Quesitons about the Ready Action, spells, and magic items.

[Phhase]

(Regarding both 5e and 3.5, in case it's different)

Ok, so, first question: Casting/activating a spell from a wand, rod, or staff. Does it have a mandatory verbal/somatic component?

Second: If I ready an action to cast Silence on an enemy if I see it begin to cast a spell, will the spell be negated?

And third time pays for all: Combining the previous two questions, could I prevent the activation of a wand, rod, or staff by using a Ready action to cast Silence if I see someone attempting to activate it?

If so, my love of Silence just got even greater, and I already love it going in.

[Kelb_Panthera]

For 3.5, There's an ambiguity in whether the command to activate a wand must be audible but there is no somatic component. You merely need to point the wand at the target or touch him, depending on the spell. A silence spell -may- stop it, depending on how the ambiguity is ruled. I'd probably rule that it does.

Spells are another matter. Silence only stops a spell from being cast if it has a verbal component. If it doesn't or if it's been modified into a silent spell via metamagic, then a silence effect will be meaningless. You're better off either blasting him in the face or trying to counter-spell with dispel magic, depending on how lethal you want your interrupt to be.

Don't know how or if this changed with 5e.

[paddyfool]

For 3.5e, I would rule that wands are not affected by Silence, because the activation method description does not say anything about words being needed: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wands.htm

For certain specific spells a wand can hold, Silence might well interfere with effective use of that wand, however. (Command spells, Suggestion spells, maybe Power Word spells, etc.. it could also make it more difficult for the Silenced character to direct the actions of a summons, leaving them to act as they see fit / best interpret gestures, or have other such nuanced effects).

[NNescio]

For 3.5e, I would rule that wands are not affected by Silence, because the activation method description does not say anything about words being needed: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wands.htm


Wands are spell trigger items. Spell trigger items require "a single word that must be spoken." That part is RAW and unambiguously clear.

What is ambiguous is whether an area of magical silence would prevent spell trigger items from working, because nothing technically says the word must be audible, as noted by Kelb. Though I say it would probably blocks it by RAI, but at this point I'm mostly speculating.


(Regarding both 5e and 3.5, in case it's different)

Ok, so, first question: Casting/activating a spell from a wand, rod, or staff. Does it have a mandatory verbal/somatic component?

No. They explicitly do not, in both editions (unless otherwise stated under the specific rules for that relevant item).

In 3.5e, wands and staves are spell trigger items. When using spell trigger items, "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."

Rods are usually use-activated items that require a specific type of action to activate. They don't require spell components either.

The rules for 5e are much simpler (no more multiple activation categories) and require far less cross-referencing:


Some magic items allow the user to cast a spell from the item. The spell is cast at the lowest possible spell level, doesn't expend any of the user's spell slots, and requires no components, unless the item's description says otherwise.

(emphasis mine.)




Second: If I ready an action to cast Silence on an enemy if I see it begin to cast a spell, will the spell be negated?

If the spell has no verbal component, then silence has no effect.

Otherwise, it works in 3.5e, but not in 5e. By default, readied actions occur before their triggers in 3.5e, but they occur after triggers in 5e, unless otherwise stated (e.g. the Shield spell, opportunity attacks).




And third time pays for all: Combining the previous two questions, could I prevent the activation of a wand, rod, or staff by using a Ready action to cast Silence if I see someone attempting to activate it?

You can't do so in 5e, due to the timing of reactions.

You might be able to do so for wands and staves in 3.5e, because they require "a single word that must be spoken". While it technically doesn't say the spoken word must be audible, from personal experience most DM will rule that silence blocks it.

As for rods in 3.5e, they generally do not require words to be spoken, command words or otherwise.

--

Note that some magic items in 5e require command words to be spoken to access some of their functions. This will be noted under the specific rules for the item (e.g. Staff of the Python). Otherwise, by default, magic items do not require command words.

Under 5e, speaking such a command word (if any) is explicitly forbidden in an area of silence:


A magic item that requires a command word can't be activated in an area where sound is prevented, as in the area of the silence spell.

(Funnily enough, a literal RAW reading of this would prevent such an item from being activated at all even if has some other functions that do not require a command word. Though this likely isn't intended.)

So it would work if the Silence spell has been cast beforehand. Though, as noted earlier, you generally can't interrupt the casting of a verbal spell with a readied Silence spell in 5e, as readied actions occur after their triggers in that edition (unlike 3.X). There are some... esoteric conditions where you set the trigger to occur after another creature's reaction that can interrupt another action (e.g. ready action to Silence if your ally's Counterspell gets Countered), but then the exact timing becomes ambiguous and is subject to DM adjudication. But this is a potential loophole that is unlikely to occur anyway.