Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
The Original Reason for Spell Components: Balancing Bad Jokes
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Snarf Zagyg" data-source="post: 9073446" data-attributes="member: 7023840"><p>I genuinely don't know, and I've puzzled over that one for a LONG time.</p><p></p><p>To begin with, Identify as a whole is one of the most FUBAR spells in all of 1e; seriously, it's like Gygax finished it, and was like... naw, let's make it even MOAR GYGAX.</p><p></p><p>It's got everything. </p><p></p><p>Dense, nearly impenetrable verbiage? Check!</p><p>Does it take forever and then some to cast? You betcha! (ONE TURN!)</p><p>Does it have a labyrinthine number of conditions? I can't even count them all!</p><p>Does casting this first level spell lead to terrible things happening, up to and including the death of the caster? YOU DON'T SAY!</p><p>Does it have the possibility of destroying the object that you actually want to identify? Why not????</p><p>Do you need to spend a ton of money just to cast this useless spell? SURE!</p><p></p><p>Heck, let's just humiliate the caster by making them do some gross stuff with material components, too! THUS SPAKETH THE GYGAX.</p><p></p><p>For the record-</p><p></p><p>The material components of this spell are a pearl (of at least 100 g.p. value) and an owl feather steeped in wine, with the infusion drunk and a live miniature carp swallowed whole prior to spell casting.</p><p></p><p></p><p>So, here's what I've got. Owls are wise. Okay.</p><p>The pearl in wine bit? That's from Cleopatra. Sure.</p><p>Miniature carp? Eh .... got me.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Snarf Zagyg, post: 9073446, member: 7023840"] I genuinely don't know, and I've puzzled over that one for a LONG time. To begin with, Identify as a whole is one of the most FUBAR spells in all of 1e; seriously, it's like Gygax finished it, and was like... naw, let's make it even MOAR GYGAX. It's got everything. Dense, nearly impenetrable verbiage? Check! Does it take forever and then some to cast? You betcha! (ONE TURN!) Does it have a labyrinthine number of conditions? I can't even count them all! Does casting this first level spell lead to terrible things happening, up to and including the death of the caster? YOU DON'T SAY! Does it have the possibility of destroying the object that you actually want to identify? Why not???? Do you need to spend a ton of money just to cast this useless spell? SURE! Heck, let's just humiliate the caster by making them do some gross stuff with material components, too! THUS SPAKETH THE GYGAX. For the record- The material components of this spell are a pearl (of at least 100 g.p. value) and an owl feather steeped in wine, with the infusion drunk and a live miniature carp swallowed whole prior to spell casting. So, here's what I've got. Owls are wise. Okay. The pearl in wine bit? That's from Cleopatra. Sure. Miniature carp? Eh .... got me. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
The Original Reason for Spell Components: Balancing Bad Jokes
Top