Arcane Duelist - Material Components

[Sasayaki]

Hey all,

I'm starting an Arcane Duelist soon who has a gladius and a heavy shield. At 5th level, they receive a modified version of the Arcane Bond class feature, which reads: (bolded for emphasis)

At 5th level, an arcane duelist gains the arcane bond ability as a wizard, using a weapon as his bonded item. He may not choose a familiar or other type of bonded item. He may use the hand holding his bonded weapon for somatic components.

However, several bard spells (namely glitterdust, haste, others) require material components. My understanding is that a free hand is required for material components. From the core rulebook, "magic", "casting spells", "choosing a spell" section:

To cast a spell, you must be able to speak (if the spell has a verbal component), gesture (if it has a somatic component), and manipulate the material components or focus (if any). Additionally, you must concentrate to cast a spell.

It seems the intention is for the Arcane Duelist to be able to cast spells while wielding their bonded weapon (and, in fact, they must or a difficult concentration check is required), is it possible to get this errata'd/FAQ'd to include something like the following text? (changes in bold)

At 5th level, an arcane duelist gains the arcane bond ability as a wizard, using a weapon as his bonded item. He may not choose a familiar or other type of bonded item. He may use the hand holding his bonded weapon for somatic components, and while wielding the bonded weapon, is treated as having the Eschew Materials feat.

I was looking for an easy way of saying "can consume material components without holding them", as occurs in several of the Pathfinder novels, but I figured this was an easier way of solving it.

Thoughts?

[Diego Rossi]

Options:
1) Use a buckler, that will leave your hand free for casting.
2) Work with your GM and see if he want to accept your proposed change.
3) Check the errata about the wizard bonded item, the text has changed: "If the object is an amulet or ring, it must be worn to have effect, while staves, wands, and weapons must be held in one hand.". Not useful for you as you are using a heavy shield, but if you switch to a light shield you can put your weapon in the shield hand and cast with the now free hand while holding the weapon.

[Sasayaki]

Thanks Rossi, those are good suggestions; I was hoping to use a heavy shield since I wanted to build an effective sword+shield fighter and this seemed to be one way of doing it. Another way of fixing it is to take the Eschew Materials feat and be done with it.

Unfortunately, the character is for Pathfinder Society, and creating a character that operates on a clear case of "the rules say I can't do it, but can I do it?" table variation is not really feasible.

[Ascalaphus]

I recall someone writing that the special ruling for the Arcane Duelist on somatic components was to allow 2-handed weapons as arcane bonds; that's why they can satisfy Somatic components without lettig go of the weapon.

So, allowing them to Eschew wouldn't be out of line.

In the meantime, you may want to use spells without material components. That's actually quite a few for bards.