How do Wizards cast Spells?

[Nivek]

I'm going to running a game for a couple of friends in a couple of days and I've been wondering How do wizards cast their spells? Do they use hand motions or verbal sounds or something completely different?

The PCs are going to be captured and their hands will be tied. I don't want the wizard to cast a spell killing everything, since that would defeat the whole plot.

I know for a fact the player playing the wizard is going to try to cast a spell in order to escape. I want to prevent that and not have him unconscious. I just want a reason for having him not being able to cast a spell and not say "You can't do that because I say so."

 

[Thac0 the Barbarian]

Unfortunately, 4th Ed doesn't specify the way previous editions did. In earlier additions each spell was noted to have either somatic(gestures) verbal, or material components or some combination thereof.
Although 4th edition has no such detail, you're pretty safe if you have the wizard gagged. Alternatively, you could have the wizard placed in "hand manacles" which completely prevents all gestures, on the premise that his captors know he is one of them magic users. Hope it helps!

 

[DracoSuave]

The book specifically avoids too much detail on what any character needs to do to be able to use implement powers. However it does state the DM can exercise discretion when a player is bound and helpless to state they do not have access to their implement powers.

Non-implement powers require only the stated action; if the player can take that action they can use that power.

 

[Chzbro]

1) A bag over the wizard's head will take care of many of your worries. He'll be effectively blind and, you could rule he won't have line of sight to anything; he'd still have area spells though.

2) I'm having trouble imagining any 4E spell the wizard could cast that would "kill everybody." He might get one good spell off, but (with everyone tied up) the captors would likely just beat the hell out of him. What level are you talking about? As long as all the captors aren't minions, a lone wizard probably won't be quite the holy terror one in previous editions might have been.

 

[fba827]

As others have said, 4e doesn't specificy so the player will want to go with the most liberal application to say he/she can despite bonds, while the DM might want to go with the more conservative interpretation to say he/she can't when in bonds.

If you want, say that the bonds have magic runes all over them that seem to absorb any arcane magical energies you try and cast. Or the prison cell he is kept in is covered in runes that dispel magical energies, etc.

By addressing it in the description, you avoid the meta game response of "because I said so" and instead make it a unique property of the bonds/cell.

 

[radja]

the same goes for all classes. a fighter with his hands bound can use powers with improvised weapons, like a kick or headbutt. This is just one of those cases where it's up to the DM to just say 'no'.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

I'm with Chzbro, the wizard is going to get about nowhere trying to do anything to even much lower level enemies while tied up. He's effectively helpless, certainly restrained, and would be lucky to get off a second spell. The first one never going to kill anything. If he can teleport he might try to escape, not much else is likely to work. Honestly though I would say this kind of thing is usually good, it gives the PCs some options.

 

[malraux]

It should be noted that 4e has a entire deity dedicated to locking people up and torturing them. That's basically all Torog does, so he should be pretty good at it. Torog's manacles of binding should block any sorts of magical hanky panky.

 

[Thac0 the Barbarian]

One other thought, if you choose to use some sort of magic use nullifying bonds, it might be interesting to let the party collect them after they break free. This would change them from being an arbitrary function of the scenario into an interesting magical item the party might be grateful for. It might also spur them into creative action in the future (interrogating the enemy wizard etc.) and spur them to think of things to do outside their powers and skills. If you decide to do thi however, you might want to build into the scenario a detail that they require a ritual or at least a few minutes to activate, so you don't have your characters trying to utilize them in the midst of combat, the way silence was used in previous editions.

 

[The Little Raven]

I would simply bind and blindfold the party. They would be Restrained and Blinded, suffering a total -7 penalty to attack, granting combat advantage, and unable to move or flank. They lack line of sight to anything, so they can't teleport or use any other LoS-requiring powers.

Then, if they can manage to successfully hit someone with a power, I'd let them, since overcoming all that and succeeding is pure awesome (like Aldo the Apache headbutting Hans Landa).