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Bladewing2013
2017-11-06, 11:23 AM
So I'm not currently DM for a campaign, but I had an idea and wanted feedback on it. So my idea is to have "Spices" you can add to your spell for more effects. For example: Dragons ear: add 5 to spell save DC. Or Virgin's blood: add 5 to spell damage. Each "spice" could be used once, and would run anywhere from 10 to 10000 gold, depending on use. Also you couldn't use more then one "spice" per spell.
Thoughts, ideas, suggestions?

Arte
2017-11-06, 11:30 AM
So I'm not currently DM for a campaign, but I had an idea and wanted feedback on it. So my idea is to have "Spices" you can add to your spell for more effects. For example: Dragons ear: add 5 to spell save DC. Or Virgin's blood: add 5 to spell damage. Each "spice" could be used once, and would run anywhere from 10 to 10000 gold, depending on use. Also you couldn't use more then one "spice" per spell.
Thoughts, ideas, suggestions?


I mean that's basically like combining metamagic with the material component of a spell.

It probably wouldn't break anything but depending on what you do... it could be better to come up with a whole new class and spell list for this. It's really hard for me to imagine how it would work with what's there now but I'm slow on these things.

Looks nice though.

demonslayerelf
2017-11-06, 05:50 PM
BW, don't listen to that. It's incredibly clear how this would be used with any given spell, with any current caster class. You use it alongside other material components, or as the sole material component.

It's not hard to understand, but the devil is in the details when it comes to balance. For instance, +5 to a save DC is probably too much, unless that's the one costing 10,000 gold pieces per use(Though even that seems a bit low for a possible Warlock DC of 27). At that point it's kinda like having an Arrow of Slaying or whatever it's called(I use the comparison for the idea of power, not effect), but for casters, not archers.

So, the balancing will be hard, but it can definitely be done.

Nifft
2017-11-06, 07:52 PM
The feat Black Lore of Moil is somewhat similar to this idea.

There are "optional spell components" in the BoVD and BoED which are basically instances of this.

Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved had Spell Templates which require optional, expensive material components to augment spells.

So, yeah: this is very doable, and has been done in various ways.

However, I'd recommend caution. Giving your players a way to turn wealth into power is a dangerous precedent, since that power can be used to obtain more wealth.

Ferrin33
2017-11-06, 09:12 PM
Higher quality material components for spells, basically?

Personally I would make the special material components just rarer/more obviously "powerful" versions of existing material components, and as such they would only work with specific spells. "Dragon Dung" instead of Bat Guano for Fireball might increase the damage dice to d8's, or set enemies it hits on fire, for example.

Like people mentioned earlier, you should weigh their power against other consumable items, a +5 to the save DC is obviously to powerful unless it's extremely rare, or can only be used on spells where failing the save isn't a death sentence.

Rynjin
2017-11-07, 01:20 AM
Pathfinder's Alchemical Reagents (http://archivesofnethys.com/AlchemicalReagents.aspx) do something similar if you want something of a guideline.

Arte
2017-11-07, 09:19 AM
There are a ton of spell resources if you decide to create spells for this, that might speed up your time.

Of course you can work with the ones in the PHB or official supplements but I think the easier ones to work with are some of the 4e ones and pathfinder spells that have been brought up to 5e.

So basically you could tone down some of the spells and tweak them as you see fit so that they can have broken combinations.

In my class Sigil I also have something similar with a Trapper class.

What they do is they place ichor from monsters they find or relative material into an item that then makes the respective spells cheaper to place in them. If the item that you store it in is of a very high quality it has more slots to hold magic so if the spells are cheap enough you could actually place 2 spells in the item.

I took the measure of adjusting spells and crafting them to be specific things to prevent really wonky stuff from happening but your think is going even further with the idea to apply benefits.

My point is there are loads of ways to go about this and yea the alchemist guide posted above is another good reference.

This one Alchemy 1.2 (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7CIGCMCtoETVmhDNEZMbUVweTg/view) is another good one maybe for this purpose as well.