Magic Items, Spell Casting, and Class Features

[Darkweave31]

Say I'm a master specialist for Abjuration (or any other class with class features that interact with casting spells). Could I use my major school esoterica to make an abjuration spell (say antimagic field) I cast from my staff emanate/target another character as per major school esoterica.

Basically does casting a spell from a spell-trigger or spell-completion item count as casting a spell for the purpose of class features?

[Phelix-Mu]

Say I'm a master specialist for Abjuration (or any other class with class features that interact with casting spells). Could I use my major school esoterica to make an abjuration spell (say antimagic field) I cast from my staff emanate/target another character as per major school esoterica.

Basically does casting a spell from a spell-trigger or spell-completion item count as casting a spell for the purpose of class features?

I believe the answer is no. If you look in the actions table in the PHB, I believe the language used for utilizing those items is "activate spell-trigger item," not "cast from spell-trigger item." My understanding is that the only "casting" a character does is generally by utilizing a class feature called Spellcasting (or similar class feature).

In any case, there are rules mavens better than I who may have a more quotable answer. By the way, this is the kind of question that may be answered more quickly in the General 3.5 Q&A thread, stickied at the top of the list of threads, at least in my experience. The people that hang out in that thread are also quite expert in the game, and generally get it right and provide sources, which is very helpful in learning the intricacies of the rules.

[Darkweave31]

Thanks, I'll try posting it there