Maybe a specific hypothetical can get us to some level of understanding. Okay riddle me this one boys.
A wizard casts Ray of Frost and channels it through his Arcane Focus - Wand.
You're wrong with that statement. That's where you are going wrong and what we've been trying to tell you. You can't channel Ray of Frost through your Wand because the spell doesn't require a material component. The wand acts as the natural component.
Again, an argument of ignorance. A focus is a focus. The difference between arcane focii and (they’re called) holy symbols and Druidic focii is their form.
A Holy Symbol is NOT an Arcane Focus. You're just wrong. They're two different objects. They have different governing rules text. Again, you're just flat out incorrect. Holy Symbol =/= Arcane Focus.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
Again, an argument of ignorance. A focus is a focus. The difference between arcane focii and (they’re called) holy symbols and Druidic focii is their form.
A Holy Symbol is NOT an Arcane Focus. You're just wrong. They're two different objects. They have different governing rules text. Again, you're just flat out incorrect. Holy Symbol =/= Arcane Focus.
- We're discussing the use of material components and what's considered a free hand for casting spells.
- Certain spellcasters can use focus items instead of the listed material components.
- Arcane casters can use an arcane focus as their spellcasting focus. Clerics and paladins use holy symbols as their spellcasting focus.
- Clerics and paladins can use holy symbols as their foci while bearing them on shields according to the Player's Handbook.
Holy Symbol. A holy symbol is a representation of a god or pantheon. It might be an amulet depicting a symbol representing a deity, the same symbol carefully engraved or inlaid as an emblem on a shield, or a tiny box holding a fragment of a sacred relic. A cleric or paladin can use a holy symbol as a spellcasting focus, as described in chapter 10. To use the symbol in this way, the caster must hold it in hand, wear it visibly, or bear it on a shield.
- THEREFORE WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THE SAME RULES REGARDING A SPELLCASTING FOCUS AND A FREE HAND, YOU FOLLOW?
- A CASTER has to put down their spellcasting focus in order to free up a hand to perform somatic components for a spell that has somatic components and no material components according to Sage Advice Compendium:
Another example: a cleric’s holy symbol is emblazoned on her shield. She likes to wade into melee combat with a mace in one hand and a shield in the other. She uses the holy symbol as her spellcasting focus, so she needs to have the shield in hand when she casts a cleric spell that has a material component. If the spell, such as aid, also has a somatic component, she can perform that component with the shield hand and keep holding the mace in the other.
If the same cleric casts cure wounds, she needs to put the mace or the shield away, because that spell doesn’t have a material component but does have a somatic component. She’s going to need a free hand to make the spell’s gestures. If she had the War Caster feat, she could ignore this restriction.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
Again, an argument of ignorance. A focus is a focus. The difference between arcane focii and (they’re called) holy symbols and Druidic focii is their form.
A Holy Symbol is NOT an Arcane Focus. You're just wrong. They're two different objects. They have different governing rules text. Again, you're just flat out incorrect. Holy Symbol =/= Arcane Focus.
Everybody here knows that Holy Symbols are not Arcane Foci. But what you're missing is that both Holy Symbols and Arcane Foci are Spellcasting foci.
General Term for all casters that can use foci = Spellcasting focus
Specific item for wizards, warlocks, sorcerers = Arcane Focus
Specific item for bards = Musical Instrument
Specific item for clerics and paladins = Holy Symbol
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
Chapter 5 of the Player's Handbook, under "Other Adventuring Gear"
Arcane Focus. An arcane focus is a special item — an orb, a crystal, a rod, a specially constructed staff, a wand-like length of wood, or some similar item — designed to channel the power of arcane spells. A sorcerer, warlock, or wizard can use such an item as a spellcasting focus, as described in chapter 10.
Druidic Focus. A druidic focus might be a sprig of mistletoe or holly, a wand or scepter made of yew or another special wood, a staff drawn whole out of a living tree, or a totem object incorporating feathers, fur, bones, and teeth from sacred animals. A druid can use such an object as a spellcasting focus, as described in chapter 10.
Holy Symbol. A holy symbol is a representation of a god or pantheon. It might be an amulet depicting a symbol representing a deity, the same symbol carefully engraved or inlaid as an emblem on a shield, or a tiny box holding a fragment of a sacred relic. A cleric or paladin can use a holy symbol as a spellcasting focus, as described in chapter 10. To use the symbol in this way, the caster must hold it in hand, wear it visibly, or bear it on a shield.
Musical Instrument. Several of the most common types of musical instruments are shown on the table as examples. If you have proficiency with a given musical instrument, you can add your proficiency bonus to any ability checks you make to play music with the instrument. A bard can use a musical instrument as a spellcasting focus, as described in chapter 10. Each type of musical instrument requires a separate proficiency.
Chapter 10 of the Player's Handbook, "Casting a Spell"
Material (M)
Casting some spells requires particular objects, specified in parentheses in the component entry. A character can use a component pouch or a spellcasting focus (found in chapter 5, “Equipment”) in place of the components specified for a spell. But if a cost is indicated for a component, a character must have that specific component before he or she can cast the spell.
Maybe a specific hypothetical can get us to some level of understanding. Okay riddle me this one boys.
A wizard casts Ray of Frost and channels it through his Arcane Focus - Wand.
You're wrong with that statement. That's where you are going wrong and what we've been trying to tell you. You can't channel Ray of Frost through your Wand because the spell doesn't require a material component. The wand acts as the natural component.
Edit: I can't believe I was fourth on that.
I just don’t get what they don’t get!?! Trying to cast a spell with no material components using a focus is like trying to catch a fish with a hammer, or drive a nail with a fishing rod. Yes, hammers and fishing rods are both tools, but that doesn’t mean the rules for hammers apply to fishing just because you’re holding a hammer.
Again, an argument of ignorance. A focus is a focus. The difference between arcane focii and (they’re called) holy symbols and Druidic focii is their form.
A Holy Symbol is NOT an Arcane Focus. You're just wrong. They're two different objects. They have different governing rules text. Again, you're just flat out incorrect. Holy Symbol =/= Arcane Focus.
Everybody here knows that Holy Symbols are not Arcane Foci. But what you're missing is that both Holy Symbols and Arcane Foci are Spellcasting foci.
General Term for all casters that can use foci = Spellcasting focus
Specific item for wizards, warlocks, sorcerers = Arcane Focus
Specific item for bards = Musical Instrument
Specific item for clerics and paladins = Holy Symbol
I'm not missing that. He kept trying to tell me that a Holy Symbol WAS an Arcane Focus. It isn't.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
I'm not missing that. He kept trying to tell me that a Holy Symbol WAS an Arcane Focus. It isn't.
Yeah that's absolutely not was was said. Are you deliberately misinterpreting people? Anyway so if you realize that a Holy Symbol is a spellcasting focus, then you realize that
- We're discussing the use of material components and what's considered a free hand for casting spells.
- Certain spellcasters can use focus items instead of the listed material components.
- Arcane casters can use an arcane focus as their spellcasting focus. Clerics and paladins use holy symbols as their spellcasting focus.
- Clerics and paladins can use holy symbols as their foci while bearing them on shields according to the Player's Handbook.
Holy Symbol. A holy symbol is a representation of a god or pantheon. It might be an amulet depicting a symbol representing a deity, the same symbol carefully engraved or inlaid as an emblem on a shield, or a tiny box holding a fragment of a sacred relic. A cleric or paladin can use a holy symbol as a spellcasting focus, as described in chapter 10. To use the symbol in this way, the caster must hold it in hand, wear it visibly, or bear it on a shield.
- THEREFORE WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THE SAME RULES REGARDING A SPELLCASTING FOCUS AND A FREE HAND, YOU FOLLOW?
- A CASTER has to put down their spellcasting focus in order to free up a hand to perform somatic components for a spell that has somatic components and no material components according to Sage Advice Compendium:
Another example: a cleric’s holy symbol is emblazoned on her shield. She likes to wade into melee combat with a mace in one hand and a shield in the other. She uses the holy symbol as her spellcasting focus, so she needs to have the shield in hand when she casts a cleric spell that has a material component. If the spell, such as aid, also has a somatic component, she can perform that component with the shield hand and keep holding the mace in the other.
If the same cleric casts cure wounds, she needs to put the mace or the shield away, because that spell doesn’t have a material component but does have a somatic component. She’s going to need a free hand to make the spell’s gestures. If she had the War Caster feat, she could ignore this restriction.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
Again, an argument of ignorance. A focus is a focus. The difference between arcane focii and (they’re called) holy symbols and Druidic focii is their form.
A Holy Symbol is NOT an Arcane Focus. You're just wrong. They're two different objects. They have different governing rules text. Again, you're just flat out incorrect. Holy Symbol =/= Arcane Focus.
Everybody here knows that Holy Symbols are not Arcane Foci. But what you're missing is that both Holy Symbols and Arcane Foci are Spellcasting foci.
General Term for all casters that can use foci = Spellcasting focus
Specific item for wizards, warlocks, sorcerers = Arcane Focus
Specific item for bards = Musical Instrument
Specific item for clerics and paladins = Holy Symbol
I'm not missing that. He kept trying to tell me that a Holy Symbol WAS an Arcane Focus. It isn't.
But they behave the same way. Just because I call a cookie a cookie doesn't mean that a British person is wrong when they call it a biscuit. They're both treats that you eat.
They are hung up on "I'm using an Arcane Focus to cast my spell" so much that they can't see that we're saying that you can't use an Arcane Focus (or a Druidic Focus or a Holy Symbol all of which are spellcasting foci) to channel the spell unless the spell has material components.
I see you say it. But y'all are pulling it from nowhere. Nothing says this. None of the rules texts even hints at it. Y'all just making it up out of nowhere.
And here I am, needing to quote the item's description again since none of y'all will even read what it says it does:
An arcane focus is a special item designed to channel the power of arcane spells. A sorcerer, warlock, or wizard can use such an item as a spellcasting focus, as described in the Spellcasting section.
The item. Allows. Arcane spells. To be. Channeled. Through it.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
Again, an argument of ignorance. A focus is a focus. The difference between arcane focii and (they’re called) holy symbols and Druidic focii is their form.
A Holy Symbol is NOT an Arcane Focus. You're just wrong. They're two different objects. They have different governing rules text. Again, you're just flat out incorrect. Holy Symbol =/= Arcane Focus.
Fine. The others in this thread have tried to explain my point. They are in fact not identical (which was not my point, as others with more patience have tried to explain) but different subsets of one group (spellcasting focus).
But beyond that, you are hung up on one sentence in their description. (Beyond the fact that the sentence doesn’t use any mechanical words, )That sentence does not say that an arcane focus can be used to channel ALL spells, does it? What subset of spells can you channel with it?
A Holy Symbol is not an Arcane Focus, that's true, but they're both spellcasting foci. This is because there are class specific foci, along with the components pouch
Arcane Focus. An arcane focus is a special item--an orb, a crystal, a rod, a specially constructed staff, a wand-like length of wood, or some similar item--designed to channel the power of arcane spells. A sorcerer, warlock, or wizard can use such an item as a spellcasting focus.
Druidic Focus. A druidic focus might be a sprig of mistletoe or holly, a wand or scepter made of yew or another special wood, a staff drawn whole out of a living tree, or a totem object incorporating feathers, fur, bones, and teeth from sacred animals. A druid can use such an object as a spellcasting focus.
Holy Symbol. A holy symbol is a representation of a god or pantheon. It might be an amulet depicting a symbol representing a deity, the same symbol carefully engraved or inlaid as an emblem on a shield, or a tiny box holding a fragment of a sacred relic. A cleric or paladin can use a holy symbol as a spellcasting focus. To use the symbol in this way, the caster must hold it in hand, wear it visibly, or bear it on a shield.
Musical Instrument. Several of the most common types of musical instruments are shown on the table as examples. If you have proficiency with a given musical instrument, you can add your proficiency bonus to any ability checks you make to play music with the instrument. A bard can use a musical instrument as a spellcasting focus. Each type of musical instrument requires a separate proficiency.
All of those have one shared property under the spellcasting focus rules
Material (M)
Casting some spells requires particular objects, specified in parentheses in the component entry. A character can use a component pouch or a spellcasting focus (found in “Equipment”) in place of the components specified for a spell. But if a cost is indicated for a component, a character must have that specific component before he or she can cast the spell.
If a spell states that a material component is consumed by the spell, the caster must provide this component for each casting of the spell. A spellcaster must have a hand free to access a spell's material components -- or to hold a spellcasting focus -- but it can be the same hand that he or she uses to perform somatic components.
Basically, an arcane focus, holy symbol, druidic focus or musical instrument is only a spellcasting focus for the corresponding class. This does not change how they work as spellcasting foci with the exception of the holy symbol for paladins and clerics.
Again, an argument of ignorance. A focus is a focus. The difference between arcane focii and (they’re called) holy symbols and Druidic focii is their form.
A Holy Symbol is NOT an Arcane Focus. You're just wrong. They're two different objects. They have different governing rules text. Again, you're just flat out incorrect. Holy Symbol =/= Arcane Focus.
Everybody here knows that Holy Symbols are not Arcane Foci. But what you're missing is that both Holy Symbols and Arcane Foci are Spellcasting foci.
General Term for all casters that can use foci = Spellcasting focus
Specific item for wizards, warlocks, sorcerers = Arcane Focus
Specific item for bards = Musical Instrument
Specific item for clerics and paladins = Holy Symbol
I'm not missing that. He kept trying to tell me that a Holy Symbol WAS an Arcane Focus. It isn't.
But they behave the same way. Just because I call a cookie a cookie doesn't mean that a British person is wrong when they call it a biscuit. They're both treats that you eat.
You don't even have to hold a holy symbol to use it, you just have to wear it on your person. They don't work the same way at all.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
Again, an argument of ignorance. A focus is a focus. The difference between arcane focii and (they’re called) holy symbols and Druidic focii is their form.
A Holy Symbol is NOT an Arcane Focus. You're just wrong. They're two different objects. They have different governing rules text. Again, you're just flat out incorrect. Holy Symbol =/= Arcane Focus.
Fine. The others in this thread have tried to explain my point. They are in fact not identical (which was not my point, as others with more patience have tried to explain) but different subsets of one group (spellcasting focus).
But beyond that, you are hung up on one sentence in their description. (Beyond the fact that the sentence doesn’t use any mechanical words, )That sentence does not say that an arcane focus can be used to channel ALL spells, does it? What subset of spells can you channel with it?
to channel the power of arcane spells. A sorcerer, warlock, or wizard can use
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
This is very clearly an official answer about the use of spellcasting foci in general, meant to apply to the use of foci by arcane casters, divine casters, druids, and bards.
What’s the amount of interaction needed to use a spellcasting focus? Does it have to be included in the somatic component?
If a spell has a material component, you need to handle that component when you cast the spell. The same rule applies if you’re using a spellcasting focus as the material component.
If a spell has a somatic component, you can use the hand that performs the somatic component to also handle the material component. For example, a wizard who uses an orb as a spellcasting focus could hold a quarterstaff in one hand and the orb in the other, and he could cast lightning bolt by using the orb as the spell’s material component and the orb hand to perform the spell’s somatic component.
Another example: a cleric’s holy symbol is emblazoned on her shield. She likes to wade into melee combat with a mace in one hand and a shield in the other. She uses the holy symbol as her spellcasting focus, so she needs to have the shield in hand when she casts a cleric spell that has a material component. If the spell, such as aid, also has a somatic component, she can perform that component with the shield hand and keep holding the mace in the other.
If the same cleric casts cure wounds, she needs to put the mace or the shield away, because that spell doesn’t have a material component but does have a somatic component. She’s going to need a free hand to make the spell’s gestures. If she had the War Caster feat, she could ignore this restriction.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
Again, an argument of ignorance. A focus is a focus. The difference between arcane focii and (they’re called) holy symbols and Druidic focii is their form.
A Holy Symbol is NOT an Arcane Focus. You're just wrong. They're two different objects. They have different governing rules text. Again, you're just flat out incorrect. Holy Symbol =/= Arcane Focus.
Everybody here knows that Holy Symbols are not Arcane Foci. But what you're missing is that both Holy Symbols and Arcane Foci are Spellcasting foci.
General Term for all casters that can use foci = Spellcasting focus
Specific item for wizards, warlocks, sorcerers = Arcane Focus
Specific item for bards = Musical Instrument
Specific item for clerics and paladins = Holy Symbol
I'm not missing that. He kept trying to tell me that a Holy Symbol WAS an Arcane Focus. It isn't.
But they behave the same way. Just because I call a cookie a cookie doesn't mean that a British person is wrong when they call it a biscuit. They're both treats that you eat.
You don't even have to hold a holy symbol to use it, you just have to wear it on your person. They don't work the same way at all.
But you can hold it, and your spells are channeled through it when you cast them. Except for spells without material components like Cure Wounds.
Again, you are assuming that what your hiding changes the rules regarding what you can use. Just by holding a shield doesn’t allow you to use it.
Holding tools don’t let you use them.
You're wrong with that statement. That's where you are going wrong and what we've been trying to tell you. You can't channel Ray of Frost through your Wand because the spell doesn't require a material component. The wand acts as the natural component.
Edit: I can't believe I was fourth on that.
A Holy Symbol is NOT an Arcane Focus. You're just wrong. They're two different objects. They have different governing rules text. Again, you're just flat out incorrect. Holy Symbol =/= Arcane Focus.
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
- We're discussing the use of material components and what's considered a free hand for casting spells.
- Certain spellcasters can use focus items instead of the listed material components.
- Arcane casters can use an arcane focus as their spellcasting focus. Clerics and paladins use holy symbols as their spellcasting focus.
- Clerics and paladins can use holy symbols as their foci while bearing them on shields according to the Player's Handbook.
- THEREFORE WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THE SAME RULES REGARDING A SPELLCASTING FOCUS AND A FREE HAND, YOU FOLLOW?
- A CASTER has to put down their spellcasting focus in order to free up a hand to perform somatic components for a spell that has somatic components and no material components according to Sage Advice Compendium:
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
Everybody here knows that Holy Symbols are not Arcane Foci. But what you're missing is that both Holy Symbols and Arcane Foci are Spellcasting foci.
General Term for all casters that can use foci = Spellcasting focus
Specific item for wizards, warlocks, sorcerers = Arcane Focus
Specific item for bards = Musical Instrument
Specific item for clerics and paladins = Holy Symbol
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
Chapter 5 of the Player's Handbook, under "Other Adventuring Gear"
Arcane Focus. An arcane focus is a special item — an orb, a crystal, a rod, a specially constructed staff, a wand-like length of wood, or some similar item — designed to channel the power of arcane spells. A sorcerer, warlock, or wizard can use such an item as a spellcasting focus, as described in chapter 10.
Druidic Focus. A druidic focus might be a sprig of mistletoe or holly, a wand or scepter made of yew or another special wood, a staff drawn whole out of a living tree, or a totem object incorporating feathers, fur, bones, and teeth from sacred animals. A druid can use such an object as a spellcasting focus, as described in chapter 10.
Holy Symbol. A holy symbol is a representation of a god or pantheon. It might be an amulet depicting a symbol representing a deity, the same symbol carefully engraved or inlaid as an emblem on a shield, or a tiny box holding a fragment of a sacred relic. A cleric or paladin can use a holy symbol as a spellcasting focus, as described in chapter 10. To use the symbol in this way, the caster must hold it in hand, wear it visibly, or bear it on a shield.
Musical Instrument. Several of the most common types of musical instruments are shown on the table as examples. If you have proficiency with a given musical instrument, you can add your proficiency bonus to any ability checks you make to play music with the instrument. A bard can use a musical instrument as a spellcasting focus, as described in chapter 10. Each type of musical instrument requires a separate proficiency.
Chapter 10 of the Player's Handbook, "Casting a Spell"
Material (M)
Casting some spells requires particular objects, specified in parentheses in the component entry. A character can use a component pouch or a spellcasting focus (found in chapter 5, “Equipment”) in place of the components specified for a spell. But if a cost is indicated for a component, a character must have that specific component before he or she can cast the spell.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
I just don’t get what they don’t get!?! Trying to cast a spell with no material components using a focus is like trying to catch a fish with a hammer, or drive a nail with a fishing rod. Yes, hammers and fishing rods are both tools, but that doesn’t mean the rules for hammers apply to fishing just because you’re holding a hammer.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
I'm not missing that. He kept trying to tell me that a Holy Symbol WAS an Arcane Focus. It isn't.
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
Yeah that's absolutely not was was said. Are you deliberately misinterpreting people? Anyway so if you realize that a Holy Symbol is a spellcasting focus, then you realize that
- We're discussing the use of material components and what's considered a free hand for casting spells.
- Certain spellcasters can use focus items instead of the listed material components.
- Arcane casters can use an arcane focus as their spellcasting focus. Clerics and paladins use holy symbols as their spellcasting focus.
- Clerics and paladins can use holy symbols as their foci while bearing them on shields according to the Player's Handbook.
- THEREFORE WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THE SAME RULES REGARDING A SPELLCASTING FOCUS AND A FREE HAND, YOU FOLLOW?
- A CASTER has to put down their spellcasting focus in order to free up a hand to perform somatic components for a spell that has somatic components and no material components according to Sage Advice Compendium:
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
But they behave the same way. Just because I call a cookie a cookie doesn't mean that a British person is wrong when they call it a biscuit. They're both treats that you eat.
I see you say it. But y'all are pulling it from nowhere. Nothing says this. None of the rules texts even hints at it. Y'all just making it up out of nowhere.
And here I am, needing to quote the item's description again since none of y'all will even read what it says it does:
The item. Allows. Arcane spells. To be. Channeled. Through it.
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
Fine. The others in this thread have tried to explain my point. They are in fact not identical (which was not my point, as others with more patience have tried to explain) but different subsets of one group (spellcasting focus).
But beyond that, you are hung up on one sentence in their description. (Beyond the fact that the sentence doesn’t use any mechanical words, )That sentence does not say that an arcane focus can be used to channel ALL spells, does it? What subset of spells can you channel with it?
A Holy Symbol is not an Arcane Focus, that's true, but they're both spellcasting foci. This is because there are class specific foci, along with the components pouch
All of those have one shared property under the spellcasting focus rules
Basically, an arcane focus, holy symbol, druidic focus or musical instrument is only a spellcasting focus for the corresponding class. This does not change how they work as spellcasting foci with the exception of the holy symbol for paladins and clerics.
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
You don't even have to hold a holy symbol to use it, you just have to wear it on your person. They don't work the same way at all.
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
Ok, what mechanic is channeling? What makes one spell arcane and not divine?
This is very clearly an official answer about the use of spellcasting foci in general, meant to apply to the use of foci by arcane casters, divine casters, druids, and bards.
What’s the amount of interaction needed to use a spellcasting focus? Does it have to be included in the somatic component?
If a spell has a material component, you need to handle that component when you cast the spell. The same rule applies if you’re using a spellcasting focus as the material component.
If a spell has a somatic component, you can use the hand that performs the somatic component to also handle the material component. For example, a wizard who uses an orb as a spellcasting focus could hold a quarterstaff in one hand and the orb in the other, and he could cast lightning bolt by using the orb as the spell’s material component and the orb hand to perform the spell’s somatic component.
Another example: a cleric’s holy symbol is emblazoned on her shield. She likes to wade into melee combat with a mace in one hand and a shield in the other. She uses the holy symbol as her spellcasting focus, so she needs to have the shield in hand when she casts a cleric spell that has a material component. If the spell, such as aid, also has a somatic component, she can perform that component with the shield hand and keep holding the mace in the other.
If the same cleric casts cure wounds, she needs to put the mace or the shield away, because that spell doesn’t have a material component but does have a somatic component. She’s going to need a free hand to make the spell’s gestures. If she had the War Caster feat, she could ignore this restriction.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
But you can hold it, and your spells are channeled through it when you cast them. Except for spells without material components like Cure Wounds.
Welp, I think I'm done feeding the troll.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
Agreed
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting