I enforce it exactly as the rules say to use them. It doesn’t affect my spellcasters, they just learned to plan appropriately (bring LOTS of incense haha). I will never understand anyone that says it’s too hard to track, or that their spellcasters can’t figure it out, or that it somehow discourages spellcasting in general. It’s an insanely simple system - as complex as leaving town with a sword for a warrior.
I tend to focus on the top level spells available to players, so at level 1-3 where money is tight, yes I make sure the players find the components they need, I might hand wave it with an investigation roll in town and a low price but managing money is part of the mechanics of the game.
As the magic user becomes more powerful then on focus on the bigger spells they know, I no assume they pick up the common components and light just periodically ask them for 10-15 go to cover the costs of keeping those resources up to date, much the same way as I do for anyone with a bow or crossbow at that level.
I may also allow a player to scratch off the gold cost of a spell vs actually buying the components, for instance hero’s feast, if a cleric has leveled up out in the wilderness and wants to try it out then I might just say, mark off 1000 gold, but, once they get to a population center I will start reminding them to go and try and find some jewel encrusted chalices of its a spell they like.
I use them, and so does every person I've played with. It's a part of magic.
Also, for those talking about a spell focus, it does not replace anything with a gold value. Its good to have, my wizards carry one, but I also have a pouch of non-gp components just in case, and a second for components worth gold that are needed with a focus, and the third is filled only with bat guano, which Im always looking for when we are in a cave.
Spellcasters are already too powerful in 5e, no reason to make it easier.
Also, saying nobody will play a caster if they need components is absolutely bs. The problem is always that too many want to be casters. Wizard is about the most played class there is.
I use them, and so does every person I've played with. It's a part of magic.
Also, for those talking about a spell focus, it does not replace anything with a gold value. Its good to have, my wizards carry one, but I also have a pouch of non-gp components just in case, and a second for components worth gold that are needed with a focus, and the third is filled only with bat guano, which Im always looking for when we are in a cave.
Spellcasters are already too powerful in 5e, no reason to make it easier.
Also, saying nobody will play a caster if they need components is absolutely bs. The problem is always that too many want to be casters. Wizard is about the most played class there is.
What I do find most interesting is, for a lot of the characters, you don't need more than the basic rules to make them. Wizards still sit behind Fighters, Rogues, and Warlocks; and they're tied with Barbarians and Clerics. That puts them solidly in the middle of the pack.
1. Components that have a cost but are not consumed - they need to be provided normally and hunted (last session my player needed to go to a jeweller to order a vial made of crystal for the Summon Shadowspawn spell)
2. Components that have a cost but are consumed are pooled together under "you have xxx amount of gold in spell components" and whenever a spell is cast, the amount is reduced appropriately. Diamonds are the exception. Those need to be provided separately.
i would love to use them more. for the most part they are flavor. but i have amended some spells that say the component is consumed by the spell. which means temporary limited use.
This came up in a discussion on Reddit last week, and I'm almost disappointed I didn't think to share it here.
NPC spellcasters don't, by default, have a spellcasting focus. They can't even expressly use one unless they're attuned to a magic item which says it can be used as a spellcasting focus. Now, the DM is free to change this. And some published adventures may play with this concept. Mordenkainen, in Curse of Strahd, goes off to look for his staff after having his sanity restored.
But spellcasting components are something DMs can play with when running encounters.
If the spell component has a cost, the character needs to have it. If the component is something rare or exotic, they need to have it. If the component is consumed by the casting, they need to have it. The rest they can have a focus for or a Component Pouch. I note that even Fireball does not say the component is consumed by the casting. Many spells are balanced by the need for their components, as many people have pointed out.
As for why spells require components, even for non-Wizards? It goes back to the roots of the magic system in D&D; The Vancian Magic System™. Spell casters don't actually *understand* what they are doing. They know how to trigger the effect they want. How the spell works? They can only guess. Clerics and Druids aren't told how their spells work, they are gifted with them. Should they argue with the powers that bestowed them? Sorcerers are a bit odd, but the Laws Of Magic are beyond mortal ken, and they are still stuck with them. They get the ability to muck around with the specifics of the spell with their Sorcery Points.
Many of the oddities of magic in D&D come from those humble roots. Spell Slots, for example, have to do with the fact that the caster doesn't so much learn a spell as force arcane or mystical knowledge into their mind, holding it until they do what it takes to set it off. Spells can be unstable, and if you get hit hard enough while trying to cast them they don't go off. Time and training allow you to hold more stuff in your mind. You get more and better spell slots.
If casters actually understood the process behind their spells, wouldn't it make sense that they could make new ones when they felt like it, or at least tinker with the ones they have? Wouldn't they be able to cast as often as they liked? Sure you can limit things, with super costly and time consuming research to make or modify spells, and have casting make you tired, but the more you change the system the less your game resembles Dungeons And Dragons. There are some optional rules for things like Spell Points in the DMG. I have yet to be in a game that used them.
The difficulty of spell casting has become a lot easier over the years. The Vancian Magic System has mellowed. There was a time when you memorized all your spells in the morning, and that was all there was to it. No upcasting. No neat little list of spells and you get to pick which when you got round to the casting part. Taking a hit of any kind killed the spell, and casting times were usually a lot longer. No cantrips either. No namby-pamby shortcuts like Warlocks get, or free rides like Sorcerers do. Yup. Back in my day you had to walk to magic school. Uphill. Barefoot. In the snow. Home again was uphill too. Magic you know.
Components add a little fun and flavor at the least. They keep some spells from getting out of hand, and they provide a way to stop a caster from casting. It gets rather difficult to do that in 5th Edition.
My party is levelling their way up in the deep wilds of Tomb of Annihilation. They have focus’s, but lack of components is starting to wreak havoc on them. It’s added an interesting layer to the campaign, particularly for those that are locking in spells for the level.
With the exception of Druid and Artificer, the number one subclass for the remaining 11 are all found in either the Basic Rules or the System Reference Document. Both are legally available for free, and both are included in what D&D Beyond calls the Basic Rules. Minus the Grappler feat; I'm not really sure why.
With the exception of Druid and Artificer, the number one subclass for the remaining 11 are all found in either the Basic Rules or the System Reference Document. Both are legally available for free, and both are included in what D&D Beyond calls the Basic Rules. Minus the Grappler feat; I'm not really sure why.
I don’t have any inside info, but I’ll bet the free one are used most often, because they’re free. It’s economics.
If my spellcasting players are using component pouches I figure they have enough recourses at the beginning of an adventure to cast each spell with a NO COST component 10 times. The player can refill their component pouch easily in any mages guild, alchemy shop, or even spend down time gathering components from the environment. Any COST component like diamond dust must be strictly tracked by the player and they are expected to have the component in hand if they are preparing the spell.
There is no real need to be super strict with 10 use components. A player has cast fireball 10 times during an adventure and needs to cast another. Scraping their fingers at the bottom of the component pocket they gather scraps of bat guano and sulfur left behind by the previously used components. Allowing players a little leeway when it comes to tracking component usage. And generating a little drama into your campaign as it becomes clear recourses are dwindling. Foci are a prime way to bypass spell components usage but cripple the caster if they are left without it. Many components can be found in most environments. Finding them in a pinch can add a little spice to any campaign.
If my spellcasting players are using component pouches I figure they have enough recourses at the beginning of an adventure to cast each spell with a NO COST component 10 times. The player can refill their component pouch easily in any mages guild, alchemy shop, or even spend down time gathering components from the environment. Any COST component like diamond dust must be strictly tracked by the player and they are expected to have the component in hand if they are preparing the spell.
There is no real need to be super strict with 10 use components. A player has cast fireball 10 times during an adventure and needs to cast another. Scraping their fingers at the bottom of the component pocket they gather scraps of bat guano and sulfur left behind by the previously used components. Allowing players a little leeway when it comes to tracking component usage. And generating a little drama into your campaign as it becomes clear recourses are dwindling. Foci are a prime way to bypass spell components usage but cripple the caster if they are left without it. Many components can be found in most environments. Finding them in a pinch can add a little spice to any campaign.
But just a heads up for others that read this house rule, the component pouch and arcane focus are considered to never run out of use. You don’t need to refill the pouch, for example. I think it gets to granular if you start measuring each individual item, but it may work for your table (though I’d ask the players if it feels limiting).
As per RAW, the only time you need to worry about components that do NOT have a gold cost is if you don’t have a focus or component pouch that is relevant to your class. You are considered to have all of them at all times.
The primary difference between these two would be:
1) Focus must be held in hand, potentially interfering with any action requiring a free hand. Can also be disarmed essentially.
2) Pouches need a free hand to use but do not occupy it otherwise. Can be stolen much more easily because it’s not being held most of the time.
I use components though wonder if I'm being too easy on foci users. Other thing I'm wondering. It just seems the nature of sorcerer's magic (being a force they're imbued with) sort of goes counter the needs for components. Wizards are basically working out of science manual and need their lab equipment, got it. The more divinely or primordial force worshiping/serving spell casters offering the components to their higher powers, I get that too. But sorcerers, since their magic is something that they're imbued with, and do not study, I just don't follow the need to have like a copper wire to use an antenna when I message. Is it just me or am I missing something?
Most of the material components that don't list explicit costs and aren't consumed are either little injokes, or something directly affected by the spell. Message needs to broadcast the message, Resistance needs a cloak (of resistance), Grease needs grease, Silent Image needs to fleece people, Longstrider needs something to stride on, Gentle Repose needs Charon's dues, Heat Metal needs heat and metal, Locate Animals or Plants needs a bloodhound to sniff them out, Shatter needs something shattered, Haste needs a sugar high, and so on. They're mostly just something to get a little laugh at while you just use your focus instead. xP
Most of the material components that don't list explicit costs and aren't consumed are either little injokes, or something directly affected by the spell. Message needs to broadcast the message, Resistance needs a cloak (of resistance), Grease needs grease, Silent Image needs to fleece people, Longstrider needs something to stride on, Gentle Repose needs Charon's dues, Heat Metal needs heat and metal, Locate Animals or Plants needs a bloodhound to sniff them out, Shatter needs something shattered, Haste needs a sugar high, and so on. They're mostly just something to get a little laugh at while you just use your focus instead. xP
It's not so much a joke as a symbol of the desired effect. Many real-world occult systems use symbolic components. These are either related in some tangential sense, like the examples you noted, or based on a system of symbols related to the specific occult system. As D&D doesn't have an actual occultism to it, it can only fall back on the tangential symbols.
I enforce it exactly as the rules say to use them. It doesn’t affect my spellcasters, they just learned to plan appropriately (bring LOTS of incense haha). I will never understand anyone that says it’s too hard to track, or that their spellcasters can’t figure it out, or that it somehow discourages spellcasting in general. It’s an insanely simple system - as complex as leaving town with a sword for a warrior.
I tend to focus on the top level spells available to players, so at level 1-3 where money is tight, yes I make sure the players find the components they need, I might hand wave it with an investigation roll in town and a low price but managing money is part of the mechanics of the game.
As the magic user becomes more powerful then on focus on the bigger spells they know, I no assume they pick up the common components and light just periodically ask them for 10-15 go to cover the costs of keeping those resources up to date, much the same way as I do for anyone with a bow or crossbow at that level.
I may also allow a player to scratch off the gold cost of a spell vs actually buying the components, for instance hero’s feast, if a cleric has leveled up out in the wilderness and wants to try it out then I might just say, mark off 1000 gold, but, once they get to a population center I will start reminding them to go and try and find some jewel encrusted chalices of its a spell they like.
I use them, and so does every person I've played with. It's a part of magic.
Also, for those talking about a spell focus, it does not replace anything with a gold value. Its good to have, my wizards carry one, but I also have a pouch of non-gp components just in case, and a second for components worth gold that are needed with a focus, and the third is filled only with bat guano, which Im always looking for when we are in a cave.
Spellcasters are already too powerful in 5e, no reason to make it easier.
Also, saying nobody will play a caster if they need components is absolutely bs. The problem is always that too many want to be casters. Wizard is about the most played class there is.
No, I wouldn't say wizard is the most-played class. What statistics are available don't support the claim. Bell of Lost Souls did a piece last July on a D&D Beyond Developer update that broke down all the characters stored on their servers by a number of factors. And then there's this old table from 2017.
What I do find most interesting is, for a lot of the characters, you don't need more than the basic rules to make them. Wizards still sit behind Fighters, Rogues, and Warlocks; and they're tied with Barbarians and Clerics. That puts them solidly in the middle of the pack.
The way I handle it at my table:
1. Components that have a cost but are not consumed - they need to be provided normally and hunted (last session my player needed to go to a jeweller to order a vial made of crystal for the Summon Shadowspawn spell)
2. Components that have a cost but are consumed are pooled together under "you have xxx amount of gold in spell components" and whenever a spell is cast, the amount is reduced appropriately. Diamonds are the exception. Those need to be provided separately.
i would love to use them more. for the most part they are flavor. but i have amended some spells that say the component is consumed by the spell. which means temporary limited use.
This came up in a discussion on Reddit last week, and I'm almost disappointed I didn't think to share it here.
NPC spellcasters don't, by default, have a spellcasting focus. They can't even expressly use one unless they're attuned to a magic item which says it can be used as a spellcasting focus. Now, the DM is free to change this. And some published adventures may play with this concept. Mordenkainen, in Curse of Strahd, goes off to look for his staff after having his sanity restored.
But spellcasting components are something DMs can play with when running encounters.
If the spell component has a cost, the character needs to have it. If the component is something rare or exotic, they need to have it. If the component is consumed by the casting, they need to have it. The rest they can have a focus for or a Component Pouch. I note that even Fireball does not say the component is consumed by the casting. Many spells are balanced by the need for their components, as many people have pointed out.
As for why spells require components, even for non-Wizards? It goes back to the roots of the magic system in D&D; The Vancian Magic System™. Spell casters don't actually *understand* what they are doing. They know how to trigger the effect they want. How the spell works? They can only guess. Clerics and Druids aren't told how their spells work, they are gifted with them. Should they argue with the powers that bestowed them? Sorcerers are a bit odd, but the Laws Of Magic are beyond mortal ken, and they are still stuck with them. They get the ability to muck around with the specifics of the spell with their Sorcery Points.
Many of the oddities of magic in D&D come from those humble roots. Spell Slots, for example, have to do with the fact that the caster doesn't so much learn a spell as force arcane or mystical knowledge into their mind, holding it until they do what it takes to set it off. Spells can be unstable, and if you get hit hard enough while trying to cast them they don't go off. Time and training allow you to hold more stuff in your mind. You get more and better spell slots.
If casters actually understood the process behind their spells, wouldn't it make sense that they could make new ones when they felt like it, or at least tinker with the ones they have? Wouldn't they be able to cast as often as they liked? Sure you can limit things, with super costly and time consuming research to make or modify spells, and have casting make you tired, but the more you change the system the less your game resembles Dungeons And Dragons. There are some optional rules for things like Spell Points in the DMG. I have yet to be in a game that used them.
The difficulty of spell casting has become a lot easier over the years. The Vancian Magic System has mellowed. There was a time when you memorized all your spells in the morning, and that was all there was to it. No upcasting. No neat little list of spells and you get to pick which when you got round to the casting part. Taking a hit of any kind killed the spell, and casting times were usually a lot longer. No cantrips either. No namby-pamby shortcuts like Warlocks get, or free rides like Sorcerers do. Yup. Back in my day you had to walk to magic school. Uphill. Barefoot. In the snow. Home again was uphill too. Magic you know.
Components add a little fun and flavor at the least. They keep some spells from getting out of hand, and they provide a way to stop a caster from casting. It gets rather difficult to do that in 5th Edition.
<Insert clever signature here>
My party is levelling their way up in the deep wilds of Tomb of Annihilation. They have focus’s, but lack of components is starting to wreak havoc on them. It’s added an interesting layer to the campaign, particularly for those that are locking in spells for the level.
What do you mean?
I was talking about this image in particular.
With the exception of Druid and Artificer, the number one subclass for the remaining 11 are all found in either the Basic Rules or the System Reference Document. Both are legally available for free, and both are included in what D&D Beyond calls the Basic Rules. Minus the Grappler feat; I'm not really sure why.
Why are you bringing that up in the Dungeon Master's section of the forum, in a thread about spell components? Did I miss something?
<Insert clever signature here>
I don’t have any inside info, but I’ll bet the free one are used most often, because they’re free. It’s economics.
Do you give the martial characters free plate armour and weapons and healing potions and so on?
If not, why give the spellcasting character free spells?
If my spellcasting players are using component pouches I figure they have enough recourses at the beginning of an adventure to cast each spell with a NO COST component 10 times. The player can refill their component pouch easily in any mages guild, alchemy shop, or even spend down time gathering components from the environment. Any COST component like diamond dust must be strictly tracked by the player and they are expected to have the component in hand if they are preparing the spell.
There is no real need to be super strict with 10 use components. A player has cast fireball 10 times during an adventure and needs to cast another. Scraping their fingers at the bottom of the component pocket they gather scraps of bat guano and sulfur left behind by the previously used components. Allowing players a little leeway when it comes to tracking component usage. And generating a little drama into your campaign as it becomes clear recourses are dwindling. Foci are a prime way to bypass spell components usage but cripple the caster if they are left without it. Many components can be found in most environments. Finding them in a pinch can add a little spice to any campaign.
Honor, Integrity, Valor.
Someone mentioned how wizards are "about the most played class" and that's just not true.
But just a heads up for others that read this house rule, the component pouch and arcane focus are considered to never run out of use. You don’t need to refill the pouch, for example. I think it gets to granular if you start measuring each individual item, but it may work for your table (though I’d ask the players if it feels limiting).
As per RAW, the only time you need to worry about components that do NOT have a gold cost is if you don’t have a focus or component pouch that is relevant to your class. You are considered to have all of them at all times.
The primary difference between these two would be:
1) Focus must be held in hand, potentially interfering with any action requiring a free hand. Can also be disarmed essentially.
2) Pouches need a free hand to use but do not occupy it otherwise. Can be stolen much more easily because it’s not being held most of the time.
Most of the material components that don't list explicit costs and aren't consumed are either little injokes, or something directly affected by the spell. Message needs to broadcast the message, Resistance needs a cloak (of resistance), Grease needs grease, Silent Image needs to fleece people, Longstrider needs something to stride on, Gentle Repose needs Charon's dues, Heat Metal needs heat and metal, Locate Animals or Plants needs a bloodhound to sniff them out, Shatter needs something shattered, Haste needs a sugar high, and so on. They're mostly just something to get a little laugh at while you just use your focus instead. xP
It's not so much a joke as a symbol of the desired effect. Many real-world occult systems use symbolic components. These are either related in some tangential sense, like the examples you noted, or based on a system of symbols related to the specific occult system. As D&D doesn't have an actual occultism to it, it can only fall back on the tangential symbols.
Well, it's both. TSR was perfectly fond of dumb jokes, but there's usually also a rational connection between the spell and the component.