Do melee touch attacks require the use of a hand?

[SwissArmyGnome]

Came across this odd scenario. Normally a spell that is landed via a melee touch attack requires a somatic component and thus a free hand. So it's easy to assume that the same hand is used to actually touch the target.

But then the Fey-bloodline ability Laughing Touch is a spell-like ability, requiring no somatic components. Does that mean a character with no free hands (or with his hands tied, like I'll be dealing with this weekend) could deliver this touch attack with, say, a shoulder nudge or a quick kick?

[Mikaze]

I'd say yes. No somatics? No problem. He should have some negatives to hit if he's tied up, but that's it, IMO.

But then I'd let a monk/caster deliver touch attacks through his kicks if I could.

[Santiago Mendez]

Well RAW just states that you have to touch them and as is the case of a monk's unarmed combat you can use any body part (within reason) to attack or touch the target. So if the caster wants to deliver the spell (or ability) through a kiss (or more "romantic" methods) or a kick I don't see why they shouldn't be allowed to, and who knows it could add more flavor to that caster if they started to deliver their spells in different ways than most people.

Say that every time the female elf cleric casts a cure spell they give a kiss on the cheek of the target to deliver the spell.

[Mistwalker]

Santiago Mendez wrote:

Who knows it could add more flavor to that caster if they started to deliver their spells in different ways than most people.

Say that every time the female elf cleric casts a cure spell they give a kiss on the cheek of the target to deliver the spell.

Well, I am not sure if I should mention the visuals in play when the male bearded dwarf cast breath of life on the male barbarian. The rest of the characters were immediately nauseated and threw up, and they claim that it was the sight of the dwarf doing something unmentionable to the barbarian that made them sick, not the foul demon that appeared near them. The barbarian still denies that it happened to this day. :)

[Ravingdork]

You need a free hand for any somatic components, but not to deliver the touch spell itself. You can deliver the spell by touching the victim with any part of your body.

Many GMs also allow players using wands of touch spells to touch victims with their wands.