On Wed, 28 Oct 1998, Gary V. Foss wrote:

> Mark A Vandermeulen wrote:
>
> > Two words: Material Components.
>
> How do you mean, Mark? The material components for the spells Pieter mentioned
> seem pretty easy to come across. A drop of blood and a pinch of bone powder
> for Animate Dead, a caterpillar cocoon for Polymorph Other, and a pinch of clay
> for Conjure (Earth) Elemental. The material component for Invisible Stalker is
> just some incense and a piece of horn, and the component for Magic Jar is only
> a gem (or crystal.)

Mostly I was refering to the DM's ability to "customize" the spells to
include much rarer components if there was concern about overuse and
abuse. So what if the requirement of Polymorph Other is not just any
cocoon, but a cocoon of the rare Golden Moth that only occurs in the
foothills of the Drachenspire mountains (or something). In otherwords, the
best way to limit the use of spells is to make them more expensive to
cast, or to make a quest one of the requirements (i.e. first must gather
the components). Obviously, this option isn't for everyone, but I
personally am of the opinion that some of the more powerful spells are too
cheap. Of course, I am also a bit easier on my PC's, because I say that
most components are used in the memorizing process rather than in the
casting process, so wizards don't necessarily have to carry bags of leaves
and spider webs and stuff around with them unless they want to rememorize
spells.

Mark VanderMeulen
vander+@pitt.edu