Does casting a spell from an item allow you to apply class abilities that are used when casting a spell?

Question

This question is updated to request additional answers and details in light of information now available in the Dungeon Master's Guide.

In the released DM basic rules, Lost Mine of Phandelver, Hoard of the Dragon Queen, and the DMG teaser there are wands, staves, and rings that you can use to cast spells.

1. Do abilities that trigger from casting a spell activate when casting a spell from an item?

2. Can the character modify the spell using class abilities when casting a spell from an item?

Examples include:

1. An abjurer Wizard's arcane ward recovering hit points from a Dispel Magic cast from a Ring of Spell Storing

2. A sorcerer using Twinned Spell on a ray of enfeeblement from a Staff of Power

3. An evocation wizard using Sculpt Spell on a fireball from a Wand of Fireballs.

Now that the DMG is out we have some clearer rules on casting spells from items (DMG p. 141):

Some magic items allow you to cast a spell from the item. The spell is cast at the lowest possible spell level, doesn't expend any spell slots, and requires no components, unless the item's description says otherwise The spell uses its normal casting time, range and duration, and the user of the item must concentrate if the spell requires concentration.

A magic item, such as certain staffs, may require you to use your own spellcasting ability when you cast a spell from the item.

Does whether or not you can apply class abilities to the casting of the spell depend whether the item uses the user's own spellcasting ability (such as the Staff of Fire) versus an item that comes with a fixed spellcasting ability built-in (such as the Wand of Fireballs)?

Does it matter if it's something that triggers more or less automatically like Arcane Ward, versus something you have to control, like Careful Spell?

Answer 1

You can apply class abilities to spell casting from magical items

While casting from an item is not the same as a Casting a Spell action, it is still casting a spell. Unless a term is given a special definition in 5e game terms, you use the common definition for that term. You are casting the spell, the ability to do so comes from the item. For instance, the Staff of Fireballs:

.. you can use an action to ... cast one of the following Spells ...

Is no different, in this regard, to Wand of Fireballs from:

you can use an action to ... cast the Fireball spell ...

Jeremy Crawford has posted a number of answers we can point to in the time since this question appeared that verifies this really is the case. Each time he's been asked about a specific class ability the answer has been an affirmative. These were made when his tweets were official rulings, but since have been "downgraded" by the Sage Advice Compendium to his personal advice and perspective. While this is true, it still is clarification of the intent of the designers.

Metamagic

Can Metamagic be used on magic item casting a spell? Yes.

If a magic item's description says you cast a spell from it, you can use Metamagic on the spell. #DnD

and

Metamagic works w/ any spells that sorcerers cast. Wild Magic Surge can work w/ any sorcerer spell they cast. #DnD

Wild Magic

Can using a magic item cause a Wild Magic Surge? Yes

Yes.

Arcane Ward

Can casting from a wand/staff recharge Arcane Ward? Yes

Arcane Ward/Twinned Spell works when you cast a qualifying spell. It even works when an item says you cast one. #DnD

Answer 2

You're casting the spell.

The verbiage is always "you cast," for the items in question. The Ring of Spell Storing uses "you cast" (and it's a good test case as it uses the spell save DC and slot level of the original caster), as do all of the wands I can find.

That means any other effects you have (Such as the Abjurer's Arcane Ward, and the Sorcerer's meta magic) that happen when "you cast a spell" are allowed to trigger on spells cast from a ring of spell storing or a wand or other items that can cast spells (Staff of Defense etc).

Answer 3

RAW

As wax eagle's answer states, it appears that since "you cast" the spell using the item, you can use any of your character's abilities that can be used "when you cast a spell".

DMG P. 141 lays out the rules for items that allow the user to cast spells from them:

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.

and a little further down:

A magic items, such as certain staffs, may require you to use your own spellcasting ability when you cast a spell from the item.

In both quotes it says that the user casts the spell -- not that the use of the item triggers the casting of the spell or any other wording. Thus abilities that you can use "when you cast a spell" are usable -- you are very clearly casting a spell. No ability I have found says "when you cast a spell from your daily spell slots" or "when you us the Cast a Spell action" or anything else that seem to explicitly restrict it from applying when you cast a spell from an item.

RAI (or, what we believe we can induce about Rules as Intended)

Mike Mearls posted a not very certain reply stating "believe it's only when you cast from your slots"

Jeremy Crawford has tweeted that casting a spell from an item is neither a Use an Item action nor a Cast a Spell action. The DMG section (p.141) that was supposed to clarify this mentions only the Use an Item action, and remains silent on Cast a Spell.

Nonetheless, it is not clear that whether or not something is a Cast a Spell action is what determines whether or not you can apply class abilities to the casting. What type of action something is is used to determine under what circumstances you may take that action. None of the class abilities say anything about "When you use the Cast a Spell action..." -- the abilities simply say "when you cast..." while being agnostic as to what kind of action (or item?) is used for the casting.

A proposed compromise:

How we have been playing it is that if you are using an item that uses the user's spellcasting ability (such as most staffs), it is just as if they are casting from slots, except that a slot (and components) are not required. In that case you can use any special spellcasting abilities, such as sculpting, metamagic, powering your Arcane Ward, etc. When you are using such an item, the use of your own spellcasting ability suggests that you are interacting more directly with the weave, and doing more to actually create/shape the spell. The item in this case "merely" allows you to do it without using spell slots and components (and helps cast it even if you wouldn't otherwise know how), but doesn't provide a fully-formed spell for you. You have to bring the spell into being with your own spellcasting ability.

On the other hand, if you are casting from an item that does not use the user's spellcasting ability (such as most wands), we are treating it as if the spell is essentially stored in the item "pre-formed" (with a fixed DC, shape, etc.) and can't be modified, and thus (contrary to what is written) the user isn't really casting the spell for the purpose of using/triggering special spellcasting abilities (but rather it was the creator of the item who had cast the spell, and the user is just commanding it to go off at a selected time). Thus, the user's special spellcasting abilities cannot be used.

Answer 4

Using a magic item to cast a spell is its own unique action type.

Jeremy Crawford has said via Twitter that casting spells from magic items (scrolls, wands, staves, etcetera) is neither a Use an Object/Item nor a Cast a Spell action.

This means that casting an Abjuration spell from an item will not trigger Arcane Ward, spells cast from an item cannot interact with the Twin Spell metamagic, and Thieves cannot use Fast Hands to cast a spell from an item as a bonus action.

A further tweet from Mike Mearls agrees with this ruling, as he says that features like Arcane Ward only apply to spells that you cast using your own personal spell slots (which would also break the popular Wizard 18 / Warlock 2 build which uses at-will Mage Armor to refresh Arcane Ward).

The DMG, which JC said would clarify this situation, states this on page 141:

If an item requires an action to activate, that action isn't a function of the Use an Item action, so a feature such as the rogue's Fast Hands can't be used to activate the item.

I have asked for further clarification here. It should be noted that tweets from Jeremy Crawford and other developers are not official rulings, and official rulings are published only in the Sage Advice Compendium.

Answer 5

Based on Jeremy Crawford's and Mike Mearl's comments brought to light by Eric's excellent answer, I infer that abilities like Metamagic, Arcane Ward, or Sculpt Spells only work with spells that are cast using the Cast a Spell action (as defined on page 192 of the PHB, using one's own spell slots and the appropriate casting time for the spell); not spells that are cast using magic items such as wands, rings, or staves. This is true regardless of whether or not the caster is using his or her own spellcasting ability.