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BraveSirKevin
2010-01-31, 10:08 PM
Hi Guys,

If you've been following my blog you'll have seen my ammo tokens (http://kevslounge.blogspot.com/2009/07/free-ammunition-and-potion-counters-for.html), and know that there is a set for food and other consumables coming up soon. After that I'm looking to do a set based around spell components.

I've seen a lot of posts here and on other forums about whether spell components should even be used in games, but I think the main reason for that is simply that the components are really just a pain to keep track of, because there's such a variety available, and because the paperwork is a little too much. A lot of players do however like to micromanage their character's inventories, and my token sets are a great way of doing that.

The part I'm having difficulty with is in choosing which components to do. I'm looking for the most commonly used ones or the most popular, so I'm asking you to each give me a give me a list of the 10 components your magic users use the most often. I'll make the ones that show up the most in the lists. Thanks for your help! :smallsmile:

Jacob Orlove
2010-01-31, 10:26 PM
Material Components: A Joke Gone Way Out of Hand

Material components are a joke. I'm not saying that they are metaphorically a joke in that they don't act as a consistent or adequate limiting factor to spellcasting, I mean that they are actually a joke. Material components are supposed to be "ha ha" funny. The fact that even after having this brought to your attention, you still aren't laughing, indicates that this is a failed attempt at humor. Most material components are based on technological gags, when you cast scrying you are literally supposed to grab yourself a "specially treated" mirror, some wire, and some lemons – which is to say that you make a TV set to watch your target on and then power it with an archaic battery. When you cast see invisibility you literally blow talc all over the place – which of course reveals invisible foes. Casting lightning bolt requires you to generate a static charge with an amber rod and some fur, tongues requires that you build a little Tower of Babel, and of course fireball requires that you whip up some actual gunpowder. Get it? You're making the effects MacGuyver style and then claiming that it's "magic" after the fact. Are you laughing yet?

Of course not, because that joke is incredibly lame and there's no way for it to hold your attention for several months of a continuous campaign.
Feeblemind is even worse. Oh goodness, I've lost my marbles!

I'm not sure if you can get a top 10 components, because each one is a throwaway gag. The most common one is probably "a bit of fleece" because so many illusions make you pull the wool over their eyes. Checking other low level spells I've used a lot, I see spiderweb, mica, and (colored) sand popping up more than once as well.

taltamir
2010-01-31, 10:41 PM
I would stick to components that have a cost.
being forced to keep track of "minor" component is just the DM saying "take eschew materials"... but eschew does nothing for costly components, and those are actually worth watching out for. There aren't too many of those, and you can easily spot them on the SRD by having the big M next their name.
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spellLists/sorcererWizardSpells.htm

Wait... I just realized you said you were doing 4e... oops.

BraveSirKevin
2010-01-31, 10:54 PM
Thanks guys... :smallsmile: It's a start!

I'm not really focusing on any particular system... I just used the 4e player's handbook to see which equipment people were most likely to be needing tokens for. That was back before I realised how many people hate that edition :smallbiggrin: thankfully the tokens are generic enough that any fantasy game system can make use of them.

4e seems to have bypassed the component system almost entirely though. Only the rituals use them, and even then it seems limited to a monetary cost, rather than a specific list of required items. I could be wrong about that though, as the only 4e game we have going at the moment revolves around a bunch of rogues and fighters so we haven't even spent much time reading that section of the book.

Weezer
2010-01-31, 11:12 PM
Perhaps instead of trying to keep track of individual spell components just say that each pouch comes with components sufficient for x number of spells. then you could make some generic counters that cover one spell's worth of components.

BraveSirKevin
2010-02-01, 05:20 AM
Perhaps instead of trying to keep track of individual spell components just say that each pouch comes with components sufficient for x number of spells. then you could make some generic counters that cover one spell's worth of components.

Yeah... I'll do that too. Want to make a set that caters to the micromanagers as well as the people who would use spell components if they weren't such a pain. Good idea though ::smallsmile: