Does anyone else think it is ridiculous that Sorcerers use components and such?

[Mouseferatu]

I use a free-form component system for arcane casters in my game that some of you might want to adapt to your sorcerers. It keeps components, yet also keeps the sorcerer with a different "feel."

Here's the way it works. The sorcerer casts a spell, and must use a material component. However, that component need not be whatever's listed in the book. It can be anything--a tuft of fur, a glass vial, a stick--anything at all, as long as the player can explain to me how that particular component is symbolically appropriate for the spell. If agree, the component works; if not, it doesn't.

For instance, I've had characters cast Detect Magic with:

A mirror (symbolically seeing things differently)

A prism (changing the way light flows through it and again seeing things differently)

A lodestone on a string (symbolically finding things)

I probably would not allow Detect Magic to be cast with a tuft of monkey hair, since I can't see how that could be symbolically related. But I'd at least consider it if someone made a very strong case that I thought was reasonable.

Obviously, if you're dealing with a spell with a rare or expensive component, the component the sorcerer picks must be equally rare or expensive, but is still up to them.

Now, I use this for all arcane casters in my campaign. However, for those of you who want a wider difference in feel between sorcerers and wizards, there's no reason you couldn't use this system for sorcerers and the components in the books for wizards. It makes the sorcerers more freeform, and explains how they could accidentally stumble onto these spells, yet still keeps the same basic requirements for both classes.

Added: The other advantage to this, of course, is that it inspires some degree of player creativity, and makes spellcasting more interesting than just "Okay, I cast Fireball."

 

[Flying Monkey Style]

Of course, searching for rare material components is an easy plot hook.

 

[WSmith]

While I don't personally like wizards, I do see their place in the game. They are the "scientist" of magic while the sorcerer is the "artist."

I have grown out of the Vancian fire and forget model. (I also tend to shy away from spellcasting classes, also, because of it. ) It is a quick and easy way to adjudicate magic though. Even if I don't like it it does work.

This is my concpet of spellcasting. If anyone knows which products out their follow this, let me know, cause I would love to give this kind of spellcaster a spin. Maybe BoEMII, Sovergn Stone, Chaos Magic, (which I have not seen or have) or WOT (which I have seen but not have and not have read the weave section throughly. )

*There are no spells/day limit or spell preperation.
*You need to gather some kind of dimensional energy to cast the spell, (maybe by a spell check or such)
*You don't need spell components, but maybe a focus such as a staff would be approroiate .
*When you cast the spell, in place of the daily limit, it does somekind of damage, be it temp ability or subdual.

 

[bloodymage]

Hey RBG! What's a sorcerer?

 

[rootbeergnome]

Hey RBG! What's a sorcerer?

HA! Indeed! Glad to see you here Bloodymage!

 

[Voadam]

WSmith,

Check out the reviews page but I think soveriegn stone and Mongooses chaos magic and maybe even WOT sound like what you are interested in. I don't remember reading that BoEMII's sorcerer's are like that. This is all just from reviews of most of these products, I only own WoT and have not read the weaves section in depth either. CoC d20 might also appeal to you with its casting costs.

There are a number of prestige classes that allow benefits for damage.

 

[Information]

After running my campaign normally for a YEAR, my sorcerer player finally used a spell that required a significant material component, and when I informed him of the fact before the spell was cast, he asked: "Huh?! Since when does a sorcerer need material components?!"

The strange thing is...he had no external or internal source for this assumption. The sorcerer just *seems* like it shouldn't have to use material components...

 

[Jack Daniel]

[/color]
That's lovely. Now, for the rest of us who don't subscribe to your definition of arcane spellcaster, and who feel like the sorceror is too much like the wizard (and not enough like the psion, who really embodies the concept of the sorceror better than the sorceror itself does) I guess we're just wrong somehow.

At least as far as D&D:d20, you are. I highly suggest reading the sidebards in the rulebooks entitled "What is a Spell" and "What is a Psionic Power." Changing those definitions is a (here's the second vocabulary word for today) a house rule, which means that it does not accord with the standard game. Where the D&D game is concerned, a spell is stored, externtal arcane, positive, negative, or divine energy, as opposed to a power, which is the ability to innately channel one's own internal bioetheric energy. Positive & negative energy represent normal divine spells; divine energy is the source specifically of domain spells, which cannot be released in "pure" form; and arcane energy (whatever that may be in your campaign, from ether to mana to something unique) is the province of arcane spellcasters. Now, regardless of whether than energy is prepared daily as a stored spell, or always permanently "prepared" like a sorcerer or bard, who needs only to replenish his casting energy with rest, the rules of the game state quite specifically and without room for error that the casting method for any arcane spellcaster casting the same spell is identical. Every other interpretation is a change to those rules, not necessarily incorrect, but certainly no more correct than any other homebrew, campaign convention, or house rule.

 

[I'm A Banana]

There's a bit of a balancing factor beyond the simple cost of some components...

Polymorphing.

If said Sorcerer got turned into a toad by an enmy spellcaster, his spellcasting would be hardly affected at all because of the lack of need of components. Heck, he could turn into an Ogre or something and STILL whoop booty AND be able to blast you with fireballs, because of his lack of need for a physical object.

I've got a druid who Wild Shapes, and she's having problems with material components right now.

I've got a psion with the ability to change his form, and he's rockin' the house as everything from a pony to a froggy.

There could easily be rules I'm overlooking, but spellcasting classes gain quite a bit of potency if their abilities are accessable in any form.

I mean, come on, how many of you want to face a parrot with the spellcasting abilities of a sorcerer?

"WRAWK! ALAKAZAM!" BOOM! Hahhahahaha...

 

[mmadsen]

This is my concpet of spellcasting. If anyone knows which products out their follow this, let me know, cause I would love to give this kind of spellcaster a spin. Maybe BoEMII, Sovergn Stone, Chaos Magic, (which I have not seen or have) or WOT (which I have seen but not have and not have read the weave section throughly. )

*There are no spells/day limit or spell preperation.
*You need to gather some kind of dimensional energy to cast the spell, (maybe by a spell check or such)
*You don't need spell components, but maybe a focus such as a staff would be approroiate .
*When you cast the spell, in place of the daily limit, it does somekind of damage, be it temp ability or subdual.

WSmith, you might like d20 Call of Cthulhu's magic system. Spells have a cost (Ability damage and Sanity cost), but there's no notion of N spells per day. Spells often list components, but you can easily ignore them. If you want to add a Spellcraft roll to avoid the cost, that would be easy enough to do.