Scrolls completion time

[Antoine]

Quote from "'Using items" 3.5 DMG :
Activating a magic item is a standard action unless the item description indicates otherwise. However, the casting time of a spell is the time required to activate the same power in an item, regardless of the type of magic item, unless the item description specifically states otherwise.

Then quote from "Spell Completion", same chapter :
This is the activation method for scrolls. A scroll is a spell that is mostly finished. […] Activating a spell completion item is a standard action and provokes attacks of opportunity exactly as casting a spell does.

Since spell completion specifically states a standart action as activation time, does that mean that a using scroll of "restoration", for instance, takes a single standart action ?
Or does the general activation rule apply (i.e. 3 rounds for "restoration") ?

Thanks to anybody with a clue on this matter.

Antoine

 

[AGGEMAM]

Spell Completion Items: Activating a spell completion item is the equivalent of casting a spell. It requires concentration and provokes attacks of opportunity. You lose the spell if your concentration is broken, and you can attempt to activate the item while on the defensive, as with casting a spell.

Emphasis added.

The bolded paragraph basically means that a spell that takes 1 round to cast also takes 1 round to read from a scroll.

So a Restoration scroll takes 3 rounds to read just as if you where casting the spell.

 

[Altamont Ravenard]

I concur

AR

 

[Antoine]

Emphasis added.

The bolded paragraph basically means that a spell that takes 1 round to cast also takes 1 round to read from a scroll.

So a Restoration scroll takes 3 rounds to read just as if you where casting the spell.

Thanks. Where did you find this quote ?

 

[AGGEMAM]

Thanks. Where did you find this quote ?

In the SRD, but it's in the PHB as well.

Don't have the 3.5 PHB here, but look under Combat - Actions in Combat - Magic actions - Activate magic item.

 

[Hypersmurf]

However, the casting time of a spell is the time required to activate the same power in an item, regardless of the type of magic item, unless the item description specifically states otherwise."

Then quote from "Spell Completion", same chapter...

The Spell Completion text is not the item description. It is the description of an activation method.

The item description for Scrolls is not under the heading "Spell Completion", it's under the heading "Scrolls".

Nothing in the item description for scrolls "specifically states otherwise", and therefore the casting time of a spell is the time required to activate the same power in an scroll.

This means, for example, that activating a scroll of Quickened Lightning Bolt is a free action (although in all likelihood it takes longer than that to actually get the scroll out of whatever storage container you keep it in).

Contrast this with Wands, where the item description specifically states that activation is a standard action, or longer if the spell has a longer casting time. So activating a Wand of Quickened Ray of Frost is a standard action, since the item description (standard or longer) overrides the general rule (casting time of spell).

-Hyp.