Verbal: To cast a spell with a Verbal component (all spells without the specific metamagics), the caster must speak in a loud clear voice the words of the spell. The caster can choose the verbal components of the spell upon spell creation. They are almost always either deliberately nonsensical words or words in a dead language to prevent the caster from accidentally casting the spell mid-conversation. Verbal components have a DC of at most 3 to hear (before modifications from distance, intervening obstacles, etc.). A character can make an Arcana check at DC 4 + the spell's Complexity score to determine the seeds involved in a spell cast from hearing the Verbal components. This does not reveal the metamagics in the spell.
Spells designed for use in combat typically have short, simple verbal
components of one or two syllables. Players are encouraged to come up
with the coolest sounding verbal components they can think of.
Circle:
Some highly delicate spells must be cast from the inside of a Magic
Circle. This prevents random magic in the air from disrupting the spell
during casting. At the end of the casting time, the caster must break
the circle to release the spell. See Magic Circles in the Arcana Skill
for more information.
Focus: spells require a material focus to work properly. The focus may be any object, and come in two flavours:
Multiple spells may have the same Focus object as a component, and while this is convenient, it is much like carrying all of your eggs in one basket. If a Focus is lost or destroyed, it may be replaced. It takes 4 hours of work per the total complexity of all spells included to turn a mundane object into a Focus component. As casters increase in skill and spells become more complicated, they must spend time updating previously constructed Focuses. A character can make an Arcana check at DC 4 + the complexity of the spell in the focus to determine the seeds involved in the spell. This does not reveal the metamagics in the spell.