Greetings Dungeon Master,

Today I want to talk about Magic in fantasy games, Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition will be my subject matter, but my feelings on the subject could be transported into a number of magic systems in other fantasy settings.

Wizards devote their lives to magical research and exploration, delving deep into the Ether of magic to create, augment and understand magic and its use. Sorcerers , by means of lineage, have a connection to the ebb and flow of magic and have to work much less to achieve the same objectives, as a conversation point, this was important to offer up as a system, because classes like bards and rangers gain access to magic, without having to do the research to understand it. But what does that mean? it means that when it comes to players, and their class choices, their choice of class and magic use may not fit into your narrative of how you want magic and magic users to interact with your world. if you want magic to be mysterious and rare, great power controlled by an elite few , then your really going to hamstring the wizard, while everyone else will just merrily circumnavigate your designs by tapping into their bloodline, their divinity, their performance art... and anything else they can , to get around your rare and mysterious magic.

In the past I have used a number of methods to cushion this effect around magic, if you want to limit access to magic, then I have a number of cool things you can do to help your players get into the spirit, the first rule is not to limit your players, but instead open doors for them to go through. so if they want to create a sorcerer, and access spells without research, the first thing I do is implement a rule from older systems, Sorcerers have to see a spell cast at least once to learn it, this includes using scrolls and wands to complete the spells, that way the sorcerers at least have to do a little extra to keep track of spells they will and can have access too. bards, rangers and low order spell casters, I usually leave alone, they are getting their magic from performance, divinity or other source and are not high enough on the power scale to throw off your campaign setting anyway. The next step is to incentivize the hard work of studying magic. if sorcerers can get access to the same spells as wizards and don't need the components, I incentivize components, not just the monetary value of components, but when the wizard gets creative with their components I offer incentives. For example, I encourage wizard classes to hunt down components, the rarer the better, if a bit of silk is required, they can get that in any market, but what if its harvested spider silk, what if its harvested Giant Ice Spider silk, what if its a silk swatch cut from the robe of a long dead king.

First, I make all non monetary value components from the DMG and spell lists free for the players, they can always carry some of them around, at the base level, Then I introduce component consumption, all components are consumed during spell casting. this wont affect the day to day, as common components are free. and with few exceptions, monetary components are consumed during casting according to the DMG anyway. so this has the players always on the lookout for rare or special components, but limits their use in your game.

Next, I incentivize uncommon components use, by granting special abilities for those spells cast with special components, based on the value, rarity and coolness of the component, casts as 1 level higher, deals +1 dice damage, casts as a quick spell, casts as a twin spell, can critically hit, bypass damage reduction or resistances, increase saving throw , cast as silent spell, so on and so forth. allowing the wizard to supercharge their spell casting. The magical feats, and effects on spell casting that are possible are ultimately up to you, but I have outlined a few that are readily accessible as feats and effects from other sources.

This has an added knock on effect of creating a market demand for components of value, and opens up an avenue of income, trade and adventure hooks around that small feature. win / win.