Scroll of spells with 'type' components

[Saeviomagy]

Hi!

"Undead, Corrupt, Location, Soul, Demon, Devil, Fiend, Drug, Disease" all appear for the first time in the Book of Vile Darkness.

Supporting the "no, you must be of the type, have contracted the correct disease, must be under the influence of the correct drug" to cast the spell on a scroll fraction here.

From the FAQ (3.0) to the BoVD, Spell Descriptions (p. 83): While most spells require all the material components listed for them, the demon, devil, fiend, and undead components from the BoVD are special. If more than one of these are listed, the caster need satisfy only one of them.

The Book of Vile Darkness has rules for the "Corruption" cost for a character who scribes such spells on scrolls or brews potion from, or crafts wands with them. The creator doesn't pay the price. The consumer/reader/user of the magic item must pay the ability damage. Addition from the FAQ (3.0): Anyone using corrupt spells has to pay the cost, even if normally immune to ability damage, ability drain, or energy drain.

If we extrapolate the requirements to pay the cost as consumer/reader/user of a magic item, we could conjecture the same for the requirements to be an undead/demon/devil etc.

So in otherwords "if we make crap up, no you can't use them".

Sorry - there's no requirement on a scroll that the material components be satisfied by the caster, EXCEPT in the special case of corrupt items.

Hence - no probs. Use it just like any other scroll.

 

[Scharlata]

So in otherwords "if we make crap up, no you can't use them". [...]

Why do you think this is crap? Monte may have thought otherwise.

However, the components for those spells are explicitly described as "special" components [BoVD. p. 83, Spell Descriptions] not as "material" components, so referring to the DMG, p 238, Activation ["Activating a scroll requires no material components or focus."] is of no help here. Even the FAQ to the BoVD verifies that: "While most spell require all the material components listed for them, the demon, fiend, and undead components from the Book of Vile Darkness are special."

If you would treat these special components as material components, you would have to consider page 287 of the DMG, Creating Scrolls: "Likewise, a material component is consumed when she begins writing, but a focus is not." I don't think any undead spellcaster scribing a scroll has a severe "death wish" (pardon the pun).

I rather wouldn't circumvent the "idea" behind these special components by i.e. hiring an undead spellcaster to scribe one or more scrolls with the spells in question to let me cast those spells from them.

Kind regards