Could anyone tell is the warlock spell Components get used after certain spells. I have a player who took some spells as a warlock and they require monetary value (a gilded skull worth at least 300 gp) and (tears inside a gem worth at least 300 gp). The spells are summon shadowspawn and summon undead. I cant tell if the componets get used up like a diamond in revivify or stay like a pearl in identify. I feel like 300 gold for an hour of spell is a lot but not entirely sure of the ruling.
The reason they have a gp value listed is because of the rules to do with being able to use a spellcasting focus in order to avoid needing to supply material components (which only applies if there is no gp value listed).
The idea of price gating spells is odd. But this kinda means a caster needs to choose sometimes between a magic item and a spell component. Contributing at least in a minor way to the tradition that magic items are more commonly used by non casters.
The idea of price gating spells is odd. But this kinda means a caster needs to choose sometimes between a magic item and a spell component. Contributing at least in a minor way to the tradition that magic items are more commonly used by non casters.
GP costs is one of the few downsides to casters to balance their power. If anything, we need more...
Sure. I'm just saying that the prices don't seem to scale at the expected rates, and that it's weird to have class features you have to pay for with gold. (Well, I guess Wizards have to pay to add extra spells to their books also.)
These things aren't included in loot tables either, and there's no official list of them to make it easier for DMs to include em, so 100% of the time, the player has to ask, hey, can I get this spell? Adding the price on top of having to ask permission seems unnecessary at that point, right? The DM already has to opt in.
Anyway, I'm going off topic. Pretty sure the thread's over at this point lol.
It's no different than price gating armor. Full Plate is expensive to help balance the game. If low level characters could just have it, they would be nearly untouchable in most encounters.
Having easy/free access to ALL of the mentioned summoning spells would make casters even more powerful than they already are. This gives DMs a way to throttle power or limit the number of combatants on the battle field to speed up play. If they don't want summons, they can make these items difficult if not impossible to find or buy.
But Full Plate costs 1,500 gp; or you could have 1 less AC for a mere 200 gp - not really a balance issue charging 6.5 times more gp simply for +1 AC.
It's no different than price gating armor. Full Plate is expensive to help balance the game. If low level characters could just have it, they would be nearly untouchable in most encounters.
Having easy/free access to ALL of the mentioned summoning spells would make casters even more powerful than they already are. This gives DMs a way to throttle power or limit the number of combatants on the battle field to speed up play. If they don't want summons, they can make these items difficult if not impossible to find or buy.
But Full Plate costs 1,500 gp; or you could have 1 less AC for a mere 200 gp - not really a balance issue charging 6.5 times more gp simply for +1 AC.
Sure it is. What do you mean? Having it priced so highly means nobody can build a level 1 character and have it from the start. And unless they score a serious windfall they're not gonna be buying it until around level 3+ with adventuring loot, either. So it's kind of like heavy armor proficiency is a class feature that scales at level 3ish, whereas other armor proficiencies scale with ASIs, or not at all.
You could argue that it's not balanced WELL, but to say it's not an element of balancing is just nonsense. It obviously is.
As an aside, I have a theory. If plate costs so much, usually a party has to pool money together to buy it. This draws extra attention to it. The heavy armor player gets a spotlight that reminds everyone of their combat role, and we know that players are less likely to ignore something if they had to spend resources on it. I wonder how much less effective high AC play styles might be if armor was cheaper. Like, would parties fail to factor it into their tactics? There's no point trying to hold a line if the squishies just run out into the fray, right? And how much worse would it FEEL, since you're often sacrificing damage or magic items to do it, if your party didn't recognize the impact you were having? In my group we have a high AC character and he contributes a lot just by where he chooses to move to. He provokes attacks that miss, and blocks off paths. And we're always like, "yo, nice play," but what if we never had to chip in for the armor? Would we even notice? Bit of an odd train of thought, I guess.
Could anyone tell is the warlock spell Components get used after certain spells. I have a player who took some spells as a warlock and they require monetary value (a gilded skull worth at least 300 gp) and (tears inside a gem worth at least 300 gp). The spells are summon shadowspawn and summon undead. I cant tell if the componets get used up like a diamond in revivify or stay like a pearl in identify. I feel like 300 gold for an hour of spell is a lot but not entirely sure of the ruling.
Any thoughts would be great.
Thanks
Alex
It is only consumed if ot says it is. In this case, it does not say it is, so it isn't.
Yea DJC is correct, it's all in the spell description and the distinction is quite easy to spot tbh.
Revivify says; "* - (diamonds worth 300 gp, which the spell consumes)"
Identify says - "* - (a pearl worth at least 100 gp and an owl feather)"
Summon Undead says - "* - (a gilded skull worth at least 300 gp)"
Summon Shadowspawn says - "* - (tears inside a gem worth at least 300 gp)"
The reason they have a gp value listed is because of the rules to do with being able to use a spellcasting focus in order to avoid needing to supply material components (which only applies if there is no gp value listed).
See https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/spellcasting#MaterialM
The idea of price gating spells is odd. But this kinda means a caster needs to choose sometimes between a magic item and a spell component. Contributing at least in a minor way to the tradition that magic items are more commonly used by non casters.
GP costs is one of the few downsides to casters to balance their power. If anything, we need more...
Sure. I'm just saying that the prices don't seem to scale at the expected rates, and that it's weird to have class features you have to pay for with gold. (Well, I guess Wizards have to pay to add extra spells to their books also.)
These things aren't included in loot tables either, and there's no official list of them to make it easier for DMs to include em, so 100% of the time, the player has to ask, hey, can I get this spell? Adding the price on top of having to ask permission seems unnecessary at that point, right? The DM already has to opt in.
Anyway, I'm going off topic. Pretty sure the thread's over at this point lol.
But Full Plate costs 1,500 gp; or you could have 1 less AC for a mere 200 gp - not really a balance issue charging 6.5 times more gp simply for +1 AC.
Sure it is. What do you mean? Having it priced so highly means nobody can build a level 1 character and have it from the start. And unless they score a serious windfall they're not gonna be buying it until around level 3+ with adventuring loot, either. So it's kind of like heavy armor proficiency is a class feature that scales at level 3ish, whereas other armor proficiencies scale with ASIs, or not at all.
You could argue that it's not balanced WELL, but to say it's not an element of balancing is just nonsense. It obviously is.
As an aside, I have a theory. If plate costs so much, usually a party has to pool money together to buy it. This draws extra attention to it. The heavy armor player gets a spotlight that reminds everyone of their combat role, and we know that players are less likely to ignore something if they had to spend resources on it. I wonder how much less effective high AC play styles might be if armor was cheaper. Like, would parties fail to factor it into their tactics? There's no point trying to hold a line if the squishies just run out into the fray, right? And how much worse would it FEEL, since you're often sacrificing damage or magic items to do it, if your party didn't recognize the impact you were having? In my group we have a high AC character and he contributes a lot just by where he chooses to move to. He provokes attacks that miss, and blocks off paths. And we're always like, "yo, nice play," but what if we never had to chip in for the armor? Would we even notice? Bit of an odd train of thought, I guess.