If a character loses their ability to speak, but gains telepathy, can they still cast spells that require somatic components?
I'm running CoS and implementing dark gifts from AL. One of them results in the loss of the character's mouth. Could they still potentially cast spells using their telepathy for verbal components? Or would they simply have to mumble through the closed space where their mouth used to be?
If a character loses their ability to speak, but gains telepathy, can they still cast spells that require somatic components?
Of course.
I'm running CoS and implementing dark gifts from AL. One of them results in the loss of the character's mouth. Could they still potentially cast spells using their telepathy for verbal components?
No.
Or would they simply have to mumble through the closed space where their mouth used to be?
If the whole mouth is gone, they won't have a tongue or tongue-equivalent, so they won't be able to pronounce V components.
Spells with verbal components must produce a particular combination of sounds, with specific pitch and resonance that telepathy cannot mimic since it's not verbal.
If a feature allowed a creature to use telepathy in place of a verbal component for spell casting, I would expect this feature to say so specifically. And I am not aware of such a feature presently.
Allowing Telepathy in place of Verbal components is very powerful. It effectively gives a full class feature (Sorcerer Silent Spell) for free to all spells. Consider carefully before implementing this. A compromise might be the ability to 'telepathically' verbalize spells. Any spell with a V gets an audible sound all can hear, just like real voice.
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Remember there are Rules as Written (RAW), Rules as Intended (RAI), and Rules as Fun (RAF). There's some great RAW, RAI, and RAF here... please check in with your DM to determine how they want to adjudicate the RAW/RAI/RAF for your game.
I agree with the responses, but this just brought up a related question. Can thri-kreen cast spells with verbal components? They get telepathy at lvl 1 because, “Thri-kreen speak by clacking their mandibles and waving their antennae, indicating to other thri-kreen what they are thinking and feeling. Other creatures find this method of communication difficult to interpret and impossible to duplicate. To interact with other folk, thri-kreen rely on a form of telepathy.” So if the verbal components require you to mimic sounds that require a tongue, does that mean thri-kreen are unable to cast those spells?
Everything I can find online seems to indicate that thri-kreen cast verbally in their own language, with the clacking of the mandibles. Maybe in the OPs campaign, the player loses the ability to use verbal components initially, but can learn a new language that doesn’t require a mouth with some effort?
Edit: Added another paragraph after some research.
If a character loses their ability to speak, but gains telepathy, can they still cast spells that require somatic components?
I'm running CoS and implementing dark gifts from AL. One of them results in the loss of the character's mouth. Could they still potentially cast spells using their telepathy for verbal components? Or would they simply have to mumble through the closed space where their mouth used to be?
Of course.
No.
If the whole mouth is gone, they won't have a tongue or tongue-equivalent, so they won't be able to pronounce V components.
Spells with verbal components must produce a particular combination of sounds, with specific pitch and resonance that telepathy cannot mimic since it's not verbal.
If a feature allowed a creature to use telepathy in place of a verbal component for spell casting, I would expect this feature to say so specifically. And I am not aware of such a feature presently.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
Allowing Telepathy in place of Verbal components is very powerful. It effectively gives a full class feature (Sorcerer Silent Spell) for free to all spells. Consider carefully before implementing this. A compromise might be the ability to 'telepathically' verbalize spells. Any spell with a V gets an audible sound all can hear, just like real voice.
Remember there are Rules as Written (RAW), Rules as Intended (RAI), and Rules as Fun (RAF). There's some great RAW, RAI, and RAF here... please check in with your DM to determine how they want to adjudicate the RAW/RAI/RAF for your game.
I agree with the responses, but this just brought up a related question. Can thri-kreen cast spells with verbal components? They get telepathy at lvl 1 because, “Thri-kreen speak by clacking their mandibles and waving their antennae, indicating to other thri-kreen what they are thinking and feeling. Other creatures find this method of communication difficult to interpret and impossible to duplicate. To interact with other folk, thri-kreen rely on a form of telepathy.” So if the verbal components require you to mimic sounds that require a tongue, does that mean thri-kreen are unable to cast those spells?
Everything I can find online seems to indicate that thri-kreen cast verbally in their own language, with the clacking of the mandibles. Maybe in the OPs campaign, the player loses the ability to use verbal components initially, but can learn a new language that doesn’t require a mouth with some effort?
Edit: Added another paragraph after some research.
As a DM, I would probably rule that you simply cannot cast spells that have a verbal component if you don’t have a mouth.
As for Thri-kreen, they use their clicking to cast spells with verbal components.
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