So I recently gave my player a Staff of the Woodlands. He can expend some of it's charges with an action to cast a spell from it. I was looking at awaken in particular, which has a casting time of 8 hours.
My question is this: If a magic item can expend charges to cast a spell from the item, do I replace that spell's casting time with the time it took to expend the charge (so in this case, Awaken would only have a casting time of 1 action), or keep that casting time and add it onto the time it took to expend the charge?
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No, I don't think anything in the description of the staff changes the casting time of any of its spells. It takes an action to use the staff, so the minimum casting time is definitely one action, but beyond that the DMG states that the normal rules for casting spells from magic objects is that the spell uses its normal casting time, range, duration and concentration, and that only certain magic objects specifically change those requirements in their descriptions. The staff has no such change to the casting time for Awaken, so I would rule it takes the full 8 hours (but you bypass the need for a 1000gp gemstone so I wouldn't be complaining too much).
Since for Awaken the casting time specifies a particular activity that doesn't apply when using the staff ("After spending the casting time tracing magical pathways within a precious gemstone"), It only makes sense that this is skipped when using the staff's charge. You're left with "you touch a Huge or smaller beast or plant." It would make little sense to have to stand there touching a beast or plant for 8 hours.
Well ok, but then that doesn't make much sense for the DMG to say the default is it uses its normal casting time. Pretty much every single object that lets you cast spells from it phrases that as "you can use an action to expend 1 charge and cast X" (though admittedly most all of the spells being cast also have a normal casting time of one action, so they are overriding that with the same value). It took me a really long time to find something with a different method (a crystal ball that casts scrying). Feels a bit pointless to set up a general rule and then have 99% of cases break that general rule.
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So I recently gave my player a Staff of the Woodlands. He can expend some of it's charges with an action to cast a spell from it. I was looking at awaken in particular, which has a casting time of 8 hours.
My question is this: If a magic item can expend charges to cast a spell from the item, do I replace that spell's casting time with the time it took to expend the charge (so in this case, Awaken would only have a casting time of 1 action), or keep that casting time and add it onto the time it took to expend the charge?
Reality is more amazing than we are often led to believe.
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The item description represents the exception in this case, so you use the a casting time of 1 action.
No, I don't think anything in the description of the staff changes the casting time of any of its spells. It takes an action to use the staff, so the minimum casting time is definitely one action, but beyond that the DMG states that the normal rules for casting spells from magic objects is that the spell uses its normal casting time, range, duration and concentration, and that only certain magic objects specifically change those requirements in their descriptions. The staff has no such change to the casting time for Awaken, so I would rule it takes the full 8 hours (but you bypass the need for a 1000gp gemstone so I wouldn't be complaining too much).
But indeed, Staff of Woodlands is the exception the DMG is referring to.
https://www.sageadvice.eu/2018/03/20/staff-of-the-woodlands-can-use-an-action-to-cast-awaken-but-awaken-takes-8-hours-which-is-it/
Since for Awaken the casting time specifies a particular activity that doesn't apply when using the staff ("After spending the casting time tracing magical pathways within a precious gemstone"), It only makes sense that this is skipped when using the staff's charge. You're left with "you touch a Huge or smaller beast or plant." It would make little sense to have to stand there touching a beast or plant for 8 hours.
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Well ok, but then that doesn't make much sense for the DMG to say the default is it uses its normal casting time. Pretty much every single object that lets you cast spells from it phrases that as "you can use an action to expend 1 charge and cast X" (though admittedly most all of the spells being cast also have a normal casting time of one action, so they are overriding that with the same value). It took me a really long time to find something with a different method (a crystal ball that casts scrying). Feels a bit pointless to set up a general rule and then have 99% of cases break that general rule.