One of my player's character is playing a tiefling wizard (evil party). He asked me if he could modify the spells components to add flavor and narrative uniqueness.
I said yes, of course, and we briefly talked about the options. Now, I'd like to do my homework and figure out if there's something already written or if I should just make it all up (and keep track of it).
So far I've classified those modifications somewhat like this:
- By appearance - The tiefling casts a magic missile, but instead of a few bright magical bolts, a few spheres of black ooze dart from his fingers and/or the air is filled with a foul stench. Stuff like that.
- By energy type - This is pretty much the High Arcana lore from the Archmage prestige class or the Energy Substitution feat (thanks Miniman), which allows to alter the element (fire, cold, electricity, sonic, acid) of any spell. But for balance's sake, I guess I'd have to make it costly. That and the fact that he'd have to research a single spell for weeks, to figure out how to modify it.
- Metamagic - For this I could use the metamagic components rule in Unearthed Arcana.
- And while at it, I should also mention: Research new spells - This is quite simple, since I can use the guidelines in the DMG.
Since 3 and 4 are pretty well covered, I'm mostly interested in the first two options.
I'm expecting him to:
- Do some research (access to library required).
- Experiment with different components. Ie: use a pinch of boar's fur instead of (or along with) horse's fur to cast Mount.
- A combination of the above.
He's already excited about adding his own blood as a material component and "see what happens".
Is there something like this already written?
I should add that his original idea was just on point #1 above, but we drifted into the other options.