Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Li Shenron" data-source="post: 6377475" data-attributes="member: 1465">In 3e we typically played by the rules: you needed a free hand to cast spells with somatic component, so you had to take into account every action for freeing your hand (such as dropping or stoving a weapon and then retrieving it, or changing hands, whatever the action economy dictated). That's because 3e was highly tactical, and this sort of things mattered. No <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />ting shortcuts like mace-straps or whatever, the tactical choices were supposed to be part of the game, so you either accepted this tactical edge of 3e or completely removed the issue of somatic components (for everyone, not just the cleric) without a need for explanation.In 5e I don't feel like I want to go back to that tactical detail, at least for a long time. So I am basically just considering somatic components irrelevant, except perhaps in corner cases when it might sound interesting to add some challenge (e.g. a character is completely immobilized, or is using both hands to holding something important, or to hold herself from falling).I may also consider doing the same for material components and divine focus. Except for rare circumstances, the spellcaster is going to have whatever it takes her to get the proficiency bonus on spells. Once in a while, it might serve the story to have her lose access to that: maybe she loses her staff/orb/wand/pouch. What matters to me is that I will try to treat all character options equally. For example with musical instruments as bardic focus, I don't want to see people feel penalized because they chose a lute over a flute or drum. Now if the game actually provided trade-offs (so that instruments requiring 2 hands had additional benefits) it would become a tactical choice, but since it doesn't, I don't want to see some characters penalized for such kind of choice, and I don't want suddenly all "smart" bards in the fantasy world to be singers because it's more convenient...Verbal components are actually the more interesting ones to decide about. If you enforce "full volume" required, you have spellcasters who can't cast spells while hiding, or who can't conceal their spellcasting while for example in a social environment. However this is not necessarily the right choice. It's just as valid to have a fantasy world where spells can be whispered, as a way to conceal them, or stay hidden while spellcasting; considering that you can always let the dice decide (i.e. request a Hide or similar check), I will probably allow this to happen. Completely removing verbal components on the other hand may have more significant consequences, for instance in the interaction with spells like Silence so I won't probably go that far.</blockquote>

Verification