Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer Creatures
Frozen Sick
D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Basic Rules (2014)
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Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer CreaturesFrozen SickD&D Beyond Basic RulesBasic Rules (2014)Sign in to view your library & saved favorites.
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A character which is holding a spellcasting focus in one hand and something else in the other can cast spells with BOTH somatic and material components without a free hand.
This allows a paladin or a cleric to cast SM spells without unequipping their Emblem Shield or their weapon for instance.
I was wondering what happen when you use an amulet holy symbol that can simply be worn to be used (holding is not required). Must you have a free hand to cast the SM spell in this case?
You always need a free hand, save for the exceptions you noted. It’s a balance thing with keeping hands occupied. In this case, you might flavor it like, they need to touch the amulet or something.
What the holy symbol is is really just flavor text, the same rules apply to all of them.
You never have to "touch" an amulet.
The way that you get there is by following this sequence of rules:
So, if for some reason the Cleric does not use any spellcasting focus and doesn't have a Component Pouch, then they must collect and carry around the actual material components on their person in order to be able to cast the corresponding spell. In those cases, the Cleric must physically "access" these materials with a free hand.
However, instead of doing that, a Cleric might use a Spellcasting Focus instead:
Cleric Feature -- Level 1: Spellcasting
So, a Cleric can substitute a Holy Symbol as a Spellcasting Focus for the actual material components. With that substitution, how does the Cleric use the Holy Symbol when casting a spell? By default (as above), he must hold it unless its description says otherwise. So, what does its description say about this? As it turns out, it depends on which Holy Symbol is being used:
From the Table:
Or, from the description of the Amulet:
An amulet can be used as a Spellcasting Focus by simply wearing it. By using it in this manner, a free hand is not required when casting an M spell.
However, as written there is technically a problem when it comes to casting an "SM" spell with this setup. It has to do with the requirement for the S component. This is very likely a design error or implementation error by the creators of the game. We know this because there have been official Sage Advice style written examples from the game designers where it has been stated that a Cleric is required to have a free hand when casting an "S" (but no "M") spell but is fine with a sword-and-board setup to cast an "SM" spell. Unfortunately, as written, that doesn't actually work because of how these rules are written:
and:
It was probably intended that not needing a free hand to access the material component would also meet the free hand requirement for the S component. However, when examining those two rules closely, that conclusion does not logically follow. You actually always need a free hand to perform the S component. You just do not need another free hand for the M component.
Although this is an unfortunate oversight, there is still some utility to using a worn amulet that other types of spellcasters do not enjoy. If you are casting a spell that does have an "M" component but does NOT have an "S" component, then you don't need any free hand while using a worn amulet. Useful for spells such as Light and Tongues but not much else . . .
It's probably a reasonable house rule to allow a worn amulet to satisfy the free hand requirement of both "M" and "SM" spells but not "S" spells (as apparently intended) since there is a decent number of "S" spells and also a decent number of "SM" spells.
@Jayce_Danathar I remember a discussion about your question in DnD 2024 Cleric Holy Symbol, around page 5.
I posted my ruling in #92. Some people agree (e.g. #96), while others don't, so they follow what Xalthu said in #2 (e.g. #91, #95 or #128)
Maybe reading those comments will help you come to your own ruling.
Ah thanks. Seems reasonable.
After seeing your answers, I think my interpretation is:
- if your spellcasting focus requires you to be in your hand (shield emblem, orb, pact weapon etc), you can cast the somatic component with the same hand, as the gesture is entwined with the manipulation of the focus.
- If your spellcasting focus instead must be worn (amulet) then your hand does not need to hold it but regardless it still needs to perform the somatic component of the spell, as the as the gesture in this case is not part of the manipulation of the focus.
In either cases, no free hand to hold anything else :)
Yeah, M without S in a spell is rare enough that assuming you need to hold the object for the cast is probably easiest for visualizing the logistics.
If you rule it that way (which is my take as well), then for the second point, that's when War Caster is useful, as mentioned in the SAC:
This is the updated question for the 2024. It doesn’t mention War Caster, but it's just as useful as described above.
There are all of three cleric spells in non-partnered content that have a material component but no somatic component: light, tongues, and word of radiance. Letting a non-War Caster cleric cast just those three spells with a worn amulet and their hands full seems within the scope of the rules and fine balance-wise.
Of course there may be limitations on what you’re able to Touch with your hands full. Though any limitation in targeting there would apply to War Caster too, right? I’m not sure how other DMs generally arbitrate Touch range spells while holding a weapon and a readied shield, but I would assume that most are fine with using a held Spellcasting Focus to do the actual touching.
To be honest, thanks to the free object interaction which allows you to unequip your weapon before casting a spell even if you pick the magic action, Warcaster is basically only useful to keep at least one hand free in case you need to use a reaction spell outside your turn, like {spells]Shield[/spells].
For any other case you can just use the FOI (unequip) and cast the spell.