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If a spell has a casting time of one swift action, does a scroll of that spell also take a swift action to activate, or does it still take a standard action?

shaydwyrm
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1 Answers1

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Even if it's a scroll of a spell with a casting time of 1 swift action

A Scroll Takes a Standard Action to Use...

According to the Dungeon Master's Guide

Activating a spell completion item [like a scroll] is a standard action and provokes attacks of opportunity exactly as casting a spell does. (213)

...Unless One Uses the Rules Compendium

According to the Rules Compendium

Activating a scroll takes the same amount of time as the casting time of the spell stored on the scroll and provokes attacks of opportunity as spellcasting does. (85)

Talk to the DM. Battles rage over the rules in the Rules Compendium.

Hey I Can Chan
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    The Rules compendium isn't really something you should decide to use or not. It's considered to be a primary source, so it's akin to an errata. This is particularly true in this case: when the DMG was written, the swift action was not a thing. – Zachiel May 09 '14 at 11:39
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    @Zachiel If you don’t have the Rules Compendium, it’s pretty hard to use it or consider it “in play.” Furthermore, from a super-strict RAW perspective, it has been argued (not by me!) that the Errata rules don’t actually let a book claim errata privileges, that only actual errata can do that, meaning the DMG is still the primary source even though RC says it is, because the errata file itself is the primary source on what is or is not primary and thus RC’s contradiction of that is invalid. Which is a kind of insane argument, but some people didn’t like some of RC’s changes. – KRyan May 09 '14 at 13:02
  • @KRyan [Citation needed]. Or perhaps just some further context. – Etheryte May 09 '14 at 14:32
  • @Nit Huh? All I'm saying is that I've seen people make that argument. I don't even agree with it! – KRyan May 09 '14 at 14:53
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    @Nit You can totally ask the question Does the Rules Compendium overrule the core books?, grab a beer, and watch the firworks. It's an important enough question that here's not really the place to address it. – Hey I Can Chan May 09 '14 at 17:24
  • Hi, would it be possible to address the DMG paragraph a few lines above that says: "However, the casting time of a spell is the time required to activate the same power in an item, whether it’s a scroll, a wand, or a pair of boots, unless the item description specifically states otherwise."? It feels to me as being in contradiction with the Spell Completion paragraph. – Dr. Bak May 28 '22 at 13:10
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    @Dr.Bak I'm not sure it's contradicting so much as repeating? "[T]he casting time of a spell is the time required to activate the same power in… a scroll," it says first, then it says, "Activating a spell completion item is a standard action" (DMG 213). Both sections allow for exceptional scrolls. (Scrolls that didn't contain spells but protected character from monsters, for example, were prevalent in prior editions, so perhaps this is future-proofing?) If there's a contradiction that you're seeing that I'm missing, though, please, (ahem) spell it out. :-) – Hey I Can Chan May 28 '22 at 14:08
  • There is no doubt that the Spell Completion paragraph invites us to read it as the main reference for activating scrolls, but this is not backed by other magic items, which rely on their description. Maybe it could help to rephrase the main sentence this way? "The time required to activate a power in a [scroll] is the casting time of the same spell (1 standard action, 1 hour, 1 free action), unless the item description says otherwise". The Wands and Staffs description say otherwise in their Activation paragraph; the Scrolls description doesn't, hence it follows the generic rule. – Dr. Bak May 28 '22 at 15:12
  • Worth noting is the reference in the Spell Storing ability (p.225): "This special ability is an exception to the general rule that casting a spell from an item takes at least as long as casting that spell normally." If we assume that the Spell Completion section dictated the activation for scrolls, we have a contradiction. – Dr. Bak May 28 '22 at 15:12
  • @Dr.Bak I, too, would've appreciated clearer, more decisive rules from the d20 System, but we've got what we've got. Were it to be (re)written now by folks who have lived with its ambiguities for decades, I'm 100% certain the d20 System would be a much more precise document. On the other hand, folks probably wouldn't still be talking about it were the system as clean as all that. With that in mind, feel free to add an answer to this question if you think that this issue needs greater examination than this (admittedly abrupt) answer provides. – Hey I Can Chan May 28 '22 at 17:52