Incense of Meditation

[Veril]

Ok, now prove all of that.

Lighting a candle and breathing is stressful/nonrestful in some way. Ok, prove it.

You are not lighting a candle and breathing, you are using a magic item.

Is using a magic item restful? In the general case I think that it is not - while not specifically excluded under the section on rest it's implied (fairly demanding..mental).

Is Incense of Meditation a magic item?
It's listed under Wonderous items in the DMG, that makes it a magic item.

Go back to the Use Items section of the DMG to see how magic items are used (Page 213).
"To use a magic item, it must be activated, although sometimes activation simply means putting a ring on your finger"
SNIP
"Activating a magic item is a standard action unless the item description indicates otherwise."



4 methods of item activation are listed. Spell Completion, Spell Trigger, Command Word, Use Activated. Magic items are activated by one of those 4 methods. It's clear by inspection that Incense of Meditation is a "Use Activated" item.

from the section on use activated items

"Unless stated otherwise, activating a use-activated magic item is either a standard action or not an action at all "

From the description of Incense of Meditation
"When a divine spellcaster lights a block of incense of meditation and then spends 8 hours praying and meditating nearby..."

That bit of text is the method of using the item, it's clearly not a standard action to use the incesne, the action to use the incense is to light it and then spend 8 hours praying and meditating. I.e. the action takes 8 hours to complete.

You are performing an 8 hour action, this is clearly not "rest"

 

[Li Shenron]

Incense of meditation is clearly meant to help divine spellcasters maximize their divine spells.
A cleric/wizard would maximize only her cleric spells, while a cleric/druid would maximize both her cleric and druid spells.

It would not be unbalancing to make it work on the wizard spells if you wanted, but that's not how it works.

 

[Thanee]

Yup, doesn't work. Apart from the obvious intention, that it only works on divine spells (description is not clear enough, tho), an arcane spellcaster would surely not regain spells after 8h of prayer, so it doesn't matter, anyways.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Joker]

A bit of a tangent but related nonetheless: Can more than one caster benefit from the same block of incense?

 

[Infiniti2000]

A bit of a tangent but related nonetheless: Can more than one caster benefit from the same block of incense?

The item description only uses singular nouns and pronouns, so I'd say no per RAW. I would, however, understand the opposite interpretation because that is not as definitive as I'd like it. But, having the item affect multiple spellcasters is obviously not a good idea and the 'nearby' is quite open to interpretation. How many it could it affect? Tens, hundreds, or thousands? You could argue that point all day.

 

[Thanee]

Well, you would definitely have to light it together.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Scion]

::shrugs:: whatever you say guys. The item clearly says one thing but some of you want it to say something else. You can argue 'intent' all day long, but I will argue wording. It says you meditate and pray for 8 hours, neither of those are necissarily very taxing. There might be some exceptions, but they are not the rule.

As for the candle, you light it and then must remain within the area meditating. So, the activation is lighting it. Much like when you activate a ring of invisibility you are then invisible until you perform a hostile action. Just because you are invisible does not mean it is taxing, you are already done with the item anyway. Or, much like casting a light spell, the wizard must stay within some light reading his book. Casting the light spell and sitting within its radiance is not taxing.

So, 8 hours of meditation and prayer can be pretty relaxing, people do it all of the time in the real world as a mode of relaxation. Without further game terms then we have to fall to that (if meditation and prayer happens to be exhausting or nonrestful to you that isnt important here, we can simply assume that it is restful unless your diety specifically makes it not).

Next we have the actual item description: A divine caster must light it. ok. Then they must spend 8 hours near it meditating. Ok. now they get to prepare their spells and all are maximised. All right, all of my prepared spells are maximised.

Nothing about it being divine only spells that are maximised. That would be a houserule.


But anyway, whatever you want to do with it in your games ave fun with it.

Either way the item is too strong at what it does.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

::shrugs:: whatever you say guys. The item clearly says one thing but some of you want it to say something else.

Pots and kettles, my friend.

You can argue 'intent' all day long, but I will argue wording. It says you meditate and pray for 8 hours, neither of those are necissarily very taxing.+

And neither of them are necessarily allowed under the rules for rest for arcane casters.

 

[Scion]

Pots and kettles, my friend.

If you wish to read that aoo's may be triggered from the same person multiple times in a single round by simply running around them in their threat area you may also do that.

But it isnt what the rules say.

And neither of them are necessarily allowed under the rules for rest for arcane casters.

It isnt movement, combat, spellcasting, skill use, conversation, or anything fairly demanind of physical or mental tasks necissarily either.

The item says to meditate for 8 hours and then you get to prepare all of your spells with maximise. If they wanted it to be divine only it would've been 'divine spells only'.

 

[Infiniti2000]

So, 8 hours of meditation and prayer can be pretty relaxing, people do it all of the time in the real world as a mode of relaxation.

Really? People in the real world meditate and pray for eight hours to regain spells? Wow! I want to hang out with you! How much do you charge for a cure disease? I got this little acid reflux problem.