Li Shenron said:
I remember there was a FAQ or something which said that using a Wand required only to keep it hand and merely wish the wand to activate.
Hi
Sorry, I couldn't find anything of help...
This is from the FAQ 3.5 version Main 6th of September 2004:
1.
Q: I’m trying to find out if my rogue, wearing leather armor, can make a Use Magic Device check to trigger a wand containing an arcane spell. What is the DC for doing so? It appears from the rules that the armor will cause a 10% chance of arcane spell failure, if the spell being cast has a somatic (S) component (Player’s Handbook, page 122). Is it true that casting a spell from a spell-trigger item, such as a wand, removes the requirement for the somatic component, and thereby eliminates this 10% chance of failure?
A: The Use Magic Device skill is for using magic items that you normally could not otherwise activate. Activating a wand has a DC of 20, as shown on the table in the Use Magic Device skill description. However, this assumes that you already know what spell the wand stores. If you don’t, you have to activate the wand blindly (DC 25). If you successfully activate a wand blindly, you know what spell it contains, and your subsequent attempts to activate that particular wand are at DC 20.
There’s no arcane spell failure chance for activating a spell trigger item, for a command word item, or for a use-activated item. There is an arcane spell failure chance for activating a scroll (a spell completion item), provided the spell stored on the scroll has a somatic component.
2.
Q: Who can use a wand or other item that is activated with a spell trigger? I would think that you would have to be able to cast the stored spell. That is, you must have levels in a class that can cast the spell, have enough evels in that class to cast the stored spell, and have an ability score sufficient to cast that spell. If you’re a fighter with an Intelligence score of 9, you can’t just pick up a level of wizard and start using a wand of fireball, can you? Wands and other spell trigger items are for dedicated spellcasters who use them to carry around a few extra spells in case they run out, right? These are not items that allow dabblers to mimic true spellcasting ability. Still, some of my friends insist that you can use any spell trigger item (wand or staff) if you have at least one level in a class that could possibly cast the spell. They point to the term “spell list” in the description of spell trigger items in the Dungeon Master’s Guide. Surely, that refers to the list of spell you can conceivably cast, not to a class’s entire spell list. After all, the Dungeon Master’s Guide does not use the term “class spell list” when talking about spell trigger items. Please preserve play balance in our local campaign by telling me that I’m right.
A: Sorry, but your friends are correct. If you’re a member of a class that has spellcasting ability, you can use any spell trigger item that stores a spell that’s on your class’s spell list, even when you don’t have the class level or the ability score to cast the stored spell. This even applies when you don’t have enough class levels to cast any spells at all. For example, a paladin of 1st, 2nd, or 3rd level has not yet gained any spellcasting ability, but she still can use spell trigger items that store spells on the paladin class list. If you’re a specialist wizard, spells from your opposition schools aren’t part of your class spell list, and you can’t use spell trigger items that store those spells.
It’s true that the spell trigger text on page 213 in theDungeon Master’s Guide does not use the words “class spell list,” but it should because having a spell on your class spell list is what’s required to use spell trigger items. Membership in a class gives you a smattering of magical knowledge, and that is sufficient to use a spell trigger item, even when you could not hope to cast the spell on your own or even read it correctly from a scroll -- the character who made the spell trigger item has done all the hard work for you. Your example fighter/wizard could indeed lob fireballs out of a wand (provided the character is not a specialist wizard with evocation as an opposition school). Doing so isn’t much of a threat to the play balance in a campaign, nor will it make single-classed wizards or sorcerers in your world irrelevant. Fireball spells from dedicated spellcasters will, on the whole, deal more damage, penetrate spell resistance more readily, have higher save DCs, and have better range than fireballs from wands. The D&D game also includes other balancing factors, such as the experience penalty for multiclassing (although one can get around that by choosing the right race). Someone also has to make or pay for the wand, and that will prove an impediment to characters if the DM follows the Dungeon Master’s Guide guidelines for character wealth and awarding treasure. Your example character would be far better off packing wands that boost fighting abilities (shield and true strike are some the Sage’s favorites here).
3.
Q: When you use a staff, you use your own relevant abilityscore and feats to determine the save DCs for the spells cast from the staff, and you can use your own caster level for those spells too, if it’s higher than the staff’s caster level. Does this mean you can apply metamagic feats you know to spells you cast from a staff?
A:
You cannot use metamagic feats on spells you cast rom a spell trigger item (wand or staff) or spell completion item (scroll). As the introductory text for staffs on page 243 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide says, your ability score and relevant feats determine the save DC for any spell you cast from a staff. From the core D&D books, “relevant feats” are Spell Focus and Greater Spell Focus. These feats apply to spells you cast from a staff, provided the staff spell is from the school to which you have applied the feats. Also as noted on page 243, the Spell Penetration and Greater Spell Penetration feats apply to spells you cast from a staff.
Kind regards
