How do Wizards cast Spells?

[mattcolville]

I think I'd rule that if you were bound and gagged, you couldn't cast a spell.

Though note that the Silence ritual does not impair spellcasting.

 

[DracoSuave]

I wouldn't go so far as to require special magical juju for anything. The book's pretty clear; If the individual in question is bound, the DM has every right to say 'No' to their using powers. It doesn't specify by class, but you get the picture--the book explicitly says 'DM, it's okay to say no.'

 

[LostSoul]

In my game, the Wizard speaks a word of Supernal that forces the spell to do his bidding.

 

[SoulsFury]

A couple of sessions ago, one of my characters was bound by magical shackles. They still aren't sure of the power of the shackles, but I essentially made it where they could only make melee basic attacks because they couldn't produce the semantics of the power. I am old school, and so are they. Spells require semantic and verbal components, and to us, they always will. There are only so many spells a wizard can cast when bound or gagged, and no spells they can cast when bound and gagged. However, a smart wizard/spellcaster will have a familiar that can fly for help. Contact with the familiar will never be denied unless they are dead.

 

[Jack99]

In my game, the Wizard speaks a word of Supernal that forces the spell to do his bidding.

You really put an effort into being different from the rest of us vanilla players? (Sounds pretty cool)

 

[Plane Sailing]

Nivek: Welcome to the wonderful world of 4e

Since technically there isn't really anything you can do to stop him casting magic I think your best bet is to use social conditioning. You could have the captors just tell the wizard "If you try anything we'll beat you and (this random friend) unconscious".

Better yet "if you cast any magic spells an alarm will go off at the citadel and the babies will be murdered" (or whatever is a plot and player appropriate hook).

However, you might want to revisit an adventure where a key element of the plot is that PCs are captured and bound - PCs tend to be very resistant to that, and you might be heading for a major railroad if it is a required element of your setup!

 

[DracoSuave]

Since technically there isn't really anything you can do to stop him casting magic

...except of course the rules explicitly say that a DM is free to rule that a bound character is unable to use their powers.

So technically there really is.

 

[FireLance]

However, you might want to revisit an adventure where a key element of the plot is that PCs are captured and bound - PCs tend to be very resistant to that, and you might be heading for a major railroad if it is a required element of your setup!

This. If you don't handle it well, it will upset your players and suck all the fun out of your session. My advice to you (which you may, of course, choose to ignore) is to get your player to buy into the idea before you run the adventure, and either start the session with the players already captured, or gloss over the capture briefly, so that they can get to the part where they recover their equipment and escape as quickly as possible.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

This. If you don't handle it well, it will upset your players and suck all the fun out of your session. My advice to you (which you may, of course, choose to ignore) is to get your player to buy into the idea before you run the adventure, and either start the session with the players already captured, or gloss over the capture briefly, so that they can get to the part where they recover their equipment and escape as quickly as possible.

That being said a capture sequence is cool. I agree, if it is going to be inevitable then don't drag it out too much, but having the trusted NPC turn on you, or being lead into a trap, etc CAN be fun. I think PC's last game report there had an almost capture type of situation, that could easily be worked as a fun capture. "Dump them in the bone pit!"

Otherwise it can be one possible plot development. The town guard finds you and captures you, then you escape, OR you manage to hide out in a basement somewhere before making a run for the river after dark.

 

[Obryn]

IMO, if you're going to manipulate the situation enough that they're going to be captured whether they like it or not, it's only a short jump to say they can't escape from the magical plot handcuffs, either.

Wow, that sounded a lot more grognardy than I expected it to!

OK, trying again... Players generally hate capture scenarios. (At least, mine always have, and I hate the feeling of getting railroaded when I'm a player, too.) They hate having their characters rendered impotent for no real reason. Limiting spellcasting (likewise other powers for other classes) while bound is completely reasonable, but having them unavoidably bound in the first place probably isn't without getting their buy-in from the start.

-O