| 3 people marked this as FAQ candidate. |
Charges from touch spells that are held are lost if the caster casts a new spell. Does activating a wand or staff count as casting a new spell for this purpose?
The recent thread where Grick made it clear that spells from wands and staves couldn't be used with Spellstrike has me wondering if maybe a Magi with the wand wielder arcana could start round one with a frostbite spell, and end round two with a non-attack spell from his staff, without having to waste whatever charges remain from his frostbite.
I asked that question in the same thread, I think. FAQ'ed.
"Activation: Wands use the spell trigger activation method, so casting a spell from a wand is usually a standard action that doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity. (If the spell being cast has a longer casting time than 1 action, however, it takes that long to cast the spell from a wand.) To activate a wand, a character must hold it in hand (or whatever passes for a hand, for nonhumanoid creatures) and point it in the general direction of the target or area. A wand may be used while grappling or while swallowed whole.
Spell Trigger: Spell trigger activation is similar to spell completion, but it's even simpler. No gestures or spell finishing is needed, just a special knowledge of spellcasting that an appropriate character would know, and a single word that must be spoken. 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. The user must still determine what spell is stored in the item before she can activate it. Activating a spell trigger item is a standard action and does not provoke attacks of opportunity."
Since there is no gestures required, and it does not provoke an AoO, I do not think casting from a wand would cause you to lose your held touch spell.