Real Long, I'd recomend skipping this one, myself
For what it's worth, I try not to think about it too hard for accual game play. Rather I spent some time working out something that works within the rules and makes some kind of sense a while back, and also to add flavor to my campaign.
THE CASTING OF SPELLS ON VAIL: COMPONENTS
Each class has it’s own distinctive feel and signature way to use components. The following is provided as role-playing background and suggestion, not as hard and fast rules. Players are encouraged to extrapolate and personalize their spell-casting signatures.
SORCERERS
Somatic: Typically a single powerful, flowing gesture requiring use of the entire arm.
Verbal: Verbal components uttered by sorcerers are typical no longer than four to seven syllables.
Material: Sorcerers usually do not use material components. They instead rely on foci.
Focus: A sorcerer generally has a single foci for all of his spells of a given level or type (all of his fire spells may be keyed to a piece of ash from the elemental plane of fire, for instance) that replaces the material components(sorcerers with Sorcererous Knowledge also have their racial foci). They generally do not need to handle the foci as part of the spell’s components, but it must be on their immediate person.
WIZARDS
Somatic: A wizard’s somatic components are sharp, precise and fine, and always incorporate any material component for the spell. Most often a certain rune or arcane pattern, the final part of the spells arcane formal which the wizard committed to memory when he learned the spell, is scripted out. These runes often glow, growing bright or faint in tune with the fluctuations of the wizard’s voice.
Verbal: Verbal components of wizards are generally the length of a short sentence or phrase.
Material/Focus: Wizards use material components as normal. The proper use of these is part of the somatic components for spell casting. The components are destroyed as the spell is cast.
CLERICS & PALADINS
Somatic: The somatic components for these spells are simple and to the point. In almost all cases simply pointing your divine focus or hand at the target or targets is sufficient. Clerics and Paladins who fight using both hands (shield and weapon) generally stow their holy symbol in their shield and have a leather loop on the pommel of their weapon, so as they cast their spell they simply let the weapon drop and hang off of their wrist to perform the proper components.
Verbal: A clear invocation of the name of your god and one or two words of a appropriate religious writ or of something pertaining to the spell (the true name of a specific creature you intend to summon with a summon monster III spell, for instance) are generally all that is needed. Clerics who do not follow a specific god use the true name of a proper source of their power (for instance the true name of positive energy plane is common among good-aligned clerics).
Divine Focus: Your gods’ holy symbol. If you do not follow a specific god a gemstone worth at least 10 GP can be used, if you spend one hour properly attuning it to your personal spiritual energy (any such cleric would know how to perform this act), though this expends one use of positive or negative energy used for turning or rebuking. It is often inscribed with a specific rune or symbol according to your beliefs.
DRUIDS
Somatic: Similar to those of a cleric, generally a simple gesture in the general direction the spell will be cast.
Verbal: Drudic verbal components are odd, to say the least. Druids are known to speak slightly quieter as they cast their spells, and make no coherent invocations but rather mumble, almost to themselves as incoherent babble. They generally persists for the full round during which they cast a spell (starting faintly, then rising to the loudest just as the spell is cast and fading back to inaudible after a few seconds).
Divine Focus: A druid’s divine focus must be a pure, fully natural object untouched by the hands of mortalkind, save the single druid who uses the focus. A small crystal globe filled with pure spring water, a piece of volcanic glass, a sprig of holly cut by the druids own hand, or even a rock off the ground, if it hasn’t been scratched or nicked by a living creature before the druid choose it. A druid can tell if an object would make a suitable focus by holding it and concentrating for one round.
RANGERS
Rangers either gain their divine spells from prayer to a god of nature (and thus use the same style of components as paladins) or are taught to use magic as a druid does.
BARDS
Somatic: A bard’s somatic components are similar to a sorcerer’s, only they more grand and fluid and less sudden and powerful, nearly being a form of dance in and of themselves. They also generally require more than one single motion and incorporate the bard’s entire body to some (limited) extend.
Verbal: Naturally a bard’s verbal components are primarily song, rhyme, poetry and similar. However the language of is very rarely common or even recognizable, while they often do not fit any known language the meaning and emotion of the song is generally somehow imparted into the audience’s minds.
Material/Focus: Similar to wizards, however it’s generally less involved as bards generally simply hold the component in the hand with which they perform the somatic component.