Does anyone know what a Sunstone is? It's mentioned in the PHB as the material component for a Sunburst spell, and the UA stuff in the SRD mentions it likewise as a metamagic component for same spell. But it never turns up anywhere else that I can find. So what the heck is it? I've seen a reference to a variant of feldspar called 'sunstone' that can be considered a minor gemstone, but somehow that doesn't quite fit... or is that it?
This is what I garnered from a few different forums, none of which backed this with a quote from any source book. Sunstone is a feldspar ornamental stone closely related to moonstone. It is more properly known as oligoclase. Sunstone can be colorless or faintly greenish and of facet grade, but most common by far is its softer variety suitable only for being cut cabochon. The cutting of a cabochon rarely yields a gemstone larger than 3/4 inch diameter. Such gemstones have bright red or orange spangles (minute crystals) suspended in parallel in a nearly colorless background, giving the whole a rich golden or reddish brown color. Sunstones are prized for their ability to store light-related and energy-discharge magics of all sorts for later release by touching the stone and speaking the last word of the spell incantation, whereupon the magic erupts out of the stone at a target chosen by the will of its activator. This touch and utterance need not be made by the spells original caster or even by a spellcaster at all. Such an activation destroys the gemstone.
