I should stop reading SKR's posts. The fact that he's probably going to be one of the main developers for PF 2e is NOT encouraging. Apparently he believes that fantasy worlds should have remarkably liberal prisons.
Screw handy haversacks and bags of holding, a simple spell component pouch evidently holds an infinite amount of an infinite variety of items.
Sean has simply explained a rule that has been part of Pathfinder since the beginning, and in fact works the same as it did in D&D version 3.0 and 3.5.
In fact, this very text is part of all three rule sets. There really is no room for interpretation:
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.
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I am confused here. On the last page, you were saying "I don't care about the inexpensive components you get from a spell pouch, I only care about keeping track of spells that actually cost something"(It seems that everyone does btw? Those spells are special because of their cost, and everyone in this thread keeps track)
Now on this page you are saying you do actually care about having a cost for the spell pouch beyond the flat price. Which is it? Do you care about bat guano and string or do you not
I care about dragonscales, dragon blood, devil eyes etc.. being identified as common components that a one time 5gp spell pouch can take care of.
i have devised an abstract "Trinket" system.
Hey, I like your system! :)
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geez, that Cost of Living stuff just ruins the game...Are you being serious or snarky? It's hard to tell in this medium.
Oh, just a touch of snark blood. I found some in a discarded half-used Spell Component Pouch.
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I care about dragonscales, dragon blood, devil eyes etc.. being identified as common components that a one time 5gp spell pouch can take care of.I am confused here. On the last page, you were saying "I don't care about the inexpensive components you get from a spell pouch, I only care about keeping track of spells that actually cost something"(It seems that everyone does btw? Those spells are special because of their cost, and everyone in this thread keeps track)
Now on this page you are saying you do actually care about having a cost for the spell pouch beyond the flat price. Which is it? Do you care about bat guano and string or do you not
Well, how do you think this stuff should be handled?
Establish a cost and have them available in stores?
Require characters to obtain them in play?Either would be a house rule, but a relatively reasonable one.
Alternately you could just change the material components that don't seem to belong in a generic pouch to something more reasonable.BTW, what spell requires a Devil's eye? A quick search didn't turn anything up.
I know Infernal Healing requires devil's blood but I'm not sure about the eyes. I thought I read somewhere that a spell needed eyes from a devil.
I would say that you have to go out and actually find dragon scales unless you pass through an exotic bazaar. They various shape changing spells actually require you to have a piece of the creature you turn into but it wouldn't make sense to have pieces of exotic creatures that you know the PC's haven't encountered and if you think about it a spell component pouch would have a sample of every creature in the world.
If you are going to actually have spell components then the game should actually adhere to it but if a 5gp pouch is all you need then there is no point in adding them to the spells, just let the player add the flavor if he wants.
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BTW, what spell requires a Devil's eye? A quick search didn't turn anything up.
It was a 3.5 spell, and doesn't exist in Pathfinder. People are getting confused because arguments are getting mishmashed together.
From what I can tell:
shadowsoul handwaves most components without a listed cost, except for what he feels isn't common (black dragon scales, for example). He says people should track expensive components.
Everyone else agrees that people should track expensive components, and they handwave most <1gp components.
Most people are arguing about stuff they actually agree on, and/or getting sidetracked.
Ontopic: I don't see how black dragon scales aren't common. There's hundreds-thousands of scales on a dragon, and they shed them. If you're houseruling that black dragons don't exist in your game, then obviously you should probably houserule anything that involves black dragons.
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If you are going to actually have spell components then the game should actually adhere to it but if a 5gp pouch is all you need then there is no point in adding them to the spells, just let the player add the flavor if he wants.
Material components with an unlisted price are there for flavor.
I swear, most of the threads I read that have you as the OP include you trying to inflict a mechanical impact on flavor text.
In this case, the mechanic is "do you have access to your spell component pouch? Yes? Then you can cast spells with material components with unlisted prices".
From what I can tell:
shadowsoul handwaves most components without a listed cost, except for what he feels isn't common (black dragon scales, for example
and then flips about people making use of 'Cost of Living' rules because that's not really a rule.
Really, it just ruins the game for me when people act like it's OK that the food costs are the same for a Halfling as they are for a Dwarf or Half-Orc. Calories work the same in a magical fantasy world. You can't just ignore that.
If you house-rule that devil blood or dragon scales or whatever else should have a nonzero cost, then the end result is that wizards are slightly discouraged from casting like two of the spells on their massive spell list and their overall power is unchanged. A wizard who can't cast Infernal Healing still doesn't have the same power level as a rogue.
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I care about dragonscales, dragon blood, devil eyes etc.. being identified as common components that a one time 5gp spell pouch can take care of.I am confused here. On the last page, you were saying "I don't care about the inexpensive components you get from a spell pouch, I only care about keeping track of spells that actually cost something"(It seems that everyone does btw? Those spells are special because of their cost, and everyone in this thread keeps track)
Now on this page you are saying you do actually care about having a cost for the spell pouch beyond the flat price. Which is it? Do you care about bat guano and string or do you not
And that's an argument that has merit. You can establish a cost for them, or alter such material components to be something more mundane.
What you don't do is launch a crusade claiming that people are neglecting the rules when literally everyone who has responded to this thread enforces the costs of components that have a cost listed, and require a spell component pouch or Eschew Materials for everything else--exactly as the rules are.
I'm willing to have a discussion about material components that shouldn't have a negligible cost. But that's not the tone that's been set here.
It's not the cost that gets handwaved, it's which specific kind of powdered gem they require. I think most people basically houserule that all expensive material components are gold coins.
You can speak for yourself, but don't speak for "most people."
Every group I've played in over the last... oh, 15 years or so, which includes a lot of different people (i.e., not the same group of people in different combinations), has always specifically tracked components. I.e., if my wizard has stoneskin in her spellbook, then I make sure I purchase 250 gp worth of granite and diamond dust per number of times I want to cast that spell, within the limitations of my available funds. If I run out of uses, I can't cast the spell till I replenish it. Always have played it like that, under a lot of different GMs.
Now, we aren't "most people" either, but I think there is no one way "most people" do it, honestly.
If the Dm made a big deal about Material components the player will just take Eschew materials as a feat tax for (basically) all casters.
Or one could make an "Everful component pouch" for about 100GP. I suspect those would be rather popular.
I personally track Expensive Material Components but not the typical zero cost ones as most can easily be found for free.
I typically keep an X amount of each expensive component at any given time. I fluff it as him prepping little Fetish Packets that he can use to cast them.
But I tend to play Sorcerers or other Spontaneous Casters
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For those who handwave anything less than 1 gp, do you give the sorcerer an extra bonus feat?We're not handwaving, we are playing as it is written in the rules.
RAW handwaving is still handwaving. It's just also evidence of bad game design when a game gives you rules for something, and then elsewhere tells you to not bother with those rules.