Material Components

As explained on
page 119, the caster must employ some object or material to create a true dweomer. The caster can use combinations of common, rare, and exotic components to make a true dweomer easier to prepare and cast, according to the limitations outlined below. The caster must have a common material component on hand to begin preparing a spell.

Common: The component is something fairly plentiful and easy to get under normal circumstances. The caster might use a butterfly’s cocoon for a transformation spell, a handful of nails to create an iron wall, or a magnifying glass for a reveal spell. Every true dweomer requires at least one common material component. There is no reduction in the spell’s adjusted or final difficulty for multiple common components.

Rare: A rare component is normally expensive and difficult to find. The caster might use a legal document or writ issued by a court against the target of a banishment spell, a packet of expensive herbs in a compel spell, or a live electric eel in a strike spell that employs electricity. A character can employ as many as three rare components to reduce a spell’s adjusted or final difficulty by –30. The limit applies once per spell. That is, the caster can use three rare components to reduce the spell’s adjusted difficulty by 30, the final difficulty by 30, the adjusted difficulty by 20 and the final difficulty by 10, or vice versa.

If the caster does not have a rare component on hand during the entire preparation time for a spell, the modifier can be applied only to the spell’s final difficulty number.

Exotic: An exotic component is unique or unusual and cannot be purchased—the character must undertake an adventure to get it. The caster might use a fragment of an ancient sundial in a destroy spell, a displacer beast’s hide in a delude spell, or sand taken from the track an iron golem left after taking its first step in an animate spell. A character can employ any number of exotic components to reduce a spell’s adjusted or final difficulty. When an exotic component is used in a spell, the adjusted or final difficulty is reduced by half or by 20 points, whichever is greater. It is usually to the caster’s advantage to apply the modifier for an exotic component before any modifiers for rare components, but the caster is not required to do so.

A single exotic component reduces either the spell’s adjusted difficulty or final difficulty, but not both. If an exotic component is not available for the spell’s entire preparation time, the modifier for it can be applied only to the final difficulty.

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