Can a Wand be Used as soon as you Determine the Spell?

[Rystil Arden]

IMPORTANT: When I say "you know it" in the poll, I mean "you know what spell is in the wand" not "you know how to cast the spell"

So, in the D&D Gameday, you find a wand that can't be identified because nobody has that spell prepared. I thought based on my reading of the spell trigger text that you can use a wand as soon as you know what spell lies in the wand. The GM said that it did not, and I didn't want to rules-lawyer over the wording (plus I didn't have the DMG to pull out anyway), so I didn't, though he admitted it was weird that they included it and it couldn't be used, as the Wizard is usually out of spells for most of the BBEG fight.

So the question: Is the extraneous use of 'a single word' in the Spell Trigger description enough to force the item to be Command Word activated as well, or can you use the wand as soon as you know the spell, as the text suggests?

 

[Hypersmurf]

So the question: Is the extraneous use of 'a single word' in the Spell Trigger description enough to force the item to be Command Word activated as well, or can you use the wand as soon as you know the spell, as the text suggests?

As I understand it, a single word is required, but anyone with the spell on their list knows how to activate the wand, which implies to me that the single word is generic, not specific.

The single word required to activate a Wand of Levitate might be 'Upsidaisy'... and since anyone with the spell on their list knows how to activate a Wand of Levitate, all those people must know that word.

(Which also suggests to me that it's possible to activate a wand you're unsure of by 'going through the list' until either something happens, or you exhaust all the possibilities on your class list...)

And I think I might make a policy that the activation phrase (some of them are more than one word) for any wand is the name of the Tunnels and Trolls equivalent spell, where one exists

-Hyp.

 

[Rystil Arden]

As I understand it, a single word is required, but anyone with the spell on their list knows how to activate the wand, which implies to me that the single word is generic, not specific.

The single word required to activate a Wand of Levitate might be 'Upsidaisy'... and since anyone with the spell on their list knows how to activate a Wand of Levitate, all those people must know that word.

(Which also suggests to me that it's possible to activate a wand you're unsure of by 'going through the list' until either something happens, or you exhaust all the possibilities on your class list...)

And I think I might make a policy that the activation phrase (some of them are more than one word) for any wand is the name of the Tunnels and Trolls equivalent spell, where one exists

-Hyp.

That's what I thought. I figured at least we could have the Rogue UMD blindly until the wand triggered and we knew the spell and then my Wizard could use it. He said that while we could activate blindly (yup, I saw the thread on that using Search), that wasn't enough because you don't get the word.

Could you change the word 'know' to 'determine' on the poll option, by the by?

 

[MarkB]

I'd say go with the text. If, as it says, anyone with the spell on their list knows how to use the item, then there are a few ways to interpret that which still require use of an activation word.

• Perhaps anyone with the spell on their list automatically gains knowledge of the activation word when they try to will the wand to activate the correct spell.
• Or maybe the wand-activation word is included in the text of the spell as it is learned by any wizard, and other classes know it instinctively when they gain access to that spell.
• Or maybe the activation word is simply the name of the spell, and spell trigger items function Identically to OotS spellcasting.

 

[Hypersmurf]

He said that while we could activate blindly (yup, I saw the thread on that using Search), that wasn't enough because you don't get the word.

... oh, right. Took me a moment - I thought for a second there that he was saying you can only activate blindly if you know the activation word!

-Hyp.

 

[Rystil Arden]

Hmm...poll results are going the way I expected, for the most part, but I'd like to hear from one of the people who said you need the secret word to hear their opinion.