Material component

The material component was a basic part of casting most spells.

Description
A material component consisted of one or more physical objects or substances. Depending on the spell, once it was cast, the material component was annihilated. However, a spellcaster could often use a spellcasting focus to substitute for most components, which would not be consumed by the spell. Casters who wielded priestly magic usually used a divine focus such as a holy symbol, which had higher spiritual significance than the standard focus, while druids often employed a druidic focus.

Arcane spellcasters usually employed component pouches with individual compartments to store most material components required for their spells, unless they chose to employ an arcane focus instead.

Valuable or rare material components often had to be stored separately and could not be replaced by a focus.