Silent Spell and Still Spell vs spells and their components

[Katilot]

I'm wondering if Material and Focus components of a spell have to be hand held while the spell is being cast. While it is clearly stated that a character must have at last one free hand to use a spell with a Somatic component, such a precision is not done regarding M and F components.

More precisly, would a paralysed character with Silent Spell and Still Spell feats be able to cast a VSF spell (e.g. Summon Monster) ?

Similarly, would casting "Message" using the Silent Spell feat remove the need to "mouth the words and whisper"? If no, would Still Spell remove it?

Basically, just trying to understand how Silent Spell and Still Spell feats interact with the spells and their components. Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks.

[Gullintanni]

I'm wondering if Material and Focus components of a spell have to be hand held while the spell is being cast. While it is clearly stated that a character must have at last one free hand to use a spell with a Somatic component, such a precision is not done regarding M and F components.

More precisly, would a paralysed character with Silent Spell and Still Spell feats be able to cast a VSF spell (e.g. Summon Monster) ?

Similarly, would casting "Message" using the Silent Spell feat remove the need to "mouth the words and whisper"? If no, would Still Spell remove it?

Basically, just trying to understand how Silent Spell and Still Spell feats interact with the spells and their components. Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks.

It's a very binary interaction. Still Spell removes S components, Silent Spell removes V components. If a spell is described as requiring the caster to mouth words, and it has a V components, then Silent Spell eliminates the V components, however, the caster must still be able to mouth words.

There is no need to vocalize; however, so the spell would function in a zone of silence, assuming the effect didn't depend on the opponent hearing it.

Still and Silent do not interact with M and F components at all. If a character must open a component pouch and withdraw components in order to cast a spell, then paralysis would prevent casting that spell, even if it were a stilled spell.

...unless, I suppose, you were paralyzed with the relevant focus or component already in hand.

[ericgrau]

Which also means you could often hold the material component in a hand that is holding something else. Because you're just holding it, not doing anything complicated with it. If the material component is small you can often wield that something else too. You could often even draw it and go back to wielding the whatever else, depending on the circumstances.

There are grapple rules for drawing a material component too. Simply use a full round action; no roll required. Then you make a concentration check and then you can cast. But if the spell has a somatic component you simply can't cast.

Of course eschew materials is even easier.

[Zaq]

Huh, thought I posted this response a while ago. Guess the forum ate it.

RAW, material components merely need to be in your possession and don’t need to be manipulated with your hands unless you’re grappled. You can make an argument that there may be an exception for spells that explicitly specify what the caster does with the material components, but by RAW, there isn't a general rule that you have to interact with the material components as long as nothing's trying to hug-fight you.