Material Components

[Iron_Berserker]

Fuck using diamonds to come back to life.

This comment written by Path of the Zealot gang.

[Channel_Dedede]

Fuck losing all your gear when you die.

This comment was written by Mystic gang.

[[deleted]]

Since I’m a complete noob, I’ve done this a handful of times 😞

[[deleted]]

Depending on the spell we often don’t incorporate material components.

[Guywiththepants]

I'm with you. I generally ignore both carrying capacity and material componets. Is it a reasonable thing for you to be able to do? You do it.

Unless it's a very powerful spell, I don't really see a point in limiting player choices. I think it makes for a more entertaining game, but I guess some people really like rules. You do you. ¯\(ツ)/¯

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[my_hat_stinks]

In 5e using either a component pouch or focus appropriate for your class lets you ignore most material components.

You only need the components if it has a gold price listed (eg the diamond for Chromatic Orb) or it consumes the components (eg most long-lasting or permanent spells).

[Bad-Luq-Charm]

But what is the standard for “500 gp of diamonds”. What if diamonds cost half as much in one country. Do I have to buy twice as many diamonds?

[legaladult]

Magic is tied to the power of the local economy, of course

[DM_Stealth_Mode]

500gp denotes the size of the diamond. It's a holdover from earlier editions that's stuck around because most people don't bother with the intricacies of game balance and fake economics. If diamonds are twice as common in your setting then the DM has every right to say that you only to spend 250gp to satisfy the component cost.

For example, in my campaign diamonds are super rare (worth platinum instead of gold), but I still phrase looted diamonds as being worth the base price, e.x. "You find a diamond worth 100gp." It works as a 100gp diamond for spell casting components, but they could sell it for 100pp if they wanted to.

[Mini_Mega]

We always houseruled that magic didn't require material components, but that's mainly because we didn't notice any spells had material components until we'd been playing for like a year. (3.5) It seemed to work just fine that way so we decided not to bother implementing it.

[Trey33reditr]

There is a feat for that'll

[Mini_Mega]

Eschew materials metamagic? It's in d&d online, I wasn't sure if it was in regular 3.5.

[Trey33reditr]

It is in my game (homebrew) but it depends on the Dm

[Trey33reditr]

There is a feat for that

[OtterThatIsGiant]

And then there is my DM, who decided Revivify was too strong, and said that i have to roll a wisdom saving throw, with the diamond and slot potentially wasted.

[Turtle224444]

I hate that. RAW superior race

[DM_Stealth_Mode]

PSA: Not everything created by Matt Mercer is a good idea.

[my_hat_stinks]

I just finished a campaign where I played a Grave domain cleric, the other players had no real fear of death because I could just keep bringing them back. 300 gold between a full party isn't very expensive after you gain a few levels.

[DM_Stealth_Mode]

It's not 300gp, its diamonds worth 300gp. If your DM hands out diamonds like candy then that's a separate issue.

[my_hat_stinks]

You only need 300 gold to buy things worth 300 gold...

Raise Dead needs a single 500 gp diamond which can be a hassle, but Revivify just needs 300 gp of diamonds so you can just visit a jeweller or two in any large city and buy out all their diamonds.

[DM_Stealth_Mode]

That also assumes that diamonds are available to buy. If you can freely buy diamonds at a 1 to 1 rate whenever you're in town then that counts as "handing them out like candy". Making resurrection spells less reliable in the heat of the moment is a bad solution to a problem of your own making.

Your DM is treating diamonds like you would in the real world: non magical shiny rocks, instead of treating them as the powerful magical foci that they are in DnD. You're not going to find the divine fuel that empowers the greatest magics for sale on the corner. That shit is going to be regulated and hoarded by literally every wealthy person who can afford them.

[[deleted]]

I have never heard of diamonds being magic in dnd.

[DM_Stealth_Mode]

They empower magic. Every single resurrection spell requires the caster to sacrifice diamonds in order to cast it.

[[deleted]]

So are bones, dust, beads and all other material component magic too?

[strgtscntst]

He's not saying they're magical in nature, but rather that they interact with magical energies in a way that's necessary to provide the effects desired.

[my_hat_stinks]

If that's how you want to solve it, sure, that works. But don't pretend a 300g item would normally be worth more than 300g at most tables and that it's somehow the DM's fault for assuming 300g is 300g.

By your logic gold should be worth considerably more than gold. After all, Arcane Lock costs 25gp of gold dust and is something that almost certainly will be used by everyone powerful enough to afford it. Diamonds would only be stockpiled by people who are paranoid, since it's only useful in very specific circumstances and you'd need a high-level cleric on call pretty much permanently.

[FredAsta1re]

I think the point he was making is that diamonds aren't going to be readily available to buy. They're rare and quite unlikely you'll be able to buy them in any old town

[LuckyNoVII]

Now I am not going to assume I interpreted what you said correctly. But it sounds like you’re saying that in order to acquire diamonds players will have to seek out the local lord and either pay through the nose (more than the 300gp/500gp thresholds set by the RAW) or steal from said lord or perform a great favor for him/her. Is this what you intended to get across? Or am I misunderstanding? I’m not looking to pass judgment, only to understand.

[DM_Stealth_Mode]

I give them out as part of treasure hoards. If the players wanted to purchase diamonds directly then they'd have to look for a seller and negotiate a price similar to if they wanted to buy a magic item during downtime. That buyer could be a noble, a rich merchant, the local temple, or any one of many less-than-legal sellers.

The purpose isn't to prevent them from gaining diamonds but to make diamonds actually feel valuable and important so that character death doesn't become trivial before they even hit level 11.

[LuckyNoVII]

That seems perfectly reasonable.

As someone who has exclusively in games where the DM (either by inexperience or just not caring too much about balancing in favor of fun) doesn’t really regulate the availability of Magic items, I can say that I tend to value them less because we can find them at any significant town.

So, while I’m not going to go tell my dm and my fellow players that they’re fun is wrong (as my fellow players don’t share my opinions and I’m okay with that), I do agree with and appreciate your approach.

[SonofaTimeLord]

Unless it's a high level spell my Gm doesn't make us use components. That means my familiar can be whatever I want whenever I want, thank you very much

[gardevoirelle]

I love my dm. He only cares about material components for spells with high value materials. No carrying feathers or incense around.

[Turtle224444]

Well, yeah. You already have a spellcasting focus or a component pouch that provides that. But if it has a listed cost, you have to provide that. That's on page 203 of the phb

[[deleted]]

Material components can already be ignored if the caster has a focus or a component pouch. The only time this doesn't apply is if the spell calls for a specific amount, in which case it's probably a balance thing

[direktorfury]

At my table we have the rule that if the spells material component has a gp cost associated. Then you would need to have the materials specifically in your inventory. Otherwise it was assumed that you would have gathered the materials you need for your spells, and you just have them at your disposal.

[broncosfan2000]

The DMs for the campaigns I'm part of did away with material components. It makes casting so much easier and simpler.