Completely Untested Magic System Theoryslop for the Masses
I don't really have time to write this, but I was already spending the time i didn't have discussing it on discord. This will be fast and dirty.
We've been discussing Warren D's post about the joys and benefits of Vancian Magic and it has me thinking about spell components, when they're fun, when they're annoying, and when we just ignore them. My personal gripe with Elmcat's position that we should all just be using Wolves Upon the Coast style ritual magic is that I want my (specific) game to be about the dungeon, not scaring off looking for spell components so that the wizard can do their thing. I'm fully in support of requiring 100gp pearls to cast Identify, but much like roleplaying shopping, collecting wool and colored sand gets tedious very quickly.
What if we want to make spell components matter though? How can we introduce an interesting cost and decision using them? Make them take a slot! Instead of some wimpy skimpy "component pouch" the material components of each spell takes a slot (they aren't consumed upon casting). This isn't too big a cost for level 1 magic users, but much like Knave and Cairn spellcasters they'll soon enough need apprentices and porters just to move around will maintaining their full potency.
There's another potential benefit to this system. If for some reason you dislike Vancian "prepare some obscure key ahead of time and hope you find the right lock" spellcasting you could treat carried spell components as "prepared" spells. Your magic user is still limited to a specific number of castings per day but they can cast any spell they know so long as they're prepared to, thus making Floating Disk, Hold Portal, or Read Languages much more likely to be cast at all.
Maybe this method would satisfy Elmcat, probably not unless the components and rituals themselves are actually interesting (something I also fin desirable), unfortunately it'll be no help at all to people who want to do away with magic systems altogether.
While pondering this post I was of course thinking of this Paolo Grecco post, because I basically always think of something Paolo wrote when I think about magic systems.
Addenda:
- Went back and realized I should credit Rasperry Cat for the idea about spell components not depleting with use.
- I was similarly inspired by how remedies work in Mythic Bastionland.