There's nothing in that sentence that actually indicates that the spell in question must have an M component in order to be holding a focus in the free hand. It only says that it requires a free hand to hold one and it can be the same hand that is used to perform somatic components.
The passage you are quoting is part of spell components, which are physical requirements you must meet in order to cast it. So in essence
- If a spell requires a somatic component, the caster must have free use of at least one hand to perform these gestures.
- 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 if a spell has either S, M or S/M components, a free hand is required. Now if you're meaning that a spellcaster can hold a spellcasting focus even when casting a spell that has no material components, it sure can. There's even some magical items that are also spellcasting focus and grant bonuses to spells attacks wether they have material component or not, such as a Wand of the War Mage for exemple.
Components: A spell's components are the physical requirements you must meet in order to cast it. Each spell's description indicates whether it requires verbal (V), somatic (S), or material (M) components. If you can't provide one or more of a spell's components, you are unable to cast the spell.
Frankly, most of the action economy surrounding “free hands” bog the game down and is ignored at a great many tables.
Partial point, but it's really not difficult in practice, particularly because it'll rarely come up. You can stow or draw a weapon or item once a turn as a free action. Pretty much the only time occupied hands will come up with regards to casting is if a character is dual wielding or using a shield. In either case, the solution is simply to stow the weapon/item with the free interaction, cast, and draw with the free interaction next turn, and rather than announcing all that you can simply remember that- if this is weapon and shield- you can't make an AoO with the weapon until your next turn. It's simple, and it provides a fair trade off for having spellcasting alongside TWF or a shield on a single character.
To me the biggest and perhaps only purpose for component pouches/foci as a mechanic is that you can "take away a caster's weapons". By taking away a mage's focus, you limit their ability to cast spells. Useful during an audience or when you capture a mage and don't have antimagic shackles or effects at your disposal.
They don’t have rings because the idea is the focus is something you need to hold in your hand, thus occupying it. Rings would be a really fuzzy point for that.
True. Though others have pointed out a lot of exceptions that undermine this argument.
More interesting would be if you could use a ring, but it had to be of a certain value, and it took the place of another magic ring, limiting you to just one other.
OTOH, I do like that, for common-place components, we don't need to ensure we gather every component. That is, I like the component pouch mechanic. It adds a level of logic to the fact that we've been ignoring most material components anyway since AD&D.
The Sage Advice Compendium official ruling you need to handle material component or spellcasting focus, implying that only wearing one isn't enough, so magic items would be exception to a class spellcasting focus used, not necessarily the way material component is handled during spellcasting.
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 (PH, 203). The same rule applies if you’re using a spellcasting focus as the material component.
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The passage you are quoting is part of spell components, which are physical requirements you must meet in order to cast it. So in essence
- If a spell requires a somatic component, the caster must have free use of at least one hand to perform these gestures.
- 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 if a spell has either S, M or S/M components, a free hand is required. Now if you're meaning that a spellcaster can hold a spellcasting focus even when casting a spell that has no material components, it sure can. There's even some magical items that are also spellcasting focus and grant bonuses to spells attacks wether they have material component or not, such as a Wand of the War Mage for exemple.
Partial point, but it's really not difficult in practice, particularly because it'll rarely come up. You can stow or draw a weapon or item once a turn as a free action. Pretty much the only time occupied hands will come up with regards to casting is if a character is dual wielding or using a shield. In either case, the solution is simply to stow the weapon/item with the free interaction, cast, and draw with the free interaction next turn, and rather than announcing all that you can simply remember that- if this is weapon and shield- you can't make an AoO with the weapon until your next turn. It's simple, and it provides a fair trade off for having spellcasting alongside TWF or a shield on a single character.
I forgot to add one thing
To me the biggest and perhaps only purpose for component pouches/foci as a mechanic is that you can "take away a caster's weapons". By taking away a mage's focus, you limit their ability to cast spells. Useful during an audience or when you capture a mage and don't have antimagic shackles or effects at your disposal.
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True. Though others have pointed out a lot of exceptions that undermine this argument.
More interesting would be if you could use a ring, but it had to be of a certain value, and it took the place of another magic ring, limiting you to just one other.
OTOH, I do like that, for common-place components, we don't need to ensure we gather every component. That is, I like the component pouch mechanic. It adds a level of logic to the fact that we've been ignoring most material components anyway since AD&D.
The Sage Advice Compendium official ruling you need to handle material component or spellcasting focus, implying that only wearing one isn't enough, so magic items would be exception to a class spellcasting focus used, not necessarily the way material component is handled during spellcasting.