I am getting really hung up on expensive spell materials for my wizard. My group recently hit lvl 3, I chose divination, with augury as one of my new spells. I have not been given access to the required spell components so far, so it feels like augury was a completely wasted spell choice. The only solution I see is to just ask my DM to give me access to materials either through a special vendor or a quest reward. But does that ruin the game?
This also makes me feel like my future spell choices will be entirely dictated by the spell components because I will only see them if I specifically ask for them. For instance, I like the idea of the big summon spells, but I will not stumble across (an object with the image of a dragon engraved on it worth 500+ GP) unless I specifically ask my DM to "give it to me." How do your groups handle these situations?
I generally have costly material components available for purchase when not simply found or crafted. Something like Augury's specially marked sticks, bones, cards, or other divinatory tokens worth 25+ GP should be easy to get without ruining your game.
Most costly ones eventually require more creativity but my rule of thumb is to not prevent a caster from eventually be able to cast its spells.
Generally speaking I would expect a DM to let you purchase the components for a spell like this in any sizeable town or city. This is something that’s meant to take a little extra investment, not become a whole side quest. It’s a fantasy setting, there should be vendors catering to this market segment. If you expect to be somewhere that you can go shopping in soon, just ask to purchase the items then. If you’re out in the middle of a quest and won’t be back in town for a while, maybe ask if you can make a one-time swap since you didn’t realize the additional pre-req to use the spell
Thanks for all the input. I think I just need to talk to my DM about this more. I didn't want them to feel like I was telling them what things to give me as rewards and the shops we have been given access to have very limited inventory. It might be intentional on their part, so I'll just have a sidebar before our next session.
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I am getting really hung up on expensive spell materials for my wizard. My group recently hit lvl 3, I chose divination, with augury as one of my new spells. I have not been given access to the required spell components so far, so it feels like augury was a completely wasted spell choice. The only solution I see is to just ask my DM to give me access to materials either through a special vendor or a quest reward. But does that ruin the game?
This also makes me feel like my future spell choices will be entirely dictated by the spell components because I will only see them if I specifically ask for them. For instance, I like the idea of the big summon spells, but I will not stumble across (an object with the image of a dragon engraved on it worth 500+ GP) unless I specifically ask my DM to "give it to me." How do your groups handle these situations?
I generally have costly material components available for purchase when not simply found or crafted. Something like Augury's specially marked sticks, bones, cards, or other divinatory tokens worth 25+ GP should be easy to get without ruining your game.
Most costly ones eventually require more creativity but my rule of thumb is to not prevent a caster from eventually be able to cast its spells.
Generally speaking I would expect a DM to let you purchase the components for a spell like this in any sizeable town or city. This is something that’s meant to take a little extra investment, not become a whole side quest. It’s a fantasy setting, there should be vendors catering to this market segment. If you expect to be somewhere that you can go shopping in soon, just ask to purchase the items then. If you’re out in the middle of a quest and won’t be back in town for a while, maybe ask if you can make a one-time swap since you didn’t realize the additional pre-req to use the spell
Thanks for all the input. I think I just need to talk to my DM about this more. I didn't want them to feel like I was telling them what things to give me as rewards and the shops we have been given access to have very limited inventory. It might be intentional on their part, so I'll just have a sidebar before our next session.