Say I have a scroll of spiritual weapon. How does this work in combat?
1. I walk up to a guy, hit him with a sword, then use my bonus action to grab the scroll and read it. Does that work? Is it different if I have a shield in my other hand?
2. I use my action to grab the scroll, bonus action to read it?
3. Some other thing
The DMG says casting a spell with a scroll takes the normal casting time of the spell. How does this get resolved?
You would need an empty hand to grab the scroll. If you aren't holding it at the start of your turn you can use your free object interaction to grab it out from your inventory. Then you can use a Bonus Action to cast the spell. This leaves you free to use your Action and your movement however you like, before or after the scroll spell (though you can't cast another spell other than a cantrip).
What Regent said is correct. Addressing the shield: your hand is occupied, and you would have to use an action to doff the shield before you can grab the scroll.
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You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
Exactly what I needed to know. Thanks, folks. I'm playing in a players vs. environment tournament this weekend. Aside from the specific mechanics of it, this really helps when deciding what scrolls I should buy.
Just because nobody quoted it, Spell Scroll answers part of this question about action economy itself, but also opens up some ambiguity about whether hands are needed.
A spell scroll bears the words of a single spell, written in a mystical cipher. If the spell is on your class’s spell list, you can read the scroll and cast its spell without providing any material components. Otherwise, the scroll is unintelligible. Casting the spell by reading the scroll requires the spell’s normal casting time. ...
With no ambiguity, reading a scroll for a bonus action spell will require a bonus action to read.
What is more ambiguous is what "read the scroll" means. Clearly we ignore M (materials/focus in free hand) required by the spell itself... but does the scroll as an item need to be "read" out loud if the spell has no V? Does it have to be in your hand to be "read" if it has no S, or could it be taped to the back of your shield?
RAI you usually interact items and equipment by way of holding them in a free hand, so I think everyone is correct that you need have an empty hand. But if your DM allows hair splitting, having some other way to display the scroll within reading distance (a Mage Hand? Familiar holding it up for you? Taped to your shield or the back of your hand?) might be allowable.
Say I have a scroll of spiritual weapon. How does this work in combat?
1. I walk up to a guy, hit him with a sword, then use my bonus action to grab the scroll and read it. Does that work? Is it different if I have a shield in my other hand?
2. I use my action to grab the scroll, bonus action to read it?
3. Some other thing
The DMG says casting a spell with a scroll takes the normal casting time of the spell. How does this get resolved?
You would need an empty hand to grab the scroll. If you aren't holding it at the start of your turn you can use your free object interaction to grab it out from your inventory. Then you can use a Bonus Action to cast the spell. This leaves you free to use your Action and your movement however you like, before or after the scroll spell (though you can't cast another spell other than a cantrip).
I would also play it the way RegentCorreon described.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
What Regent said is correct. Addressing the shield: your hand is occupied, and you would have to use an action to doff the shield before you can grab the scroll.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
Exactly what I needed to know. Thanks, folks. I'm playing in a players vs. environment tournament this weekend. Aside from the specific mechanics of it, this really helps when deciding what scrolls I should buy.
Just because nobody quoted it, Spell Scroll answers part of this question about action economy itself, but also opens up some ambiguity about whether hands are needed.
With no ambiguity, reading a scroll for a bonus action spell will require a bonus action to read.
What is more ambiguous is what "read the scroll" means. Clearly we ignore M (materials/focus in free hand) required by the spell itself... but does the scroll as an item need to be "read" out loud if the spell has no V? Does it have to be in your hand to be "read" if it has no S, or could it be taped to the back of your shield?
RAI you usually interact items and equipment by way of holding them in a free hand, so I think everyone is correct that you need have an empty hand. But if your DM allows hair splitting, having some other way to display the scroll within reading distance (a Mage Hand? Familiar holding it up for you? Taped to your shield or the back of your hand?) might be allowable.
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
My bard has some scrolls sewn into the inside of his cloak.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!