This week we take a closer look at another one of the changes that has been made to the overall format of the Menagerie. One aspect of Realm of Runes that can be opted into is the concept of material casting. No spells in Realm of Runes use material casting by default. Instead, one must take a General Perk to unlock the ability to use this tool. In many ways, material casting is similar to metamagic. These special casting actions must be added to a spell like metamagic actions. The basic benefit for this increase in casting time is an increase in power. Material components are used up, unlike spell foci, but each one increases the level at which the spell manifests when cast this way.
The Menagerie takes this concept and runs with it. Every monster in the book has at least one material component listed in its entry that can be harvested from it. More magical creatures tend to have a greater variety of them. Integrating the material casting concept into the Menagerie at a structural level has several important benefits. Some of these effects are mechanical and some are purely meta. All of these effects serve to make this otherwise optional magic sub-system become a fully fleshed-out aspect of Realm of Runes.
One of the first benefits from expanding this system in the Menagerie is to more effectively clarify what sorts of monster bits even count as material components in the first place. There is some guidance provided in the wording of the Material Caster perk itself, but that wording is fairly general by necessity. The Menagerie can be much more specific. As an example, let's take a look at the perk itself and then the material components entry for one of the monsters.
MATERIAL CASTER PERK 1
[General, Metamagic]
You know how to use the latent magical energy of creatures and objects to empower your magic. You can add a Material Casting action to any spell and sacrifice any number of material components while doing so. For each material component sacrificed, the augmented spell manifests one spell level higher than cast, with no maximum.
What constitutes a material component varies from spell to spell, but is always an object with an intrinsic affinity for one of the spell's traits. Which items have sufficient affinity are subject to GM discretion. For example, a fire spell might be empowered by the heart of a creature with the fire trait, an object that originated in the plane of fire, a magic item that creates or protects against fire, and so on.
Now let's take a look at the Material Components entry for the Basilisk, one of the Beasts in the Menagerie:
Fang: A Basilisk fang can be used as a material component for any spell which deals piercing damage or has the poison trait. A Basilisk has up to two fangs.
Heart: A Basilisk heart can be used as a material component for any spell which has the beast or poison trait.
Tongue: A Basilisk tongue can be used as a material component for any spell with the scent trait, or which improves the target's sense of smell.
Venom: A dose of Basilisk venom can be used as a material component for any spell with the poison trait.
These entries provide numerous ways that an adventurer who knows how to use Material Casting could put bits of a Basilisk to good use. This example also serves to illustrate many of the other ways in which this addition to the Menagerie's format serves you well, whether or not your party wants to actually use Material Casting themselves.
Firstly, not all material components require that the monster is deceased in order to harvest. Much like how real-world snakes are "milked" for their venom, a motivated adventuring group might try to acquire a more sustainable source for some material components like Basilisk venom. This feature helps make the material casting sub-system more accessible to the sorts of players that might prefer to avoid killing whenever possible. Some more intelligent creatures might even be willing to barter their own material components, assuming that doing so would not hurt them.
Another aspect of this format that deserves to be highlighted is its ability to further inform the worldbuilding aspect of the Menagerie itself. These entries can highlight aspects of creature biology that may not be otherwise included in their descriptions. This example shows that the Basilisk usually has two fangs. Another monster which has fingernails as a component (a thing which does happen) is a similarly back-door way of indicating how many fingers it has. These little details come up surprisingly often in play sessions!
This system also serves as a consistent method of providing useful and valuable treasure from creatures which otherwise are unlikely to collect riches, like more animalistic creatures. With material components, every creature can be the source of intrinsically worthwhile loot. Even if none of the members of your party are spellcasters in the first place, harvesting material components from defeated foes can be worth your time. If your setting uses money, selling these items to spellcasters can be directly exchanged for cash. If your setting does not use money, material components count as items based on the level of the creature from which they came. This means that components taken from monsters that are more dangerous to defeat can be used to gain settlement prestige.
One benefit of the specificity in the Menagerie is to allow for a greater variety of material component effects than just the basic heightening effect described in the perk. As an example, let's also take a look at the material components you can get from a much more challenging source, an adult black dragon. Because of the way true dragon statistics are set up in the Menagerie, this monster has two sets of material components. There are the general components that all adult dragons have, regardless of type, and there are also specific additions or changes for black dragons in particular.
Adult Dragon Components
Bile: A vial of dragon bile can be used as a material component for any spell. The spell is affected by the Quicken Spell metamagic ability instead of being heightened. Dragon bile can be harvested like poison.
Blood: A vial of dragon blood can be used as a material component for any spell. Adult blood always counts as four components, or five instead if the spell is cast by someone with a draconic class specialization. Dragon blood can be harvested like poison.
Claw: A dragon claw can be used as a material component for any spell that deals damage. The spell is affected by the Overwhelming Spell metamagic ability instead of being heightened. A dragon has up to 20 claws.
Heart: A dragon heart can be used as a material component for any spell. An adult heart always counts as four components, or five instead if the spell is arcane.
Tooth: A dragon tooth can be used as a material component for any spell that deals damage. The spell is affected by the Empower Spell metamagic ability instead of being heightened. Up to 5d4 teeth can be harvested from a single adult dragon.
Black Dragon Components
Bile: Black dragon bile heightens a spell as normal, in addition to the Quicken Spell effect, if used to affect a spell with the water or acid trait.
Blood: Black dragon blood counts as one more spell component than normal for spells with the water or acid trait.
Claw: A black dragon claw heightens a spell as normal in addition to the Overwhelming Spell effect, if used to affect a spell with the water or acid trait.
Heart: A black dragon heart counts as two more spell components than normal for a spell with the water or acid trait.
Tooth: A black dragon tooth heightens a spell as normal, in addition to the Empower Spell effect, if used to affect a spell with the water or acid trait.
All of these effects work together to add more utility to an interesting system from the core rules, while also adding more depth to the Menagerie itself. Next time we'll take a closer look at Sunk Costs, so stay tuned!
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