The Ruby of the War Mage is a common attuned magic item attached to a melee weapon that allows it to be used as an arcane focus, akin to attaching a religious symbol for divine casters being attached to shields or armor. I was trying to find the benefit besides just being an expensive material pouch. The last line in the reading states, "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."
By affixing the item to a weapon, does this mean you are performing the somatic component with the weapon hand? Those fine wrist and finger flits would become weapon flourishes instead. And since the weapon is handling the somatic component, can you handle a shield in the other hand?
Divine casters basically get this as a free-bee, but it would take one of the precious three attunement locations for an arcane caster to use a similar feature on a shield or armor for instance. The limit to arcane focuses to: an orb, a crystal, a rod, a specially constructed staff, a wand like length of wood, or some similar item is annoying for a character that doesn't fit into the classic wizard look. Heck, even allowing both divine and arcane focuses to be attached to non-weapon items like armor and shields would be of more use.
And I do know that there are classes which have this as a additional feature, but those classes do not have to use an attunement slot. If you think that is a big enough trade off.
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IMHO, Earthdawn is still the best fantasy realm, Shadowrun is the best Sci-Fi realm, and Dark Sun is the best D&D realm.
RAW this is a yes. The weapon itself becomes the spellcasting focus, with the ruby attached to it. So, the sentence about the somatic components works with the weapon.
This means, as long as you are casting spells without components that are consumend in the casting process, you can cast spells with sword and board in hands, nice little perk for something like eldritch knights or similar.
Requiring attunement is, of course, not the most convenient thing here.
A hand holding an arcane focus can only be used to perform the somatic component of a spell if that spell also has a material component that is replaced by said focus. If the spell lacks a material component its somatic component can only be performed with a free hand, unless you have the War Caster feat.
You might want to talk with your DM if there are other options available. For example my DM let's my Druid wear his totemic Focus around his neck using the same rule as a Cleric who only has to visibly display his holy symbol. But in my case I think our DM could care less if the caster characters actually do magic finger movements, invoke enchanted words or use and restore the right material components.
Whenever I'm DMing our group I try to be a bit more strict, to give my "power gamers" some limits and make them think out of the box how to practically achieve the best possible solution. For example if they want to use a shield that is fine as long as the spell doesn't require some fancy somatic hand/finger movements (see post above). Though I'd let them carry their shield on Guige - a strap around their neck- so that they wouldn't have to drop it completely allowing them to quickly grab and equip it again as free action on their next turn.
The Ruby of the War Mage is a common attuned magic item attached to a melee weapon that allows it to be used as an arcane focus, akin to attaching a religious symbol for divine casters being attached to shields or armor. I was trying to find the benefit besides just being an expensive material pouch. The last line in the reading states, "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."
By affixing the item to a weapon, does this mean you are performing the somatic component with the weapon hand? Those fine wrist and finger flits would become weapon flourishes instead. And since the weapon is handling the somatic component, can you handle a shield in the other hand?
Divine casters basically get this as a free-bee, but it would take one of the precious three attunement locations for an arcane caster to use a similar feature on a shield or armor for instance. The limit to arcane focuses to: an orb, a crystal, a rod, a specially constructed staff, a wand like length of wood, or some similar item is annoying for a character that doesn't fit into the classic wizard look. Heck, even allowing both divine and arcane focuses to be attached to non-weapon items like armor and shields would be of more use.
And I do know that there are classes which have this as a additional feature, but those classes do not have to use an attunement slot. If you think that is a big enough trade off.
IMHO, Earthdawn is still the best fantasy realm, Shadowrun is the best Sci-Fi realm, and Dark Sun is the best D&D realm.
RAW this is a yes. The weapon itself becomes the spellcasting focus, with the ruby attached to it. So, the sentence about the somatic components works with the weapon.
This means, as long as you are casting spells without components that are consumend in the casting process, you can cast spells with sword and board in hands, nice little perk for something like eldritch knights or similar.
Requiring attunement is, of course, not the most convenient thing here.
A hand holding an arcane focus can only be used to perform the somatic component of a spell if that spell also has a material component that is replaced by said focus. If the spell lacks a material component its somatic component can only be performed with a free hand, unless you have the War Caster feat.
You might want to talk with your DM if there are other options available. For example my DM let's my Druid wear his totemic Focus around his neck using the same rule as a Cleric who only has to visibly display his holy symbol. But in my case I think our DM could care less if the caster characters actually do magic finger movements, invoke enchanted words or use and restore the right material components.
Whenever I'm DMing our group I try to be a bit more strict, to give my "power gamers" some limits and make them think out of the box how to practically achieve the best possible solution. For example if they want to use a shield that is fine as long as the spell doesn't require some fancy somatic hand/finger movements (see post above). Though I'd let them carry their shield on Guige - a strap around their neck- so that they wouldn't have to drop it completely allowing them to quickly grab and equip it again as free action on their next turn.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guige