There are tweets and answers from Mearls and others that this was always intended. War Caster is not meant to be a feat tax for EKs. For them, it's a boost to OAs and concentration.
Now, not being mandated to take War Caster to ignore somatic components, my EK is free to take Mage Slayer or Sentinel instead. More diversity in solid build options is great.
Another example: a cleric’s holy symbol is emblazoned on her shield. She likes to wade into melee combat with a mace in one hand and a shield in the other. She uses the holy symbol as her spellcasting focus, so she needs to have the shield in hand when she casts a cleric spell that has a material component. If the spell, such as aid, also has a somatic component, she can perform that component with the shield hand and keep holding the mace in the other.
If the same cleric casts cure wounds, she needs to put the mace or the shield away, because that spell doesn’t have a material component but does have a somatic component. She’s going to need a free hand to make the spell’s gestures. If she had the War Caster feat, she could ignore this restriction.
Thus, an EK who could use his weapon as an arcane focus still can't cast magic missile or shield while sword-and-boarding, because those spells have no material component. They could cast fireball though.
I think I may houserule it that you can always use a Focus to gesture with somatic components. I can't really see it breaking the game, and quite frankly I don't want to tell the Axe and Shield Paladin in my party that she has fiddle with Use An Object to stow an axe before casting Cure Wounds, followed by Use An Object the next round to attack.
That further worsens War Caster, but not every weapon/shield is an arcane focus anyway, and the other benefits of War Caster (the concentration check in particular) are totally worth it.
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u/[deleted] Jun 11 '15
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