RAW, yes, you'd have to either drop the sickle, or use an action to doff the shield. Or take the War Caster feat, which allows you to perform somatic compontents with your hands full.
Alternatively, try to persuade your DM that regardless of what the book says, you don't "don" or "doff" shields, you hold them, and so it should not take a whole action to drop one. (Especially if, asDxJxC claim, drinking a whole flagon of ale is a free action - something that for most people would take several rounds).
RAW, yes, you'd have to either drop the sickle, or use an action to doff the shield. Or take the War Caster feat, which allows you to perform somatic compontents with your hands full.
Alternatively, try to persuade your DM that regardless of what the book says, you don't "don" or "doff" shields, you hold them, and so it should not take a whole action to drop one. (Especially if, asDxJxC claim, drinking a whole flagon of ale is a free action - something that for most people would take several rounds).
That is a quote from the rules, not a personal claim. Requiring an action to don or doff shields is also in the rules. It is usually best to answer questions with the official rules since everybody has these rules and house rules vary between groups.
Considering the sickle is adding +1 to spell attacks and DCs for all spells not just the ones requiring material components it feels loose to be allowed to drop it and still get the bonus.
I do agree that it could be argued that dropping a shield shouldn't take an action especially a wooden druid shield but I'd rather not manipulate the rules to solve this narrow situation.
I've got a question that has been bothering me for a while regarding this topic. How does casting non-material, semantic spells work when the weapon in your hand is also enhancing the spell. My example is a druid holding a shield and a moon sickle. If the druid wants to cast cure wounds, they have to either drop the sickle which means it can't boost the spell, or use an action to doff the shield which seems very clunky when trying to save a friend. This also causes problem with damage spells, even catrips, that are semantic but get +1 from the sickle which can't be in the hand during casting.
You're correct how the rules work - the SAC explicitly covers this situation. If you want tactical advice, don't wield the moon sickle. Sickles are one of the worst weapons in the game, and being a +1 sickle barely changes that. Carry the sickle, probably in your belt, and grab the handle when casting. Your actual hand should carry a weapon worth carrying - a javelin or a dart or a scimitar or whatever. When you need to cast, free action drop the weapon, Cast A Spell (you have a free hand which can handle S, S+M by grabbing the handle, or M by grabbing the handle), one-free-per-turn pick up the weapon, done.
If you want tactical advice, don't wield the moon sickle. Sickles are one of the worst weapons in the game, and being a +1 sickle barely changes that. Carry the sickle, probably in your belt, and grab the handle when casting. Your actual hand should carry a weapon worth carrying - a javelin or a dart or a scimitar or whatever. When you need to cast, free action drop the weapon, Cast A Spell (you have a free hand which can handle S, S+M by grabbing the handle, or M by grabbing the handle), one-free-per-turn pick up the weapon, done.
Please stop telling people that they can hold a spellcasting focus while keeping the same hand they are holding it with empty and without using an item interaction to hold/unhold it.
That is a quote from the rules, not a personal claim. Requiring an action to don or doff shields is also in the rules. It is usually best to answer questions with the official rules since everybody has these rules and house rules vary between groups.
I didn't mean to imply that it was just a personal claim and not from the rules. And I know the action to don or doff the shield is in the rules. I said so in my original comment. But I don't see why I shouldn't also suggest house-ruling it.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
RAW, yes, you'd have to either drop the sickle, or use an action to doff the shield. Or take the War Caster feat, which allows you to perform somatic compontents with your hands full.
Alternatively, try to persuade your DM that regardless of what the book says, you don't "don" or "doff" shields, you hold them, and so it should not take a whole action to drop one. (Especially if, asDxJxC claim, drinking a whole flagon of ale is a free action - something that for most people would take several rounds).
That is a quote from the rules, not a personal claim. Requiring an action to don or doff shields is also in the rules. It is usually best to answer questions with the official rules since everybody has these rules and house rules vary between groups.
Considering the sickle is adding +1 to spell attacks and DCs for all spells not just the ones requiring material components it feels loose to be allowed to drop it and still get the bonus.
I do agree that it could be argued that dropping a shield shouldn't take an action especially a wooden druid shield but I'd rather not manipulate the rules to solve this narrow situation.
You're correct how the rules work - the SAC explicitly covers this situation. If you want tactical advice, don't wield the moon sickle. Sickles are one of the worst weapons in the game, and being a +1 sickle barely changes that. Carry the sickle, probably in your belt, and grab the handle when casting. Your actual hand should carry a weapon worth carrying - a javelin or a dart or a scimitar or whatever. When you need to cast, free action drop the weapon, Cast A Spell (you have a free hand which can handle S, S+M by grabbing the handle, or M by grabbing the handle), one-free-per-turn pick up the weapon, done.
Please stop telling people that they can hold a spellcasting focus while keeping the same hand they are holding it with empty and without using an item interaction to hold/unhold it.
I didn't mean to imply that it was just a personal claim and not from the rules. And I know the action to don or doff the shield is in the rules. I said so in my original comment. But I don't see why I shouldn't also suggest house-ruling it.