D&D 5E Do Arcane Abilities work when bound and gagged?

Springheel

First Post
Normally, you can effectively immobilize a wizard by binding and gagging him. There are no spells (to my knowledge) that can be cast without Verbal and Somatic components. However, certain Arcane Tradition abilities make no mention of this. For example, Minor Conjuration allows the wizard to "use an action" to summon an object. Would you, as a DM, allow a Conjurer to use this ability while bound and gagged? What about Minor Alchemy, that changes one substance into another? Would you let a Transmuter use this while bound and gagged to say, turn their gag into something edible? What about Benign Transposition, could a bound and gagged Conjurer just teleport right out of his bindings?

Would you rule on these on a case by case basis, or is there some blanket rule that works well? Can you think of a reason why it might be a bad idea to rule that all these Arcane Tradition abilities require Verbal Components?
 

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Normally, you can effectively immobilize a wizard by binding and gagging him. There are no spells (to my knowledge) that can be cast without Verbal and Somatic components. However, certain Arcane Tradition abilities make no mention of this. For example, Minor Conjuration allows the wizard to "use an action" to summon an object. Would you, as a DM, allow a Conjurer to use this ability while bound and gagged? What about Minor Alchemy, that changes one substance into another? Would you let a Transmuter use this while bound and gagged to say, turn their gag into something edible? What about Benign Transposition, could a bound and gagged Conjurer just teleport right out of his bindings?

Would you rule on these on a case by case basis, or is there some blanket rule that works well? Can you think of a reason why it might be a bad idea to rule that all these Arcane Tradition abilities require Verbal Components?

My gut instinct is to say, "There are no components because these abilities are not spells." But I'd probably talk it over with my table first to see what they thought was cool.
 

Would you rule on these on a case by case basis
Absolutely, assuming any cases ever came up in the first place.
Can you think of a reason why it might be a bad idea to rule that all these Arcane Tradition abilities require Verbal Components?
Once a DM starts adding limitations that aren't even hinted at in the text of player abilities, players can start feeling like they don't actually know what they can or can't do and have to ask the DM for permission and/or details in order to do anything.

Also, changes to rules which are clearly only going to matter if the characters are in a really bad situation like having been captured that result in it being even harder for the characters to escape can cause players to begin to worry that the DM is making these changes specifically because they are inevitably going to have the PCs get captured and are making sure there is no possibility of escape. Which is not a good state of mind to have players get into - especially if you aren't actually intending their inevitable capture.
 

In both 3E and 4E, someone with non-spell magical ability could teleport to safety as long as they could see their destination. It was part of the rigorously codified ability typing in 3E, and it was a major headache in 4E since a core race had teleportation as a racial ability.

So while the precedence is that you don't need components to do magical stuff that isn't explicitly casting a spell, you are free to change that if it doesn't work for your world.
 

It's not necessarily for use _against_ the players. Assume the players want to keep an enemy wizard captive. Barring some kind of anti-magic prison, how do they keep wizards from being able to break out with magical abilities that essentially do what spells do but aren't spells?

On a similar vein, if people know there's no good way to keep a wizard from being able to use magic, why would they ever try to capture one rather than kill it?
 

It's not necessarily for use _against_ the players. Assume the players want to keep an enemy wizard captive. Barring some kind of anti-magic prison, how do they keep wizards from being able to break out with magical abilities that essentially do what spells do but aren't spells?

On a similar vein, if people know there's no good way to keep a wizard from being able to use magic, why would they ever try to capture one rather than kill it?

If soldiers know that an enemy could kill them with his bare hands, why would they ever try to capture one alive? Any number of reasons.

On holding a wizard, use arcane defenses. Like a Glyph of warding, set to trigger when someone attempts to interact with the Weave. Or an anti magic zone. Or simply keep a watch on him 24/7, to keep an eye out for any funny business. Common sense things beyond "his hands can't move, he must be useless now"
 

If it requires verbal or somatic components, no.

If wearing armor can be too distracting for the spell caster to properly focus and make the precise gestures needed (PHB 201) then I would think being bound and gagged in a way that prevents you from speaking or gesturing precisely will prevent you from casting spells with verbal and somatic components.

"If you can't provide one or more of the spell's components, you are unable to cast the spell....A character who is gagged or in an area of silence ... can't cast a spell with a verbal component.... If a spell requires a somatic component, the caster must have free use of at least one hand to perform these gestures. " (PHB 203)

But the above rules apply to casting spells. Some Arcane Tradition abilities involve casting--in which case the above rules apply--and other do not.

Example:

School of Abjuration: Arcane Ward requires casting a spell, so this power just can't be used, but I would argue that Project Ward would work, unless the wizard was also blindfolded.

School of Conjuration: Minor Conjuration would work because you are not casting a spell, you just use your innate powers of conjuration to conjure something. What is great for this power is that even if blingfolded, you can conjure something in your hand. If you want to conjure something in unoccupied space, you need to see it, but not to conjure something into your hand--like a knife to cute the ropes that bind you! Benign Transposition states that you can use your bonus action to teleport 30' to an unoccupied space that you can see. It doesn't state that you cast teleportation. You powers of abjuration are so great that this is just an innate ability, like a blink dog. You are not casting a spell to teleport, you just do it. Again, a blindfold thwarts this.

School of Divination: Portent will work if bound, tied, and blindfolded and can even be used to replace an ability check used to break or contort your way out of the ropes that bind you. The Third Eye would work, but would be useless if blindfolded.

School of Enchantment: Hypnotic gaze would work, but you can thwart it by blindfolding the wizard. Instinctive charm can be used to prevent or end a torture session, but not if the wizard is blindfolded.

School of Evocation: There is no ability for this school that can be used when bound and gagged.

School of Illusion: Illusory self would be helpful to perhaps delay torture.

School of Necromancy: Inured to undeath is not affected by being bound or gagged. Not sure how useful it would be unless you are being tortured with necrotic damage. Command Undead will work if bound or gagged. But if gagged, it will become friendly, but you will not be able to give it any commands.

School of Transmutation: I would rule that minor alchemy's 10-minute "procedure" requires use of your hands at least and, therefor, cannot be done if bound. Master transmuter; if you have created a transmuter's stone and have it on your person, this ability would work and the major transmutation effect would help remove your bonds.

LESSONS LEARNED: OR HOW TO TO KEEP YOUR WIZARD IN CHAINS

(1) If you have to bind and gag a wizard, make sure to blindfold him or her as well!

(2) School of Conjuration is the best equipped for escaping from being bound, gagged, and blindfolded. If you capture a Wizard of the School of Conjuration, make sure to keep an eye on his hands. It is not enough to just tie them. At high levels, you will also need some powerful magic spells like forbiddance or magic items like dimensional shackles to keep a conjuration wizard bound.

(3) School of Transmutation is the second best equipped for escapism, but only at high levels. Starting at 14th level a school of transmutation wizard can turn his rope or chains into spaghetti. Don't tie your high-level transmutation wizard up with mundane rope, get a Ball and Chain +1.
 


Assume the players want to keep an enemy wizard captive. Barring some kind of anti-magic prison, how do they keep wizards from being able to break out with magical abilities that essentially do what spells do but aren't spells?
You'll have to be specific as to which abilities you are looking to find counters to, as the general manacle the hands, gag the mouth, and stop them from seeing useful targets process tends to shut down the majority of actions in one way or another. Most abilities that aren't spells but do similar things require being able to see to properly utilize them, as far as I can remember.
 

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