[RPG] How does the Still Spell feat work

dnd-3.5espells

I'm not sure how the Still Spell feat works, so please help me by explaining this example.

A sorcerer with the Still Spell feat has his hands tied, and wants to cast a spell like disintegrate.

  • Can he do this? If so, how? (Explain the process and the mechanics of
    the action, please.)
  • If not, why not?

Best Answer

If it's Disintegrate? No, you still can't cast it.

Distintegrate's casting requirements are the following:

Components: V, S, M/DF

  1. V = Verbal. This is no problem, as the Sorceror can speak.
  2. S = Somatic (hand gestures). Still Spell removes this requirement, so being tied up is not a hinderance.
  3. M = Material. This is a specific item that you have to have in hand, usually from a Spell Component Pouch. The problem is with his hands tied, the Sorceror has no way to take the necessary item out of the pouch to use it. Due to this, the spell can't be cast.

That's as per this rule:

To cast a spell, you must be able to speak (if the spell has a verbal component), gesture (if it has a somatic component), and manipulate the material components or focus (if any)

The feat Eschew Materials would remove the Material requirement, at which point the spell could be cast.

You can cast any spell that has a material component costing 1 gp or less without needing that component. (The casting of the spell still provokes attacks of opportunity as normal.) If the spell requires a material component that costs more than 1 gp, you must have the material component at hand to cast the spell, just as normal.

A spell that did not have a M component in its stat block wouldn't have that issue, and you could use just Still Spell to cast it.

Can you Aim It With Your Hands Tied?

Distintegrate's text says this:

A thin, green ray springs from your pointing finger. You must make a successful ranged touch attack to hit.

Still Spell removes the Somatic component of casting the spell, but nothing in it's text says that it removes the need to aim the spell or the mechanism by which you do that. So by RAW, you would still have to use your finger to aim the spell, with your hands tied.

If your hands are tied in front of you, it wouldn't be that hard. If your hands are tied behind your back, it's going to be pretty tricky as you can't see what you're pointing at. In that case I'd use the rules for Total Concealment (50% chance to miss whatever you're aiming at). This raises the issue of figuring out how you're tied up, which is quite possibly something that wasn't thought about if nobody described it and a Use Rope skill check was used to do it.

The other interpretation is that the finger pointing is just part of the Somatic component (hand gestures) required to cast the spell. If you interpret it such that it is, then Still Spell also removes the pointing requirement, and you would aim some other way. Probably by eye contact. You'd still have to make a ranged touch attack, as per the spell description.

In either case, penalties for being tied up might apply depending on how well you're tied (a fully bound character is Helpless and has an effective Dexterity of 0, which is a -5 on the attack roll). If they just secured your hands, a lower or perhaps no penalty would apply, that would be a DM judgement.