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With a box
2015-05-07, 02:05 AM
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. No other special knowledge is needed.

A command word can be a real word, but when this is the case, the holder of the item runs the risk of activating the item accidentally by speaking the word in normal conversation. More often, the command word is some seemingly nonsensical word, or a word or phrase from an ancient language no longer in common use. Activating a command word magic item is a standard action and does not provoke attacks of opportunity.
Can I make command word item tied to a phase like "I surrender" use as semi-contigency?
or If it's not a word, then word like "affirmative" that won't likely use in casual talk.
say phrase like "I surrender" or "affirmative" would be free action, isn't it?
could it be talking and use outside of my turn?

Extra Anchovies
2015-05-07, 02:09 AM
That text in question is kind of contradictory to RAW. Using a command-word item takes a standard action, and you need to consciously declare that you're taking a particular standard action when you do so. You can't accidentally take a standard action, so you can't accidentally activate a command-word item.

Of course, this also means that an item keyed to the phrase "I surrender" only functions when you have a standard action to activate it. You could still disguise the fact that you're activating it if you include that phrase along with some other stuff (and by making a good enough Bluff check), but you can't accidentally trigger it, nor can you use it out of turn.

Surpriser
2015-05-07, 05:12 AM
Extra Anchovies is correct.

One way to fluff it is that while you could set the command word itself to a phrase such as "I surrender", the activation itself also requires a nontrivial amount of concentration and/or some time for the effect to kick in and this is what makes you require a standard action.

So, simply dropping the activation phrase will not help, neither will for example an audio recording of these words.

JDL
2015-05-07, 05:57 AM
This is also covered under the wording of the Magic Mouth spell. The spell allows you to program a phrase to be spoken from any creature or object, but it explicitly forbids the phrase from activating command words. Activating an item requires a focus of effort or will. You must concentrate on it to the exclusion of doing anything else. This is also why you shouldn't be able to craft multiple command word items that all activate from the same command word at once.