I've always wondered about this, and have largely glossed over it at the table, but do martial/caster hybrids have to put away their weapons to cast their spells?
If a paladin is carrying a weapon and a shield, or a ranger is wielding two weapons, they don't have a hand free to cast spells that have somatic components. Do the rules apply to them as normal? Should this be the case, given how cumbersome the spells these characters get in the first place are to use?
That is, many of the relevant spells these characters get have short durations, often having to be cast in combat, which is already taking away a round of attacking, but if you have to sheath, cast, unsheath a weapon or shield, that's losing one whole turn basically to cast, and then losing a move action as well in order to draw the weapon again.
How do you handle this at your table? Are your paladins giving up two rounds of attacking or full-attacking to cast Divine Favor if they get into a tough fight without having time to buff?
They don't get any rules exceptions even though many GM's allow them to cast anyway.
|
You can cast while wearing a buckler without problems.
If you are using a light shield, depending on your GM, you can have some "cost". You can't use the hand on the arm wearing the shield to cast, but you can hold a item in it. So it is possible for the martial/caster hybrid to hold his weapon with the shield hand while casting with the now free weapon hand.
Some Gm (like me) will rule that if you do that, you will not be in a "ready" position to use attack of opportunity at the end of your turn.
My reasoning is that you would be using too many free action on the same item if you were allowed to get your AoO too.
Free action Pass weapon from left to right
Cast
Possibly touch one or more targets
Free action Pass weapon from right to left
Free action Get your grip right onto your weapon to be able to threaten the adjacent squares (a lot of GM will not see this as a different action).
Note, 3 free action in a turn aren't a problem, 3 free action with the same item are the problem in my eyes.
I thought he called out a heavy shield. I guess I was seeing things. DR is correct that bucklers and light shields are not an issue.
For Two-Weapon Fighting rangers, using a double weapon makes casting easier (hold in one hand as free action, cast, hold in both hands as free action), as well as making it easy to switch between Two-Weapon Fighting (attack with both ends) and two-handed fighting (attack with one end). If using two weapons, weapon cords are a good investment (drop weapon using weapon cord as free action, cast, retrieve weapon using weapon cord as swift action).
Free action Pass weapon from left to right
Cast
Possibly touch one or more targets
Free action Pass weapon from right to left
This is how I rule it.