|
| 3 people marked this as FAQ candidate. |
So while looking through the NPC Codex errata thread, someone brought up the fact that a cleric in that book was using a heavy shield, a poor choice given that he couldn't cast any spells without dropping his weapon to make the somatic components. I had never thought of this before so I began to do a little research and I noticed the following:
1) Buckler: "You can cast a spell with somatic components using your shield arm, but you lose the buckler's AC bonus until your next turn."
2) Light shield: "A light shield's weight lets you carry other items in that hand, although you cannot use weapons with it."
3) Heavy shield: "A heavy shield is so heavy that you can't use your shield hand for anything else."
So as I understand it, yes, it's impossible to cast a spell while using a heavy shield and a weapon unless you drop your weapon, forcing you to take a move action later to pick it up again. Light shields, however, while not technically giving you a "free hand" for casting spells, do allow you to hold stuff, so you could switch your weapon to your shield hand (a free action) to cast a spell and then switch back (another free action). Bucklers, though, flat allow you to cast spells with the hand it's strapped to, but you lose the buckler's AC bonus that round.
This results in light shields being better for divine casters than bucklers, since you still have your shield bonus afterwards unlike when using a buckler. Am I understanding this correctly? FAQ'd since two of my players were wanting to make characters like this.
You can switch your weapon to your other hand (the one holding the light shield), but I don't believe it's supposed to be treated as a free action. I believe it's supposed to be a move action.
Don't forget the Weapon Cord. Tie your weapon to your hand so that in any round you can drop it as a free action, cast your spell with your weapon hand, then use a swift action to recover the weapon.
I thought this was a bit awkward, so I tried this with a 5# one-handed sledge hammer. I was able to make fairly uncoordinated hand gestures. I then tried to flip the hammer into my hand (handle first, ready to wield it without any other changing of my grip). Just about impossible. I almost HAD TO use my other hand to haul the hammer up to my weapon hand.
Then I got the bright idea to use a small paint brush and try to write my initials on a piece of wood with that hammer dangling from my wrist - seems like that would approximate a cleric casting a Somatic spell with a mace (etc.) dangling from his wrist. I could barely recognize my own initials.
Seems to me that there should be a DEX check, or maybe even a feat, to represent the amount of training someone would need to use a weapon cord the way it's used in the game.
I guess it takes practice. If I were the Mythbusters, I would call this one busted, or if I were very very generous, I would call it plausible.
When you combine this post with the current wording for bucklers (from Ultimate Equipment), it makes them inferior to light shields in every way for casters, which seems pretty backwards.
Bucklers have advantages, if you're a caster who likes to attack with two-handed weapons sometimes.
Can you pass a weapon to your buckler hand and cast a spell and then pass it back and avoid losing the AC bonus that way? Looks RAW but not RAI...
The cord on the weapon doesn't need to be a rope. It could be just as simple as a loop, Wii remotes come with loops on them to prevent people from throwing them at the tv when they're playing games. :)
As a player I have always had my clerics have a shield and their weapon, when it comes time to cast a spell, the weapon is held by the shield hand as my shield has the bar thingie/leather strap that sits on the arm rather than being held by hand via a post in the center of the shield. Or in the case of my sword swinging cleric who was super combat orientated, she would stab her sword into the ground and cast her spell, then snatch it up and engage enemies. My gm ruled that stabbing the ground 1 round and then snatching it up the next round were both free actions.
As a gm, I always assume that the character in question has a means of putting the weapon out of the way for purposes of spell casting. As long as they're not packing a tower shield at least.
The Light Shield lets you carry items, but that's all it specifically does. Your hand is not, specifically, otherwise free. The fact that you can't wield weapons with it implies that's it's not free (since you can wield weapons in a free hand). Ultimately, it's a GM call. A Buckler specifically lets you cast spells with that hand. That's not a GM call.
There's no listed mechanic for passing a weapon to your other hand, a GM might come up with something, but that's going to vary table to table, so you can't count on it. According to the FAQ you can grasp or release a weapon as free action, switching from a one-handed to a two-handed grip and vice versa, effectively allowing you to switch hands using two free actions The FAQ goes on to state that, as with any free action, a GM may put a reasonable limit on how many times one may do this. The FAQ even suggests that one grip and one release in a round is fair.
So, a GM might allow you to grasp a weapon with your shield hand and release it with your main hand to cast a spell, but then not allow you to switch back, not having enough free actions. Another GM might allow you to juggle your weapon back and forth 'till the cows come home. Again, it a GM call, the Buckler is not.
So, if your GM is OK with you casting with a Light Shield, then: Great! It's a good setup, otherwise a Buckler may be your only option.