I had a player at a Pathfinder Society table that I was running this past weekend who had a level in druid and was wearing mithral armor. (He was really a halfling rogue who took a level in druid to get an animal companion/mount.)
So, according to the rules:
A druid who wears prohibited armor or carries a prohibited shield is unable to cast druid spells or use any of her supernatural or spell-like class abilities while doing so and for 24 hours thereafter.
Would wearing mithral armor impede a druid's ability to use wands since they cannot cast spells while wearing the armor?
That's a good question, and one that I've wondered about in the past. I would say that a druid who is temporarily cut off from spellcasting can't use a wand, just like an ex-paladin or ex-cleric can't use a wand (even though it's only temporary). But it's certainly not clear one way or the other.
In order to use a wand, you only need to have the spell on your class list. No other requirements need to be met.
This is why a level 1 paladin could use a wand of Cure Light Wounds or a wand of Restoration, spells he certainly cannot cast while he's level 1, but the wands work just fine for him.
Here is the relevant text from the rules:
Spell trigger items can be used by anyone whose class can cast the corresponding spell. This is the case even for a character who can't actually cast spells, such as a 3rd-level paladin.
Note that it simply says "whose class can cast the corresponding spell".
So if you are a paladin or a cleric or a druid, you can *always* use a wand if the spell is useable by your class.
However, if you are an ex-paladin, or an ex-cleric, or an ex-druid, then you can only use a wand if the spell is on your "ex-class" list (since you don't currently have a class with spells, you wouldn't be able to use any wands at all until you atone and regain your class status).
Note that a druid wearing metal armor is still a druid, not an ex-druid, so he can still use wands just fine.
In order to use a wand, you only need to have the spell on your class list. No other requirements need to be met.
This is why a level 1 paladin could use a wand of Cure Light Wounds or a wand of Restoration, spells he certainly cannot cast while he's level 1, but the wands work just fine for him.
Here is the relevant text from the rules:
Spell trigger items can be used by anyone whose class can cast the corresponding spell. This is the case even for a character who can't actually cast spells, such as a 3rd-level paladin.Note that it simply says "whose class can cast the corresponding spell".
So if you are a paladin or a cleric or a druid, you can *always* use a wand if the spell is useable by your class.
However, if you are an ex-paladin, or an ex-cleric, or an ex-druid, then you can only use a wand if the spell is on your "ex-class" list (since you don't currently have a class with spells, you wouldn't be able to use any wands at all until you atone and regain your class status).
Note that a druid wearing metal armor is still a druid, not an ex-druid, so he can still use wands just fine.
Not sure I buy that ex-clerics cannot use wands. Ex-clerics don't lose their spell list, they just lose the power to cast spells.
Wands are spell trigger. That means you just need to know how the spell works, you don't have to actually be able to cast the spell. Unless becoming an ex-cleric wipes all knowledge of clerics spells from your mind, you still know the rituals to cast cleric spells, but you simply cannot tap into the power that makes the spell work.
An ex-cleric cannot use scrolls since that requires that you be able to cast the spell, but wands and staves are in a grey area.
Either way, yes a druid in metal armor can use wands, but they cannot cast spells.
Thanks for the prompt responses, guys!
If he's a Druid wearing metal I'd say he'd also lose his connection to his Animal Companion as well.
Umm... Nature's bond (which gives the Animal Companion) is an (Ex) ability. The rules only quote the druid losing his (Sp) and (Su) abilities along the spells.
So, RAW, Animal Companion, Nature Sense, Wild Empathy, Trackless Step and a couple other abilities, being (Ex) are pretty much unaffected.
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This is a very unusual circumstance, but sveden would be right in saying that wearing metal armor all the time would be grounds for needing atonement. The losing spells and such for 24 hours happens because you're breaking your oath, but they return without atonement because (I assume) the forces of nature and such understand that sometimes you are stuck in dire situations where it is the only way to survive. However wearing metal as normal day-to-day equipment is a constant and deliberate breaking of the druid's oath, and they don't seem to have any intention of returning to it.
