Tequila Sunrise
Adventurer
Material-components-as-expendable-idiosyncratic-spell-foci is an interesting take, but it begs the question: Why would any wizard or wizard tradition use expensive expendable foci for certain spells, when a cheap component would serve as well?There's nothing wrong with them as far as I'm concerned. In most cases (at least for arcane spells), the material component's relation to the actual spell is largely symbolic in any case, so I'm perfectly happy for that symbolism to be on the level of wordplay (for sesame seeds) or cultural association (carrots for night vision) rather than purely physical.
I do think wizards from different cultures and species would associate different items with such symbolism, and might use different components as a result, and I'd be fine with a player choosing other components (of equal value) for those reasons, but I'm also fine for the existing ones to be the default for most characters.
(Presumably resurrection and other powerful spells will still require expensive components in 5e.)
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