reading scrolls in armor

[trentonjoe]

Does an armor's arcane spell failure % apply when reading from a scroll? ( I think it does.)

What if scroll is a "Stilled" spell? Can you do that? ( I think so)


Thanks in advance.

 

[dcollins]

To me it looks like:
(A) "Yes", or else the caster's shield ability to cast its scroll "with no chance of arcane spell failure due to the shield" wouldn't be necessary. (See DMG: Magic Items)
(B) "No", because with spells lacking a Somatic component, no spell failure roll is necessary (See PHB: Armor: Casting and Arcane Spell in Armor).

 

[Sue Bloodbucket]

hoi,

i think dcollins is right here but there is jet another electron kickin' the synapse:
since you can imbue metamagic feats to a scroll can you also cast a silent spell on a scroll? Just like: "...." and off it goes?

Sue

 

[jodyjohnson]

In 3.0 arcane scrolls did not check ASF.

In 3.5 they do unless the spell has no Somatic components (which would be the case of a spell with Silent spell applied during the creation process - with a commensurate change in level/CL).

Divine spells and the new Artificer category do not check ASF since they are not Arcane.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/rg/20041116a

 

[Liquidsabre]

3.5 DMG p.238, Scroll Activation: "Using a scroll is like casting a spell for purposes of arcane spell failure chance (such as from armor)."

 

[dcollins]

In 3.0 arcane scrolls did not check ASF.

I disagree with that: it wasn't explicit, but it could be figured out by the existence of the caster's shield.

I agree with the rest. 3.5 does clarify that particular issue.

 

[Li Shenron]

Does an armor's arcane spell failure % apply when reading from a scroll? ( I think it does.)

Yes. You can think of using a scroll as normally "casting a spell", minus the material component and Xp cost, everything else is the same (plus possibly needing one more hand ).

What if scroll is a "Stilled" spell? Can you do that? ( I think so)

You can use Still Spell to store a still-ed spell in a scroll, in which case no ASF.

You cannot use Still Spell to remove the somatic comp. from a spell which was scribed as non-stilled.

 

[jodyjohnson]

I disagree with that: it wasn't explicit, but it could be figured out by the existence of the caster's shield.

I agree with the rest. 3.5 does clarify that particular issue.

Just going by the 3.0 FAQ.