Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer Creatures
Frozen Sick
D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Basic Rules (2014)
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Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer CreaturesFrozen SickD&D Beyond Basic RulesBasic Rules (2014)Sign in to view your library & saved favorites.
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Good day, everyone! There’s a need to clarify the mechanics of using spells in DnD 2014. I apologize in advance for my English — I’m using an online translator. Perhaps my questions will seem strange, and the answers to them obvious, but I couldn’t find any explanation of how these mechanics work in the basic rules. Perhaps they weren’t described in the rulebook, or the translation from English was inaccurate.
There is a class — a priest or a paladin — and it has a sacred symbol. The question arises: in what cases, apart from the need to use a material component and to exorcise undead, is it necessary to hold it in hand or in plain sight (or, for example, to hold a shield with a sacred symbol on it) in order to cast spells? Furthermore, we had a serious dispute regarding the possibility of casting a spell with a somatic and verbal component. Our Cleric put away the shield on which the sacred symbol was depicted and picked up a light crossbow. According to the rules, to cast a spell with a somatic component, you need to have a free hand, and the light crossbow has the two‑handed property, i.e., it is held with two hands.
Because of this situation, questions also arose regarding the mechanics of spellcasting, in addition to the use of the holy symbol.
1.Can a Cleric cast the spell Cure Wounds or, for example, Channel Divinity, which have both a verbal and a somatic component, if they initially have their shield with the sacred symbol removed and are holding a light crossbow that has the two‑handed property? I believe it cannot, because there is a feature of the War Caster class that specifically states: “You can perform the somatic component of spells even if you are using a weapon or shield in one or both hands.” Therefore, if the class does not have this feature, it cannot cast spells while holding any weapon with the two‑handed property, ranged weapons with the two‑handed property (such as a light/heavy crossbow), or a one‑handed weapon and a shield/weapon in the second hand.
2. My friend, who is playing as a Cleric, says that supposedly you can take a light crossbow, or any other weapon with the two‑handed property, in one hand, and with the freed hand cast a spell with a somatic component. I haven’t found such a possibility in the rules and I believe you can’t do that. But if I’m wrong, a few questions arise. a) Is it possible to take a weapon with the two‑handed property (a two‑handed sword/axe or a longbow/heavy crossbow) in one hand? In order to free up the other hand and use it to cast spells with a somatic component? b) If the rules allow you to hold a two‑handed weapon in one hand and use spells with a somatic component, is performing this action (holding a two‑handed weapon in one hand) a full action, a bonus action, or some other type of action?
3. In a situation where a Cleric/Paladin or a Bard is armed with a one‑handed weapon and a shield, or is holding a weapon in each hand, they cannot cast spells with a somatic component without the War Caster skill. That is, they must free one hand to cast a spell. They can free their hand in two ways: either by dropping the weapon or sheathing it. The question arises: is sheathing a weapon in order to immediately cast a spell with a somatic component a full action?
I would be grateful for some clarification.
Two-handed weapons only need to be held in two hands when actually making an attack with them. You can hold a light crossbow in one hand while doing literally anything else, including casting a spell. So yes, you can cast Cure Wounds while holding a light crossbow. Channel Divinity is not a spell and does not have spell components, so it's not relevant here.
Again, you only need two hands for a two-handed weapon to actually attack with it. Holding a two-handed weapon in one hand does not require any kind of action.
The 5e rules allow you to "interact with an object" once per turn without using any type of action. This can be drawing or sheathing a weapon, among many other things. If you want to do that a second time in a turn, you'd need to use the "Use an Object" action (referred to as the "Utilize" action in 5.5e).
It's also worth pointing out that some classes and subclasses can use weapons or shields as spellcasting focuses, so they don't need to drop these if the spell also has a material component.
pronouns: he/she/they
Thank you for the clarification, mechanic!
@Harkonner25 the next answer from the 5e SAC might be helpful to you:
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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.
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I've never been called a mechanic before but I'll take it
pronouns: he/she/they
Maybe it's a false friend? They said they were using a translator... :-?
My brother's a car mechanic, so maybe they just got us confused...
pronouns: he/she/they