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Message: <blockquote data-quote="frankthedm" data-source="post: 4174984" data-attributes="member: 1164">Sage or FAQ IIRC had the spellcasting with buckler arm bit. IMHO anything unwieldy enough to impact melee attack rolls should mess with Somatic components. BucklerThis small metal shield is worn strapped to your forearm. You can use a bow or crossbow without penalty while carrying it. You can also use your shield arm to wield a weapon (whether you are using an off-hand weapon or using your off hand to help wield a two-handed weapon), but you take a -1 penalty on attack rolls while doing so. This penalty stacks with those that may apply for fighting with your off hand and for fighting with two weapons. In any case, if you use a weapon in your off hand, you don’t get the buckler’s AC bonus for the rest of the round.You can’t bash someone with a buckler. My DM says that my cleric has to drop his morningstarto cast spells. Is he right?Yes and no. To cast a spell with a somatic (S) component,you must gesture freely with at least one hand. (Player’sHandbook, page 140) A cleric (or any caster, for that matter)who holds a weapon in one hand and wears a heavy shield onthe other arm doesn’t have a hand free to cast a spell with asomatic component (which includes most spells in the game).To cast such a spell, the character must either drop or sheathehis weapon.Another simple option is for the cleric to carry a buckler orlight shield instead of a heavy shield. The buckler leaves onehand free for spellcasting, and you don’t even lose thebuckler’s shield bonus to AC when casting with that hand. Thelight shield doesn’t give you a free hand for spellcasting, butsince you can hold an item in the same hand that holds the lightshield, you could switch your weapon to that hand to free up ahand for spellcasting. (You can’t use the weapon while it’s heldin the same hand as your shield, of course.) The rules don’tstate what type of action is required to switch hands on aweapon, but it seems reasonable to assume that it’s theequivalent of drawing a weapon (a move action that doesn’tprovoke attacks of opportunity)</blockquote>

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