If one of the "ingredients" happens to be the caster's immortal soul, then it's a Deal with the Devil.Ī subtrope of Functional Magic, and one part of Spell Construction.
Improbably specific requirements can be used to set up impossible tasks. This can result in a Gotta Catch Them All plot if one spell calls for several items. Sometimes this trope is used to justify Plot Coupons as necessary ingredients. Alternatively, people may get the idea of farming or systematically harvesting magically useful beings for their parts or byproducts in those cases, this trope will overlap with Monster Organ Trafficking and Fantastic Livestock. Getting these ingredients may vary in difficulty the rarer ones often involve going to get a Flower from the Mountaintop or a similarly inaccessible material. Virgin's blood is a particular staple, but anything that involves the murder or mutilation of something innocent, pure and/or endangered is often a common feature of necromancers or dark cultists' shopping lists. Could be as simple as a bowl and spoon, or as complex as an entire alchemical laboratory.īlack Magic often requires ingredients that are a Moral Event Horizon just to collect. Reusable items - equipment for mixing the ingredients or casting the spell, like a Magic Cauldron or a Magic Wand.
(Which may expire without notice, and very suddenly.)
Perishable or fragile items - these are usually put into creating an improbably durable object, such as a gown of cobweb or a necklace of dewdrops. Items with improbably specific requirements - an unripe Sunset Wonder picked 3 minutes before noon on the first frosty day in the autumn and peeled left-handedly using a silver knife with a blade less than half an inch wide. Non-physical components - bottled moonlight or the sound of a cat's footsteps. dust from a graveyard or water from the river Styx). May have to come from a specific place (e.g. Inorganic substances - certain types of rocks, minerals, metals, etc. Plants traditionally associated with magic (wolfsbane, nightshade, mandrake, etc) outrank the common blade of grass. Certain plants - again, some are more potent than others. Upping the danger, the creature is sometimes a Monster Lord. A unicorn's horn beats a crocodile's liver, but the blood of a god is better still. The more magical the creature the better. Body parts from exotic creatures - sometimes from creatures that don't actually have those body parts (hen's teeth). Items related to your intended victim, recipient or yourself - articles of clothing, treasured trinkets, personal effects, hair, baby teeth, fingernail clippings, fingers, urine samples, blood, etc. Some materials, such as gold and silver, carry heavy symbolic value all by themselves. 
Symbolic items - wedding rings, grave dirt, a pure red rose. These components usually fall into one of the following categories, with some overlap: If the value of what's sacrificed has to equal the value of what's gained, it's Equivalent Exchange. Either way, you've got to pay the price before you can throw lightning from your fingertips. You may need to burn a pinch of sulphur, or to sacrifice the soul of your first born child. It's not as simple as just spending Mana, though. The material (or immaterial) component you need to call forth a spell, make a Magic Potion or activate a superpower.
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