I'm playing a wizard in a D&D 3.5 campaign and I normally use the "shocking grasp" spell with unarmed attack (basically, touching the target). Occasionally tough were encounter enemies that it's not a good idea to touch (like lava creatures).
The spell description simply says:
Your successful melee touch attack deals 1d6 points of electricity damage per caster level (maximum 5d6).
Where "touch attack" doesn't actually mean unarmed attack, but against what type of AC the attack is made. Also, while I can't find a reference in the player's rule book at the moment, it is acceptable in our campaign that a spell caster using such a spell can "hold the charge" (until an attack hits or the caster dismisses the spell, the caster can continue to attempt to deliver the spell).
It was suggested that the caster can deliver a shocking grasp spell using a simple metal weapon – such as a dagger – instead of doing an unarmed attack.
It's a bit more complicated because I'd need to cast, draw the weapon then attack – total of two standard actions and one move action, which will require 2 rounds, but is there a reason it wouldn't work – according to the rules, common sense or any other reason?
Best Answer
You can cast with any free hand; you don’t need two. So you can cast the spell in one hand and have the dagger in the other. And drawing a weapon is a move action anyway; if you have BAB +1 you can even do it while moving.
You cannot attack with the dagger to discharge shocking grasp however, simply because the rules allow you to discharge it with a touch attack, or with an unarmed strike, and with no other action. There is an ill-regarded and poorly-conceived line about unintentionally discharging the spell by touching anyone or anything. I strongly recommend ignoring it, as it conflicts the rest of the rules, and allows all manner of broken abuses.
As a form of circumstantial evidence, I point to all the variety of options for allowing weapon attacks to discharge spells: they all involve particular investment on your part. They would serve no purpose if you could do it without those investments. For examples, the spellsword class’s Channel Spell feature in Complete Warrior, the duskblade class’s Arcane Channeling as well as the Smiting Spell metamagic feat in Player’s Handbook II, and so on.