[Alignment Spell] Scrolls & Clerics

[Memento Mortis]

Hi everyone,

I apologize if this has been answered elsewhere, but I haven't been able to find mention of it.

Can a Cleric cast a spell via a divine scroll that directly opposes his alignment and that of his god? If he can, does it require a check (Caster Level/Spellcraft/UMD)?

For example:

In my game there is a Cleric (CN) of Caiden Caylian (CG). His party recently looted a Divine Scroll of Order's Wrath. Order's Wrath is technically on the Cleric's spell list, but there's this:

the PRD wrote:

Chaotic, Evil, Good, and Lawful Spells

A cleric can't cast spells of an alignment opposed to her own or her deity's (if she has one). Spells associated with particular alignments are indicated by the chaotic, evil, good, and lawful descriptors in their spell descriptions.

So what's the RAW here?

Thanks!

[Sesharan]

Probably yes, but neither they nor their god should be willing to do so. They might need a UMD to imitate an alignment, at GM discretion, but otherwise I don't think anything prevents them from doing so. Wizards can use scrolls from their opposition schools, after all.

["Devil's Advocate"]

It's one of those things I've seen officially answered a few times, but each seems to contradict the other, similar to how for Clerics (and others) Domain Spells are not actually Class Spells.

It can be argued that spells with an opposing alignment to either the Cleric or the Deity ar not actually on the Cleric's spell list, so they wouldn't be able to use the scroll (without the normal UMD), or that it is on the Cleric Spell List, so even though they can't cast it, they can use a scroll, (and then there is the question of if it might cause the Cleric to fall).

In PFS, the alignment issue is no, it will nt cause an issue, but I'm not sure if they can or can not actually use it without a UMD check.

[Memento Mortis]

Huh... so the issue is as murky as I thought it was. Thanks for the thoughts.

The cleric in question ended up casting Order's Wrath from the scroll to save his party and get them out of a pretty tight spot. It was only after (an hour ago) that I remembered he was a CN cleric of a CG deity.

I decided to let this one time slide because of how epic the situation was. But in the future I'll probably require a UMD check if he wants to do things like that again, and then maybe a percentile roll to see if he earns Cayden Cailean's ire.

Any other input is welcome though, I'm curious to see if anyone else has opinions they'd like to throw into the mix.