Sacred Cow Death Watch: Do you use material components?

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

I only use the expensive ones...the rest are just assumed to be on hand.

It makes things so very much easier that way.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Don't use 'em. Ever. It's like keeping track of small change. And the wizard fumbling around in his pockets for some curio strikes me as hugely silly and not the least heroic.

That's how it works in 3E anyway -- a very cheap "spell component pouch" is assumed to contain all non-expensive components automatically.

Burning a feat to save a tiny portion of cash seems pointless to me.

I definitely use the expensive spell components, since it's a balancing factor (one can't throw around identify spells around willy-nilly at low levels, for instance) and given how cheap/simple the spell component pouches are, I see no reason NOT to use them.

 

[Shade]

I abstract away cheap components, which is essentially "as written", thus I fail to see what the hubbub is. Cheap components only come into play if a spellcaster is stripped of their components for some reason, which is occasionally an interesting complication.

For me, I loathe 'em for several reasons:

1.) They don't fit my view of magic. I can see them with primitive spellcasters, but not with the true practitioners of the art. They just bug me thematically.

2.) They require too many what-ifs. What if the component pouch gets wet? What if it gets hot...does the butter melt? Does the rancid grease attract animals? Don't they get stuck together? How exactly do you retrieve a pixie's eyelash from a leather pouch in less than 6 seconds? Sure, you can hand-wave it all, but why bother in the first place?

3.) The non-pricy components seem to be arbitrarily assigned, rather than for game-balance reasons. Rather, it seems to put the casters at a disadvantage when grappled, for example.

I can see the reason for expensive material components as balancing factors (although I'd rather they use foci instead), but I don't think I can be sold on the pinch of guano, stick of butter, etc.

That's why if I ever play a "caster", I'm playing a psion.

 

[Stormborn]

I voted that we don't use material components at all, but thats because we have never really used any of the ones with expensive components. But as GM I would require those at least, or some equivalent sort of substitution. Thats in straight DnD however, in low magic games, or games using variant magic systems, I have insisted on material components and made aquiring and using them part of the game.

 

[Ranes]

I play a 5th level ranger in my current game. I keep track of all those non-magical arrows I don't take the time to prise out of corpses or recover from here and there. As a DM, I expect a wizard player to buy a new spell component pouch every now and then and I expect the PC to have access to the pouch when casting spells with relatively cheap components. But I would handwave the player's component pouch getting wet just as I handwave bows and arrows getting wet. (In my current game, my ranger has been soaked from head to toe at least once and hasn't had to worry about his bowstring.) The idea that material components are required for some magics is one I find colourful and interesting. But I wouldn't want to micromanage every splat of bat guano.

 

[Shemeska]

I don't worry about it too much, and I don't believe that I've ever placed my PCs in a situation where they lost access to their componant pouches. Plus, I give sorcerers the eschew material componants feat for free, and probably most of the PCs who have had wizard levels have taken the feat pretty early on just for flavor.

Only when something uses a wierd componant, or a seriously expensive one, do I even keep track of it or if the PCs have it. Like many mundane items (rope, food, water, a mirror, clothes, etc) I assume the PCs have it stuffed away in a bag of holding, and I don't patrol character sheets to make sure they check off rations every time they eat. Mundane stuff doesn't hold an interest, and likewise the material componants notion doesn't usually rank high on my list of things to watch over.

 

[Gold Roger]

Yes and no.

I do like to have them for flavor.

But I don't like to keep track of them. And since I'm no fan of narrow flavor I don't like set in stone component discriptions.

As long as a character has "material component pouch" on his sheet he can cast non costy Material Component spells. And while a desert sorcerers fireball uses a handfull sand as component and manifests as a swash of searing hot sand exploding on point, the mystics of lath-nuram might use a small stylizised incing of a dragon that animates and spews forth a black fireball and a student of the akademi arcane in the faroldic kingdom uses the standart guano fireball.

 

[Mycanid]

I voted "Other" simply because I would like it if they were used more frequently. HOWEVER, I think part of the problem why they are not used (as others have said) is that it can be a real hassle. It would be interesting to have someone set up a "standard" that would be realistic and yet playable that could be used.

 

[Bagpuss]

I generally don't use them (except for ones with a gp value) but say a spell caster has been captured and has his stuff removed, then I will enforce the rules, but it's not something I do all the time.

 

[Breakdaddy]

I dont use em unless they are expensive. Too much bookeeping for too little gain IMO.