This is a common prequsite for several Prestige classes and people are always looking for shortcuts to get entry using less class levels.
Probably been mentioned before but for example
Rogue 3 / Wizard 1
who has a scroll or wand of acid arrow (which is possible by 4th level)
Arace trickster
has the required 4 ranks in the 3 required skills
is "ABLE" to cast at least one 2nd level spell
now if you really want to take it to its conclusion a Rogue 3 / Wiz 1 / AT 1
who has run out of scrolls/wands of 2nd level spells would no longer quailify for AT and lose AT class abilities until the entry condition were once again met.
Of course once the AT level is hgh enough that the wiz caster effective levels can cast 2nd level spells the chatcer is self supporting.
hehehe yeah I can see the shaking heads, the rolling eyes and the groans of dismay already.
but hey casting a spell off a scroll or wand is not a spell like ability its a spell , the prereqs don't say the source of your spells casting must come from a class.
All dependant of course on when your DM allows you access to scrolls and wands with spells of a higher level
There is a difference between casting a spell and activating a magic item via spell completion or spell trigger.
There is a difference between casting a spell and activating a magic item via spell completion or spell trigger.
Quite true. To be more clear, spells are never "cast" from items. Instead, the items are "activated".
This might help:
Spell Completion: This is the activation method for scrolls. A scroll is a spell that is mostly finished. The preparation is done for the caster, so no preparation time is needed beforehand as with normal spellcasting. All that's left to do is perform the finishing parts of the spellcasting (the final gestures, words, and so on). To use a spell completion item safely, a character must be of high enough level in the right class to cast the spell already. If he can't already cast the spell, there's a chance he'll make a mistake. Activating a spell completion item is a standard action (or the spell's casting time, whichever is longer) and provokes attacks of opportunity exactly as casting a spell does.
Note that you can't activate a scroll (without a chance of failing) unless you can also cast that spell - clearly two separate and different things.
Note that you can't activate a scroll (without a chance of failing) unless you can also cast that spell - clearly two separate and different things.
This is incorrect.
An example: a 5th level sorcerer with an arcane scroll of fireball (CL 5).
Another example: 1st level wizard with an arcane scroll of hideous laughter (CL 1, DC 11) that was scribed by a bard.
-James
I dunno about that. The PFSRD text I quoted above says "To use a spell completion item safely, a character must be of high enough level in the right class to cast the spell already". I don't think that sentence is meant to read "a character must be of high enough level in in any class in the game even if he's never taken any levels in that class".
In your first example, the sorcerer is not high enough level in the wizard class to cast Fireball, nor is he high enough level in the sorcerer class, so he would have a chance to fail with his scroll.
And in your other example, the wizard is not high enough in the wizard class to cast Hideous Laughter, nor is he high enough level in the bard class, so he would have a chance to fail with his scroll.