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The question is what kinds of action are required in employing the special powers of a pair of slippers.
Quoting CRB for the purpose of the discussion and appealing to folks' judgement in clicking the [FAQ] button.
When worn, a pair of these slippers enables movement on vertical surfaces or even upside down along ceilings, leaving the wearer’s hands free. Her climb speed is 20 feet. Severely slippery surfaces — icy, oiled, or greased surfaces — make these slippers useless. The slippers can be used for 10 minutes per day, split up as the wearer chooses (minimum 1 minute per use).
Command Word: If no activation method is suggested either in the magic item description or by the nature of the item, assume that a command word is needed to activate it. Command word activation means that a character speaks the word and the item activates... Activating a command word magic item is a standard action and does not provoke attacks of opportunity.
Many use-activated items are objects that a character wears. Continually functioning items are practically always items that one wears. A few must simply be in the character’s possession (meaning on his person). However, some items made for wearing must still be activated. Although this activation sometimes requires a command word (see above), usually it means mentally willing the activation to happen. The description of an item states whether a command word is needed in such a case.
Unless stated otherwise, activating a use-activated magic item is either a standard action or not an action at all and does not provoke attacks of opportunity, unless the use involves performing an action that provokes an attack of opportunity in itself. If the use of the item takes time before a magical effect occurs, then use activation is a standard action. If the item’s activation is subsumed in its use and takes no extra time use, activation is not an action at all.
As its tangentially relevant, I'm also including winged boots as they are essentially footwear for flying instead of spider climbing.
These boots appear to be ordinary footgear. On command, they sprout wings at the heel and let the wearer fly, without having to maintain concentration, as if affected by a fly spell (including a +4 bonus on Fly skill checks). He can fly three per times day for up to 5 minutes per flight.
Now, I've seen GMs have slippers of spider climbing be free to activate when one steps foot on the first vertical surface and others require it take a standard action.
Mark S muses here in 2015 even, but it's nothing official and he even suggest he's been wrong previously about the actions needed.
The winged boots feel clear that they require a standard action, as a command word is referenced, and command word items are clearly stated as requiring a standard action (even though this feels a bit weird as speaking a word is a free action).
The slippers do not mention a command word, so the question is which set of rules do they fall into - command word activated or use activated?
To make our brains hurt more, the command word section says ".. if no activation method is suggested... assume that a command word is needed". The boots don't say they are activated by attempting to walk on a wall, so does that mean a command word is needed (and thus they are a standard action to activate?).
Or, they could be use activated, since the wearer "when worn, a pair enables movement on vertical surfaces", and the activation could be considered "subsumed in its use" of placing the first foot onto a vertical surface.
(Which is a little crazier... this could mean your boots would accidentally activate if you used a rope to climb up a vertical wall and your boots touched that surface since the boots wouldn't realize they were needed or not, thus forcing the wearer to take their boots off if they used a rope to climb so they don't accidentally activate and consume their precious limited time per day).
This post is mostly for FAQ voting so we can get the developers to weigh in officially here on top of Mark's musing.
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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Personally, I lean toward use-activated. Remember, the same sentence that you quote as saying "if no activation method is suggested... assume that a command word is needed" includes the phrase (which for some reason you left out during your discussion) "suggested either in the magic item description or by the nature of the item".
To me, the nature of the item (something you're already constantly walking around in) suggests that they're use-activate (by simply walking in a direction you normally couldn't).
This differs from the winged boots in that the item description requires that your command cause the wings to sprout in the first place. The boots have to undergo a minor transformation, they have to truly activate, in order to be able to fly. The slippers, on the other hand, have no such mention of needing to sprout spines or secrete slime or otherwise switch into "climbing mode" the way the winged boots do.
Nothing in the description suggests anything needs to happen.
The boots say "When you activate them, you get benefit X."
The slippers say "You get benefit X, for Y total duration."
So put me in the "use-activate" camp.
^ What Jiggy said.
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I'm on board with them not requiring an action and it's how I've run the slippers for decades.
This does mean that if the wearer uses a rope to rappel up a wall/cliff, they would need to remove said slippers or else they would activate unbidden.
@Jiggy: Since I saw you posed the original question to Mark, I figured we'd all benefit from a FAQ, especially since Mark wasn't 100% committal on the interpretation we all share.
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RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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This does mean that if the wearer uses a rope to rappel up a wall/cliff, they would need to remove said slippers or else they would activate unbidden.
This seems like a non-issue:
First, if he has slippers of spider climbing, why in the world is he using a rope?Second, assuming he has a reason (conserving duration, because he plans to climbwalk more than 4,000 feet today?), anyone who has time to ropeclimb has time to take their slippers off first and put them back on afterwards.
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RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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I would think they would be activated for the entire time you are wearing them. You would have to take them off to deactivate them.
I can see where you would get that, but if you're right, then the item gets tossed onto the ever-growing junkheap of items not worth using.