D&D 5E Pixie dust and enchantment spells

[CapnZapp]

One pinch of the pixie dust can substitute for the material
components of any enchantment spell of 3rd level or
lower. The pixie dust has other magical effects as well.

Have I gone mad or is this the least impressive effect in a long time?

Unless I'm mistaken there are no enchantment spell of 3rd level or lower with a costly component. (In fact none of the enchantment spells have a component that's costly at any level)

So what this does is replace your need for "morsel of food" or "drop of honey" or whatever. Which pretty much everyone ignores, since you have your component pouch, or you're using a spell focus.

So, what do you think. Is this Underwhelming of the Year material or what?

Zapp

PS. Please don't tell me pixie dust is awesome because it lets you fly. I know that already. Not talking about pixie dust here - talking specifically about the "ability" to sub for components of enchantment spells. And how that "ability" is epically useless.

 

[jgsugden]

You'd have to build a story around it to make use of it. For example, the PCs have their gear taken and the best path to get it back is to enchant someone - but the PCs have neither foci or material component pouches and need to gather the right material components for the necessary spells. I ran such an adventure a couple decades ago. It wasn't as fun as I thought it would be for the PCs to do their scavenger hunt.

 

[aco175]

It is boring and a bit over the top unless you have pixies all around making dust cheap. I may allow the spell to be cast at a higher level or you can use the dust to be able to cast sleep or fly or something by using a slot of appropriate level.

 

[jgsugden]

There are elements of the game that serve a practical purpose, and elements that are more of an aesthetic addition there only to add ambiance. This nuance seems more ambiance than anything.

 

[jaelis]

It's more effective than halfling dust...

 

[Caliban]

However, if you snort the Pixie Dust you get +2 to your Save DC for Enchantment Spells for 1 minute. Unfortunately, you are also under the effects of a Confusion spell for 1 minute.