Typically in a conversation when literally everyone beside you has a different opinion, and regularly supply evidence against your case, while still agreeing with the general premise of your opinion, you're normally wrong, not everyone else in existence.
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Taken straight from the Spellcasting section of the PHB:
Somatic (S)
Spellcasting gestures might include a forceful gesticulation or an intricate set of gestures. If a spell requires a somatic component, the caster must have free use of at least one hand to perform these gestures.
Material (M)
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.
So let's look at Eldritch Blast - This spell has a V and S component. The S rules state you must have a free use of at least one hand to perform the gestures. If you have an arcane focus in one hand and a shield or a weapon in the other, you cannot cast Eldritch Blast. The M component rules do not apply because this spell has no M component. If I had a weapon in one hand and a shield in the other you wouldn't apply the S component rules to a spell like Command which only has a V component.
Taken straight from the Spellcasting section of the PHB:
Somatic (S)
Spellcasting gestures might include a forceful gesticulation or an intricate set of gestures. If a spell requires a somatic component, the caster must have free use of at least one hand to perform these gestures.
Material (M)
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.
So let's look at Eldritch Blast - This spell has a V and S component. The S rules state you must have a free use of at least one hand to perform the gestures. If you have an arcane focus in one hand and a shield or a weapon in the other, you cannot cast Eldritch Blast. The M component rules do not apply because this spell has no M component. If I had a weapon in one hand and a shield in the other you wouldn't apply the S component rules to a spell like Command which only has a V component.
Exactly. No other quote from the rules or JC's rulings are needed. It is clear on how this functions RAW.
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The War Caster feat allows the magic user to hold a shield + weapon; shield + focus; weapon + focus and cast spells requiring the somatic
Yes, this is true, but we're speaking mainly for "everyone" who doesn't have this.
No it doesn't. War Caster only helps for weapons and shields in your hand. It doesn't say anything about focus.
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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.
The War Caster feat allows the magic user to hold a shield + weapon; shield + focus; weapon + focus and cast spells requiring the somatic
Yes, this is true, but we're speaking mainly for "everyone" who doesn't have this.
No it doesn't. War Caster only helps for weapons and shields in your hand. It doesn't say anything about focus.
Sorry, yes, I misunderstood the feat. I thought it said that you could do the somatic components when your hands were full with anything, not just weapons or shields. Granted, there are cases when your weapon or your shield is your spellcasting focus, so it can in that regard.
(Also, you haven't posted on this thread in 3 days, and you come to just to correct that one thing. Also, I thought you didn't agree with the RAW that hands being full makes you not able to cast spells with just somatic components, even if the hands have a spellcasting focus in it?)
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If you pull out a diamond to cast Chromatic Orb... does the diamond get equipped? Does it take an action to draw it? To stow it? To wield it? NO. NO it doesn't. You never use the Use an Object action... you interact with it for free as part of the action of casting a spell.
Sigh ... why do I even want to help anymore? Anyway, I'm pretty sure there's something off about this bit specifically. You get one free item interaction as part of your turn, but not unlimited item interactions. Sure, you can draw out the diamond, but then it would take another interaction to put it away, meanwhile, that hand is occupied.
"You can also interact with one object or feature of The Environment for free, during either your move or your action. For example, you could open a door during your move as you stride toward a foe, or you could draw your weapon as part of the same action you use to Attack."
Oh, here some more evidence that a spellcasting focus occupies an hand an makes it not free, though someone may already have mentioned it: Wand Sheathe
Note that it says "You can retract or extend a wand from the sheath as a bonus action. While the wand is extended, you can use it as if you were holding it, but your hand remains free" which is pretty clearly opposed the normal case of things where, when you hold a wand, your hand is not free.
That's true if the wand you're holding is something. Like a wand of fireball. Then you're wielding a magic item. An arcane focus isn't something, though, except in that it is something that can fit in the same hand as that provides somatic components.
Mechanically speaking, a focus is ONLY an item that can replace M components and that can share a hand with S components.
Otherwise, it isn't defined as something.
So if we are supposed to ignore the black and white text saying what the focus is, then it isn't anything at all... and your hand is free.
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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.
The War Caster feat allows the magic user to hold a shield + weapon; shield + focus; weapon + focus and cast spells requiring the somatic
Yes, this is true, but we're speaking mainly for "everyone" who doesn't have this.
No it doesn't. War Caster only helps for weapons and shields in your hand. It doesn't say anything about focus.
Sorry, yes, I misunderstood the feat. I thought it said that you could do the somatic components when your hands were full with anything, not just weapons or shields. Granted, there are cases when your weapon or your shield is your spellcasting focus, so it can in that regard.
(Also, you haven't posted on this thread in 3 days, and you come to just to correct that one thing. Also, I thought you didn't agree with the RAW that hands being full makes you not able to cast spells with just somatic components, even if the hands have a spellcasting focus in it?)
I tend to reply to the most recent thing and work back. But, a lot of people have been claiming that War Caster specifically carves out an exception for holding a focus, but it doesn't. Just thought I'd mention it.
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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.
If a focus isn't something... then... it's nothing? THAT'S YOUR ARGUMENT?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Hang on guys, let me press the palm of my hand to heal you... Oh, don't mind my wand, it's literally nothing that doesn't take up my hand. Ignore the poking!
That's true if the wand you're holding is something. Like a wand of fireball. Then you're wielding a magic item. An arcane focus isn't something, though, except in that it is something that can fit in the same hand as that provides somatic components.
Mechanically speaking, a focus is ONLY an item that can replace M components and that can share a hand with S components.
Otherwise, it isn't defined as something.
So if we are supposed to ignore the black and white text saying what the focus is, then it isn't anything at all... and your hand is free.
Your argument is that a spellcasting focus doesn't actually count as anything? Umm, I'm going to to disagree and say that it is, in fact, something. And that if there is something in your hand it is not, in fact, free. Where in any of the rules lead you to conclude that an object is not an object?
Edit: See when I said this was trolling, I was not actually trying to insult you. All I was literally doing was calling out a behavior your were doing. When you make such facetious arguments it is hard for me to see it as anything other than deliberate misintepretation and deliberately misinterpreting someone's point is trollish behavior.
If you pull out a diamond to cast Chromatic Orb... does the diamond get equipped? Does it take an action to draw it? To stow it? To wield it? NO. NO it doesn't. You never use the Use an Object action... you interact with it for free as part of the action of casting a spell.
Sigh ... why do I even want to help anymore? Anyway, I'm pretty sure there's something off about this bit specifically. You get one free item interaction as part of your turn, but not unlimited item interactions. Sure, you can draw out the diamond, but then it would take another interaction to put it away, meanwhile, that hand is occupied.
"You can also interact with one object or feature of The Environment for free, during either your move or your action. For example, you could open a door during your move as you stride toward a foe, or you could draw your weapon as part of the same action you use to Attack."
Oh, here some more evidence that a spellcasting focus occupies an hand an makes it not free, though someone may already have mentioned it: Wand Sheathe
Note that it says "You can retract or extend a wand from the sheath as a bonus action. While the wand is extended, you can use it as if you were holding it, but your hand remains free" which is pretty clearly opposed the normal case of things where, when you hold a wand, your hand is not free.
That's true if the wand you're holding is something. Like a wand of fireball. Then you're wielding a magic item. An arcane focus isn't something, though, except in that it is something that can fit in the same hand as that provides somatic components.
Mechanically speaking, a focus is ONLY an item that can replace M components and that can share a hand with S components.
Otherwise, it isn't defined as something.
So if we are supposed to ignore the black and white text saying what the focus is, then it isn't anything at all... and your hand is free.
Wait, what? What the heck did you change your argument to? I know you were going on about having things equipped, even though that's not a mechanical term in 5e, it only exists on DnD Beyond. That was you, right?
If you are holding a spellcasting focus, it counts as having something in your hand. It's not immaterial. It exists. It only can perform somatic components if there are material components in a spell that have no cost and are not consumed. Otherwise, Rules as Written, you cannot perform somatic components with that hand unless you have another empty hand, or you drop the spellcasting focus or put it away.
Your hand isn't free if it has something in it. That's kind of obvious.
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The War Caster feat allows the magic user to hold a shield + weapon; shield + focus; weapon + focus and cast spells requiring the somatic
Yes, this is true, but we're speaking mainly for "everyone" who doesn't have this.
No it doesn't. War Caster only helps for weapons and shields in your hand. It doesn't say anything about focus.
Sorry, yes, I misunderstood the feat. I thought it said that you could do the somatic components when your hands were full with anything, not just weapons or shields. Granted, there are cases when your weapon or your shield is your spellcasting focus, so it can in that regard.
(Also, you haven't posted on this thread in 3 days, and you come to just to correct that one thing. Also, I thought you didn't agree with the RAW that hands being full makes you not able to cast spells with just somatic components, even if the hands have a spellcasting focus in it?)
I tend to reply to the most recent thing and work back. But, a lot of people have been claiming that War Caster specifically carves out an exception for holding a focus, but it doesn't. Just thought I'd mention it.
It does if the spellcasting focus you're using is a weapon or shield, which it can be in some specific circumstances. Otherwise, yes, you can't gain the somatic components for an spellcasting focus.
That's true if the wand you're holding is something. Like a wand of fireball. Then you're wielding a magic item. An arcane focus isn't something, though, except in that it is something that can fit in the same hand as that provides somatic components.
Mechanically speaking, a focus is ONLY an item that can replace M components and that can share a hand with S components.
Otherwise, it isn't defined as something.
So if we are supposed to ignore the black and white text saying what the focus is, then it isn't anything at all... and your hand is free.
Your argument is that a spellcasting focus doesn't actually count as anything? Umm, I'm going to to disagree and say that it is, in fact, something. And that if there is something in your hand it is not, in fact, free. Where in any of the rules lead you to conclude that an object is not an object?
Edit: See when I said this was trolling, I was not actually trying to insult you. All I was literally doing was calling out a behavior your were doing. When you make such facetious arguments it is hard for me to see it as anything other than deliberate misintepretation and deliberately misinterpreting someone's point is trollish behavior.
Yes, there are no rules in the PHB or DMG that say that objects just don't exist when you cast spells or in any circumstances. That argument is obviously false.
(Yes, we're not trying to insult you by calling you a troll, because if you're not, you don't understand RAW for spellcasting. If you are a troll, these are the kind of arguments a troll would use, for example: The object doesn't exist in this case, or focusing on a bit of flavor text and insisting it was RAW.)
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The only rule for when it can be used is found in the item description itself.
The description of this item says which objects count as this item and to follow the rules in a different chapter on usage. Foci item descriptions have 0 rules on usage. The spellcasting rules must be followed.
This just isn't true. All the focus items have requirements listed for their use in their respective descriptions. Can a sorcerer use a Holy Symbol as a focus? And where might you find that requirement? In the item description, like I suggest, or in the spell casting rules, like you suggest?
When checking the description of the focus item, it says to reference spellcasting rules. Spellcasting rules are quite clear when a spell requires your hand to be empty and when it allows you to be holding something. If a spell requires a somatic component, your hand must be empty. These rules are only specifically changed by material component rules. Material component rules of spell casting only apply if the spell you are casting has a material component. Again, as proven by my previous argument which you have not refuted.
Yeah, it says to reference the exact rules that you're claiming aren't being referenced. The material component rules normally only apply if your spell has material components true, UNLESS some other rule/ability/object/etc specifically references them. Which the Arcane Focus does.
I don't know how you got it completely backward, but I am in fact claiming that this rule reference is the most important part of the item's description. I don't know how my directly stating that these rules were being refered to made you think I was claiming the opposite.
Just because you are holding a focus does not mean every action you take now includes the material component rules. That isn't what the focus's description/rules say. The spellcasting rules must still be followed because no exceptions are specifically created.
No not holding it. Using it. When you use it you use the rules it links to. So when you cast a spell and channel your spell through your focus, you are using it, and therefore use the material component section it links to.
The item specifically grants permission to use it as a spellcasting focus. "A sorcerer, warlock, or wizard can use such an item as a spellcasting focus". There is no requirement here that they can only use it on some spells but not others. They just can use it.
And what benefits does that grant, when they use it as a spellcasting focus?
The ones listed in the section the item references. Replace M, and same hand S. That's it!
So it is understandable that you might not ever want or care to whip it out and use it as a spellcasting focus since doing so gives you literally zero real benefit. You still, can. The item itself give you permission to do so, if you're a sorcerer, warlock, or a wizard.
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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.
Sorry it took me awhile to get back...didn't mean to cause a ruckus , just meant to help find a case where it is possible. Just to note, the RAW says specifically weapon or shield or both and as long as the hand is considered to be a weapon even if you have no proficiency, anything held in the hand can be used as a weapon including a focus.
If you're thinking a wand is a bad choice for a focus, that's another discussion- all the options have their merits. There is a cost to having a wand; you have to get it out and put it away, just like any other object including arrows, though drawing arrows is free! Just like whipping the wand out is.
Yes, wizards can use a wand as a focus. That is just saing that they can use WANDS (and the other listed items) as a focus, as opposed to Holy Symbols. By your method of interpretation, a Wizard can use a focus, PERIOD, which implies they can use it as an improvised weapon with proficiency. That's not strawman, that's extrapolation of your logic.
That's true if the wand you're holding is something. Like a wand of fireball. Then you're wielding a magic item. An arcane focus isn't something, though, except in that it is something that can fit in the same hand as that provides somatic components.
Mechanically speaking, a focus is ONLY an item that can replace M components and that can share a hand with S components.
Otherwise, it isn't defined as something.
So if we are supposed to ignore the black and white text saying what the focus is, then it isn't anything at all... and your hand is free.
Your argument is that a spellcasting focus doesn't actually count as anything? Umm, I'm going to to disagree and say that it is, in fact, something. And that if there is something in your hand it is not, in fact, free. Where in any of the rules lead you to conclude that an object is not an object?
Edit: See when I said this was trolling, I was not actually trying to insult you. All I was literally doing was calling out a behavior your were doing. When you make such facetious arguments it is hard for me to see it as anything other than deliberate misintepretation and deliberately misinterpreting someone's point is trollish behavior.
Yes, there are no rules in the PHB or DMG that say that objects just don't exist when you cast spells or in any circumstances. That argument is obviously false.
(Yes, we're not trying to insult you by calling you a troll, because if you're not, you don't understand RAW for spellcasting. If you are a troll, these are the kind of arguments a troll would use, for example: The object doesn't exist in this case, or focusing on a bit of flavor text and insisting it was RAW.
Eh, if you grossly misunderstand or misconstrue my statement and THEN call me a troll for not understanding what I'm saying... that's just, not cool, tbh.
Alls I am saying is that holding a shield is doing something. You're doing something mechanical. You're activating rules mechanics by "Wielding a shield". Yeah? You follow?
You wield a shortsword. Same thing. You're activating rules texts, by wielding a shortsword you have changed the nature of your character's interaction with the world. Functionally. Mechanically.
But you can't "wield" a focus. That isn't a thing in this game. Mechanically it is gibberish, null, error 404 not found. There is no rules for what that means.
Are you following?
That's what I'm talking about here. Wielding a staff of power? Yeah, that's doing something. Wielding a staff? Uh. Null. The term "wield a staff" has no mechanical RAW output in this game's rules. It doesn't actually mean anything. There is no there, there.
Again, not unless you do something weird like wield a staff as an improvised weapon, then, yeah, that's something. Then you have a rules text to go to.
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.
The only rule for when it can be used is found in the item description itself.
The description of this item says which objects count as this item and to follow the rules in a different chapter on usage. Foci item descriptions have 0 rules on usage. The spellcasting rules must be followed.
This just isn't true. All the focus items have requirements listed for their use in their respective descriptions. Can a sorcerer use a Holy Symbol as a focus? And where might you find that requirement? In the item description, like I suggest, or in the spell casting rules, like you suggest?
The class descriptions for Sorcerers, Warlocks, and Wizards explain that they can use Arcane focuses as spellcasting focuses. The description text is mainly unneeded and more of a reminder of what an arcane focus is for. It's not meant to provide mechanics on the arcane focus and how it works, and to prove that, they put a reference to the Spellcasting section of the PHB to show how spellcasting works. "Channeling" has no mechanical meaning in 5e. It is flavor text.
When checking the description of the focus item, it says to reference spellcasting rules. Spellcasting rules are quite clear when a spell requires your hand to be empty and when it allows you to be holding something. If a spell requires a somatic component, your hand must be empty. These rules are only specifically changed by material component rules. Material component rules of spell casting only apply if the spell you are casting has a material component. Again, as proven by my previous argument which you have not refuted.
Yeah, it says to reference the exact rules that you're claiming aren't being referenced. The material component rules normally only apply if your spell has material components true, UNLESS some other rule/ability/object/etc specifically references them. Which the Arcane Focus does.
I don't know how you got it completely backward, but I am in fact claiming that this rule reference is the most important part of the item's description. I don't know how my directly stating that these rules were being refered to made you think I was claiming the opposite.
Just because you are holding a focus does not mean every action you take now includes the material component rules. That isn't what the focus's description/rules say. The spellcasting rules must still be followed because no exceptions are specifically created.
No not holding it. Using it. When you use it you use the rules it links to. So when you cast a spell and channel your spell through your focus, you are using it, and therefore use the material component section it links to.
The item specifically grants permission to use it as a spellcasting focus. "A sorcerer, warlock, or wizard can use such an item as a spellcasting focus". There is no requirement here that they can only use it on some spells but not others. They just can use it.
And what benefits does that grant, when they use it as a spellcasting focus?
The ones listed in the section the item references. Replace M, and same hand S. That's it!
So it is understandable that you might not ever want or care to whip it out and use it as a spellcasting focus since doing so gives you literally zero real benefit. You still, can. The item itself give you permission to do so, if you're a sorcerer, warlock, or a wizard.
Again, channeling has no mechanical definition when it comes to spellcasting. That phrase is flavor text. How many times do I have to say that?
The "can use" part is very clearly meant to follow the spellcasting rules that this description references. Can use very clearly doesn't let them break the mechanics of the game.
Spellcasting focuses cannot be used to break the RAW component rules.
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Rav,
I tell you what, go join an AL tournament and try your arguments on the league DMs and see how that goes.
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Rav,
Typically in a conversation when literally everyone beside you has a different opinion, and regularly supply evidence against your case, while still agreeing with the general premise of your opinion, you're normally wrong, not everyone else in existence.
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Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
Taken straight from the Spellcasting section of the PHB:
Somatic (S)
Spellcasting gestures might include a forceful gesticulation or an intricate set of gestures. If a spell requires a somatic component, the caster must have free use of at least one hand to perform these gestures.
Material (M)
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.
So let's look at Eldritch Blast - This spell has a V and S component. The S rules state you must have a free use of at least one hand to perform the gestures. If you have an arcane focus in one hand and a shield or a weapon in the other, you cannot cast Eldritch Blast. The M component rules do not apply because this spell has no M component. If I had a weapon in one hand and a shield in the other you wouldn't apply the S component rules to a spell like Command which only has a V component.
Exactly. No other quote from the rules or JC's rulings are needed. It is clear on how this functions RAW.
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The War Caster feat allows the magic user to hold a shield + weapon; shield + focus; weapon + focus and cast spells requiring the somatic
Yes, this is true, but we're speaking mainly for "everyone" who doesn't have this.
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No it doesn't. War Caster only helps for weapons and shields in your hand. It doesn't say anything about 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.
Sorry, yes, I misunderstood the feat. I thought it said that you could do the somatic components when your hands were full with anything, not just weapons or shields. Granted, there are cases when your weapon or your shield is your spellcasting focus, so it can in that regard.
(Also, you haven't posted on this thread in 3 days, and you come to just to correct that one thing. Also, I thought you didn't agree with the RAW that hands being full makes you not able to cast spells with just somatic components, even if the hands have a spellcasting focus in it?)
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That's true if the wand you're holding is something. Like a wand of fireball. Then you're wielding a magic item. An arcane focus isn't something, though, except in that it is something that can fit in the same hand as that provides somatic components.
Mechanically speaking, a focus is ONLY an item that can replace M components and that can share a hand with S components.
Otherwise, it isn't defined as something.
So if we are supposed to ignore the black and white text saying what the focus is, then it isn't anything at all... and your hand is free.
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 tend to reply to the most recent thing and work back. But, a lot of people have been claiming that War Caster specifically carves out an exception for holding a focus, but it doesn't. Just thought I'd mention 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.
If a focus isn't something... then... it's nothing? THAT'S YOUR ARGUMENT?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Hang on guys, let me press the palm of my hand to heal you... Oh, don't mind my wand, it's literally nothing that doesn't take up my hand. Ignore the poking!
Your argument is that a spellcasting focus doesn't actually count as anything? Umm, I'm going to to disagree and say that it is, in fact, something. And that if there is something in your hand it is not, in fact, free. Where in any of the rules lead you to conclude that an object is not an object?
Edit: See when I said this was trolling, I was not actually trying to insult you. All I was literally doing was calling out a behavior your were doing. When you make such facetious arguments it is hard for me to see it as anything other than deliberate misintepretation and deliberately misinterpreting someone's point is trollish behavior.
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!
Wait, what? What the heck did you change your argument to? I know you were going on about having things equipped, even though that's not a mechanical term in 5e, it only exists on DnD Beyond. That was you, right?
If you are holding a spellcasting focus, it counts as having something in your hand. It's not immaterial. It exists. It only can perform somatic components if there are material components in a spell that have no cost and are not consumed. Otherwise, Rules as Written, you cannot perform somatic components with that hand unless you have another empty hand, or you drop the spellcasting focus or put it away.
Your hand isn't free if it has something in it. That's kind of obvious.
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It does if the spellcasting focus you're using is a weapon or shield, which it can be in some specific circumstances. Otherwise, yes, you can't gain the somatic components for an spellcasting focus.
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Yes, there are no rules in the PHB or DMG that say that objects just don't exist when you cast spells or in any circumstances. That argument is obviously false.
(Yes, we're not trying to insult you by calling you a troll, because if you're not, you don't understand RAW for spellcasting. If you are a troll, these are the kind of arguments a troll would use, for example: The object doesn't exist in this case, or focusing on a bit of flavor text and insisting it was RAW.)
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
This just isn't true. All the focus items have requirements listed for their use in their respective descriptions. Can a sorcerer use a Holy Symbol as a focus? And where might you find that requirement? In the item description, like I suggest, or in the spell casting rules, like you suggest?
No not holding it. Using it. When you use it you use the rules it links to. So when you cast a spell and channel your spell through your focus, you are using it, and therefore use the material component section it links to.
The item specifically grants permission to use it as a spellcasting focus. "A sorcerer, warlock, or wizard can use such an item as a spellcasting focus". There is no requirement here that they can only use it on some spells but not others. They just can use it.
And what benefits does that grant, when they use it as a spellcasting focus?
The ones listed in the section the item references. Replace M, and same hand S. That's it!
So it is understandable that you might not ever want or care to whip it out and use it as a spellcasting focus since doing so gives you literally zero real benefit. You still, can. The item itself give you permission to do so, if you're a sorcerer, warlock, or a wizard.
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.
Sorry it took me awhile to get back...didn't mean to cause a ruckus , just meant to help find a case where it is possible. Just to note, the RAW says specifically weapon or shield or both and as long as the hand is considered to be a weapon even if you have no proficiency, anything held in the hand can be used as a weapon including a focus.
If you're thinking a wand is a bad choice for a focus, that's another discussion- all the options have their merits. There is a cost to having a wand; you have to get it out and put it away, just like any other object including arrows, though drawing arrows is free! Just like whipping the wand out is.
Yes, wizards can use a wand as a focus. That is just saing that they can use WANDS (and the other listed items) as a focus, as opposed to Holy Symbols. By your method of interpretation, a Wizard can use a focus, PERIOD, which implies they can use it as an improvised weapon with proficiency. That's not strawman, that's extrapolation of your logic.
Eh, if you grossly misunderstand or misconstrue my statement and THEN call me a troll for not understanding what I'm saying... that's just, not cool, tbh.
Alls I am saying is that holding a shield is doing something. You're doing something mechanical. You're activating rules mechanics by "Wielding a shield". Yeah? You follow?
You wield a shortsword. Same thing. You're activating rules texts, by wielding a shortsword you have changed the nature of your character's interaction with the world. Functionally. Mechanically.
But you can't "wield" a focus. That isn't a thing in this game. Mechanically it is gibberish, null, error 404 not found. There is no rules for what that means.
Are you following?
That's what I'm talking about here. Wielding a staff of power? Yeah, that's doing something. Wielding a staff? Uh. Null. The term "wield a staff" has no mechanical RAW output in this game's rules. It doesn't actually mean anything. There is no there, there.
Again, not unless you do something weird like wield a staff as an improvised weapon, then, yeah, that's something. Then you have a rules text to go to.
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.
The class descriptions for Sorcerers, Warlocks, and Wizards explain that they can use Arcane focuses as spellcasting focuses. The description text is mainly unneeded and more of a reminder of what an arcane focus is for. It's not meant to provide mechanics on the arcane focus and how it works, and to prove that, they put a reference to the Spellcasting section of the PHB to show how spellcasting works. "Channeling" has no mechanical meaning in 5e. It is flavor text.
Again, channeling has no mechanical definition when it comes to spellcasting. That phrase is flavor text. How many times do I have to say that?
The "can use" part is very clearly meant to follow the spellcasting rules that this description references. Can use very clearly doesn't let them break the mechanics of the game.
Spellcasting focuses cannot be used to break the RAW component rules.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms