Sorry Wizard, but your party is adventuring in the wilderness

My time to shine.

Just gather components in the wilderness? When you keep track of that shit it makes life interesting for the wizard who must ration out his spells or risk not having them if the area doesn't hold the components that he needs. Also gives them something to do in their downtime that isn't just looking at books. Also lends on some nice inter party play where the wizard might actually have to interact with the ranger or someone woodsy who might know where to look to find the things he needs.

>not playing a psion who never has to look for components.

no one uses spell components, you fags have never played.

Wait, you mean people roll up wizards that don't fight too? Couldn't you just play him like a really shitty monk or something? Or, fuck it, if no one wants you to cast spells, you could just announce your character has had an epiphany and wants to change class, like when a business man wants to go off the grid and live in a hut and eat straw and poop in a hole with other "off the grid" freaks. Now he can be a ranger with, like a shitload more INT and WIS than any ranger ever has before!

Ok let me roll up a psion, or a cleric

>Not having the eschew components feat

Eh.

The ranger can help you with finding components and you two can slowly build that romance. Go for it, milk that roleplay.

No-one cares about spell components in real games.

Half of them were only written to be cheap puns, and clung on as legacy holdovers.

the DM physically gets up and begins to throttle you while screeching like a chimp.

My favorite spell component (And the only one I can remember) is the component for a spell in 3.5 that makes enemies explode into mini fireballs when they die.
The component? A shard of Charred bone

>were only written to be cheap puns
Examples?

>nobody uses spell components
>one of the few things that regulate wizard powers
>wizards who are known to be blatantly overpowered that everyone complains about

facepalm.jpg

I yell "am I being detained?" and then pull a knife

A large part of why wizards are 'overpowered' is people ignoring all the rules that balance them.

>Allowing the 5 minute adventuring day by not running ransom encounters on rests
>Components as noted
>Concentration
>Somatic spells /grappling
>counterspells / magic immune/resistant beings

I agree it's a shit mechanic for spells like Fireball, but for some of them, like most divination spells, I find it okay.

This so damn much.

>play sorcerer
>always use little spells
>save big spells
>party always rests before I use my big shit
>user, why are you so worthless
>mfw

all of that stuff can be countered.

>Allowing the 5 minute adventuring day by not running ransom encounters on rests

Rope trick

>Components as noted

Eschew materials.

>Concentration

Doesn't matter most of the time

>Somatic spells /grappling

don't stand at the front of the party.
This is actually unlikely to come up because of how confusing it is to some people.

>counterspells / magic immune/resistant beings

there is a tiny list of creatures that has magic immunity.

Counterspell requires having the spell the other person is casting, and preparing for them to cast it.

use spells that dont allow magic resistance.

>Somatic spells /grappling

Use Dimension Door if its urgent

How are you supposed to implement components in the game? You can buy a components bag for cheap but it never says how many things it has

Sounds like you need to use your big spells, user-kun.

Swing the bat, user-kun.

Except they always rest after like one or two fights. I have it engrained in my brain from my old group that at any moment, we could be put through the gauntlet. I mean that in a good way. Using 4th edition as an example, one session we fucking went through 6 milestones of hardcore bullshittery because we were on a mission and time was in short supply, and it was worth it just have the DM describe the dude's incredulous fucking look on his face. We didn't even let him monologue. The Warlord used his surprise round to just move everyone forward and we beat him into submission with everything we had. Literally every single PC used an action point to beat the shit out of this dude, and we dragged his sorry ass back to the throne to stand trial. Best. Session. Ever.

This new group?
>i used a spell we need to rest
>i got stabbed for 4 damage
>whine whine whine
I hate them.

Honestly, that does sound pretty miserable. If you really hate them that much, you might be better off leaving.

I ended up leaving my last group because my expectations for the game were completely different to theirs - they were entirely combat-focused with little to no RP (most of them didn't even have fucking names for their characters), the DM was a railroading fuck who had gods show up every 10 minutes to teleport us to the next dungeon (occasionally the gods would fight, and we would just have to sit there like lemons while he rolled fistfuls of dice and talked to himself), and nothing we did felt like it actually mattered.

Sometimes no D&D is better than bad D&D.

>Not derailing the game by forcing the party to follow you while you forage for components.
>Not having selected only spells without material components

No offense but your party is a bunch of spineless wusses who can't even manage their own fucking resources properly. You must have quite the patience.

It's sad, yes. It's all I have at the moment.
>no D&D better than bad D&D
I'm thinking about it, honestly. It's mostly habit, really.

I've been in that situation, too. It's shitty. DMs feel like their story is more important than your involvement.

> (You)
>No offense but your party is a bunch of spineless wusses who can't even manage their own fucking resources properly.
Accurate
>You must have quite the patience.
I've been told by many people I have the patience of a saint. My secret is actually crippling depression. I'd rather just let everyone have their say and enjoy themselves as they want because I only feel fleeting moments of joy anyway

>he doesn't know the pleasure of a scrounging episode where the party stealthily gathers rusty nails, bird shit, bark, butter and sand so the casters can help bust everyone out

Yes but the fact you have to put resources and energy into 'countering' it to varying levels of success makes it balanced. It's only when GM's ignore all these elements and let wizards run rampant that they have a problem.

You mean i have to make do with all these scrolls, wands, rods and other assorted magical items that I've prepared? Well what a bummer...

*Cue McGyver theme*

>Examples?
Grease's material component is butter or pork rinds.
Silent image is a bit of fleece. As in, pulling the wool over your eyes.
Alarm is a bell and wire.
Fireball is bat guano and sulfur; original components used to make archaic gunpowder.
Hideous laughter is a tiny tart thrown at the target while waving a feather around. The idea being that the components themselves are part of the gag which makes a target laugh.
Sleep involves a pinch of sand (like the sandman), a live cricket (cricket-noises indicate boredom and slumber), or rose petals (which are supposed to help people sleep)
Ventriloquism is a piece of paper rolled up into a cone. Like a shitty megaphone.

And so on and so forth. Earlier forms of D&D were written with far greater whimsy than it has today. That's where we get a lot of these silly material spell components; spellcasters were supposed to be doing wacky antics to make magic work.

>Allowing the 5 minute adventuring day by not running ransom encounters on rests
Rope Trick
>Components as noted
Not a counter. Spell component pouches, Eschew Materials.
>Concentration
Cast defensively. If enemies ready attacks against your spellcasting, they've crowd controlled themselves to take one attack against you. Exploit that.
>Somatic spells /grappling
Dimension Door. Or you can sit there and laugh at the retarded enemy for making themselves flat-footed in the middle of your entire party.
>counterspells
Requires the exact spell you have prepared to be reliable and quite frankly, if a caster is wasting their time countering a spell the other party is coming out ahead. It's only a problem with rings of counterspelling and I shouldn't have to tell you why equipping enemies with dozens of these is a bad idea.
>magic immune/resistant beings
Conjurations ignore this and enemies with immunity to magic always have shit saves.

>"all classes must be equally useful in any given situation or environment"
Lol, what is this, WoW? Grow some balls, you have your darts.

>spell components
???
Everyone uses a magic orb/trinket whatever.

this shit is so retarded

Agreed. Even in 5e where casting is pretty easy, there are several rules that go ignored because "I don't want to keep track of components" or the DM let's then ignore concentration, etc.

Then people cry that magic is OP.

>"I don't want to keep track of components"
In 5e, if your components don't have a gold cost, you ignore them because of your component pouch/arcane focus. That's how the game works

>A character can use a component pouch or a spellcasting focus (found in “Equipment”) 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.
Shut the fuck up.

>Sorry Fighter, but your party is adventuring in the abyss.
I know that you lost your magic sword, but for the next 10 sessions you won't be able to damage any enemies.
>Try not to get in the way.

Summon Monster's component is a bag and a candle, the traditional items given to someone sent on a Snipe Hunt.

There are a few ways to handle this.

1. Talk to the GM and figure out why he won't let you use spells

2. Be a rules lawyer and go through all the spells you know, looking for ones with semi-common ingredients you might find in forests. Argue literally everything, even if a spell calls for a gold bar say you found one that was dropped by an adventurer

3. Be autistic as fuck and say that the parties' blades would be dull with no whetstones, the rogue would run out of poisons, the Ranger ran out of arrows, etc.

Ah yes, because who doesn't want to go on an Epic Quest for 500 Candles? It's as thrilling as the time we had the 3-hour adventure of Ranger Fletches His Own Arrows

>You can buy a components bag for cheap but it never says how many things it has
Sure it does, it says it has all of them (aside from things with specified costs). Unless you somehow cast enough spells to use up literally all of the components in existence, you still have some, because they're all in your pouch.

Making an overpowered technique annoying to use is not balance.
This is doubly the case with spell components. It adds absolutely nothing to the game because they're so cheap as to be essentially free.
Either you have them and can ignore them or you don't and you can't actually play your class.

And that's the thing that bears repeating. YOU CAN'T USE YOUR ABILITIES AT ALL. You're a fucking commoner, just with a stat spread that's also suboptimal for that.

That's not balance, that's stupid gamedesign. If magic is too powerful make magic LESS powerful, not more annoying to use.

>YOU CAN'T USE YOUR ABILITIES AT ALL
Not all spells require material components. You just have to limit yourself to what you can cast.
Plus, it's totally fair for casters to be held to the same standards as martials. If the fighter gets his weapon destroyed or stolen, he's just as fucked as a wizard with no components.

You forgot the best one of all, scrying. You need the eye of a bird (a camera), nitric acid, copper, zinc (a battery), and a mirror (a screen). You build a television set to watch the person.

>the demon homeworld does not contain any weapons capable of harming demons
>demons don't have weapons that can hurt demons

Flawless worldbuilding

Oh, that’s lovely. Are there groups out there that would enjoy it if I were to (briefly) roleplay setting that up? Or the wacky antics generally? I get the feeling people want more utilitarian casters.

If you were an NPC wizard, that would be a fun plothook

>Not having a spell component pouch
>Not having Eschew Materials feat
>Not having at least enough rank in survival to offset your negative from dump stating wisdom so you can gather components in the wild
>Not having wands or scrolls
>Not taking party buffing cantrips
>Not having a crossbow for when you run out of spells anyways.
>Not having a non shit GM who only cares about components for the sake of fluffing up your descriptions of how you cast spells and a party that wants to be supportive when you clearly aren't an asshole wizard like some people.

You're a git and so is your group.

This is why you never use all your spells unless in dire need and plan ahead for a lack of components, either by using skills to get more ingredients (never underestimate alchemy and survival), get more adequated class features, multiclassing or just hoarding components for your most useful spells. Ask your party and I'm sure they'll have their own components, get a semi permanent minion to help you out, or just change the class of your character completely.

For the love of god number 3 is not an option unless you want the whole group against you, I cannot reccount the number of times I've seen warriors that spend everything on arms and armor then wonder why they don't full recover when sleeping on the floor.

Let's be honest, the pouch was made so that the players with less resourcefulness wouldn't drag playtime searching for innane shit. It's not magical nor it is meant to be. Either an autistic or an incredibly adherent to detail DM can render it invalid for that purpose and technically they'd be right to do so.

No, the pouch was made so that people would stop wasting time on stupid bullshit.

>wouldn't drag playtime searching for innane shit
>would stop wasting time on stupid bullshit.

>Not similar.

Reading comprehension my friend, you might be sleep deprived, I suggest that you catch up some zzzzs.

It wasn't made for "less resourceful" players. It was made to make people stop taking literal jokes seriously and to stop wasting time on them.

The fact that most players would endlessly bitch and whine about the situation instead of asking for a dagger and carving components out of living and nonliving things in the woods is what I hate about today's players

...

Holy shit user, that image sings to me

>everyone
You people spend too much time on Veeky Forums, most actual groups just roll with things instead of getting hyper autistic.

Me too, that's why I have it saved.

Literally nobody takes components seriously. The pouch was made to facilitate this for autistic people like you. You're not meant to care about them unless they have a cost.

Why are you asking your players to get killed? Old edition wizards were even more fragile without spells than now. If you told the wizard he had to care about spell components and gave him a dagger, he'd go out and get mauled to death by a squirrel.

>being a wizard with no tough friends
>being a wizard who can't make money in a town by using his abilities and using the money to then hire tough friends

Fucking brainlet wizards deserve to have 6 inches of rusty iron in their guts via some toothless illiterate thug or some man eating beast they were stupid enough to run into the woods and meet

>being a wizard with no tough friends
That's what the party is for, and making the party run around collecting ingredients for the wizard just wastes hours of their time and makes the entire game even MORE about the wizard and his problems.

I don't bother with component gathering in my games (unless they have a price) but I make sure the other requirements matter. Verbal spells aren't stealthy. Somatic spells don't work when grappled/restrained. Enemies who see you use your focus will try to get rid of it. And the last two will happen occasionally in combat. It's a pain in the ass to refer to my spell cheat sheet whenever a PC casts but I feel like I'm doing the right thing.

That's pretty much what I said. A wizard doesn't have to worry so much about getting ganked if he's got a party. If he's got a party then he can just harvest shit on the way to wherever they're all going. Do some quests, make some money, and just buy components from then on.

Point is players these days will whine instead of just gritting their teeth and getting shit done. If I were rolling a paladin who maces all the faces, I wouldn't bitch and moan because we got robbed while sleeping in a seedy tavern. I'd rip a leg off a table and get back to business getting my shit back.

I've literally seen players leave games because they were temporarily denied access to their equipment.

just get the eschew materials feat, lets you cast basically every 1st-level spell and many mid-level spells.

You ignored my point about the wizard-centric party.

From my experience playing a sorcerer the funnest part is using the stupid, splashy spells especially when it isn't called for.

Waste of a feat. Lots of good spells don't even have components. Not "emergency spells", spells you'd pick up anyway.

Feats are a valuable resource.
If you're really worried get a hidden pocket and store a spare component pouch in it.

This. So much this.
I don't know about the newer editions, haven't played D&D in ages, but 3.5 has tons of options for exactly that situation.
Hidden pockets. Spellbook tattoos. Even a bag-of-holding lite that merges with your skin and needs a search check of "not for NPCs" for enemies to find.
There's a goddamn "Summon Component" spell ffs.

If your DM goes after your spellbook/focus/component pouch and you're useless after that it's your own fault because you were not prepared.