Does the casting of racial spells require the use of material components, when a spell normally calls for them (or a focus)? How does your campaign rule on this?
I'm thinking here of examples such as a high elf casting Message (V, S, M), a gnome casting Minor Illusion (V, S, M), or a drow casting any of the drow magic spells. I imagine RAW the answer is yes, but conceptually I could see that a spell so ingrained in an ethnic culture or innate to a race may not carry the same requirement. Every gnome needing fleece, for example, or every drow some phosphorus or a glow worm... Thanks in advance for suggestions.
There are no general rules for racial spells. Each monster trait, racial trait, or feat tells you if it makes any exception to spell component requirements. Many will remove the need for material components.
Obviously every DM is going to see this differently but in my opinion, based on how monsters with the Innate Spellcasting feature are written up then I would say that if the various races were allowed to ignore the use of various components it would be stated explicitly. The Couatl for example states: "It can innately cast the following spells, requiring only verbal components". However, with both the Drow and Forest Gnome, as examples, it is merely stated that they know the cantrips applicable. Which implies that the character must have the required material component. While, I do see your point about certain spells being basically part of the racial make-up that they should be able to cast those innately I can make a counter argument that since those cantrips/spells are such a major part of every day life of the race in question it is just a given that they have all the required material to cast the cantrip on them at all times. Now as far as my campaign goes I only worry about material components that have a specified cost in the spell descriptions, unless an unusual disaster struck in the game that lead to a character losing all of their gear, and since that scenario has not happened in a 5E game the whole material component issue has never came up before.
A
PS - I would be much more inclined to rule in your favor in the case of the gnome or drow since the cantrip is explicitly stated, which leads more weight to your concept of innate spellcasting. High elves can choose any wizard cantrip so making a case for cultural bias or innate ability is much weaker. But again that is just one DMs opinion.
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As for me, I choose to believe that an extinct thunder lizard is running a game of Dungeons & Dragons via Twitter!
I imagine RAW the answer is yes, but conceptually I could see that a spell so ingrained in an ethnic culture or innate to a race may not carry the same requirement. Every gnome needing fleece, for example, or every drow some phosphorus or a glow worm... Thanks in advance for suggestions.
Thank you InquisitiveCoder and Auberginian for your takes on this. Sounds right and reasonable. Thanks!
Incidentally, in our campaign we handle the need for materials or foci similarly. It's a low maintenance approach that still adds meaning to our story if/when the party loses access to their equipment.
I was looking for this because in (some?) older editions if you got magic because of species/race it did not require any components unless it specifically said so.
Does the casting of racial spells require the use of material components, when a spell normally calls for them (or a focus)?
Just as a side note; as a general rule you it appears that you cannot cast a racial spell using a focus.
The reason is because a focus is tied to spells of a given class (e.g. Wizard Spells or Cleric Spells). The Wizard spellcasting ability says that the spells I gain from the Wizard class are Wizard Spells and I can use an Arcane Focus to cast Wizard Spells. It is pretty specific about that and what it means is that I cannot use a wand or staff to cast a Bard spell. Conversely, I can't use an instrument to cast a Wizard spell.
The thing is that it appears that only spells granted through the class' spellcasting ability are 'Wizard Spells', since that is the only place where the term is defined. That means that spells gained through Racial Features and General Feats don't typically belong to any class, since they weren't granted through that class' Spellcasting Ability.
I will note that not everyone agrees with this interpretation and it is simply an interpretation. There has been nothing issued by the developers to clarify exactly what is meant, so far. However it seems the majority agree with this interpretation.
You are, of course, free to interpret what 'Wizard Spell' means however you like in any games that you run. Just be aware that if someone else is running a game their interpretation may not agree with yours.
Does the casting of racial spells require the use of material components, when a spell normally calls for them (or a focus)?
[...] The thing is that it appears that only spells granted through the class' spellcasting ability are 'Wizard Spells', since that is the only place where the term is defined. That means that spells gained through Racial Features and General Feats don't typically belong to any class, since they weren't granted through that class' Spellcasting Ability.
I will note that not everyone agrees with this interpretation and it is simply an interpretation. There has been nothing issued by the developers to clarify exactly what is meant, so far. However it seems the majority agree with this interpretation. [...]
Yeah, this topic has been debated recently in some threads. I agree with that interpretation.
As this resurrected thread is about Racial (now Species) traits, here are some related links for future visitors (they are related to the 2024 books):
Does the casting of racial spells require the use of material components, when a spell normally calls for them (or a focus)? How does your campaign rule on this?
I'm thinking here of examples such as a high elf casting Message (V, S, M), a gnome casting Minor Illusion (V, S, M), or a drow casting any of the drow magic spells. I imagine RAW the answer is yes, but conceptually I could see that a spell so ingrained in an ethnic culture or innate to a race may not carry the same requirement. Every gnome needing fleece, for example, or every drow some phosphorus or a glow worm... Thanks in advance for suggestions.
There are no general rules for racial spells. Each monster trait, racial trait, or feat tells you if it makes any exception to spell component requirements. Many will remove the need for material components.
The Forum Infestation (TM)
Obviously every DM is going to see this differently but in my opinion, based on how monsters with the Innate Spellcasting feature are written up then I would say that if the various races were allowed to ignore the use of various components it would be stated explicitly. The Couatl for example states: "It can innately cast the following spells, requiring only verbal components". However, with both the Drow and Forest Gnome, as examples, it is merely stated that they know the cantrips applicable. Which implies that the character must have the required material component. While, I do see your point about certain spells being basically part of the racial make-up that they should be able to cast those innately I can make a counter argument that since those cantrips/spells are such a major part of every day life of the race in question it is just a given that they have all the required material to cast the cantrip on them at all times. Now as far as my campaign goes I only worry about material components that have a specified cost in the spell descriptions, unless an unusual disaster struck in the game that lead to a character losing all of their gear, and since that scenario has not happened in a 5E game the whole material component issue has never came up before.
A
PS - I would be much more inclined to rule in your favor in the case of the gnome or drow since the cantrip is explicitly stated, which leads more weight to your concept of innate spellcasting. High elves can choose any wizard cantrip so making a case for cultural bias or innate ability is much weaker. But again that is just one DMs opinion.
As for me, I choose to believe that an extinct thunder lizard is running a game of Dungeons & Dragons via Twitter!
Forgot to address this aspect of the question.
The racial traits for playable characters don't represent every single member of that race. They're "a mix of physical/magical qualities and cultural elements that are archetypal for a playable member of that species." Not every single forest gnome knows Minor Illusion, but the ones that take up adventuring usually do.
The Forum Infestation (TM)
Thank you InquisitiveCoder and Auberginian for your takes on this. Sounds right and reasonable. Thanks!
Incidentally, in our campaign we handle the need for materials or foci similarly. It's a low maintenance approach that still adds meaning to our story if/when the party loses access to their equipment.
Yes. You need material components for racial spell. Unless they say otherwise (most of the feat ones do)
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sageadvice.eu/2017/06/06/is-it-intended-that-you-should-have-the-material-components-for-spell-you-know-from-your-race/amp/
Excellent, thanks!
I was looking for this because in (some?) older editions if you got magic because of species/race it did not require any components unless it specifically said so.
What doesn't require components is Spellcasting or Innate Spellcasting trait with Psionics tag..
Just as a side note; as a general rule you it appears that you cannot cast a racial spell using a focus.
The reason is because a focus is tied to spells of a given class (e.g. Wizard Spells or Cleric Spells). The Wizard spellcasting ability says that the spells I gain from the Wizard class are Wizard Spells and I can use an Arcane Focus to cast Wizard Spells. It is pretty specific about that and what it means is that I cannot use a wand or staff to cast a Bard spell. Conversely, I can't use an instrument to cast a Wizard spell.
The thing is that it appears that only spells granted through the class' spellcasting ability are 'Wizard Spells', since that is the only place where the term is defined. That means that spells gained through Racial Features and General Feats don't typically belong to any class, since they weren't granted through that class' Spellcasting Ability.
I will note that not everyone agrees with this interpretation and it is simply an interpretation. There has been nothing issued by the developers to clarify exactly what is meant, so far. However it seems the majority agree with this interpretation.
You are, of course, free to interpret what 'Wizard Spell' means however you like in any games that you run. Just be aware that if someone else is running a game their interpretation may not agree with yours.
Yeah, this topic has been debated recently in some threads. I agree with that interpretation.
As this resurrected thread is about Racial (now Species) traits, here are some related links for future visitors (they are related to the 2024 books):