D&D 5E How do you deal with expensive material components in your campaigns?

[MichaelSomething]

Spell components are a scraced cow and are vital to the "feel" of D&D. If PCs could cast magic without fiddling over unusual items, it would be too video gamey.

 

[HaroldTheHobbit]

The important thing is that they pay for the casting as a money sink. Up until lvl 10ish when money doesn’t matter, then I just handwave it.

 

[MNblockhead]

Because it seems like such a wildly unnecessary extra step.

You go through the adventure, get the loot, but you then have to waste time and money to figure out what it does -- even if that should be obvious just putting it on, swinging the sword.

I sometimes dislike identify, but that is mostly because it takes away from trying to figure out what a magic item does.

 

[der_kluge]

Clearly the people in this thread still discussing this topic haven't gone and downloaded my book on the topic. You can download it free, folks, I don't even care.

That's your homework assignment here. Go download it (the link is back a page), read it, and come back when you're ready to discuss.

 

[MNblockhead]

Clearly the people in this thread still discussing this topic haven't gone and downloaded my book on the topic. You can download it free, folks, I don't even care.

That's your homework assignment here. Go download it (the link is back a page), read it, and come back when you're ready to discuss.

Okay, okay. Done. Some interesting ideas. If I ever get around to running a campaign I've been designing involving a low-magic world and a party being part of a underground group seeking lost magic, I'll definitely mine this for ideas.

My only nit pick is that you don't recommend the "A$$h0le, Rat-B@stard DM" approach. But...I mean, if we don't spend 30 minutes arguing how much flesh is in a "chunk of flesh" are we really playing D&D?

 

[der_kluge]

Okay, okay. Done. Some interesting ideas. If I ever get around to running a campaign I've been designing involving a low-magic world and a party being part of a underground group seeking lost magic, I'll definitely mine this for ideas.

My only nit pick is that you don't recommend the "A$$h0le, Rat-B@stard DM" approach. But...I mean, if we don't spend 30 minutes arguing how much flesh is in a "chunk of flesh" are we really playing D&D?

At least the humor in it isn't lost on folks.

 

[Mad_Jack]

At least the humor in it isn't lost on folks.

Speaking about "a chunk of flesh", one time back in the old days my party had a very interesting discussion with a vampire about turning into a bat so that we could cut one of his ears off in order to let an npc wizard cast a Clairaudience spell for us...

 

[Lakesidefantasy]

Has this been errated to have a cost? The PHB I have does not list a cost, which has always caused problems with how much holy water or how much powdered silver is needed. We have generally played you must have some powered silver or holy water and just sprinkle it (so you never run out).

I generally rule on the side of whatever interpretation makes it harder on the player characters. In this case it would take a whole 25gp flask of holy water. This approach in general i think helps to control outlandish combinations.

Not perhaps specifically with this example but in general.

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

I think this is my most recent list. C means consumed
Arcane Lock - 25 gp gold dust C
Acana Sword - 250 gp miniature platinum sword
Astral Projection -1,000 gp piece of Jacinth C, 100 gp silver bar for each creature C
Augury - 25 gp tokens
Awaken - 1,000 gp agate C
Booming Blade – 1 sp melee weapon
Ceremony – 25 gp powder silver C
Circle of Death - 500 gp black pearl
Chromatic Orb – 50 gp diamond
Clairvoyance Focus - 100 gp horn/ eye
Clone- 1,000 gp diamond C,
2,000 gp coffin
Contingency -1,500 gp statuette
Continual Flame - 50 gp ruby dust C
Create Homunculus – 1000 gp dagger
Create Undead - 150 gp black onyx per corpse
Dawn – 100 gp Sunburst pendant
Divination -25 gp offering incense C
Find Familiar - 10 gp of herbs and spices C, brass brazier
Find the Path- 100 gp divinatory tools
Forbiddance- 1000 gp ruby dust, rare incense
Forcecage -1,500 gp ruby dust
Gate- 5,000 gp diamond
Gentle Repose – 2 cp pinch of salt
Glyph of Warding - 200 gp diamond dust C and incense C
Greater restoration -100 gp diamond dust C
Green Flame Blade – 1 sp melee weapon
Guards and Wards -10 gp silver rod
Hallow -1,000 gp herbs & Spices C
Heroes’ Feast -1,000 gp gem encrusted bowl C
Holy Aura- 1,000 gp reliquary
Identify -100 gp pearl
Illusory Script -10 gp lead base ink C
Imprisonment -500 gp per hit die statuette
Instant Summons - 1,000 gp sapphire
Invulnerability – 500 gp adamantine C
Legend Lore - 250 gp incense C, 50 gp each 4 ivory strips
Magic Circle- 100 gp silver dust C
Magic Jar- 500 gp gem
Magic Mouth -10 gp jade dust C
Magnificent Mansion -15 gp polished marble, ivory door mini, silver spoon
Mighty Fortress – 500 gp diamond C
NonDetection- 25 gp diamond dust C
Planar Ally various min 100 gp
Planar Binding - 1,000 gp jewel C
Plane Shift- 250 gp tuning fork attuned to plane.
Programmed Illusion- 25 gp jade dust
Project Image - 5 gp replica
Protection from Evil and Good -1 gp silver dust & iron dust C, or
25 gp holy water C
Raise Dead -500 gp diamond C
Reincarnate -1,000 gp rare oils C
Resurrection- 1,000 gp diamond C
Reverse Gravity- 1 gp lodestone and iron filings
Revivify -300 gp loose diamonds C
Scrying -1,000 gp crystal ball focus
Secret Chest- 5,000 gp chest 50 gp replica chest
Sequester 5,000 gp mixture of diamond, emerald, ruby, sapphire dust C
Shadow of Moil – 150 gp undead eyeball incase in gem
Shapechange 1,500 gp jade circlet
Simulacrum -1,500 gp ruby dust, snow man and piece of subject. Repair 100 gp per hit point
Soul Cage – 100 gp tiny silver cage
Steel Wind Strike – 1 sp melee weapon
Stoneskin- 100 gp diamond dust C
Summon Aberration- pickled tentacle, eyeball, 400 GP platinum vial
Summon Beast – gilded acorn 200 gp
Summon Celestial – golden reliquary 500 gp
Summon Construct- lockbox 400 gp
Summon Elemental – gold inlaid vial 400 gp
Summon Fey – gilded flower 300 GP
Summon Fiend – ruby vial 600 GP
Summon Shadowspawn – tears in gem 300 gp
Summon Undead – gilded skull 300 gp
Sunbeam -100 gp magnifying glass
Symbol - 1,000 gp diamond & opal dust C
Tasha’s Otherworldly Guise – object 500 gp
Temple of the Gods – 5 gp holy symbol
Teleportation Circle -50 gp rare chalk gem dust C, 18,250 gp + 1 year to be permanent
True Resurrection -25,000 gp loose diamonds C
True Seeing -25 gp ointment
Wall of Light – 5 gp hand mirror
Warding Bond- 100 gp 2 platinum rings

Grand total 91,342 gp 3 sp 2 cp
Consumed 41,825 gp or 60,155 gp
Non consumed 31,187 gp 3 sp 2 cp
*****
So by the time you could cast some of these spells, your cut of the treasure should cover the cost of casting.

The list of components isn't really the issue we're talking about. The game, as you pointed out, provides enough monies to buy all the items you might need for spells. My question is more, "how readily available is 25,000gp of loose diamonds". What if you need 2 castings of true resurrection? If you have 50k, does any town have it?

As I mentioned in my OP, in the game where you can aquire it anywhere there's a town, it felt less interesting (worldbuidling-wise) and my Wizard felt potent. In the game I'm playing a cleric in Avernus, I feel very restricted and many, many of my cleric's spells are locked behind gold piece barriers.

So, sure, (some)of the spells are potent, but it's still up to the DM to decide how much access a player has to those potent (and often, situational) spells. From your description, as a DM, you make it easy for players to have access to spells but I've been in quite a few games where getting access to those spells made them a rare commodity.

 

[NotAYakk]

The list of components isn't really the issue we're talking about. The game, as you pointed out, provides enough monies to buy all the items you might need for spells. My question is more, "how readily available is 25,000gp of loose diamonds". What if you need 2 castings of true resurrection? If you have 50k, does any town have it?

As I mentioned in my OP, in the game where you can aquire it anywhere there's a town, it felt less interesting (worldbuidling-wise) and my Wizard felt potent. In the game I'm playing a cleric in Avernus, I feel very restricted and many, many of my cleric's spells are locked behind gold piece barriers.

So, sure, (some)of the spells are potent, but it's still up to the DM to decide how much access a player has to those potent (and often, situational) spells. From your description, as a DM, you make it easy for players to have access to spells but I've been in quite a few games where getting access to those spells made them a rare commodity.

Yes, it does!

In some games, the 25,000 gp is hard to come by as well. In others it is chump change.

In some games, diamonds are easy to buy. In others, getting diamonds is a quest. In others, one empire holds a near monopoly on diamonds, and they are horded by the ruling class to allow for resurrection.