On Somatics

>taking a spellcaster prisoner
>no gags
Also.
>orcs
>not killing on sight

He can do it, but in that situation you really do not want him to.

Its only burning hands. If you guys lost to these orcs in a straight fight before this, I doubt burning hands is suddenly going to insta-kill those orcs.

And the two orcs in front of him are explicitly not even the only orcs escorting them. And everyone has their hands tied.

This ends with the warlock getting beaten to death for proving himself too dangerous to take captive but without having taken advantage of that in a way that would actually secure their escape. Everyone else is still bound, so its not like they are in any condition to save the Warlock.

>Players should be rewarded for thinking like that and not just "oh I'm tied up? uh do i roll dex or str to get out"
Precisely

This is why you bind hand behind the back.

I've honestly always wondered why people would ever let people keep their hands in front of them

shit, If I was even a little suspicious of someone I'd make him sit down while I tie his hands under his taint so the guy has to waddle around looking like hes trying to pick a dingleberry

that way he cant even do any ridiculous weeb fighting shit where he kicks and headbutts everyone

probably suck having to wait for his dumbass to walk around like that, but whatever

clearly it is the orcs fault for not also gagging the spell caster.

>A restrained creature’s speed becomes 0, and it can’t benefit from any bonus to its speed. Attack rolls against the creature have advantage, and the creature’s attack rolls have disadvantage. The creature has disadvantage on Dexterity saving throws.
>Coup de Grace
As an action, you can use a melee weapon to deliver a coup de grace to a helpless (incapacitated, paralyzed, restrained, stunned or unconscious) opponent. You can also use a bow or crossbow, provided you are within 30’ of a helpless target.
This. It would be incredibly stupid of this warlock to do it. Burning down a few orcs is going to make the others just kill you.

Now, can he do it?
>Somatic (S) Spellcasting gestures might include a forceful gesticulation or an intricate set of gestures. If a spell requires a somatic component, the caster must have free use of at least one hand to perform these gestures.
That depends on whether the GM rules he has "free use of at least one hand". I certainly wouldn't consider someone with their hands bound as having "free use". But if your GM so rules, then the obvious end result of this is getting a coup de grace to the head from the orc pushing you along after he witnesses you burning down a few of his friends.

>ask a player for a concentration / spellcraft or whatever appropriate check
That's my thought, too. For 3.5/PF, I'd probably want a concentration check. For 5e, make it an ability check of their spellcasting ability, probably with proficiency. DC maybe 15 + spell level in either case.

> taking an identified caster prisoner

> not breaking his fingers

you bind their hands in front if you sit them down, so you can constantly see them
so you can keep an eye on them
that is if they have a constant guard

>I get that the DM decides but shit man can this fucking guy just do this?
I stopped at AD&D 2E, but I seem to remember the rules specifically stating that spells with somatic components required the caster's hands to be free, with the example "not bound".

Isn't there something like this in your edition's PHB or DMG?

Does any spell specify what the somatic component for it is? I don't think that part of burning hands is the somatic component rather than the end result of the spell and wouldn't rule it as such unless every other spell specified what their somatic component was. Somatic also requires free hands so I would just say your hands aren't free as they are tied.

Also, what does burning hands achieve in this situation? You didn't burn the rope, you're still bound, probably with more Orcs behind you who are going to kill you.

Depends on the edition. AD&D specified details for some spells, in later editions it decreased a lot.

>Spellcasting gestures might include a forceful
gessticulation or an intricate set of gestures. If a spell
requires a somalic component, the caster must have free
use of at least one hand to perform these gestures.
You seem to be talking about 5e, and this is what the PHB says. Your Warlock didn't have a free hand, so he can't cast Burning Hands. If he wanted to cast with tied hands he should have either chosen a spell with no Somatic components or played a Sorcerer with Subtle Spell. The DM is in the right here, unless you cleared your version of the spell's Somatic components with him previously in a way that wouldn't be impeded by tied hands.

Burning Hands is like the only spell I can think of offhand that specifically describes how to do the somatic components, though. Everything else is ??? Verbal too come to think of it. And I think Burning Hands only gets it because they have to justify why the AOE fire thing is called Burning Hands.

>Everything else is ??? Verbal too come to think of it

really annoying too, because no one really knows if you can whisper verbal components to try to hide your casting from someone or what

Even earlier editions was more about material components, and,even those,were always just a pun or a reference, like Gentle Repose being 2 copper pieces, placed on the corpse's eyes

Pretty much this. Hell, I'm sure orcs and outlaws run into enough problems with prisoners magically disappearing or unexpectedly wrecking havoc that they just slit the throat of anyone who looks a little too resourceful, ransoms be damned.

Rules state that verbals rely on pitch and resonance, so most would assume that whispering is out. Unless your DM just decides to fuck Sorcerers, that is.

>>orcs
>>not killing on sight
Kinda hard to get sacrifices to your dark gods if you just kill everything on sight.

>I get that the DM decides but shit man can this fucking guy just do this?
>In short: What do you think the proper somatic form is for burning hands? Pic shows player handbook but I can imagine being able to cast it as long as thumbs are touching, perhaps with a smaller cone or disadvantage?

RAW? No.
But it sounds cool so I'd let them get away with it. Why deny them having a cool character moment they can tell stories about later?

>Why deny them having a cool character moment they can tell stories about later?
Yeah, I'd have some of the fire come back and burn the rope or let the party burn their ropes over the smoldering flesh of the orcs.

Because the best stories are the ones where your character dies doing something fucking retarded.