Role-playing Games Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for gamemasters and players of tabletop, paper-and-pencil role-playing games. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
I've been using Spiderclimb occasionally in my escapades to climb onto walls and ceilings and cast spells from a safe position.
It never really occurred to me until just now of how that looks or works. But now I wonder, if I'm potentially using my hands to climb or "stick" to walls, does that limit my ability to cast spells with somatic components?
The spell spider climb specifically states that the target can climb "while leaving its hands free".
Creatures like the Brown Bear naturally have a climb speed, meaning that when they climb, they move at the given speed (1 foot of climb speed per 1 foot climbed) instead of half speed (2 feet of walk speed per 1 foot climbed).
In order to climb a bear needs to use its paws, and similarly, a person would need to use his hands, but it's very reasonable to assume that a person could stop and hold himself with just one hand in order to cast a spell.
Either way, there's no well-defined rule for it.
