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Dergaii
 
PostPosted: Tue, Jan 12 2016, 22:47 PM 

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Joined: 01 Jun 2007
Location: Waffles, Beer & Chocolate

A copy of the following text is offered to the libraries of Cordor, the Delta Mage Academy, Oakmist Vale and the Seven Stars Academy.


Introductory guide to Arcane spell components and spell focuses

Foreword
This guide will explain shortly what material spell components and focuses are and what function they perform in the casting of spells. This is followed by a summary of the necessary components and focuses for a collection of the most common Arcane spells.

Material Spell Components
Often just called spell components, these items are a necessary part of casting a spell just as a verbal and somatic component is needed for most spells. Not all spells have a verbal or somatic component. Similarly, not all spells have a required spell component.

These components are annihilated during the casting of the spell. Fortunately, most components are easily found objects and should not have a substantial cost to them. Wherever there is a substantial cost, this will be noted. Most spell components are sold by merchants dealing in arcane wares. Often in the form of spell pouches that are filled with those components most often used. A mage willing to prepare for longer excursions can use the list below for a quick reference on which components to stock up on.

Two primary things can be noted upon the following list. One is that spells with a spell component often have a very physical effect on the world. Mainly so in the spell of evocation and transmutation. A second observation is that the specific components are often directly in relation to the effect of the spells. For example, using a tuft of bull fur in the casting of bull’s strength which causes the muscles of the spell target to grow to bull like proportions with the corresponding strength.

Both observations can be tied directly to the necessity of spell components to act as a metaphysical factor. They works as a sort of funnel between the Weave and the Prime Material world. The spell component works as a mold for the magic to take shape in the material world. For example the bit of butter for a grease spell is the seed for an expansive slippery field created. Or oil and flint that form the base for a fireball that is formed. This metaphysical connection is not always equally straightforward but still needed for the spell.

Spells with a less physical effect are less likely to require a spell component. Abjurations and enchantments especially are less likely to need a material spell component. Similar to verbal and somatic components, mages can learn to overcome the need of a material spell component. This requires specific training and cannot overcome the materials of greater value.

Spell Focuses
Where material spell components are destroyed on casting the spell, focuses are persistent and can be used over and over. As such they require less management and one cannot just find oneself without the required component. Material spell components work as the metaphysical funnel themselves, the spell focus instead directs the attention of the caster to a specific form or idea. The summoning school of conjuration is partial to the use of spell focuses.



Material Spell Components

Cantrips
  • Daze: A pinch of wool or similar substance.
  • Light: A firefly or a piece of phosphorescent moss.
  • Resistance: A miniature cloak.

1st Circle:
  • Color Spray: A pinch each of powder or sand that is colored red, yellow, and blue.
  • Grease: A bit of pork rind or butter.
  • Ice Dagger: A few drops of water made from melted ice.
  • Identify: A pearl of at least 100 gold value, crushed and stirred into wine with an owl feather; the infusion must be drunk prior to spellcasting.
  • Ironguts: A vial containing the diluted poison of four different creatures.
  • Negative Energy Ray: A mirror, which you break.
  • Protection from Alignment: A little powdered silver with which you trace a 3-foot -diameter circle on the floor (or ground) around the creature to be warded.
  • Scare: A bit of bone from an undead skeleton, zombie, ghoul, ghast, or mummy.
  • Sleep: A pinch of fine sand, rose petals, or a live cricket.

2nd Circle:
  • Bull’s Strength: A few hairs, or a pinch of dung, from a bull.
  • Cat’s Grace: A pinch of cat fur.
  • Cloud of Bewilderment: A rotten egg.
  • Combust: A drop of oil and a piece of flint.
  • Continual Flame: You sprinkle ruby dust (worth 50 gold) on the item that is to carry the flame.
  • Darkness: A bit of bat fur and either a drop of pitch or a piece of coal.
  • Death Armor: A paste made of exotic herbs, ground bones, and onyx worth 50 gold, which is applied to your body when the spell is cast.
  • Eagle’s Splendor: A few feathers or a pinch of droppings from an eagle.
  • Fox’s Cunning: A few hairs, or a pinch of dung, from a fox.
  • Gedlee's Electric Loop: A loop of copper wire and a magnet.
  • Ghoul Touch: A small scrap of cloth taken from clothing worn by a ghoul, or a pinch of earth from a ghoul's lair.
  • Invisibility: An eyelash encased in a bit of acacia gum.
  • Melf's Acid Arrow: Powdered rhubarb leaf and an adder's stomach.
  • Owl’s Wisdom: A few feathers, or a pinch of droppings, from an owl.
  • See Invisibility: A pinch of talc and a small sprinkling of powdered silver.
  • Tasha's Hideous Laughter: Tiny tarts that are thrown at the target and a feather that is waved in the air.
  • Web: A bit of spider web.

3rd Circle:
  • Displacement: A small strip of leather made from displacer beast hide, twisted into a loop.
  • Fireball: A tiny ball of bat guano and sulfur.
  • Flame Arrow: A drop of oil and a small piece of flint.
  • Haste: A shaving of licorice root.
  • Invisibility Sphere: An eyelash encased in a bit of acacia gum.
  • Lightning Bolt: A bit of fur and an amber, crystal, or glass rod.
  • Magic Circle Against Alignment: A little powdered silver with which you trace a 3-footdiameter circle on the floor (or ground) around the creature to be warded.
  • Mestil's Acid Breath: A handful of fire ants (alive or dead).
  • Scintillating Sphere: A glass marble.
  • Slow: A drop of molasses.
  • Stinking Cloud: A rotten egg or several skunk cabbage leaves.

4th Circle:
  • Evard's Black Tentacles: A piece of tentacle from a giant octopus or a giant squid.
  • Fear: Either the heart of a hen or a white feather.
  • Ice Storm: A pinch of dust and a few drops of water.
  • Minor Glove of Invulnerability: A glass or crystal bead that shatters at the expiration of the spell.
  • Polymorph: An empty cocoon.
  • Stoneskin: Granite and 250 gold worth of diamond dust sprinkled on the target's skin.
  • Wall of Fire: A small piece of phosphorus.

5th Circle:
  • Animate Dead: You must place a black onyx gem worth at least 25 gold (and higher for stronger undead) into the mouth or eye socket of each corpse you intend to animate.
  • Ball Lightning: A handful of copper and iron pellets.
  • Cone of Cold: A very small crystal or glass cone.
  • Firebrand: A flask of alchemist's fire (worth 20 gold).
  • Hold Monster: One hard metal bar or rod, which can be as small as a three-penny nail.
  • Mestil's Acid Sheath: A glass sculpture of a humanoid.

6th Circle:
  • Circle of Death: The powder of a crushed black pearl with a minimum value of 500 gold.
  • Flesh to Stone: Lime, water, and earth.
  • Globe of Invulnerability: A glass or crystal bead that shatters at the expiration of the spell.
  • Legend Lore: Incense worth at least 250 gold.
  • Mass Haste: A shaving of licorice root.
  • Stone to Flesh: A pinch of earth and a drop of blood.
  • Tenser's Transformation: A potion of bull's strength, which you drink (and whose effects are subsumed by the spell effects).
  • True Seeing: An ointment for the eyes that costs 250 gold and is made from mushroom powder, saffron, and fat.
  • Undeath to Death: The powder of a crushed diamond worth at least 500 gold.

7th Circle:
  • Control Undead: A small piece of bone and a small piece of raw meat.
  • Protection from Spells: A diamond of at least 500 gold value, which must be crushed and sprinkled over the targets.

8th Circle:
  • Create Undead: A clay pot filled with grave dirt and another filled with brackish water. The spell must be cast on a dead body. You must place a black onyx gem worth at least 50 gold (or higher for stronger undead) into the mouth or eye socket of each corpse.
  • Horrid Wilting: A bit of sponge.
  • Sunburst: A piece of sunstone and a naked flame.

9th Circle:
  • Bigby's Crushing Hand: The shell of an egg.



Arcane Focuses

1st Circle:
  • Mage Armor: A piece of cured leather.
  • Shelgarn's Persistent Blade: A silvered dagger.
  • Summon Monster I: A tiny bag and a small (not necessarily lit) candle.
  • True Strike: A small wooden replica of an archery target.

2nd Circle:
  • Stone Bones: A miniature skull carved of granite.
  • Summon Monster II: A tiny bag and a small (not necessarily lit) candle.

3rd Circle:
  • Clairaudience/Clairvoyance: A small horn (for hearing) or a glass eye (for seeing).
  • Hold Person: A small, straight piece of iron.
  • Summon Monster III: A tiny bag and a small (not necessarily lit) candle.

4th Circle:
  • Summon Monster IV: A tiny bag and a small (not necessarily lit) candle.

5th Circle:
  • Summon Monster V: A tiny bag and a small (not necessarily lit) candle.

6th Circle:
  • Bigby's Forceful Hand: A sturdy glove made of leather or heavy cloth.
  • Chain Lightning: A bit of fur; a piece of amber, glass, or a crystal rod; plus one silver pin for each of your caster levels.
  • Summon Monster VI: A tiny bag and a small (not necessarily lit) candle.

7th Circle :
  • Banishment: Any item that is distasteful to the subject (optional, see above).
  • Bigby's Grasping Hand: A leather glove.
  • Great Thunderclap: An iron bell.
  • Mordenkainen's Sword: A miniature platinum sword with a grip and pommel of copper and zinc. It costs 250 gold to construct.
  • Summon Monster VII: A tiny bag and a small (not necessarily lit) candle.

8th Circle:
  • Bigby's Clenched Fist: A leather glove.
  • Blackstaff: A nonmagical quarterstaff or a magic staff.
  • Summon Monster VIII: A tiny bag and a small (not necessarily lit) candle.

9th Circle:
  • Summon Monster IX: A tiny bag and a small (not necessarily lit) candle.



M. Rindrsen


 
      
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