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Message: <blockquote data-quote="tetrasodium" data-source="post: 9510205" data-attributes="member: 93670">I'm pretty sure that this is a problem unique to 5e going by memory.  In d&d 2e , material components were an optional rule that allowed. Caster to find/invent them so they could skip a verbal or somatic component.  In 3.x spell components were closer to 5e mechanically but at least for the raise dead type spells they used "diamonds" worth xxx or had more careful wording like "<a href="https://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/falseVision.htm" target="_blank">the ground dust of a piece of jade worth at least 250 gp</a>" "<a href="https://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/nondetection.htm" target="_blank">A pinch of diamond dust worth 50 gp</a>" & "<a href="https://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/forcecage.htm" target="_blank">Ruby dust worth 1,500 gp, which is tossed into the air and disappears when you cast the spell. </a>"★.  4e just used gold pieces and maybe residuum in some cases.  5e messed it up by using ground/dust from gems listing dust value not source gem value in the case of some spells & failing to pick between if that should be currency or a commodity by requiring both and neither. As usual, natural language for the obvious lose.The "price ratio" in dispute is 1:1 between dust and a cut gem or any ratio that somehow results in dust made from ground diamonds of any size or quality being equal or greater than the value of a similarly sized cut gem that could be used as a currency substitute mounted in jewelry or ground to dust..  That sort of inversion obviously impossible unless you limit discussion to an unknowable setting located deep within the far realm.The whole situation is created by listing a cost as a volume. In setting demand can't impact "50gp of ruby dust"  because the volume required is nonsensically a cost.No, that claim doesn't even make sense for eberron or something far beyond eberron Because diamonds can exist in a few states.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Uncut Gem grade diamond:  These can be cut & increase the value</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Cut diamond: These can be used as a display of wealth in jewelry or similar</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Uncut diamonds too small or flawed to be useful as a gem: Not much to do with these other than grind them up or something</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Diamond dust: This can be made from literally any of the diamonds above and give the same result, but the discard from cutting & unusable diamonds are going to be the most cost efficienr.... which is why you can buy <a href="https://hitechdiamond.com/products/diamond-powder?variant=33578765647917" target="_blank"> 3000carats of diamond dust for 30$</a> right now (~2268 carats make up a pound)</li> </ul>Creating a scenario where that volume of diamond dust is equal value as the first two (uncut gem grade/cut diamonds) by using small or flawed diamonds in bulk  is if the labor is so unfathomably significant that the cost is able to equal or exceed cut gems of a certain common size.★I'm sure 3.5 had exceptions, but it had enough examples that were worded carefully enough that making it clear what is valued was a triviality that ruled out quibbling over edge case spells fast.</blockquote>

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