This question came about when I was flicking through the spells in the PHB because I'm making an RPG and almost every spell in it will require a material component (a fresh citrus fruit for Acid Splash, a drop of honey or snake oil for Charm Person, etc.).
I noticed that in 5e, Comprehend Languages requires a pinch of soot and salt. What connection does it have to reading? Also, what are some other material components in 5e that don't make sense until you look into it? Many are obvious, such as Colour Spray requiring a pinch of multicoloured sand, but others are rather odd, such as the bat guano (turd) required for Fireball.
Some of them are just random esoteric sounding components, I believe; although I suppose given it also calls for sulphur it might be a nod to early explosives.
Some of them are just random esoteric sounding components, I believe; although I suppose given it also calls for sulphur it might be a nod to early explosives.
Yeah, the gunpowder is fairly obvious.
Some spells have material components that are just weird. Like how Resistance requires a miniature cloak. It's obvious why, just odd that it specifically says the cloak needs to be small.
Most of the components are something that you can comfortably handle with a single hand, especially when you don’t get into priced or consumed ones. I assume that’s why it’s a miniature cloak.
Most of the components are something that you can comfortably handle with a single hand, especially when you don’t get into priced or consumed ones. I assume that’s why it’s a miniature cloak.
Soot, good for making ink in a pinch. Burning inexpensive rock salt can help remove soot from certain surfaces with the fumes, erasing it. Both true IRL.
It's a stretch that it's magically and mentally erasing and rewriting languages, but there's usually some way to justify spell components, even if barely related.
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Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
Most of the components are something that you can comfortably handle with a single hand, especially when you don’t get into priced or consumed ones. I assume that’s why it’s a miniature cloak.
Realize that these are flavor components since you know... Fantasy/science fiction!!!
However, most magical components have some literary, cultural, or scientific flare that they are based off of. If you go down the etymology or scientific break down of either what the spell does or the component you will see things that make some odd sense. (Well at least to the author at the time.) Occasionally though, you will just see something really really expensive used that makes little sense, just to make the spell difficult.
The salt component is a good example. It is used culturally for many purposes depending on the local religions and how they industrialized it as well. But salt also symbolizes: Flavor, permanence, loyalty, durability, fidelity, usefulness, value, and purification. But traditionally salt is used for flavor, baking, preserving, tanning, medicine, dyeing, bleaching, pottery, soap, aging, plant destruction, and chlorine.
I like how Animal Friendship has a component that also works just fine non-magically, too.
Anyone can "cast" Animal Friendship with that spell component.🤣
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Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
Soot, good for making ink in a pinch. Burning inexpensive rock salt can help remove soot from certain surfaces with the fumes, erasing it. Both true IRL.
It's a stretch that it's magically and mentally erasing and rewriting languages, but there's usually some way to justify spell components, even if barely related.
Realize that these are flavor components since you know... Fantasy/science fiction!!!
However, most magical components have some literary, cultural, or scientific flare that they are based off of. If you go down the etymology or scientific break down of either what the spell does or the component you will see things that make some odd sense. (Well at least to the author at the time.) Occasionally though, you will just see something really really expensive used that makes little sense, just to make the spell difficult.
The salt component is a good example. It is used culturally for many purposes depending on the local religions and how they industrialized it as well. But salt also symbolizes: Flavor, permanence, loyalty, durability, fidelity, usefulness, value, and purification. But traditionally salt is used for flavor, baking, preserving, tanning, medicine, dyeing, bleaching, pottery, soap, aging, plant destruction, and chlorine.
These are both excellent answers, and actually fit pretty well with my interpretation of magic. In my game, the idea of spellcasting is that you find and harness an object's attributes, and then magnify that attribute to the extent of producing the desired effect. In the case of Acid Splash, for instance, you use a fresh citrus fruit because it contains citric acid, which is slightly corrosive. You then magnify the fruit's subtly corrosive ability, to conjure a bubble of harmful acid.
Sometimes, the material component is a reference to something. I have a cantrip called Anella's Weld (named after my sibling's wizard), which binds two objects together. The component is a drop of glue, a tiny bit of gum, or a chocolate chip cookie (as cookies are Anella's favourite food). The Haste spell's component will probably be the quill of a hedgehog.
I like how Animal Friendship has a component that also works just fine non-magically, too.
Anyone can "cast" Animal Friendship with that spell component.🤣
Yeah, for some spells, I'm choosing materials that would allow one to interpret the casting as non-magical, Animal Friendship included.
Some spells in my game don't require components, such as Vicious Mockery (renamed to "Insult to Injury") requiring the caster to be (quote) "able to speak and willing to emotionally hurt the target"
Also, if the spell specifically targets an object, the target is listed as a material component.
In one of Matt Colville's books he proposes that making many potions for resistance requires a drop of blood from the sort of creature you wish to grant resistance. So anyone slaying a dragon could get a goldmine of ingredients for resistance to that sort of dragon, or some other things. As another example, to get resistance to a Basalis's Gaze you need to brew a potion with a basilisk's eye.
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Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
Guano is extremely flammable, and under enough pressure can even be used as an explosive, due to its high concentrations of nitrogen and phosphates. Guano may have been the very first accelerant that Homo erectus used to help ignite the very first fires that our species ever harnessed.
That's why guano is the spell component for Fireball.
In one of Matt Colville's books he proposes that making many potions for resistance requires a drop of blood from the sort of creature you wish to grant resistance. So anyone slaying a dragon could get a goldmine of ingredients for resistance to that sort of dragon, or some other things. As another example, to get resistance to a Basalis's Gaze you need to brew a potion with a basilisk's eye.
Oh dang, I haven't even thought about a potioncrafting system. I like that idea. I've already got an (untested) Alchemist class in my game so it could work quite nicely
Guano is extremely flammable, and under enough pressure can even be used as an explosive, due to its high concentrations of nitrogen and phosphates. Guano may have been the very first accelerant that Homo erectus used to help ignite the very first fires that our species ever harnessed.
That's why guano is the spell component for Fireball.
That's neat. Might keep Fireball's D&D components in my game.
I thought these components make sense in potions, why not have them in spells of a similar nature?
One of the beautiful things about the potion components thing is the ingredients are so specific that you're unlikely to break the game balance by allowing it.
It also helps by tapping into the trope that potion components are very rare and hard to acquire.
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Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
Better to use them in spells instead (unless the Somatic part of the spell is to eat the component).🤢
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Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
so you have alchemists. Do you have lapidaries for them? The books, not the people (though that might be too weird a truth for today). Because…
Flowers and gemstones had significant properties. Middle Ages lapidaries documented these, and then some Victorian folks went even more wild, so if you can find a good list from a while back, it can help. A google search will get you a bunch of answers from sellers of such, but few will match with others.
flowers are both a messaging system and also a companion to herblore, so they can have significant meaning.
there is a book, Encyclopedia of Occultism, by Lewis Spence, public domain these days so you should be able to find it, has a tone of useful lore from our world that informs a lot of why certain spell components were used (at least, in 1e. Since I don’t use them, I haven’t looked for years).
another is Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Try to get an older copy, because the newer ones have dropped several of the kennings and other bits in order to stay abreast of modern trends.
good luck with this!
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Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities .-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-. An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more. Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
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This question came about when I was flicking through the spells in the PHB because I'm making an RPG and almost every spell in it will require a material component (a fresh citrus fruit for Acid Splash, a drop of honey or snake oil for Charm Person, etc.).
I noticed that in 5e, Comprehend Languages requires a pinch of soot and salt. What connection does it have to reading? Also, what are some other material components in 5e that don't make sense until you look into it? Many are obvious, such as Colour Spray requiring a pinch of multicoloured sand, but others are rather odd, such as the bat guano (turd) required for Fireball.
[REDACTED]
Some of them are just random esoteric sounding components, I believe; although I suppose given it also calls for sulphur it might be a nod to early explosives.
Yeah, the gunpowder is fairly obvious.
Some spells have material components that are just weird. Like how Resistance requires a miniature cloak. It's obvious why, just odd that it specifically says the cloak needs to be small.
[REDACTED]
Most of the components are something that you can comfortably handle with a single hand, especially when you don’t get into priced or consumed ones. I assume that’s why it’s a miniature cloak.
Makes sense
[REDACTED]
Soot, good for making ink in a pinch. Burning inexpensive rock salt can help remove soot from certain surfaces with the fumes, erasing it. Both true IRL.
It's a stretch that it's magically and mentally erasing and rewriting languages, but there's usually some way to justify spell components, even if barely related.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
Bat guano is both flammable and sticky, combined with the sulfur it would be like throwing a pinch of napalm.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
It also has to be able to fit into a component pouch.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Realize that these are flavor components since you know... Fantasy/science fiction!!!
However, most magical components have some literary, cultural, or scientific flare that they are based off of. If you go down the etymology or scientific break down of either what the spell does or the component you will see things that make some odd sense. (Well at least to the author at the time.) Occasionally though, you will just see something really really expensive used that makes little sense, just to make the spell difficult.
The salt component is a good example. It is used culturally for many purposes depending on the local religions and how they industrialized it as well. But salt also symbolizes: Flavor, permanence, loyalty, durability, fidelity, usefulness, value, and purification. But traditionally salt is used for flavor, baking, preserving, tanning, medicine, dyeing, bleaching, pottery, soap, aging, plant destruction, and chlorine.
I am not sure what my Spirit Animal is. But whatever that thing is, I am pretty sure it has rabies!
I like how Animal Friendship has a component that also works just fine non-magically, too.
Anyone can "cast" Animal Friendship with that spell component.🤣
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
These are both excellent answers, and actually fit pretty well with my interpretation of magic. In my game, the idea of spellcasting is that you find and harness an object's attributes, and then magnify that attribute to the extent of producing the desired effect. In the case of Acid Splash, for instance, you use a fresh citrus fruit because it contains citric acid, which is slightly corrosive. You then magnify the fruit's subtly corrosive ability, to conjure a bubble of harmful acid.
Sometimes, the material component is a reference to something. I have a cantrip called Anella's Weld (named after my sibling's wizard), which binds two objects together. The component is a drop of glue, a tiny bit of gum, or a chocolate chip cookie (as cookies are Anella's favourite food). The Haste spell's component will probably be the quill of a hedgehog.
[REDACTED]
Yeah, for some spells, I'm choosing materials that would allow one to interpret the casting as non-magical, Animal Friendship included.
Some spells in my game don't require components, such as Vicious Mockery (renamed to "Insult to Injury") requiring the caster to be (quote) "able to speak and willing to emotionally hurt the target"
Also, if the spell specifically targets an object, the target is listed as a material component.
[REDACTED]
In one of Matt Colville's books he proposes that making many potions for resistance requires a drop of blood from the sort of creature you wish to grant resistance. So anyone slaying a dragon could get a goldmine of ingredients for resistance to that sort of dragon, or some other things. As another example, to get resistance to a Basalis's Gaze you need to brew a potion with a basilisk's eye.
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
Guano is extremely flammable, and under enough pressure can even be used as an explosive, due to its high concentrations of nitrogen and phosphates. Guano may have been the very first accelerant that Homo erectus used to help ignite the very first fires that our species ever harnessed.
That's why guano is the spell component for Fireball.
Anzio Faro. Protector Aasimar light cleric. Lvl 18.
Viktor Gavriil. White dragonborn grave cleric. Lvl 20.
Ikram Sahir ibn-Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad. Brass dragonborn draconic sorcerer Lvl 9. Fire elemental devil.
Wrangler of cats.
Oh dang, I haven't even thought about a potioncrafting system. I like that idea. I've already got an (untested) Alchemist class in my game so it could work quite nicely
[REDACTED]
That's neat. Might keep Fireball's D&D components in my game.
[REDACTED]
I thought these components make sense in potions, why not have them in spells of a similar nature?
One of the beautiful things about the potion components thing is the ingredients are so specific that you're unlikely to break the game balance by allowing it.
It also helps by tapping into the trope that potion components are very rare and hard to acquire.
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
...and disgusting to drink once the reagents are known. (See Viva La Dirt Leage NPC D&D. YouTube link.)
Better to use them in spells instead (unless the Somatic part of the spell is to eat the component).🤢
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
I would say the potion takes a moment to take effect vis-a-vie the spell, but the potion effects lasts longer.
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
Oh my, lol.
so you have alchemists. Do you have lapidaries for them? The books, not the people (though that might be too weird a truth for today). Because…
Flowers and gemstones had significant properties. Middle Ages lapidaries documented these, and then some Victorian folks went even more wild, so if you can find a good list from a while back, it can help. A google search will get you a bunch of answers from sellers of such, but few will match with others.
flowers are both a messaging system and also a companion to herblore, so they can have significant meaning.
there is a book, Encyclopedia of Occultism, by Lewis Spence, public domain these days so you should be able to find it, has a tone of useful lore from our world that informs a lot of why certain spell components were used (at least, in 1e. Since I don’t use them, I haven’t looked for years).
another is Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Try to get an older copy, because the newer ones have dropped several of the kennings and other bits in order to stay abreast of modern trends.
good luck with this!
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities
.-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-.
An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more.
Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds