D&D General The Original Reason for Spell Components: Balancing Bad Jokes

[jmartkdr2]

People really told me these things matter for balance too.

The important thing is you can't cast arcane spells while using a shield without a feat.

You don't need a free hand per se, just no shield (or dual-wielding.)

 

[ilgatto]

Interesting post! It has actually solved a lot of questions I now realize I had (fleece!) - and then some didn't even know I had.

The following probably don't classify as 'bad jokes' as per OP's definition, but they (as well as the Friends thing - ESPECIALLY THE FRIENDS THING) have always bugged me - which makes them bad jokes IMDO.

Aid (UA): The material components of of this spell are a tiny strip of white cloth with a sticky substance (such as tree sap) on the ends, (...).
Band... (Oh dear, I think I have sprained a muscle - this one always get me, NOT)

Repulsion: The material component of this spell is a pair of small magnetized iron bars attached to two small canine statuettes, one ivory and one ebony.
Really?

Bigby's Clenched Fist: The material component of this spell is (...) and a small device consisting of four rings joined so as to form a slightly curved line, with an "I" upon which the bottoms of the rings rest, the whole fashioned of an alloyed metal of copper and zinc.
He's not gonna say it, is he?

Oh, not a bad joke but on the off chance that someone doesn't know:
Wall of Fog: The material component is a pinch of split dried peas.
Pea soup fog.

 

[AnimancyPress]

I've always wondered about the tuning fork of the Plane Shift spell. I assume it's meant to evoke tuning to the specific frequency of the desired plane of existence, but I can't figure out what real world reference that might come from. Was there some New Age-y thing going on at the time, or some big physics story that hit mainstream news? Seems like it should be obvious, but I'm at a loss.

In the old days of UHF television, you would "tune" to a channel using a 'bunny ears' antenna, which are similar to a tuning fork as they conduct radio (TV) frequency, which could be a world unto itself? That's how I've always seen it.

 

[Jack Daniel]

Both the goldfish swallowing fad and Cleopatra's pearl dissolved in wine have origins in "eating weird things to win a bet". Why that relates to Identify in particular, I don't get.

Perhaps it was Gygax's impenetrable, roundabout way of saying, "You're supposed to identify your magic items by paying sages heaps of coin after the adventure, but if you want to take a gamble on a dodgy 1st-level magic-user spell instead…"

 

[Parmandur]

Perhaps it was Gygax's impenetrable, roundabout way of saying, "You're supposed to identify your magic items by paying sages heaps of coin after the adventure, but if you want to take a gamble on a dodgy 1st-level magic-user spell instead…"

I think that we have a winner...

 

[Nikosandros]

Perhaps it was Gygax's impenetrable, roundabout way of saying, "You're supposed to identify your magic items by paying sages heaps of coin after the adventure, but if you want to take a gamble on a dodgy 1st-level magic-user spell instead…"

Yeah, that's one spell that I don't recall having ever seen it cast.

 

[Ondath]

The material component for friends in 1E is "chalk (or white flour), lampblack (or soot), and vermillion applied to the face before casting the spell". You're essentially touching up your face, and those who fail their save like your glow up (2d4 increase to CHA), while those who succeed their save think that you painted your face with a bucket (1d4 penalty to CHA). It's essentially a "har har, make up deceives people to think you're prettier" joke. Of course, 5E kinda ruins the joke by spelling it out ("a small amount of makeup applied to the face as this spell is cast").

 

[Bohandas]

It's not bad jokes it's sympathetic magic

Sympathetic magic - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Starmaster]

Enchanted Weapon: The material components of this spell are powdered lime and carbon.
Whitewash.

I don't see any connection with whitewash unless you're saying that a coating of white coloring infers magical power.

Lime and carbon are used in the production of steel. The higher the carbon content, the harder the steel (although it's also more brittle). I know this because I'm a mechanical engineer, but Gary was a very intelligent man. Therefore, he probably understood basic metallurgy, especially regarding the manufacture of weapons due to his background as a wargamer. As I see it, the magic here is to temporarily infuse the carbon into the steel of the weapon, thus making it harder than it was before (effectively being a sympathetic magic re-forging of the weapon). This will allow it to be able to cause damage to enemies that a conventionally-forged steel weapon is unable to do.

As for the the spell's effect on non-ferrous weapons, one can rationalize that the "sympathetic magic effect" allows the magic that would normally affect an iron or steel weapon to carry over to staves, clubs, bows, and other weapons.

It is interesting that so many of these hidden meanings for material components were unknown even to TSR employees. I was at a TSR game designer seminar at Gen Con decades ago. It was one of those seminars where they were discussing changes they were planning on making to the next edition of the game when it was released. I can't recall if they were working on 2e or 3e at the time, but someone in the panel brought up how they were thinking of changing a lot of the spell components since so many of them made absolutely no sense to the designers. They brought up the copper piece for ESP as an example. As an audience member, I explained the "A penny for your thoughts." adage to them, and they were all shocked none of them had figured that out before. I suppose they probably started wondering how many of the other spell components really did make since (if perhaps only in a silly or very obscure way). Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed the cryptic meaning behind so many of those components!

 

[EzekielRaiden]

It would seem more than one person has brought 500 gp worth of internet diamonds in order to cast raise thread.

It's not bad jokes it's sympathetic magic

Sympathetic magic - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

¿Por qué no los dos?