Silencing Item Activations

[bekeleven]

There are three types of sounds magical items typically require:


Spell completion: "All that’s left to do is perform the finishing parts of the spellcasting (the final gestures, words, and so on)."
Spell Trigger: "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."
Command Word: "Command word activation means that a character speaks the word and the item activates."


If I want to activate these items in public, I want the reduce as many components as possible. So, let's begin.


Spell Completion: This is actually the easiest because it uses spell components. There are a lot of ways to remove components from spells, the easiest being the DMG rules that let you make Silent Stilled spells in items. I'm not 100% clear you'd be able to use something like a scroll with a Metamagic Rod or a Ring of Silent Spells, though. If those work I could even arguably apply Nonverbal Spell.
Spell Trigger: We have a few ways to add metamagic to spells cast off spell trigger, from the appropriately named feat Metamagic Spell Trigger to Metamagic Wand Grips. However, spell trigger items already require no somatic components beyond access to the item itself, and if our goal is to replace the "single word" spoken to activate them... That's not really the verbal component to the spell, now, is it? And while RAW doesn't directly say one way or the other, it seems commonsense that you can't activate a spell trigger in range of Silence.
Command Word: The situation with command words is pretty similar to spell trigger, with the exception that you don't even have any syntactical ambiguity to lean on. You can't use a feat named "spell trigger" on a command word item, and there's no way a command-word item of Silent Magic Missile wouldn't need a command word.


So, how do I get away with using all of these items in public? One idea I was playing around with was a shaped Silence, but that requires 5 feet of clearance around me due to minimum shapeable dimensions and that seems almost entirely infeasible.

[Teth]

Use Craft Wondrous Item + Zone of Silence to make a wearable magic item which allows sound to occur normally inside but prevents it being heard outside.

For scrolls of spells with V components, you can probably use a mask since you just have to be able to speak. But the process of invoking scrolls itself isn't necessarily that subtle. Unless you want to be invisible?

With command word items, the sound most likely needs to get to the item since you're commanding it, so you'd need a cloak or something like that where both you and the item can be under it? Think magic Alexa. It'd be funny to try to set one of these off in a noisy area and run into the typical non-magical complications.

As for spell trigger items, I'd argue it's a specialized V component since you're using your casting ability to trigger the item, and thus just has to be spoken not conveyed, although others could argue it's a command word behavior since it's not specified. But we know it's otherwise spell-like, and aren't told it has a command word recognition feature, so KISS. Of course, if anyone did go the other way, wands are easier to fire from under a cloak vs. other options. Or if you think having your lips move without sound is less conspicuous than wearing a mask.

Come to think of it, if you just want to wand someone under the table specifically, you could Zone of Silence a handkerchief and hold it over your face temporarily. That's probably less conspicuous than the other two if circumstances allow, and if you really have to be within 5 ft of someone for some reason and thus can't use Zone of Silence directly.