| 5 people marked this as FAQ candidate. |
When a sorcerer is grappled can they cast any spell with a concentration check or just those without somatic components? on p. 206 under concentration it says only those without somatic components, but under grappling it says that you can use an action that can take one hand, and specifically mentions casting a spell. (if the spell had no somatic components you wouldn't need ANY hands) So does the no somatic rule only apply when pinned?
Either way, it would appear that sorcerers can use still spell in a grapple or pin now. Under 3.5 they couldn't since there was a limit of one standard action on the casting time, which doesn't exist under pathfinder.
Grappling needs some errata, there are confusing references to grappling all over the book. I hope the future FAQ fix it.
To cast an spell while under the grappled condition you always roll Concentration, it seems to be a solid rule.
In theory you can't cast spells if you have to use somatic components or material components that you aren't carrying in your hands.
Now, some people will tell you that this restriction applies only if you are the one "grappling" someone else. And some people will say that since you can do any action that requires a hand to perform, you can get those materials components from your components bag. And some people will say that the rules in pag 206 are an error that should be deleted. Choose one option and be a winner.
This is really amazing that Paizo has still not gotten to this issue via Errata.
It was even brought up during the BETA PLAYTEST, but not fixed even though the problem was posted to the boards.
There is a school of thought here on the boards when this has been brought up MANY MANY times, trying to make sense of the madness, that claims there is a difference between the grappled condition (applied to BOTH ´controller´ and ´controlled´, or ´person closer to pinning´ vs. ´person closer to BEING pinned´) and ´grappling´ (which is alleged to indicate only the ´controller).
...The only problem with that is ´grappling´ is nowhere defined as a special rules term, or condition, or what have you... And in standard English, BOTH ´person closer to pinning´ and ´person closer to BEING pinned´ can be legitimtely described as ´grappling (each other)´, just like two people are dancing with each other (the inclusion of BAB and STR in the defensive CMD stat implies use of the defender´s active defense capacities, implicating them in the grapple).
Here just for the FAQ, or maybe a grappling blog post.
I run it that the somatic limitations only apply to pinning and I encourage the GMs I play with to do so also (PFS).
|
Grapple: There are some contradictions between the various rules on grappling. What is correct?
To sum up the correct rules:
1) Grappling does not deny you your Dex bonus to AC, whether you are the grappler or the target.
2) A grappled creature can still make a full attack.
3) Being pinned does not make you flat-footed, but you are denied your Dex bonus.
Update: Page 195—In Table 8–6: Armor Class Modifiers, in the entry for Grappling, delete the superscript “1” after the +0 in the Melee and Ranged columns. In the third footnote, change “flat-footed and cannot add his Dexterity bonus” to “denied its Dexterity bonus”
Update: Page 201—In the If You Are Grappled section, in the fourth sentence, change “any action that requires only one hand to perform” to “any action that doesn’t require two hands to perform.” In the fourth sentence, change “make an attack with a light or one-handed weapon” to “make an attack or full attack with a light or one-handed weapon”
Update: Page 568—In the Pinned condition, in the second sentence, change “flat-footed” to “denied its Dexterity bonus.”
posted August 2011 | back to top
I pointed out to Jason that the no-somatic text only appears in the rules on concentration, not on grapple, and is a legacy of when grapple was a whole-body thing instead of a just-an-arm thing. The no-somatic rule is being errata'd out of the game, it shouldn't have been left in.
And it was corrected:
Grappling or Pinned: Casting a spell while you have the grappled or pinned condition is difficult and it requires a concentration check (DC 10 + the grappler's CMB + the level of the spell you're casting). Pinned creatures can only cast spells that do not have somatic components.
