Optional Material Components

Spellcasters have long noted that various items and materials aid them in spellcasting; hence the material components and focus components that various spells require. Further study has revealed that some rare and exotic items can enhance a whole range of spells. These items have become widely available, and they can be purchased just about anywhere—subject to a community's gold piece limit.
The more potent the spell, the more of the material component is necessary to enhance it. You must use a number of “doses” of the component equal to the spell's level (minimum 1) for the component to have any effect. For example, if you wanted to extend a 5th-level abjuration spell with angel down, you would need to use five doses of the component (500 gp value); if you used less than that, the component would be expended with no effect.
No more than one type of optional material component can be added to any single spell. If you include a second additional component, only one (chosen randomly) takes effect. Material components that apply a metamagic effect to a spell can't be used in the casting of any spell already affected by a metamagic feat. For example, a stilled mage armor spell can't benefit from angel down, even though the effect applied by angel down is different from the metamagic effect already on the spell.

Books copied so far: Complete Mage pg 135

Index

Item Cost Spells Affected Effect Applied Source
Angel Down 100gp Abjuration Extend Spell (2x duration) Complete Mage
Ashes of Power 1250gp Dispel Magic/Break Enchantment Can Roll Twice to dispel and choose better result Complete Champion
Devil's Eye 150gp Divination Heighten Spell (lvl+1) Complete Mage
Dragon's Tear 200gp Fire or mind-affecting Heighten Spell (lvl+1) Complete Mage
Fairy Button 200gp Illusion spell Widen Spell (2x area) Complete Mage
Fairy Dust 100gp Transmutation Extend Spell (2x Duration) Complete Mage
Golden Desert Honey 300gp Summoning Rapid spell (Casting time 1 full action = 1 standard) Complete Mage
Possibility Dust 100gp Creation Extend Spell (2x Duration) Complete Mage
Primal Essence 150gp Anything Replaces normal material components Complete Mage
Serpents Tongue 120gp Enchantment Extend Spell (2x) duration Complete Mage
Singing Shell 200gp With Sonic Descriptor Widen Spell if area, Enlarge Spell if ranged Complete Mage

Descriptions

Angel Down: Popular lore has it that this fluffy golden material is reputedly made up of pinfeathers from celestials' wings. In fact, it is pollen gathered from various rare flowers found growing on the Upper Planes.
When angel down is used as a component in an abjuration spell, the spell's duration is doubled as if affected by the Extend Spell feat.
Devil's Eye: These small, translucent stones seem a little warm to the touch. They also at least faintly resemble an eye with a vivid red sclera, a white or yellow iris, and a black, catlike pupil. Despite the name, devil's eyes are natural crystals found in volcanic areas, often streambeds or collections of glacial debris. The warm feeling comes from a weak acid that forms on the stone's surface.
When a devil's eye is used in a divination spell, the spell's level is increased by one (as if by Heighten Spell).
Dragon's Tear: Reputedly the dried tears of dragons, these irregular little crystals have a milky white color with a faint blue tinge. They are found near mineral springs and volcanic vents (both locales with a decidedly draconic character). When used in any fire or mind-affecting spell, a dragon's tear increases the spell's level by one, as if affected by the Heighten Spell feat.
Fairy Button: These small bits of stone resemble brightly colored mushrooms or flowers. They occur naturally in caverns where the groundwater has the correct mineral content. They get their name from their minuscule size and bright colors—usually red, yellow, green or purple or some variegated combination that includes some or all of those hues. When incorporated into an illusion spell, a fairy button doubles the area of the spell, as if affected by the Widen Spell feat.
Fairy Dust: This fine powder is all but invisible in daylight, but it gleams with a silvery sheen in moonlight. Fey creatures supposedly collect it from newly blossomed wood flowers each spring. In fact, fairy dust is made of the dried and powdered cocoons of certain rare moths that breed in the spring. When used in any transmutation spell, fairy dust doubles the duration of the spell, as if affected by the Extend Spell feat.
Golden Desert Honey: Actually lumps of dried of dried sap from a rare desert tree, this material is a vital ingredient in expensive incenses and perfumes. When used in a summoning spell with a casting time of 1 round, golden desert honey reduces the casting time to 1 standard action, as if affected by the Rapid Spell feat (see Complete Divine).
Possibility Dust: This iridescent gray material is gathered in the depths of the Astral Plane. Planar scholars believe that possibility dust is literally distilled reality that somehow seeps from the Material Plane to the Astral Plane, where it settles as fine dust. This assertion is unproven; however, spellcasters have found the substance useful when attempting to create something out of nothing. When possibility dust is incorporated into any creation spell, the spell's duration doubles, as if affected by the Extend Spell feat.
Primal Essence: This granular material appears as metallic sand, though it actually comes from the Ethereal Plane. Spellcasters have found that they can shape it as part of spellcasting to take on other forms. Unlike other components described here, spells of higher than 1st level don't automatically require multiple units of primal essence. A pinch of primal essence dust can be substituted for any material component (but not a focus) that costs 100 gp or less. Multiple pinches have an additive effect; three pinches, for example, could substitute for the 250 gp of diamond dust required by stoneskin.
Serpents' Tongue: This material resembles dried snake's tongues, hence the name. In fact, it is a mixture of cured tongues of various rare birds and reptiles and the dried stamens of several kinds of tropical flowers. All the ingredients must be painstakingly gathered by hand and carefully mixed in the correct proportions. When used in an enchantment spell, serpent's tongue doubles the spell's duration, as if affected by the Extend Spell feat.
Singing Shell: These little shells resemble miniature conch shells. They come from a rare mollusk found along jungle coastlines. Searching for the shells is time-consuming in the murky water and exposes the gatherer to attack from predators that lurk both in the water and on land. When a singing shell is used in a spell with the sonic descriptor, the spell's area doubles, as if affected by the Widen Spell feat. If the spell doesn't affect an area, its range doubles instead, as if affected by the Enlarge Spell feat.

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