I'm basically trying to figure out the usefulness of the Eschew Materials feat. So I look up the Material Components rules. Here's the language from the "Magic" chapter of the Core Rulebook, on spell components:
Somatic (S): A somatic component is a measured and precise movement of the hand. You must have at least one hand free to provide a somatic component.
Material (M): A material component consists of one or more physical substances or objects that are annihilated by the spell energies in the casting process. Unless a cost is given for a material component, the cost is negligible. Don't bother to keep track of material components with negligible cost. Assume you have all you need as long as you have your spell component pouch.
While the Somatic component explicitly requires a free hand, the Material does not. Furthermore, the "Combat" section says that preparing spell components is a free action that does NOT provoke attacks of opportunity.
So it sounds like I don't need a free hand to use a Material component. But the grappling rules state:
Grappling or Pinned: The only spells you can cast while grappling or pinned are those without somatic components and whose material components (if any) you have in hand.
So does this mean I do need to hold material components in a hand?
If the answer is no, then when does the Eschew Materials feat ever become useful, besides when I'm polymorphed?
I'd say that you don't need the material components if you are grappled or pinned. It kinda defeats the purpose of the feat.
I find material components an easy to remove rule in general, and most players I know of don't mind that even if it makes the Sorcerer's bonus feat (Eschew Materials) useless.
The exception would be the ones that are actually expensive, for obvious reasons.
It's also adds a +2 to the spellcraft check to identify a spell being cast for each component you don't use. So a stilled, silent, eschew materials spell that requires all three of those components is a +6. I may be wrong here, though.
Does your GM like to do awful things to your party like let monsters/villain NPCs use sunder or have thieves stealing your component pouch?
Then it's the single greatest feat you could ever have, ever.
Does your GM ignore that your component pouch even exists, as it's just one little thing he/she doesn't even care about?
Waste of a feat.
As for being grappled, that's likely going to be a GM call. Are your arms shackled up above your head, well out of reach of your components? You won't be casting. Does someone have you in a half-nelson? You can probably get to your components well enough to try casting.
|
In our playing group we generally assume that manipulating the spell components is part of the somatic gestures of the spell, so you can use the same hand to do the somatic gestures and to hold the components.
That mean that for spell that have a somatic and/or material component you need a free hand, but you don't need two hands (unless the component is something particularly bulky).
There are a few exception, like fabricate, where the material component can be very large. In that situation we require to have the material nearby but not in hand.
It is a flavorfull but weak feat with limited usefulness. It was a popular houserule in 3E to offer this feat as a replacement for the ability to summon a Bullseye on your XP total, i.e. a 3E familiar.
|
|
I would imagine the intention is that you would need a free hand to get the components out of your pouch (though I agree you could likely use the same hand for the somatic components).
When grappling I would assume you could retrieve a component from a pouch whilst grappling as "any action that doesn't require two hands to perform".
However whilst pinned I am not sure whether you could cast a spell as long as the component is in hand (presumably you cannot retrieve components whilst pinned) or whether you simply could not cast the spell whether components are in hand or not.
The pinned condition simply states you can't cast a spell with a material component at all.
However that is contradicted by the magic section that says you can cast a spell with a material component whilst pinned as long as that is in hand.
It's mostly useful for someone who is going to rely a lot on polymorphing into forms that meld with equipment, or use otherwise restricted forms with spellcasting (ex. Gaseous). Otherwise it's usually not that important.
TICK!
However that aspect of it just makes it a really toned down version of Natural spell (still need hands and a mouth).
Personally, I think it's a great 'fluff' thing for sorcs to have. It's another reflection that there magic is something more innate in them, while wizards need to rely more on the rules and learnt side of aspect. Lock a wizard up without his spellbooks and his components and you have a well equipped commoner. Lock a sorc up without their spellbook and their components and you actually just took his poetry book and his cooking spices and he's still just as magically capable (or not far off)
But would I burn a feat on it? Not this week. Ask me again when hell freezes over.
As to the question of the rest and if you need a spare hand. It's RAW if you read what's there and what's not. You don't need a 'free' (un-occupied) hand for a spell that involves material components because there's no stated requirement for one. If a spell has somantic components and material, as someone has already suggested, assume that the mats are used by the hand doing the gesturing but are not taking up the hand 'slot'. If it doesn't have somatic components, then you don't have anything intricate enough to require DETAILED gestures, so can mash your mats up behind whatever else your holding onto. It's the that you have guano here that's important, not that your inscribing the primordial sigils for fire in the air in front of you with it.
The rider about pinned is a reflection of your movements are heavily restrained while your pinned. While you don't necessarily need to do intricate details, you still need to have the components 'available' to use. Because your pinned, you can't retrieve them, so can't use them.
That's my take, anyway
If you are grappled as a caster, you are screwed anyway, Eschew Materials or not. Command word/supernatural teleports or Freedom of Movement are your best chances to get out of there.
That being said, I see the feat more as a flavor choice anyway, in the vein of "The magic comes out of myself" or "I do not want to smell like bat guano".
Ok, maybe I am missing something but I thought the Eschew Materials spell ment I did not have to have the materials at all. No more trying to track rhubarb leaf, adder’s stomach, bits of bat fur, or bear dung for example. If it does not cost more then 1gp I do not need it to cast the spell. For me, that was the real attraction to the feat.
Does your GM like to do awful things to your party like let monsters/villain NPCs use sunder or have thieves stealing your component pouch?
Gasp! I've never thought of that before. *scribbles it down*
I'm the GM, as you can probably guess. :D
Ok, maybe I am missing something but I thought the Eschew Materials spell ment I did not have to have the materials at all. No more trying to track rhubarb leaf, adder’s stomach, bits of bat fur, or bear dung for example. If it does not cost more then 1gp I do not need it to cast the spell. For me, that was the real attraction to the feat.
The spell component pouch eliminated the need for tracking non-costly spell components. And, Eschew Materials eliminated the need for tracking the spell component pouch.
It's useful in some campaigns where magic is forbidden (like dark sun, somewhat), or when you are a prisioner. Other than that, it's quite useless, yes. I've never used it with my sorcerer.
A level 6 wizard and a level 6 sorcerer stand around casting fireballs:
Wizard: I'm so godlike. I've been able to cast fireballs a whole level more than you!
Sorcerer: If you're so awesome, why are your hands covered in excrement?
