Costly Spell Components

[TheCleverGuy]

My wizard player just asked me the following question:

"For spells with specific components that have a cost or are consumed, will we need to find the specific components before using the spell, or just be prepared to lose the appropriate gp value of those components upon casting?"

And I realized I don't really know. How do you all handle that?

[Ninja_Prawn]

Per PHB page 203 (emphasis mine):


Casting some spells requires particular objects, specified in parentheses in the component entry. A character can use a component pouch or a spellcasting focus (found in chapter 5) in place of the components specified for a spell. But if a cost is indicated for a component, a character must have that specific component before he or she can cast the spell.

If a spell states that a material component is consumed by the spell, the caster must provide this component for each casting of the spell.
If you're a wizard, you know which spells are in your spellbook. The onus is on you to acquire the costly components before you need to cast the spell. If I was running a very casual game, or a one-shot, I'd probably handwave it, but I don't generally run those kinds of games.

[PhantomSoul]

The Character (via their Player) should ensure having the Component, e.g. tracking it down, having it crafted, or buying it from a shop.

Other tables could decide to just spend the gold on casting, but that's not a house rule (IIRC not in the books) that my tables have used.

(In our games we don't handwave those, though I wouldn't be surprised if some players were less attentive than others :P)

[NorthernPhoenix]

I say you need to have the actual thing rather than just subtracting gold. The mechanic is there to reign in some of the more powerful spells. If the spell is one you think is fine, make the item easy to get. If it's something you only want to see rarely (resurection etc.) make it hard to come by.

[firelistener]

Personally, I always put tracking ammunition and components on the players. If they want to make sure they have the material items for role playing, I'm more than happy to act as the shop keeper and design opportunities for them to buy/find materials in the game. If they don't care, I'm not going to expend the effort for more book-keeping, so I just tell them to subtract gp on their own via honor system.

[Callak_Remier]

Part of playing a wizard is looking for spell components, it adds thematic flavor and can lead to interesting Roleplay opportunities and possibly even quests.

If people want to hand wave it sure go ahead " your loss".

[Tanarii]

My wizard player just asked me the following question:

"For spells with specific components that have a cost or are consumed, will we need to find the specific components before using the spell, or just be prepared to lose the appropriate gp value of those components upon casting?"

And I realized I don't really know. How do you all handle that?
Ask for clarification:
do you mean
1) "do I as a player need to take table time to roleplay my character finding these costly components?"
Or
2) "can my character just 'burn' gold and not even need access to a place where he can purchase a costly component, in world?"

Note that the only non-costly component that is consumed that I'm aware of is the 25ft of rope for Snare.

[JackPhoenix]

Note that the only non-costly component that is consumed that I'm aware of is the 25ft of rope for Snare.

There's also holy water for Protection from Evil and Good. And both rope and holy water have cost listed in the equipment section, just not in the spell itself.

[JeffreyGator]

Most commonly this comes up with find familiar (and pre-UA ranger companions) needing specific things from town while adventuring. Both as a player and GM I track that since familiars and companions die .. a lot. It is important to plan for this in advance.

Other components, the 100 gp Identify pearl is generally found early on and then kept.

Continual flame - I have only cast in town, magic mouth also only in town and so really just spend gold.

If I cast stoneskin or simulacrum I would want those things bought an tracked beforehand.

Revivify, raise dead etc are all tracked via party funds.

[Tanarii]

Revivify, raise dead etc are all tracked via party funds.
Yeah, that's one where a single casting should probably wipe out the entire stock of a small city jewelers in anything resembling real economics. :smallamused:

[Anymage]

I'd assume that a caster would want to stock up on at least a few copies of components for spells that they'd expect to cast. In many cases, costly spell components are also things like gems that generally retain their value if sold later. So the opportunity cost of having wealth in a form that can be cast with or sold for gold is minimal.

So I'd err on the side of just letting the caster dock gold pieces.

[HappyDaze]

Pay attention to any setting-specific rules too. IIRC, in Eberron, you can substitute Eberron dragonshards for almost any other costly components.

[Lunali]

Yeah, that's one where a single casting should probably wipe out the entire stock of a small city jewelers in anything resembling real economics. :smallamused:

How big do you think such a diamond/group of diamonds would be? Even raise dead would probably be a single one carat diamond or smaller.

[EggKookoo]

My wizard player just asked me the following question:

"For spells with specific components that have a cost or are consumed, will we need to find the specific components before using the spell, or just be prepared to lose the appropriate gp value of those components upon casting?"

And I realized I don't really know. How do you all handle that?

Keep in mind "have a cost" and "are consumed" are not the same thing. Identify needs a pearl (I think?) worth 100gp. It is not consumed with the casting. So having the player just burn 100gp to cast it is too expensive. Unless they lose it somehow, they only have to pay for that pearl once.

[Tanarii]

How big do you think such a diamond/group of diamonds would be? Even raise dead would probably be a single one carat diamond or smaller.
I don't know about carats. But traditionally D&D gems are quite large. A 5000 gp gem might be ... an inch across? So 1/10 the volume, or say 1/3 of an inch across. So yeah a single gem, or crushed gem shards the size of a small handful of real world gems.

Fine fine ...it'd wipe out the entire stock of the typical town. :smallamused:

[Zhorn]

How big do you think such a diamond/group of diamonds would be? Even raise dead would probably be a single one carat diamond or smaller.

For the sake of simplicity I'd go by using coin sizes as a rule of thumb for gems
(old book reference: 3.5e Draconomicon gave coins a size of diameter 1 inch & thickness 1/10th)
(This is not going to match to real world size:weight ratios, but then the size to weight of gold,silver and the like given in the DMG is already way off)
Using a rough density comparison of gold to diamond, we get close to a 1:5 ratio on weight.

So yeah, 1 small gem is the same size as one coin
any smaller are already cut and set in jewellery (rings, pendants, etc) and counted the same size as 1 coin

From there, scale up in easy to count denominations (math is close, but still fudged for cleanliness)
Very Small - Attached to jewellery to bring up to 1 coin in size
Small - 1 coin in size (≈ 1/2 inch diameter)
Medium - 5 coins in size (≈ 1 inch diameter), weighs the same as 1 coin
Large - 50 coins in size (≈ 2 inch diameter)
Very Large - 500 coins in size (≈ 4 inch diameter)
Huge - 1000 coins in size (≈ 5 inch diameter),

Medium and smaller gems are the types that circulate wherever adventures frequent, as the often get mixed in with their average currency
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ef/29/f1/ef29f1d50020be11e089a6571ee41f06.jpg

Choose a gem from the DMG (p134) to be your size-to-value for 1 gp in your world, and go from there

EDIT: small side project I've been mulling over on this WIP: Gem Size - Based on coins (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?611226-WIP-Gem-Size-Based-on-coins), have a poke around if this is an idea that interests you.

[FrancisBean]

If you're a wizard, you know which spells are in your spellbook. The onus is on you to acquire the costly components before you need to cast the spell. If I was running a very casual game, or a one-shot, I'd probably handwave it, but I don't generally run those kinds of games.

This is giving me spasmodic eye-twitching flashbacks to one of the most frustrating games of my career. It was 3.5, and I had a wizard. I'd taken Hail of Stone as my only direct damage spell at first level, and it takes a 5gp jade chip. I spent 9 levels checking every town for a lapidary who had jade. "Sorry, just sold out. Try up the river." By the time I finally found jade, my Wizard levels were so high that I was twice over the max damage for Hail of Stone (1d4/level, max 5d4, my caster level for it was 10), leaving it as a mostly useless spell. There were a lot of other frustrations with that DM, and the campaign imploded soon thereafter. Probably a good thing.

The moral is, it's OK to expect your players to hunt up the components ahead, but don't turn it into a major quest for every little thing. If you're going to do that, just tell them they can't have that spell.

[HappyDaze]

Diamonds tend to be the big issue. Considering they are effectively the treatment for a premature death, I can't imagine any diamond jewelry in D&D worlds unless it's owned by hateful jackholes that just want to stick it to other people. Imagine if, IRL, rings were made of solidified medicine for an otherwise incurable ailment. What would you think of people that flaunted such bling while others died?

[Zhorn]

Diamonds tend to be the big issue. Considering they are effectively the treatment for a premature death, I can't imagine any diamond jewelry in D&D worlds unless it's owned by hateful jackholes that just want to stick it to other people. Imagine if, IRL, rings were made of solidified medicine for an otherwise incurable ailment. What would you think of people that flaunted such bling while others died?

D&D's equivalent of the free-healthcare debate.
Diamonds as reagents still have a big cost (normally considered far above the wealth level of the common folks), and unless your setting has a high proportion of spell casters in the general population, not every town is going to have an abundance of powerful spellcasters around to raise dead on everyone.

... But I can see this as some good fluff to include in a town, a bunch of protesters outside the lords estate demanding access to the coffers for the redistribution of wealth.

[Lunali]

Diamonds tend to be the big issue. Considering they are effectively the treatment for a premature death, I can't imagine any diamond jewelry in D&D worlds unless it's owned by hateful jackholes that just want to stick it to other people. Imagine if, IRL, rings were made of solidified medicine for an otherwise incurable ailment. What would you think of people that flaunted such bling while others died?

Nonsense, I could see a lot of diamond jewelry. Buy your own revival material, comes with engraving for your preferred church for resurrection.

[Zhorn]

-snip-

@Lunali, I've done some more work revising the previous gem size:weight calculations to be based loosely off using a coin as a standard volume if you were still looking for information on a sizing system. should serve to give a decent scale for the classic fantasy imagery of gem sizes.

[Aussiehams]

Maybe try "Residium". I'm not sure if it's official in 5e, but I remember it being something than can replace any component on a 1 for 1 GP basis. It was hard to find though.

[Zhorn]

Maybe try "Residium". I'm not sure if it's official in 5e, but I remember it being something than can replace any component on a 1 for 1 GP basis. It was hard to find though.

While an official thing in 4e (4e PHB, p225, 1 lb. = 500,000 gp, where 10,000 gp is the rough volume of 1 coin), I don't think 5e has an official form of this in the books as of yet.

I don't think it is in Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, and unless the Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting is grandfathered in that won't count either (not much info in that book on it other than a 1 lb. = 500 gp value).

[HappyDaze]

While an official thing in 4e (4e PHB, p225, 1 lb. = 500,000 gp, where 10,000 gp is the rough volume of 1 coin), I don't think 5e has an official form of this in the books as of yet.


Eberron dragonshards are pretty much the same.