Do you use material spell components?

[uv23]

I've been doing a lot of work lately on making sorcerers more distinct from their wizard brethren and I keep coming back to one thing - spell components. Specifically material components. In my view, it doesn't make sense for sorcerers to use them since their talent is natural. But then I am faced with a possible balance issue based on this advantage. Or am I? Are material components that important or are they just a bother that should be forgotten altogether?

Tell me about material spell components in your campaign. Do you use them? Why or why not? And opinions on the core issue would be appreciated as well.

 

[Lady Dragon]

Material spell components help make the game more interesting in general it gives wizards and sorcerers something to search for.
They especially come into play at higher levels.A they do effect overall game balance.

Some high level spells require rare and/or expensive components. If you take them out of the game many wizards would cast these spells continuously unbalancing the game.The other classes have a hard enough time competing with wizards at high level.

 

[Volaran]

Well, in the game I play in, sorcerors do not require material or verbal components.

As a tradeoff, in addition to any normal focus components that the sorceror would provide for the spell, they have school focuses. Basically, an item of personal value that they channel magic through, and must be replaced at great cost (mostly in time) if they are destroied. They can later take feats called "Great Focus" and "Inner Focus" to mitigate this penalty.

In addition, though they only need to use somatic components, sorcerors cannot take the still spell feat, and there is really no way to hide their powers. When they cast spells, things like glowing eyes and localized increases in wind speeds, temperatures, ect. rather give away their nature.

 

[Crothian]

Our DM doesn't enforce it for the cheap stuff, but the spellcasters enjoy using it as flavor. Plus, we've found other ways of using the combonents. Once the wizard took the component for his fireball and flung it in the face of the evil warlord who had just captured us. Boy, did we pay for that one.....

 

[Dr. Zoom]

Just give all sorcerers in your world Eschew Materials as a free bonus feat at 1st level. That way they don't need M components unless they are worth more than a gold piece. So a sorcerer still needs a 100gp pearl for identify spells, but no bat guano and sulfur for fireballs. You could also change the gold piece value to 25 or even 50 if you wanted. I would not go too high, though.

 

[Ace32]

You could make your sorcerers not be required to obtain the non-GP material components, and then for the pricey stuff, convert to XP, just make some consistant formula, and stick to it.

 

[uv23]

For anyone who'se interested, I have compiled a list of sorcerer spells requiring material componets along with their spell level (see attached doc). It was interesting reading to see what was required for spells with material components. Some had pricy gems or so forth but others with no gold piece value per say still had what I would consider rare and/or valuable requirements, such as hide off of a displacer beast or a piece of iron from an iron golem. (The attached doc does not differentiate between spells with GP/non-GP material components)

 

[DWARF]

I just up the monthly living costs one level for the mages and sorcerors. So a wizard living in poor conditions pays for good conditions monthly, to account for non-priced components and library fees, etc.

 

[Ace]

I just up the monthly living costs one level for the mages and sorcerors. So a wizard living in poor conditions pays for good conditions monthly, to account for non-priced components and library fees, etc.

Brilliant! thats exactly what I do. Geat minds run in the same channel.

 

[1StrangeFellow]

Generally, in our group we ignore material components if you have that ever-present spell component pouch and there is not an expenisive component listed, or a component with a price - for both wizards and sorcerers.

Personally, I think it would have been cool to do something with sorcerers that reflects the fact that they are tapping internal powers... like taking subdual damage instead of having spells per day and components. Anyway, I digress.

It's been a while since I've been around the 'EN' boards. Isn't this the type of thing the mods would have moved over to the rules forum back in the day? I've seen several other instances of this glancing through the forums. The old 'neighborhood' looks a little different.