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Lets say you are a wizard that is grappled and you cast a shocking grasp while grappled. you obviously succeed at your concentration check to get it cast.
page 185-186 of the CRB states that the spell goes off even on an accidental touch by anyone once the spell is held.
It is at this point that my question is pertinent. In the CRB the wording of holding a spell states that once a melee touch spell is cast, if it is not discharged on that same round, the caster can hold it.
So does the shocking grasp go off on the initiative right after my wizard's turn is over? Does it wait to go off on the grappler's initiative? Does it not go off on my next turn or is it an immediate discharge with no melee touch required?
Thanks in advance
The rules are unfortunately not very clear on this.
Personally, just because you are grappled does not mean that you successful touch someone with your hand that is holding the charge.
Grappled is like someone having an arm lock on you. Pinned, is when they have you on the ground and are drapped all over you. Even then, I would say you still have to make a touch attack (though a free one is granted by the spell, so you don't have to worry too much about it).
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Perhaps I need to better explain what I am thinking.
One of the main areas of this debate is based around the holding of a spell and the spell's discharge through an unarmed strike.
Example: If the rules state that an unarmed strike can be delivered by hand, foot, knee, head, elbow, and more... and a confirmed to hit roll with an unarmed strike also discharges the held melee touch spell, then wouldn't someone touching any of those areas (even by accident - according to the CRB) automatically discharge the spell without any to hit roll?
The exact wording in the CRB is " If you don't discharge the spell in the round when you cast the spell, you can hold the charge indefinitely. You can continue to make touch attacks round after round. If you touch anything or anyone while holding a charge, even unintentionally, the spell discharges.
With this said, wouldn't a grapple induce a touching of some kind that would discharge the spell? I would say yes especially if I bumped elbows with my fellow wizard in the back line and discharged the 5d6 electricity jolt accidentally...
My understanding is that the charge is held in a specific location of the body, but it does appear you get to choose which part of the body. This must be an appendage capable of delivering an attack. It's not particularly clear what the real limit is.
From a balance standpoint, allowing the whole body to count as a means of delivery is too easy. It would also have a lot of other consequences, like touching the ground with your feet should discharge it into the ground. Issues like this have never really been resolved in a way that most people would consider...satisfying.
Furthermore, if you want to deliver a spell through an unarmed strike you must beat the creatures regular AC, not just touch AC. Which means you can't just "touch" them or be touched by them. You must actively attack and succeed at a normal unarmed strike.
Otherwise, you must succeed at a normal touch attack against their touch AC to affect the opponent. The line about accidentally touching things is meant to be a detriment. To the affect that if you pick up an object or try to touch a friend that you could accidentally discharge the spell into a friend or valuable possession.
Unfortunately, as I stated before, the rules really aren't clear on how this should work. It needs to addressed by the developers, and hasn't been for a long time.
As a GM, for balance purposes, my answer would be no. You would still need to make an attack against touch AC, even if they are grappling you. Because you must touch them with that specific body part that is holding the charge.
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I think it's generally understood that the 'accidental discharge' caveat doesn't allow a melee touch spell to work as a 'damage shield': i.e. it won't 'discharge' into a guy who punches you... even if you were naked or something. You have to touch him, rather than him touching you... which is confusing, to be sure, but makes sense as a game-mechanic destinction.
Generally it's best to think of melee touch spells as requiring an attack roll - so any situation where you successfully make such a roll (or an 'attack' which gets to skip the roll - such as if your opponent is helpless) discharges the spell. Since grappling checks are combat maneuver checks which are attack rolls, then you could, in theory, discharge one (held) charge per such roll.
The 'accidental discharge' caveat is more there to prevent you wandering around all day (or even sleeping) with a loaded spell ready to go off at a touch... although if you know combat is coming, it's still a pretty good tactic to cast one and hold the charge before your Barbarian teammate kicks in the door and you all rush the bad guys...
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Thanks for those last two answers Potts and Claxon. I was figuring there had to be a mechanic in play, for balance purposes, to prevent bypassing the standard action to make a touch attack or an unarmed strike.
But you are right, the developers do need to strap this one down, and you think they would have once the Magus class was developed.
Once again, your input is appreciated.