Casting spells while armed...

[nwn_deadman]

Can a spell caster have a dagger (or any other 1 handed weapon n hand) and a large shield in hand and still be able to cast?

Seems to me that a buckler does not require the use of a hand and a caster would have 1 hand free.

Would a small/large shield allow this as well?

 

[RogueJK]

A buckler or small shield leaves the shield hand free, though with a small shield, you can't hold a weapon in your shield hand. You can cast spells with Somatic components while using either one.

With a large shield, however, your entire hand is used. Your other hand has to be empty in order to cast spell with Somatic components.

The easiest way around this is to get a Glove of Storing at the first opportunity. This way, you can store your weapon in the glove (as a free action), cast a spell, and then retrieve the weapon (again, as a free action).

 

[Henrix]

According to the FAQ you cannot cast a spell while holding a weapon in one hand and any shield, even a buckler, in the other.

You need one hand free, and by that is obviously meant totally free.

I suppose that even though it is strapped to your forearm it still hinders some hand movements.

 

[RogueJK]

According to the FAQ you cannot cast a spell while holding a weapon in one hand and any shield, even a buckler, in the other.

You need one hand free, and by that is obviously meant totally free.

I suppose that even though it is strapped to your forearm it still hinders some hand movements.

Hmm... that's the first that I've heard of that. I'm pretty sure that one of the designers, Monte Cook IIRC, stated that you could use a small shield or buckler without interfering with spellcasting.

If this isn't the case, then every cleric that I've ever seen has been doing it wrong...

 

[Henrix]

Well, I suppose I'd allow the spellcaster to hand his weapon over to his shield hand, as a free action, cast the spell, and hand it back, as another free action, when the spell is cast.

Not much difference between that and letting him cast the spell with the shield, except that it prohibits him from making AoO's in the mean time, I suppose.

 

[IceBear]

Yeah, for the longest time I thought a buckler would count as a free hand for spell casting, but there has been a shift I think (the FAQ included) in this idea.

I also agree that most cleric PCs do seem to get away with this when they shouldn't. In the last campaign I played the DM never noticed that I was in the middle of melee with shield and mace equipped, and then cast a spell .

As a DM, I would allow (as a free action) the player to pass the weapon over to the hand that had the buckler strapped to it (thus freeing up one hand for spell casting) and then toss the weapon back over to the other hand to re-engage in melee. I wouldn't allow this with any shield that required you to hold it in your hand at the same time. Also, I don't know if this is legal by the rules - just something that I would probably allow.

Hmmmm....maybe clerics wouldn't be so powerful if all the DMs started enforcing these rules more often

IceBear

 

[nwn_deadman]

I agree, a (but not the only) reason that clerics are uber in 3e is that the rules for them are often overlooked.

Arcane Spell Failure for wizards is the big ticket item for spellcasters and since clerics don't suffer from this I think people iqnore the rules for them...

I am working on a cleric 5 (cleric10/contemplative10 in the future) that is a replacement chracter for a wizard that got killed off by a nasty young green dragon (btw, I was a necromancer and had a wand of vampiric touch and almost took the dragon single handed, but died by 1 hit point) and I am looking to make sure I am following all the rules for combat.

Are there any other issues where people feel that clerics need to be more observant of the rules?

 

[nwn_deadman]

double post

 

[Henrix]

We tend to forget about the cleric's holy symbol when turning undead or casting spells with DF.

I don't know how hard one should stress it, though. I mean, the cleric probably has his holy symbol all over his shield, so having that at hand could possibly suffice.
Depends a bit on the campaign, I guess.

 

[Darklone]

MEEEP MEEEEP MEEEEEP !

... that is a replacement chracter for a wizard that got killed off by a nasty young green dragon (btw, I was a necromancer and had a wand of vampiric touch and almost took the dragon single handed, but died by 1 hit point) ...

BADD ALERT BADD ALERT BADD ALERT !!!!!