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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mouseferatu" data-source="post: 177089" data-attributes="member: 1288">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."</blockquote>

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