Casting Spells with Sword and Board

[Glenn.Goldenrod]

So I'm a Paladin using a Sword and Shield, how do I cast a Somatic spell and make it work in the game? Do I need to drop my sword, can I stick it in the ground and pick it back up without penalty or AoO? What about if the spell says just to touch them? Does it need to be my hand? Can I put my sword upon their shoulder like i'm blessing them or knighting them? What about the ones where I don't have to touch them but still need the Somatic?
What do I do with my hands.jpeg

[Vaz]

Warcaster feat.

[Foxhound438]

1) paladins and clerics can imprint their holy symbol onto their shield, so they can in fact use their shield hand to do somatic components if the spell has non-priced material components- ie, you can cast something that needs "a pinch of salt", but not something that needs "a diamond worth 300 GP..."

2) drawing or sheathing a sword can be done for free as a "free object interaction", and no it does not provoke opportunity attacks (a lot of things that would are removed from 5e), so you can in one turn sheath your sword and cast a spell, and in the next draw it and make attacks with it. If you prefer the aesthetic, there's really no detriment to stabbing it into the ground, either, so long as you aren't moving away from it before you pick it up again

3) the war caster feat does in fact solve all of your issues without question.

as for what to do with your hands, my go to is gun-hand. Works with any offensive spell, for sure

[hymer]

So I'm a Paladin using a Sword and Shield, how do I cast a Somatic spell and make it work in the game? Do I need to drop my sword, can I stick it in the ground and pick it back up without penalty or AoO? What about if the spell says just to touch them? Does it need to be my hand? Can I put my sword upon their shoulder like i'm blessing them or knighting them? What about the ones where I don't have to touch them but still need the Somatic?
What do I do with my hands.jpeg

You don't provoke Opportunity Attacks unless you move out of an enemy's reach, so no need to worry about that.

You need a free hand for somatic components. This can be accomplished by using your free item interaction to sheathe your sword, e.g., before casting. This will mean you don't have your sword out for any Opportunity Attacks you may get after the round you cast. The next round you can draw the sword again as part of your free item interaction.
The DM may even let you drop your sword as no action, cast your spell while your hand is free, and then as your free interaction for the turn pick the sword up again. Personally I wouldn't, because that's no way to act in battle.

But I'd ask your DM how and whether s/he bothers with this. Some DMs will not care about components and will let you cast freely. Some would interpret the free item interaction rules to let you draw and sheathe the same sword in the same round with one item interaction.


1) paladins and clerics can imprint their holy symbol onto their shield, so they can in fact use their shield hand to do somatic components if the spell has non-priced material components- ie, you can cast something that needs "a pinch of salt", but not something that needs "a diamond worth 300 GP..."

Are you sure that isn't Material components taken care of that way? I'll try and look for it, but I can never find the one I want.

Edit: JC has two tweetings I could find on this. One that is entirely in line (http://www.sageadvice.eu/2015/01/04/holy-symbol-on-shield/) with you, and then one that complicates (http://www.sageadvice.eu/2014/11/26/holy-symbol-replace-somatic-components/) matters: You could cast a S, M spell with a shield with the holy symbol on it, but not S alone; because you get to use the hand fiddling with the symbol to do somatic components. Having no somatic component means your hand is just holding a shield. Presumably, S, M spells have pretty easy S, while S only means they're more complicated.

Another edit: A Sage Advice Compendium (https://dnd.wizards.com/sites/default/files/media/upload/articles/SA_Compendium.pdf) follows these tweetings on page 9.

[Glenn.Goldenrod]

Thanks y'all!