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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Leif" data-source="post: 4280186" data-attributes="member: 48762">No, you didn't quite get it, JA.  When a player casts Shocking Grasp for example (which is the spell being used in the game where this issue came up) he must make a successful melee touch attack to discharge the spell at an opponent.  The rules are silent about whether the discharge needs to be an intentional physical contact or whether just brushing up against the character will discharge the spell upon the one so brushing up against him.  My ruling for my games is that such an incidental contact does NOT discharge the spell, but the character must intend for the spell to discharge when the contact occurs. Usually, this will be when the character makes a successful melee touch attack against an opponent.  But my ruling is that if the character is unsuccessful in his first melee touch attack, and is then struck by a monster using a natural weapon such as a claw or a bite, then he can discharge the spell as an immediate action when the monster initiates the contact.  And the spell description is silent about how long the spell remains active before it is discharged, but I have placed a "duration" upon the time that the held charge remains effective of 2 minutes per spell level.  So, for Shocking Grasp that gives a character 2 minutes, or 12 melee rounds, in which to make a successful touch attack to discharge the spell, or the same 12 rounds to have the spell discharged by contact initiated by the monster.  In my time playing 3.5 DnD, the vast majority of all the combats that I have seen are resolved, one way or the other, in FAR fewer than 12 rounds.  This is when the Shocking Grasp spell is cast as a regular prepared or spontaneously cast spell. But the same thing applies if the spell is cast from a wand.  The wand's effect is still immediate, in that the character has the spell energy for the Shocking Grasp active in/on his body as soon as the charge from the wand is expended.  But the spell doesn't take effect until the character makes a successful melee touch attack against some opponent, at which time said opponent is shocked by the active spell energy.  (Or, alternatively, if the character so chooses, he/she may discharge the spell when the opponent initiates the contact, say by making a successful claw attack against the character, as an immediate action.)  All I have done is: a) decided that the discharge of the energy cannot happen accidentally, but must be a  puposeful discharge by the caster/wand-wielder, and b) placed a limit of 2 minutes per spell level upon the length of time that the spell energy remains effective to be discharged.</blockquote>

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