Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="D+1" data-source="post: 1660753" data-attributes="member: 13654">Material components are occasionally extremely rare/expensive as a matter of attempting to maintain some game balance (if it tells you the component costs Xgp or can only be obtained under circumstance y, then it's a game balance thing), but as a rule they are really just pointless roleplaying bits.&nbsp; The 100gp cost for casting identifies is largely a matter of encouraging low-level characters to experiment to find out the abilities of their items.&nbsp; It's a means to drain some cash resources from PC's and since they'll likely be very picky about what items they pay to identify there is some element of power and mystery maintained about magic items.The fact that the cash cost is in the form of a pearl is really irrelevant.&nbsp; Many spell compenents tend to be puns, plays on words, common associations, etc.&nbsp; The pearl is associated with finding valuable treasure or information - searching oysters to find pearls, hearing pearls of wisdom, etc.&nbsp; The same with the owl feather.&nbsp; Folklore has it that owls are very wise and knowledgable - just the sort of creature you'd want to associate with in discovering information about magic.The disadvantage or difficulty in removing the gp cost or removing the need for the spell at all is primarily that magic loses it's air of power and mystery immediately.&nbsp; If you can get the spell anywhere for no cost or if you don't need the spell at all it DOES change the way magic is dealt with at lower levels.&nbsp; No reason you can't change that, but be aware of the &quot;risks&quot;.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="D+1, post: 1660753, member: 13654"] Material components are occasionally extremely rare/expensive as a matter of attempting to maintain some game balance (if it tells you the component costs Xgp or can only be obtained under circumstance y, then it's a game balance thing), but as a rule they are really just pointless roleplaying bits. The 100gp cost for casting identifies is largely a matter of encouraging low-level characters to experiment to find out the abilities of their items. It's a means to drain some cash resources from PC's and since they'll likely be very picky about what items they pay to identify there is some element of power and mystery maintained about magic items. The fact that the cash cost is in the form of a pearl is really irrelevant. Many spell compenents tend to be puns, plays on words, common associations, etc. The pearl is associated with finding valuable treasure or information - searching oysters to find pearls, hearing pearls of wisdom, etc. The same with the owl feather. Folklore has it that owls are very wise and knowledgable - just the sort of creature you'd want to associate with in discovering information about magic. The disadvantage or difficulty in removing the gp cost or removing the need for the spell at all is primarily that magic loses it's air of power and mystery immediately. If you can get the spell anywhere for no cost or if you don't need the spell at all it DOES change the way magic is dealt with at lower levels. No reason you can't change that, but be aware of the "risks". [/QUOTE]

Verification