Spell Components Are Poor Attempts At Humor

[Fax Celestis]

Seriously. Fireball's components are the ingredients to make gunpowder. Analyze Dweomer is a jeweler's lens. See Invisibility is talc powder that you blow everywhere, which of course is going to reveal invisible creatures. Augury's components are runecasting stones.

What are some other examples? I know there's at least one spell that makes a potato battery.

[atemu1234]

Divination requires making a hallucinogenic substance.

[eggynack]

My favorite's probably detect thoughts, which is a piece of copper as a reference to the Twilight Zone episode, "A Penny for your Thoughts," or it's possible that it's a reference to the phrase that was the source of the episode's title, which would interest me a lot less.

[Kudaku]

Lightning Bolt requires a glass rod and a piece of fur... (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCLu4t12LdE)

[Malimar]

Confusion's material component is nuts. Which actually made me laugh the first time I noticed it, so I'd disagree that the attempt is "poor".

[Tvtyrant]

Awaken Construct requires the brain of a humanoid that has been dead for less than 8 hours, which is pretty clearly a Doctor Frankenstein reference.

[atemu1234]

Awaken Construct requires the brain of a humanoid that has been dead for less than 8 hours, which is pretty clearly a Doctor Frankenstein reference.

Meh, less clear-cut. The brain is required by all awaken spells, so I don't know.

[Fax Celestis]

Confusion's material component is nuts. Which actually made me laugh the first time I noticed it, so I'd disagree that the attempt is "poor".

I legit lol'd at this one.

[squiggit]

Control temperature requires a drop of mercury.

[Kudaku]

It kind of depends on what you consider a joke - a lot of them can both be funny and "make sense". Black Tentacles requires an octopus tentacle and Bull's Strength requires cow dung, for example.

Darkvision requires a pinch of dried apricot - apricots are rich in beta carotene, which some studies say improves your night vision.
Fear requires a white feather or the heart of a chicken...

[Tvtyrant]

Meh, less clear-cut. The brain is required by all awaken spells, so I don't know.

No they do not. I just looked and Awaken does not, mass awaken does not, awaken undead requires afinger bone. Which ones are you thinking of in particular?

[Kudaku]

Feeblemind requires a handful of marbles - maybe someone lost them?
Fire Shield require phosphorous for the heated version and fireflies or glowworms for the non-heated version.
Flaming Sphere requires sulfur and powered iron. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5H6DVe5FAI)

[Brookshw]

Tasha's hideous laughter is a tiny tart.

[Necroticplague]

Locate water uses a rod as a material component. Apparently, dowsing does work!

[Threadnaught]

Bull's Strength requires cow dung

I call bull... Nah, I won't do that one.


Hideous Laughter uses the 15million year old cream pie gag that wasn't funny then.

[Fax Celestis]

Message is a bit of copper wire.

You know, like a telephone line.

[Kudaku]

Cone of Cold requires a literal cone. :smallcool:

[Fax Celestis]

Passwall is a pinch of sesame seeds.

Open Sesame?

[troqdor1316]

Resistance requires a tiny cloak...I don't get that one. Maybe a reference to the ever-present +1 cloak of resistance?

[LordErebus12]

Tasha's hideous laughter is a tiny tart.

because before battle, I bake Tiny Tarts in my easy bake oven. Gotta remember to prep those spells.

[oldkingkoal]

I think I remember one of the components for grease is a pork rind.

[Thrice Dead Cat]

I believe tongues requires the creation and destruction of a miniature tower, as in the Tower of Babel.

I know that Unearthed Arcana and I think since of the later Complete Series had metamagic and optional materials: any chance done of those have some "humor" to them?

[Raven777]

Now I'm glad I have Eschew Material...

[Chronos]

Stinking Cloud requires a rotten egg. Which one would think would work just as well without the magic.

[Slipperychicken]

Silent Image is "a bit of fleece". (Pull the wool over your eyes)

Sleep is "A pinch of fine sand, rose petals, or a live cricket." (Sand in your eyes references the sandlike substance which accumulates in one's eyes during sleep, crickets chirp at night when people sleep, and.. I think rose petals might make you drowsy?)

Open/Close has "a brass key".

Light has "A firefly or a piece of phosphorescent moss".

Alarm is "A tiny bell and a piece of very fine silver wire". (One could just as easily attach the wire to the bell so it rings when someone touches the wire)

Detect Thoughts is a copper piece. ("Penny for your thoughts?" is an old way of asking people what's on their mind.)


I think I remember one of the components for grease is a pork rind.

It's a pork rind or stick of butter. Both of these could be used to slick a surface.


Also, I find that spell components are a nice little easter egg to give us a laugh or two. They also serve as a reminder that it's just a game and we shouldn't take it so seriously all the time. After all, the writers were clearly having fun writing these components, so why should we get all puffed up about it?

[bekeleven]

Wall of Water: A sponge.

Wall of Gloom: Fleece from a black sheep.

Wall of bones needs.... a tree branch from a cemetery. And I bet you expected something else, didn't you?


Fear requires a white feather or the heart of a chicken...

LIGHTS OUT! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE0hHEtkkQA&feature=player_detailpage#t=230)

[StreamOfTheSky]

Scintillating Pattern and Rainbow Pattern both require prisms.

I never understood the components and ritual for Identify, just a total "wtf?!"

Arcane Material Component

A pearl of at least 100 gp value, crushed and stirred into wine with an owl feather; the infusion must be drunk prior to spellcasting.

Had a group once that I was joining; they said they needed someone to identify items. I said I had a spare level so sure, I'd dip... But, none of my characters drink alcohol, so I had to go the tricky route and dip Cloistered Cleric just to avoid the arcane material component. Stupid booze hound wizards...

[malonkey1]

Scintillating Pattern and Rainbow Pattern both require prisms.

I never understood the components and ritual for Identify, just a total "wtf?!"


Had a group once that I was joining; they said they needed someone to identify items. I said I had a spare level so sure, I'd dip... But, none of my characters drink alcohol, so I had to go the tricky route and dip Cloistered Cleric just to avoid the arcane material component. Stupid booze hound wizards...

You know, you could just make the wine non-alcoholic with neutralize poison, seeing as alcohol is, in gamed terms, and technically in real life, a poison.

[Rubik]

You know, you could just make the wine non-alcoholic with neutralize poison, seeing as alcohol is, in gamed terms, and technically in real life, a poison.It's also made from yeast piss. Probably didn't want to know that, did you.

[AMFV]

It's also made from yeast piss. Probably didn't want to know that, did you.

False, yeast has no urinary tract and is therefore unable to piss. Although it could count as yeast excreta.

[atemu1234]

It's also made from yeast piss. Probably didn't want to know that, did you.

Meh, I'm no fan of alcohol. It tastes the part.

[Sith_Happens]

It's also made from yeast piss. Probably didn't want to know that, did you.

And eggs are technically chicken period.

[Slipperychicken]

Had a group once that I was joining; they said they needed someone to identify items. I said I had a spare level so sure, I'd dip... But, none of my characters drink alcohol, so I had to go the tricky route and dip Cloistered Cleric just to avoid the arcane material component. Stupid booze hound wizards...

It doesn't say how much wine, it might be just enough to absorb a pearl. It might just be a shot.


I would say "you really have to feel bad for any alcoholic wizards", but then I remembered that Remove Addiction (Cleric 2, Druid 2, BoED) is a thing. Judging by the pricing guidelines (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/goodsAndServices.htm#spellcastingAndServices), it would only cost 60gp* to get someone to cast it on you.

*(level 2 spell, caster level 3 means that it's 20*3 = 60)

[StreamOfTheSky]

You know, you could just make the wine non-alcoholic with neutralize poison, seeing as alcohol is, in gamed terms, and technically in real life, a poison.

It was a Warblade build. I was dipping one level into Crusader anyway, and since you add half your outside levels to IL for each adept class, I was not opposed to dipping a level in something else to help out the party. I never intended to get remotely high enough levels in a caster class to cast neutralize poison. Which...is not a sorc/wiz spell anyway, so I'd have had to do the cleric thing regardless. :smalltongue:

[AvatarVecna]

Well, I don't think this counts as a poor attempt at humor, but Spider Climb requires that the subject consume some tar and a live spider.

While this can lead to much in-game humor, it does little without the proper in-game situation to set up the joke.

[StreamOfTheSky]

Well, I don't think this counts as a poor attempt at humor, but Spider Climb requires that the subject consume some tar and a live spider.

While this can lead to much in-game humor, it does little without the proper in-game situation to set up the joke.

All of my spellcasters adamantly refuse to cast that spell unless they have eschew materials, because....seriously, GROSS!

[Chaosvii7]

I'm genuinely surprised that nobody has mentioned the best one!

Grease's material component is pork rinds and butter.

[Necroticplague]

I'm genuinely surprised that nobody has mentioned the best one!

Grease's material component is pork rinds and butter.

Actually, I think that was mentioned earlier.

[hewhosaysfish]

arcane[/B] material component. Stupid booze hound wizards...

Here's something to think about: making a wand (with 50 charges) requires using 50 times the regular material components.
And a wand of a 1st level spell takes on day to make.

So a wizard who makes a wand of Identify downs 50 glasses of wine in a single day.


I'm genuinely surprised that nobody has mentioned the best one!

Grease's material component is pork rinds and butter.

And in the XPH the power Deja Vu is listed twice.

[Oneris]

Darkvision requires a pinch of dried apricot - apricots are rich in beta carotene, which some studies say improves your night vision.


Pathfinder Darkvision uses carrot flakes. :smallbiggrin:

Bard's Escape uses pieces of a smashed fiddle. Maybe the fiddle's the reason why you need the escape...

Solid Fog uses powdered peas. Pea soup fog?

[A Tad Insane]

Touch of fatigue requires a drop of sweat. The big question is how you store that.

[AMFV]

Touch of fatigue requires a drop of sweat. The big question is how you store that.

I'd tell you but I'm really tired and I don't really feel like typing it all up...

[Yanisa]

Scintillating Pattern and Rainbow Pattern both require prisms.

I never understood the components and ritual for Identify, just a total "wtf?!"

Arcane Material Component

A pearl of at least 100 gp value, crushed and stirred into wine with an owl feather; the infusion must be drunk prior to spellcasting.

Had a group once that I was joining; they said they needed someone to identify items. I said I had a spare level so sure, I'd dip... But, none of my characters drink alcohol, so I had to go the tricky route and dip Cloistered Cleric just to avoid the arcane material component. Stupid booze hound wizards...

It sounds very like greek/roman mythology. Owl's are the sacred animal of Athena, goddess of wisdom. (Or atleast the city she is named after was famous for owls). And there is also a story about Cleopatra, which involved a pearl dissolving in wine. I just cannot connect the two, and the story itself has nothing to do with identifying or knowledge.

But still it sounds like something that fits that time period.

Also early editions also included a mini-carp that needed to shallowed, alive, in addition to the wine and feathers and pearls. Pffft.

[HighWater]

Resistance requires a tiny cloak...I don't get that one. Maybe a reference to the ever-present +1 cloak of resistance?
Could also be that the Resistance is always wearing cloaks... (Cloak and dagger). Cloaks alaso protect against the weather, so that's another possibility!

[MirddinEmris]

Well, I don't think this counts as a poor attempt at humor, but Spider Climb requires that the subject consume some tar and a live spider.

While this can lead to much in-game humor, it does little without the proper in-game situation to set up the joke.

There was a game when DM made us search for those spider in the open field at night (in-game of course) so our wizard could cast this spell on my character. Fun...

[Oneris]

After reading about an anecdote where a cleric managed to escape from a prison carved out of diamond by killing and Raising his companion over and over, using the prison itself as a material component, I wonder if you could designate the 'live spider' component of that spell as an enemy spider you are currently fighting, to insta-kill it.

[Elderand]

After reading about an anecdote where a cleric managed to escape from a prison carved out of diamond by killing and Raising his companion over and over, using the prison itself as a material component, I wonder if you could designate the 'live spider' component of that spell as an enemy spider you are currently fighting, to insta-kill it.

most spiders you fighter are the giant variety, and you'd have to swallow it whole. So technicly possible if you can be larger and have the swallow whole ability.

[Oneris]

most spiders you fighter are the giant variety, and you'd have to swallow it whole. So technicly possible if you can be larger and have the swallow whole ability.

The Pathfinder version doesn't have the 'swallow whole' limitation, so would it work there? :smalltongue:

[OracleofWuffing]

True Strike is an archery target, so I guess the spell just involves you practicing before you attack.

Ventriloquism requires what is effectively a primitive megaphone, as does Greater Shout.

[molten_dragon]

Confusion's material component is nuts. Which actually made me laugh the first time I noticed it, so I'd disagree that the attempt is "poor".

I assumed the 3 nut shells was a reference to the shell game.

Some others I've noticed:

Darkvision is a carrot.
Fear is the heart of a chicken.
Flame arrow is oil and flint.
Light is a firefly.
Mordenkainen's hound is a dog whistle and a bone.

[Rubik]

StuffPsst. You should probably cite "--Terry Pratchett, Jingo" as the source of the quote in your signature.

[ericgrau]

Confusion's material component is nuts. Which actually made me laugh the first time I noticed it, so I'd disagree that the attempt is "poor".

Actually 3 nutshells. The authors perhaps? :smallyuk:

I thought pretty much all of them were a poor attempt at humor. This could turn in to a long list.

[ericgrau]

most spiders you fighter are the giant variety, and you'd have to swallow it whole. So technicly possible if you can be larger and have the swallow whole ability.

Someone needs to make a character built around tactics like this. Somehow it would have to involve having 300 spells prepared so that you could be ready for all the various circumstances. Many of the specific tricks like becoming a creature with swallow whole would probably have to involve versatile spells like polymorph or be expendable magic item based.

Another trick is to resurrect any of your foe's gear that's made out of a natural material. To get around the 10 minute casting time you hold the charge on the touch spell in advance. Better divine what your foe is wearing ahead of time too so that you know to hold the charge.

[ArqArturo]

Tasha's hideous laughter is a tiny tart.

Coincidentally, we've used these in moments of hunger (lack of food, no one in the party has survival, we're locked in a dungeon, no divine casters).

[Psyren]

RE: Identify - the arcane version lacks the expensive component now, but the spell does have a chance of failure since it is merely a skill check boost now.


Message is a bit of copper wire.

You know, like a telephone line.

That's nothing, Scrying has you assemble a tv :smalltongue:(Arcane version.)

[Dragonexx]

Water breathing needs a reed or straw.

Locate creature needs fur from a bloodhound.

Locate object needs a dowsing rod.

Polymorph requires an empty coccoon.

This was actually covered in the tomes.

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.

[ArqArturo]

I don't remember the spell's name, but it gives you a feat (if you have the prerequisites) and as a component it needs a piece of armor of a fighter that fulfills the feat requirements.

To me that's horrifying, it means someone out there is making fighters, and leveling them up, only to have wizards strip them of bits of their armor.

[Slipperychicken]

This was actually covered in the tomes.

[disparaging quote]

Well, I thought it was funny..

[tomandtish]

Flaming Sphere requires sulfur and powered iron.

.... My CE wizard always used Pomeranians and a bic lighter.... :smallbiggrin:

[Fax Celestis]

.... My CE wizard always used Pomeranians and a bic lighter.... :smallbiggrin:

...Spell Thematics was never a more awesome feat.

[Svata]

I don't remember the spell's name, but it gives you a feat (if you have the prerequisites) and as a component it needs a piece of armor of a fighter that fulfills the feat requirements.

To me that's horrifying, it means someone out there is making fighters, and leveling them up, only to have wizards strip them of bits of their armor.

That would be Heroics. Amd it requires that the piece of armor/weapon have belonged to a 15th-level (or higher) fighter.

[Chronos]

Quoth Psyren:

That's nothing, Scrying has you assemble a tv (Arcane version.)
Dangit, with as long as this thread went with nobody mentioning that, I was hoping that that silly misconception had finally died out. Scrying's components bear no resemblance whatsoever to a TV or a battery or anything like that. Scrying's components would, in real-world chemistry, produce a cloud of noxious gas, which would zonk you out pretty badly if inhaled, similarly to the noxious gases inhaled by the Oracles of Delphi (who would then babble incoherently and have their babbling "interpreted" by clear-breathing and clear-headed priests).

[Psyren]

Dangit, with as long as this thread went with nobody mentioning that, I was hoping that that silly misconception had finally died out. Scrying's components bear no resemblance whatsoever to a TV or a battery or anything like that. Scrying's components would, in real-world chemistry, produce a cloud of noxious gas, which would zonk you out pretty badly if inhaled, similarly to the noxious gases inhaled by the Oracles of Delphi (who would then babble incoherently and have their babbling "interpreted" by clear-breathing and clear-headed priests).

So what? Lightning bolt's components, in real-world chemistry physics, might give your finger a slight tingle, not rip through a commoner's shack. They weren't going for scientific accuracy, they were just making you think vaguely along those lines.

It's pretty obvious reflective surface + battery won't give you a tv - they were just pointing to it suggestively. Y so srs?

[Stella]

Also, I find that spell components are a nice little easter egg to give us a laugh or two. They also serve as a reminder that it's just a game and we shouldn't take it so seriously all the time. After all, the writers were clearly having fun writing these components, so why should we get all puffed up about it?

While there is some humor to be found in some of the components, I think they were chosen on the basis of sympathetic magic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sympathetic_magic).


Scintillating Pattern and Rainbow Pattern both require prisms.

I never understood the components and ritual for Identify, just a total "wtf?!"

Arcane Material Component

A pearl of at least 100 gp value, crushed and stirred into wine with an owl feather; the infusion must be drunk prior to spellcasting.

Owls are supposedly wise, wine has the saying "in vino veritas" (there is truth in wine*) associated with it, and pearl powder was used to treat mental ailments in Indian mythology. All are appropriate components for sympathetic magic seeking to invoke knowledge.


* Which is more a reference to alcohol loosening people's tongues and inhibitions than to bestowing actual knowledge, but whatever. The principles of sympathetic magic still apply.


False, yeast has no urinary tract and is therefore unable to piss. Although it [alcohol] could count as yeast excreta.
By that measure, so is CO2. Yeast eat sugars and throw away alcohol and CO2. Which is how "bottle conditioned" beers get their carbonation, the brewer adds just enough sugar after fermentation is completed for the yeast to create enough CO2 to carbonate the beer once it is capped.

[Eldan]

Can I just say that I actually like having these in my games? Not as jokes. But as references to sympathetic magic and the scientific nature of wizardry.
So someone finds that rubbing fur over an amber rod creates sparks. A wizard uses that knowledge, then pumps the phenomenon full of additional, magical energy to enhance that spark into a lightning bolt.
It actually says a lot about the fluff behind wizard magic. They create a tiny apparatus, then enhance the effect and bring it into the real world, instead of creating the effect from nothing. I'd imagine as they find new natural phenomena, they also create more spells. You probably have alchemists researching explosive compounds, to make more effective fireballs. First you use guano and sulphur to make fireballs, then you learn to instead use aluminium and iron oxide to create a thermal cutting spell. If a wizard can do a lightning bolt from static charge, just imagine what they could do with a primitive generator or a bagdad battery.
And, as mentioned, it's sympathetic magic. To curse your enemy, use a poppet of your enemy. To create an alarm bell, use a tiny bell and wire. Makes sense to me. Probably also helps the wizard visualize the effect.

[Killer Angel]

Can I just say that I actually like having these in my games? Not as jokes. But as references to sympathetic magic and the scientific nature of wizardry.
So someone finds that rubbing fur over an amber rod creates sparks. A wizard uses that knowledge, then pumps the phenomenon full of additional, magical energy to enhance that spark into a lightning bolt.
It actually says a lot about the fluff behind wizard magic. They create a tiny apparatus, then enhance the effect and bring it into the real world, instead of creating the effect from nothing. I'd imagine as they find new natural phenomena, they also create more spells. You probably have alchemists researching explosive compounds, to make more effective fireballs. First you use guano and sulphur to make fireballs, then you learn to instead use aluminium and iron oxide to create a thermal cutting spell. If a wizard can do a lightning bolt from static charge, just imagine what they could do with a primitive generator or a bagdad battery.
And, as mentioned, it's sympathetic magic. To curse your enemy, use a poppet of your enemy. To create an alarm bell, use a tiny bell and wire. Makes sense to me. Probably also helps the wizard visualize the effect.

Indeed.
This thread is taking me into a revaluation of material components...

[Chronos]

So what? Lightning bolt's components, in real-world chemistry physics, might give your finger a slight tingle, not rip through a commoner's shack. They weren't going for scientific accuracy, they were just making you think vaguely along those lines.

It's pretty obvious reflective surface + battery won't give you a tv - they were just pointing to it suggestively. Y so srs?
Except they weren't pointing towards "battery" suggestively. They were pointing very clearly towards noxious fumes, which have a long history of association (far longer than the existence of TV or batteries) with divination magic. Nitric acid plus copper is probably the third most famous reaction in all of chemistry (http://www.angelo.edu/faculty/kboudrea/demos/copper_HNO3/Cu_HNO3.htm) (read the bottom portion)-- There's no chance that they ended up with that reference accidentally.

[CRtwenty]

I don't remember the spell's name, but it gives you a feat (if you have the prerequisites) and as a component it needs a piece of armor of a fighter that fulfills the feat requirements.

To me that's horrifying, it means someone out there is making fighters, and leveling them up, only to have wizards strip them of bits of their armor.

Or there's just some random Fighter out there who spends all day wearing various pieces of armor and then selling them off to Wizards.

[Psyren]

Except they weren't pointing towards "battery" suggestively. They were pointing very clearly towards noxious fumes, which have a long history of association (far longer than the existence of TV or batteries) with divination magic. Nitric acid plus copper is probably the third most famous reaction in all of chemistry (http://www.angelo.edu/faculty/kboudrea/demos/copper_HNO3/Cu_HNO3.htm) (read the bottom portion)-- There's no chance that they ended up with that reference accidentally.

I disagree - usually when they go for "get high on fumes to expand your awareness" they (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/legendLore.htm) go (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/vision.htm) for (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/augury.htm) incense. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/divination.htm)

No, I still feel "battery" was the imagery they were attempting to evoke, accuracy be damned.

[toapat]

Except they weren't pointing towards "battery" suggestively. They were pointing very clearly towards noxious fumes, which have a long history of association (far longer than the existence of TV or batteries) with divination magic. Nitric acid plus copper is probably the third most famous reaction in all of chemistry (http://www.angelo.edu/faculty/kboudrea/demos/copper_HNO3/Cu_HNO3.htm) (read the bottom portion)-- There's no chance that they ended up with that reference accidentally.

its both, actually.

the copper and Zinc are in reference to potato/lemon batteries while the nitric Acid is, well, nitric acid + copper.

thing is theres nothing that could be called a Fillament in the components, for a Projection TV (which do have mirrors in them) and its definitely not a CRT