D&D 3E/3.5 3.5 SRD versus 3.5 FAQ on scrolls

[Elvinis75]

The SRD seems to suggest that a person has a chance for arcane spell failure with scrolls saying:

"Using a scroll is like casting a spell for purposes of arcane spell failure chance."

However the 3.5 FAQ says the following:

Arcane spell failure doesn’t apply when you’re activating a

Which is correct????

 

[andargor]

The SRD seems to suggest that a person has a chance for arcane spell failure with scrolls saying:

"Using a scroll is like casting a spell for purposes of arcane spell failure chance."

However the 3.5 FAQ says the following:

Arcane spell failure doesn’t apply when you’re activating a

Which is correct????

Where is that quote? The last part is missing. I see the following:

Scrolls

If you aren’t of the right level to read a scroll, you have to make a caster level check to actually use the scroll, right? If this fails, you have to make a DC 5 Wisdom check to avoid a mishap. What happens to the scroll if you fail both checks? Does the failure erase the scroll? What happens if you fail the caster level check, but make the Wisdom check? Is the writing on the scroll still there?

If you do not succeed in activating a scroll spell, the spell is not used up. If you suffer a mishap when you fail to cast the spell, however, you activate the scroll after a fashion and the scroll is wasted. You likewise lose the spell on the scroll if you fail any Concentration check you might have to make while using the scroll. You also lose the spell from the scroll or if you fail any arcane spell failure roll you might have to make when using the scroll.

Which confirms the rule that reading a scroll incurs arcane spell failure, if any.

Andargor

 

[Camarath]

It is from the Main D&D FAQ (3.0) not the v.3.5 Main D&D FAQ

Is an armor-clad character who can use arcane scrolls
subject to the spell failure chance from armor when using
an arcane scroll? What about other magic items?
Arcane spell failure doesn’t apply when you’re activating a
magic item—not even a scroll.

 

[Elvinis75]

It is from the Main D&D FAQ (3.0) not the v.3.5 Main D&D FAQ

Is an armor-clad character who can use arcane scrolls
subject to the spell failure chance from armor when using
an arcane scroll? What about other magic items?
Arcane spell failure doesn’t apply when you’re activating a
magic item—not even a scroll.

So that means that they changed it then in 3.5 right?

Darn that isn't good news.

 

[dcollins]

So that means that they changed it then in 3.5 right?

Well, that depends on whether the Sage, writing in the 3.0 FAQ, was actually correct or not.

 

[Camarath]

Well the 3.0 text states this:

"Activate the Spell: Activating a scroll requires reading the spell from the scroll. The character must be able to see and read the writing on the scroll.
Activating a scroll spell requires no material components or focus. (The creator of the scroll provided these when scribing the scroll.) Note that some spells are effective only when cast on an item or items. In such a case, the scroll user must provide the item when activating the spell. Activating a scroll spell is subject to disruption just as casting a normally prepared spell would be."

And the 3.5 text states:

"Activate the Spell: Activating a scroll requires reading the spell from the scroll. The character must be able to see and read the writing on the scroll. Activating a scroll spell requires no material components or focus. (The creator of the scroll provided these when scribing the scroll.) Note that some spells are effective only when cast on an item or items. In such a case, the scroll user must provide the item when activating the spell. Activating a scroll spell is subject to disruption just as casting a normally prepared spell would be. Using a scroll is like casting a spell for purposes of arcane spell failure chance."

That appears to be a change between the editions.

 

[dcollins]

Note the 3.0 item caster's shield: "The user can cast the spell scribed on the back of the shield with no chance of arcane spell failure due to the shield." Which implies that normally in 3.0 a shield would induce arcane spell failure when reading a scroll. I'd call the revised text a clarification.

 

[Starglim]

The 3.0 text says that a spell cast from a scroll has no material component or focus. That leaves verbal and somatic components. Since a 3.0 scroll may have a somatic component, it may be subject to arcane spell failure.

To me, neither the 3.5 SRD nor FAQ text is clear whether a spell that normally would not have a somatic component, has one when cast from a scroll. edit: unless "like casting a spell" means "like the default method of casting a spell, using all of the standard components".