Yes. You are not attempting to wield a weapon, which a metamagic rod is not.
Although if you have a weapon in your other hand, you won't be able to cast spells with Somatic components.
As far as I can tell, a weapon/shield caster can move their 1H or Light weapon to the hand holding their Light shield (not Heavy shield) as a move action, then use a Standard action to cast a spell, then re-grip their weapon as a free action (identical to gripping a 2H weapon as a free action). This leaves their weapon in hand at the end of the round so they can make AoOs with it.
Now, doing all that AND using a metamagic rod is not possible - not enough hands. To that, I say these casters just need to learn to deal with it. Other wimpy casters cannot really melee at all (effectively) so there is a trade off - difficulty with meatamagic rods is a small price to pay to be effective in combat. Wanting to be effective in melee AND be able to cast with metamagic rods as easily as non-melee casters is just not very balanced.
Metamagic rods are not the standard baseline for designing a character class or for balancing caster vs. caster or caster vs. melee or gish vs. others. They are nice little goodies that everyone wants and that can add tons of power and/or versatility to all casters.
The ability to HAVE a shield, and crush opponents in melee is a big advantage. Harder to kill, useful without even casting spells, two advantages that fragile casters lack. The price of not having enough hands to rule the world quite as easily the fragile megacasters is a big price. Hard to say if it's balanced, but as I said, I don't think metamagic rods (or Holy swords, or mithrial full plate, or rings of sustenance, or ioun stones, etc. - any items) are actually relevant measurements of class balance.
use the metamagic rod as your weapon? get a bonded sword?
Generally if I was trying to do this I'd run around with a metamagic rod in my shield hand and nothing in my weapon hand. On the first round of combat I'd aim to cast my metamagic spell. Once I'm done casting I draw my weapon (can be done while moving) and start attacking. If I needed to cast a spell after that, I'd drop my rod, or drop my weapon - whichever seemed less important - as a free action.
As far as I can tell, a weapon/shield caster can move their 1H or Light weapon to the hand holding their Light shield (not Heavy shield) as a move action,
Where are you getting 'move action' from?
Yup, make all of your metamagic rods with a nice mace ball on the end of it. ;)
That solves part of the problem, assuming your GM is OK with it and doesn't make it an improvised weapon all the time (Yes, I know the book says some rods can be used as weapons, but even that leaves room for some of them to not be ueseful as weapons).
But it's more expensive to make that a magical mace.
A +1 mace costs 2,000gp (plus the cost of the masterwork mace). A Lesser Quicken Metamagic Rod costs 35,000gp. Total = 37,000gp.
A +1 Lesser Quicken Metamagic Mace costs 2,000 = (35,000 x 1.5) = 54,500gp (17,500 more than the two separate items).
I suppose I could do the math the other way, and only raise the price by (2,000 x 1.5) for the weapon enchantment, but that seems to lose any balancing factor that might have been achieved by having them as two separate items. Even so, many characters who might drop 35,000gp on a metamagic rod probably have better than a simple +1 weapon, and that savings for reversing the math shrinks as the weapon portion of the combined item gains in power.
Isn't this why we have the Warpriest?
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1) A buckler leave your hand free, so you can cast with it or wield e weapon (you would lose the AC bonus from the buckler doing that).
Using a metamagic rod don't require to wield it as a weapon, so you can use one in your buckler hand and still benefit for the buckler bonus to AC.
2) @ DM_Blake.
Multiple different abilities Multiply lower item cost by 1.5 Helm of brilliance
You don't multiply the rod cost by 1.5, you multiply the weapon cost.
Lesser quicken metamagic rod + mace +1 is35,000+2,000*1.5 = 38,000
1) A buckler leave your hand free, so you can cast with it or wield e weapon (you would lose the AC bonus from the buckler doing that).
Using a metamagic rod don't require to wield it as a weapon, so you can use one in your buckler hand and still benefit for the buckler bonus to AC.2) @ DM_Blake.
Multiple different abilities Multiply lower item cost by 1.5 Helm of brillianceYou don't multiply the rod cost by 1.5, you multiply the weapon cost.
Lesser quicken metamagic rod + mace +1 is
35,000+2,000*1.5 = 38,000
Only if you're making it as a new item (in this case where the weapon enhancement is so low I definitely would).
But if you add an ability to an existing +1 mace, then you pay x1.5 of the new ability's cost, even if it's the higher cost:
the cost of adding any additional ability to that item increases by 50%. For example, if a character adds the power to confer invisibility to her ring of protection 2, the cost of adding this ability is the same as for creating a ring of invisibility multiplied by 1.5.
This entire question is answered by using a buckler. You just don't get the shield bonus whenever you use your shield hand for something that turn.
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Looking through the CRB rods, several are listed as counting as +X magic weapons, and there's this note:
Physical Description: Rods weigh approximately 5 pounds. They range from 2 feet to 3 feet long and are usually made of iron or some other metal. (Many, as noted in their descriptions, can function as light maces or clubs due to their hardy construction.) These sturdy items have AC 9, 10 hit points, hardness 10, and a break DC of 27.
None of the metamagic rods are described as particularly weaponlike. Can we really enchant them as weapons, even in PFS?
That said, unless you get creative with Extra Arms discoveries or suchlike, it's hard to hold both a rod and shield and weapon and have somatic components.
use the metamagic rod as your weapon? get a bonded sword?that doesnt solve the Problem at all.
given the fact you cant perfom somantic components with a Hand that holds the shield, you gain nothing from doing what you said:
you have:
left Hand shield
right Hand rod (also used as weapon)where is your 3rd Hand for somantic components?
thats why i asked the Initial question. if you can do:
left Hand: shield and rod
right Hand: free to cast, and pull a weapon when melee breaks out,you can at least cast being Kind of combat, and dont have to pull out all your stuff. actually i think my best solution now is using a weapon cord.
so left Hand is shield and rod and right Hand is weapon with cord.
if you decide to cast mid-combat you can just drop weapon (free), cast (usually Standard) and get weapon back in Hand (move, doesnt provoke).think thats the cheapest workaround
Umm... By using the rod as a weapon you still hold it in your shield hand when you cast, just like any other weapon, and then switch it back to main hand when attacking to attack with it. This way you don't have to drop any weapons when you want to cast again.
Also a bonded object counts as a free hand for your spells, again stopping the need to drop anything.
Citation saying that, please.
Also a bonded object counts as a free hand for your spells, again stopping the need to drop anything.
Seems that it might be a specific ability for the Arcane duelist Bard. Perhaps others have it too, but I'm not finding it in the core description like I thought it was.
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It's in the Arcane Duelist bard and the Eldritch Archer magus archetypes.
EDIT: and so not a property of bonded objects in general. It was originally added to the AD so that it was possible to select 2H weapons, because you have to wield the weapon while performing somatics. And wielding a 2H weapon requires 2 hands, so to the clause was needed to enable soomatics.
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not needed at all. wielding a two-handed-weapon requires 2 Hands. just Holding it without fighting with it doesn´t require 2 Hands. so you can lose the grip with 1 Hand (free Action). then cast and do stuff with the free Hand, then adjust the grip again (free Action) and at the end of your turn u have it in 2 Hands again and threaten People.
EDIT: and so not a property of bonded objects in general. It was originally added to the AD so that it was possible to select 2H weapons, because you have to wield the weapon while performing somatics. And wielding a 2H weapon requires 2 hands, so to the clause was needed to enable soomatics.
Odd. I distinctly remember the 2H issue being mentioned when people were lobbying for this language to be added to the Arcane Duelist.
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Odd. I distinctly remember the 2H issue being mentioned when people were lobbying for this language to be added to the Arcane Duelist.not needed at all. wielding a two-handed-weapon requires 2 Hands. just Holding it without fighting with it doesn´t require 2 Hands. so you can lose the grip with 1 Hand (free Action). then cast and do stuff with the free Hand, then adjust the grip again (free Action) and at the end of your turn u have it in 2 Hands again and threaten People.
EDIT: and so not a property of bonded objects in general. It was originally added to the AD so that it was possible to select 2H weapons, because you have to wield the weapon while performing somatics. And wielding a 2H weapon requires 2 hands, so to the clause was needed to enable soomatics.
It is the requirement of the wizard bonded object that was changed in the meantime.
Before it was "wielded", now it is "hold in one hand".A staff (or other 2 handed weapon) can't be wielded in one hand and that was the source of the problem.
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given the fact you cant perfom somantic components with a Hand that holds the shield, you gain nothing from doing what you said:
you have:
left Hand shield
right Hand rod (also used as weapon)
Using a metamagic rod don't require to wield it as a weapon, so you can use one in your buckler hand and still benefit for the buckler bonus to AC.i dont see the point there.
If you go
left Hand: buckler and rod
right Hand: your weapon
its perfectly the same as using a light shield? 1 Hand has the rod, other needs to be free, so you need to get rid of the weapon, so you need to somehow drop and retake it?!
It is in the context of your earlier post: a rod that is a weapon.
You can fight with your rod/weapon in your primary and and buckler on your secondary arm.When you want to cast, move the rod to your secondary hand, as it is not wielded as a weapon it will not cost you the buckler AC.
Use your main hand for the somatic gesture and cast, using the rod as needed.
Then shift the weapon in your main hand and youa re armed again.
By using the rod as a weapon you still hold it in your shield hand when you cast, just like any other weapon, and then switch it back to main hand when attacking to attack with it. This way you don't have to drop any weapons when you want to cast again.that makes sence.
But just as ascalaphus i highly question rods being treated as weapons to in order to enhance them. it starts with the masterwork. you need to make the rod a masterwork weapon before you can enhance it. how?
however i think there is no RAW answer, so this is a slightly better solution then the weaponcord (wich would be 100% fine RAW) since you need a free-action, not a move-action, to bring your "weapon"(alias rod) back to the main Hand.thx for the hint!
Why you should enchant a mace/rod as a weapon first? There is no rule mandating that.
You start with a masterwork light mace, enchant it as a metamagic rod and then add the weapon enhancement. The extra cost is minimal.Even simpler, enchant both abilities at the same time. The RAW is that you multiply the cost of the less costly ability x 1.5. Simple and linear.
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Odd. I distinctly remember the 2H issue being mentioned when people were lobbying for this language to be added to the Arcane Duelist.not needed at all. wielding a two-handed-weapon requires 2 Hands. just Holding it without fighting with it doesn´t require 2 Hands. so you can lose the grip with 1 Hand (free Action). then cast and do stuff with the free Hand, then adjust the grip again (free Action) and at the end of your turn u have it in 2 Hands again and threaten People.
EDIT: and so not a property of bonded objects in general. It was originally added to the AD so that it was possible to select 2H weapons, because you have to wield the weapon while performing somatics. And wielding a 2H weapon requires 2 hands, so to the clause was needed to enable soomatics.It is the requirement of the wizard bonded object that was changed in the meantime.
Before it was "wielded", now it is "hold in one hand".
A staff (or other 2 handed weapon) can't be wielded in one hand and that was the source of the problem.
That's it then. Or that they couldn't figure out whether "wielding" required making an attack or not, and decided to sidestep the question.
Get a buddy, or yourself, with Craft: Armor to work the Rod in as part of your shield grip. DM approval, of course. Less brain-melty.