Am I missing it somewhere or does a pouch of spell componants last forever?
Hmm, Im kind of torn. I can see where having to maintain the pouch could be an undue restriction on magic-users in the wild but I kind of the like the fact that it costs to upkeep - makes a certain sense, and could create plot points.
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In 2nd Ed my first campaign was low magic, and I worked out a system with the Wizard where every time the party restocked in town he could accumulate so many "charges" worth of spell components for each spell, and he'd basically put a tally mark next to each spell on his sheet as he cast them. That was also back when casting Identify cost 100gp, which I always handwaved anyways. It made casting spells more of a resource management game for him, and it worked pretty well. I haven't done anything like that since, though. YMMV.
Hmm, Im kind of torn. I can see where having to maintain the pouch could be an undue restriction on magic-users in the wild but I kind of the like the fact that it costs to upkeep - makes a certain sense, and could create plot points.
Well, if you do that don't forget to tell the fighter his weapons are worn and he should work on them, and that their clothes are dirty, and that they smell bad because of a lack of bathing. Don't just pick on the spellcaster for a non existant problem, pick on everyone.
I know it doesn't make sense that it can last forever, but its for simplicity. Ideally the character is actively getting his bat guano elsewhere, and most of the material components are for show. If you actually had to collect bat guano in detail for every fireball you cast... Ick, not sure if I want to imagine a game like that.
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Am I missing it somewhere or does a pouch of spell componants last forever?It doesn't last forever, Your maintenance of it is pretty much handwaved, like your character's trips to the fruit stand.
There may be DM's and players that want to keep track of every single piece of feather and bat guano. For those DM's, I'll play a sorcerer.
Game mechanics wise it does by RAW. If your DM does track components without cost, that's homebrew.
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I buy a new pouch every few levels, generally when I gain access to a new level of spells. The 5 gp cost for a third (or higher) level character isn't a big deal.
By RAW, once you have the pouch, you're good to go. I just "house rule" this for my own spellcasting characters (except sorcerers). I do not enforce this rule as a GM.
I supoose one could just wave it away until the player was in a very remote situation (a long sea journey, weeks in the underground etc.) then make purchasing multiples or worrying about resupply an issue. It seems that the ingredients are common enough to be found in almost any village of fair size so keeping stocked while traveling shouldnt be a problem.
Thanks guys.
They aren't supposed to be funny (well, the TV one probably was). They're supposed to be poetic, using something with the essence of the desired effect. I rather miss the more interesting components.
Um... no they are jokes from earlier versions of the game, I remember reading my mother's AD&D books thinking, "these are joke components, you use that to make static, that's for gunpowder, hm... that is powder all over the place."
Not all of them are -- but a good portion are.
IF they wanted to be 'poetic' they probably should have stuck to more metaphysical and alchemical ideas on sympathetic magic and associations to build their spell component lists.
Some games (mine) track components for plot reasons. Specialists in their field and spontaneous casters don't require them, but other Wizards do. A PC finally realized she could ID a body's school by what components he DIDN'T have, allowing the party to see through a ruse. It gives another form of treasure, not too expensive and very popular. A campaign feat allowing a caster to craft his own got him out of a prison, roleplaying the accumulation of alternate sources. Another Wizard keeps a camouflaged patch under an arm with one use of a universal component. I like the working in of a few uses into a spellbook's binding, a part of the personalization. Lots of flavor with little backlash, so far.
I don't know. At high level play, tracking individual spell components would become a chore to me. But if your players are into it, keep it going! The flavor aspects you mentioned are golden.
Generally I just ignore material components for everyone. But some people like to play the sunder the spell component pouch, so I always pack an extra.
Think the Dungeonomicon says it best though:
Material components are a joke. I'm not saying that they are metaphorically a joke in that they don't act as a consistent or adequate limiting factor to spellcasting, I mean that they are actually a joke.
Material components are supposed to be "ha ha" funny. The fact that even after having this brought to your attention, you still aren't laughing, indicates that this is a failed attempt at humor.Most material components are based on technological gags, when you cast scrying you are literally supposed to grab yourself a "specially treated" mirror, some wire, and some lemons – which is to say that you make a TV set to watch your target on and then power it with an archaic battery. When you cast see invisibility you literally blow talc all over the place – which of course reveals invisible foes. Casting lightning bolt requires you to generate a static charge with an amber rod and some fur, tongues requires that you build a little Tower of Babel, and of course fireball requires that you whip up some actual gunpowder.
Get it? You're making the effects MacGuyver style and then claiming that it's "magic" after the fact. Are you laughing yet?Of course not, because that joke is incredibly lame and there's no way for it to hold your attention for several months of a continuous campaign.
I couldn't agree more. I remember one communication spell had one of those two-cans-and-a-string toy telephones as a component. Ha ha, yeah, you funny.
Between that, and simply hating the visuals of throwing stuff like butter and bat poop around, I simply remove costless material components from my games. Spell component pouch unnecessary.
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Hmm, Im kind of torn. I can see where having to maintain the pouch could be an undue restriction on magic-users in the wild but I kind of the like the fact that it costs to upkeep - makes a certain sense, and could create plot points.
Remember this:
Cost of Living
...
Average (10 gp/month): The PC lives in his own apartment, small house, or similar location—this is the lifestyle of most trained or skilled experts or warriors. He can secure any nonmagical item worth 1 gp or less from his home in 1d10 minutes, and need not track purchases of common meals or taxes that cost 1 gp or less.
So if you return to your house often enough, restocking your component pouch is part of the cost of your lifestyle, like getting your sword honed or your cloak patched.
Edit:
- the tin can telephone was invented in the XVII century: [uel=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin_can_telephone]Tin can telephone[/url].
- amber and fur were used to generate electric charges in the 6 century BC Electric charge history
- looking far away places or person in a mirror is a part of very old fables.
So, instead or interpreting all components materials as mockeries of modern contraptions (there are examples are that) think it they have some basis on fables and "magical" knowledge of earlier ages.
Edit:
- the tin can telephone was invented in the XVII century: [uel=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin_can_telephone]Tin can telephone[/url].- amber and fur were used to generate electric charges in the 6 century BC Electric charge history
- looking far away places or person in a mirror is a part of very old fables.
So, instead or interpreting all components materials as mockeries of modern contraptions (there are examples are that) think it they have some basis on fables and "magical" knowledge of earlier ages.
However, this does nothing to make them not-lame.
However, this does nothing to make them not-lame.Edit:
- the tin can telephone was invented in the XVII century: [uel=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin_can_telephone]Tin can telephone[/url].- amber and fur were used to generate electric charges in the 6 century BC Electric charge history
- looking far away places or person in a mirror is a part of very old fables.
So, instead or interpreting all components materials as mockeries of modern contraptions (there are examples are that) think it they have some basis on fables and "magical" knowledge of earlier ages.
Subjective. I usually like them, and I enjoy coming up with creative components when designing a spell.