Thaumaturge
Wandering. Not lost. (He/they)
This came up in my game last night, and I'm wondering what people's thoughts are.
The party cleric fell from a great height. The party wizard, expecting the fall, readied web to catch the cleric. It worked, and the unconscious cleric didn't take damage from falling. Someone healed the cleric. He awoke in web, and I ruled he automatically failed his save, since he was unconscious when he entered web. Then he cast a spell with a somatic component. I ruled he couldn't cast spells with somatic components, because he was restrained.
He noted neither restrained nor somatic call this out specifically. I'm pretty comfortable with saying if a character has disadvantage on attacks and Dex saves and can be described as "restrained" that character doesn't have "free use of at least one hand".
From a balance/purely game perspective, if a caster can just hang out in web with no ill effects, that seems wrong.
Discuss.
Thaumaturge.
The party cleric fell from a great height. The party wizard, expecting the fall, readied web to catch the cleric. It worked, and the unconscious cleric didn't take damage from falling. Someone healed the cleric. He awoke in web, and I ruled he automatically failed his save, since he was unconscious when he entered web. Then he cast a spell with a somatic component. I ruled he couldn't cast spells with somatic components, because he was restrained.
restrained said:
- A restrained creature’s speed becomes 0, and it can’t benefit from any bonus to its speed.
- Attack rolls against the creature have advantage, and the creature’s attack rolls have disadvantage.
- The creature has disadvantage on Dexterity saving throws.
somatic component said:Spellcasting gestures might include a forceful gesticulation or an intricate set of gestures. If a spell requires a somatic component, the caster must have free use of at least one hand to perform these gestures.
He noted neither restrained nor somatic call this out specifically. I'm pretty comfortable with saying if a character has disadvantage on attacks and Dex saves and can be described as "restrained" that character doesn't have "free use of at least one hand".
From a balance/purely game perspective, if a caster can just hang out in web with no ill effects, that seems wrong.
Discuss.
Thaumaturge.