ive recently made a summoner and i want to use a sword and shield.. ive noticed that only the buckler says that u actually have a free hand to cast spells..??? are there any other shields out there that give me a free hand to cast somatic spells.. i also want to use the shield bash feature is why i dont want the buckler any thoughts??
Not that I am aware of. All other shields that I am aware of require the use of the hand because they are much larger. As far as I have always been aware you need at least one hand free to cast spells with somatic components. The buckler is the only shield I know of that allows a free hand but when you do cast a spell from that buckler side hand you then loose the AC bonus until your next turn because you are not using it defensibly.
Although some people are against it, you may see if you can have a custom item that provides a constant shield spell. It is with in the rules of magical item creation and the price can be brought down by restrictions such as class only useable. It entirely depends on your GM though.
Also, don't forget that shields have an arcane spell failure chance.
Not that I am aware of. All other shields that I am aware of require the use of the hand because they are much larger. As far as I have always been aware you need at least one hand free to cast spells with somatic components. The buckler is the only shield I know of that allows a free hand but when you do cast a spell from that buckler side hand you then loose the AC bonus until your next turn because you are not using it defensibly.
Although some people are against it, you may see if you can have a custom item that provides a constant shield spell. It is with in the rules of magical item creation and the price can be brought down by restrictions such as class only useable. It entirely depends on your GM though.
Ring of Force Shield? Provides a +2 Heavy Shield worth of Wall of Force for your character.
As I mentioned in the duplicate of this thread: Weapon cord.
Well I did say that some people are against it but it is an alternative. Also keep in mind that if you are allowed to use the magic item creation table and restrictions, at least within reason, that your GM will have PC's being able to do it as well.
This means it is very hard to sell such items back to merchants whether it came from you or it came from creatures you fought. Of course this would generally only apply to named characters.
It is kind of like using named stat arrays. All PC's and "named" NPCs share the same stat array just in different orders.
That aside, the buckler is the only one that frees that hand. However, Umbral Reaver makes a very good suggestion about using a weapon cord. I believe it is a free action to drop a weapon and it is a swift action to retrieve a weapon that is on a weapon cord.
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ive recently made a summoner and i want to use a sword and shield.. ive noticed that only the buckler says that u actually have a free hand to cast spells..??? are there any other shields out there that give me a free hand to cast somatic spells.. i also want to use the shield bash feature is why i dont want the buckler any thoughts??
Important precision. The Buckler's description states that you can use your shield arm to cast a spell with somatic components. And no other shield explicitely allows it.
However, there is nothing preventing you from using you sword arm to cast a spell with somatic components while wielding any kind of shield. You just have to take your weapon in your shield hand while casting the spell and take it back in your sword hand once you are done casting. And these actions are generally understood to be free actions.
Otherwise, sword and board Paladins and Clerics would be in a real hell of troubles.
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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However, there is nothing preventing you from using you sword arm to cast a spell with somatic components while wielding any kind of shield. You just have to take your weapon in your shield hand while casting the spell and take it back in your sword hand once you are done casting. And these actions are generally understood to be free actions.
Not quite true:
A heavy shield is so heavy that you can't use your shield hand for anything else.
You can't even carry something with your shield hand if you're using a heavy shield, so the pass-back doesn't work. Your option if you're using a heavy shield is to drop your weapon (free), cast your spell (probably standard), then retrieve your weapon (move).
Or there's the aforementioned weapon cord.
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Not official rules or errrata, but perhaps relevant:
(Re: Can a paladin do LoH with during combat when holding a sword and light shield?)I believe so. A light shield allows spellcasters to use their hand to cast, and lets you carry an object; the only thing it actually prevents is wielding a weapon.
(In regards to LoH)
Switching a held object from one hand to the other doesn't require an action, so the end result is the same whether or not you use the light shield hand to lay on hands or your weapon hand after switching your weapon to the off hand, and then back to your weapon hand.The fact that allowing you to use your light shield hand to do so without so many fiddly steps is why I'd say it's fine to let it work that way.
My take: you can do two of these three things in a round:1) cast a spell
2) gain AC from a buckler or light shield
3) threaten with a weapon so you can take attacks of opportunityPick the two you want and that's the two you get.
And in the 2nd edition of Pathifnder, I'd champion adding "switch objects held in hands" to be a swift action, which would limit you to doing one per round.
well.. thats all nice.. i dont really want to cheese.. just thought there may have been a shield or rule saying light shields were also useable this way.. i guess ill just use a buckler.. and not use the shield bashing like i wanted tooo.. no biggy..