The Curse of the 100gp Pearl

[frankthedm]

I guess this is one of the few things I'm going to be a grognard about. I really like Identify having a high cost. There are many times that I've actually thought that it's to easy as it is.

I'll join the Grognard Club.

 

[Remathilis]

Gave the PCs (one wizard, one artificer) the artificer's monocle and haven't looked back.

 

[ruleslawyer]

I've used Spellcraft as the detecting/dispelling/identifying skill (the latter in conjunction with Knowledge: arcana) since before 3.5. IMO, lots of spells needlessly overlap with potential skill uses; if anything, IMHO, more spells should just give a bonus to a skill and/or enable a special skill use rather than creating a parallel effect.

 

[wayne62682]

In my gaming experience, we always ignored that silly requirement and the DM just pretty much let us know what the items were as we received them. Made things a lot smoother

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Kinda off-topic, but quite frankly I hope they get rid of material components altogether, for everything. Material components for spells are either: A) A lame inside joke that mimics using technology as magic (Stick of butter for Grease; primitive gunpowder for Fireball), B) A nuisance because it requires you to screw around trying to get an xxx GP item, or C) Both.

I will not shed a tear if WotC wises up and gets rid of this idiotic mechanic.

 

[Zaister]

I will not shed a tear if WotC wises up and gets rid of this idiotic mechanic.

QFT!

 

[lukelightning]

Wand of Identify, crafted by a cloistered cleric (from Unearthed Arcana). They get identify as a 1st level divine spell, and the divine version doesn't have a material component, just divine focus.

Or a cleric with the Magic domain.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Or a cleric with the Magic domain.

I am not sure, but the special rule with the arcane component might have gone in 3.5.
I remember that I couldn't verify it when I last checked it. (But i definitely know that it was true at some point in the 3rd edition)

Kinda off-topic, but quite frankly I hope they get rid of material components altogether, for everything. Material components for spells are either: A) A lame inside joke that mimics using technology as magic (Stick of butter for Grease; primitive gunpowder for Fireball), B) A nuisance because it requires you to screw around trying to get an xxx GP item, or C) Both.

I will not shed a tear if WotC wises up and gets rid of this idiotic mechanic.

Honestly, I am not sure.I think today in D&D, most of the time it is just useless garbage.

But it doesn't have to be that way! If it was more tightly integrated in the game, it might make it more interesting. Maybe if the spell ingredients were less varied but could be combined to achieve the desired spell. Or if the components had very noticeable effect on casting the spell or the spell effects.

But as it stands now, each spell has its own specific components, and most are handwaved with the spell component pouch. As such, it is flavour text that accidently became a part of the rules.

I liked the Arcana Evolved take on spell components.
No spell had a predetermined component. Instead, your caster class defined what components you needed.

Magisters (~Wizards) needed Verbal and Somatic components, as well as their Staff as a focus. Mageblades needed their sword, otherwise they had to use Verbal and Somatic components.
Witches needed verbal, somatic and material components. The interesting point was that they could choose to eschew a spell component, making the spell longer to cast. If they eschewed all components, the spell was psionic and nearly unnoticeable.
It didn't matter what material components the Witch used. The interesting side effect could be that, just for roleplaying reasons, a player might actually describe what exactly is in his witch bag (the AE equivalent of the material component pouch), and it couldn't really hurt him ruleswise. (We didn't play enough AE to really make use of it, though. In my campaign there was no witch)

 

[catsclaw227]

Kinda off-topic, but quite frankly I hope they get rid of material components altogether, for everything. Material components for spells are either: A) A lame inside joke that mimics using technology as magic (Stick of butter for Grease; primitive gunpowder for Fireball), B) A nuisance because it requires you to screw around trying to get an xxx GP item, or C) Both.

I will not shed a tear if WotC wises up and gets rid of this idiotic mechanic.

I agree, but sometimes a material component can be fun. Have you seen Phil Reed's 101 Arcane Spell Components and 101 Divine Spell Components? This was fun to use in a game. Not too overpowering, but interesting for sure.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

I use a variant on solution 2 from http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sg/20051125a :

Meh. Too much fuss. Spellcraft vs. 10 + minimum caster level. If you fail, cast Identify, which has no costly material component in my game, and takes 1 minute to cast. I've also reduced the Spellcraft DC of potions. It's just such a pain in the butt to keep track of who's carrying what mystery potions, and what they do, especially when they forget to write down where they got them.

I like to play a bookkeeping-lite game.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

I agree, but sometimes a material component can be fun. Have you seen Phil Reed's 101 Arcane Spell Components and 101 Divine Spell Components? This was fun to use in a game. Not too overpowering, but interesting for sure.

Those are, I gather, boosts you can add to spells for material components. The magister in our current campaign really likes to toss that 20gp ruby dust for an extra 2d6 fire damage on his fire blasts. I think people have less of a problem with gaining a benefit for using a material component than being forced to track due to not being able to cast without one.