Swift wands?

[schnivelbiv]

Is the activation of a wand of a spell with a swift or imediate action casting time a swift or imediate action like the spell or a standard action due to it being a wand?

2 examples:
If a person is holding a wand of Feather Fall can they use it as an imediate action to slow a falling ally when it is not their turn?
If a person is holding a wand of Swift Fly can they use it to gain a fly movement rate for the round and also use their standard action to cast a different spell or attack?

 

[Infiniti2000]

There are actually two questions in that and both are highly subject to debate.

1. Can you activate a wand as an action less than a standard action (without some special feat)? I believe a strict reading is no. Neither the Spell Trigger section nor the wand section allow for that condition. Yes, that makes a wand of featherfall less useful (but not entirely useless). The wand section does point out, however, that it might take more than a standard action to activate.

2. Can you place a spell of a higher spell 'slot' in a wand, which is limited by spell level? I.e. can you place a maximized scorching ray (spell slot 5, spell level 2) in a wand? I believe a strict reading, again, is yes, and I'm not sure which way would be better in practice as I've never tried making use of it and playtesting it.

 

[schnivelbiv]

I am not sure where your second point came from, but I am very sure that you cannot build a wand of maximized scorching ray because it is a 5th level spell and I think the rules are very clear on that point.

As to the main question about swift wands I have no idea.

 

[Infiniti2000]

I am not sure where your second point came from, but I am very sure that you cannot build a wand of maximized scorching ray because it is a 5th level spell and I think the rules are very clear on that point.

As to the main question about swift wands I have no idea.

It came from a lack of total understanding about Swift spells. It may not come directly from your question, but I'm operating under the assumption that Swift fly is the fly spell with some metamagic feat applied to it. Where it came from notwithstanding, my point still stands.

A metamagic feat does not increase the spell level, it increases the spell slot. Like I said though, this is debatable. But, you need to show what rule makes this clear. If you read the maximize feat only, it is clear that it increase the spell slot only, and definitely not the spell level (i.e. the DC is based on the spell level, not the spell slot).

 

[Pinotage]

Activating a wand with a swift spell or immediate spell is a standard action. Details in the miniatures handbook. So the answer to both your questions is 'no'.

Pinotage

 

[Pinotage]

A metamagic feat does not increase the spell level, it increases the spell slot. Like I said though, this is debatable. But, you need to show what rule makes this clear. If you read the maximize feat only, it is clear that it increase the spell slot only, and definitely not the spell level (i.e. the DC is based on the spell level, not the spell slot).

You still can't put it into a wand:

Magic Items and Metamagic Spells
With the right item creation feat, you can store a metamagic version of a spell in a scroll, potion, or wand. Level limits for potions and wands apply to the spell’s higher spell level (after the application of the metamagic feat). A character doesn’t need the metamagic feat to activate an item storing a metamagic version of a spell.

Pinotage

 

[schnivelbiv]

Swift Fly is a spell from complete arcane or complete adventurer.

I figured the answer was no but I had doubts.

On a more difficult point, under the artificer class (in Eberon) it specificaly talks about quickened wands under using their ability to use their metamagics by spending extra charges. So would that be a swift action or is that a major mistake in the book and doing so would simply waste 4 wand charges and have the wand go off as a standard action anyway?

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

A metamagic feat does not increase the spell level, it increases the spell slot.

Which, for purposes of magic items, are one and the same.

Magic Items and Metamagic Spells: With the right item creation feat, you can store a metamagic version of a spell in a scroll, potion, or wand. Level limits for potions and wands apply to the spell’s higher spell level (after the application of the metamagic feat). A character doesn’t need the metamagic feat to activate an item storing a metamagic version of a spell.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Excellent. Thanks for the clarification.