Can a spellcaster, who is bound and gagged, use this item to cast a spell to help them escape their captors?

Bound and gagged with the intent of not being able to use magic to escape. 

I am building a sort of bounty hunter, but he has no magic of his own. and I was thinking of giving him this ring so I can add "counterspell"
would that work?

it says "but is otherwise treated as if you cast the spell." and it does not say that it takes an action. so in my mind it follows the rules of the spell.
as the DM it is up to me how I want to run the game, and the same rules would then also be applied to the players. does it seem fair?

Quote from Stephenshire >>

What God/goddess would be able to give this to my character

 Hypothetically, any god or goddess could bequeath this, though it does line up more with magically-inclined deities like Hecate or even knowledge-inclined ones like Ioun (see the Ioun Stone of Reserve, which behaves in a similar way)

Quote from PorQueNoSteve >>

Can a spellcaster, who is bound and gagged, use this item to cast a spell to help them escape their captors?

Bound and gagged with the intent of not being able to use magic to escape. 

 Yes, the description of using a spell stored in an item eschews all components (material, verbal, and somatic) unless the item says otherwise, which this one does not.  Note that this magic item specifies that the spells cast from it are of the spell level of the caster and using the caster's ability, which does specifically override some of the other text in that section. 

Per this item's description: While wearing this ring, you can cast any spell stored in it. 

So provided that you are attuned to the ring and it was not removed from your person, yes.  If the ring was removed from you such that you're no longer wearing it, then no.  Do note that the spell you'd need to cast from the ring would have had to previously been stored (Freedom of Movement, perhaps, to use 5 ft of movement to escape any nonmagical binding), and that spell at the time of that casting would have required all applicable components (including somatic and verbal) so it's not like a mega-focus or anything like that.  Seems very situational, but possible.

Quote from MeanPandaKing >>

I am building a sort of bounty hunter, but he has no magic of his own. and I was thinking of giving him this ring so I can add "counterspell"
would that work?

it says "but is otherwise treated as if you cast the spell." and it does not say that it takes an action. so in my mind it follows the rules of the spell.
as the DM it is up to me how I want to run the game, and the same rules would then also be applied to the players. does it seem fair?

 Yes, your bounty hunter, provided Counterspell was added to the ring in advance, could cast it as a reaction.  This item does not mention an action to use the item, it simply says you can cast a spell from it.  The action required to do so would be the action required to perform the spell in the first place, such as a reaction for Counterspell, an action for Magic Missile, a bonus action for Shadow Blade, or an hour for Find Familiar.

It does kind of sound like you might not fully grasp the item's intent though: Once the bounty hunter casts Counterspell once, Counterspell is removed from the ring.  So you could do this, but it would not be an endless supply of Counterspells.  It would need to be recharged by a caster capable of casting Counterspell (or any other spells the bounty hunter may find convenient).

An interesting idea for your non-magical bounty hunter: They likely have no other need for their concentration so the bounty hunter could cast a concentration spell, like Bless, out of the ring of spell storing and maintain the concentration on it, freeing up the party's cleric to simultaneously Bane the enemies.

yall need to read the description. The spell storing ring gives any player the ability to cast a spell as if they are the spell caster that casted it. That means the spell dc, and spell attack rolls of the original caster. Though you are the one casting so you would need to concentrate on that spell. When the castor casts the spell in there they expend the slot they used to cast it. Which means upcasting is included. An upcast of cure wounds using a spell slot of 5 would use up the whole ring. You can cast any spell in there as long as the caster touches the ring while doing it. Which means you can have a fighter use the ring to cast spirit shroud on her or himself then go smack enemies. This is one of my favorite magic items in the game because you can give a martial the ability to concentrate on spells and borrow spells from spell casters around them besides a barbarian when they are raging.

Quote from Clochmabenstane >>

Curious why under either notes and/or item tags an entry for college/school of magic is not given. What would Detect Magic show?

 

This is a bit of an older question, but I recently gave this some thought and came up with this in my own headcanon:

The ring itself gives a mild abjuration ping, as that seems the nearest school to what this spell does.  I tossed back and forth between conjuration and abjuration, but ultimately conjuration is more for creating things out of nothing, and abjuration is more for manipulating the fundamental nature of magic, with things like Absorb Elements, Counterspell, and Dispel Magic.  It's true that many abjuration spells are protective in nature, but not necessarily all of them.  And worked into many of these protective wards are abilities similar in nature to the Ring of Spell Storing.  Glyph of Warding comes to mind.

I would also state that it is overlaid with an aura of whatever spells are stored in it, and of a strength proportional to the spell level of that stored spell.

So for instance, if someone did Detect Magic on a Ring of Spell Storing that contained a 3rd-level Cure Wounds and a 2nd-level Invisibility I'd tell them that they detected multiple schools of magic on it: mild abjuration and illusion with moderate evocation.

But since it doesn't state directly in here it's obviously dealer's choice; that's just how I'd rule it in my games.  Of course for the aforementioned Glyph of Warding, I'd similarly describe that it was a moderate abjuration aura overlaid with the appropriate strength and school of the stored spell (or perhaps even evocation if they use the basic murderdeathkill effect).

I'm going to use this to use up remaining spell slots before a long rest (my character has 3 levels of spellcaster and the remaining 13 is a healing-type class, so the healing/Misty Step spells would be useful) and plan to rope our other main spellcaster into the scheme. I like the potential spell economy, and I can live with the casting time being the same. I agree that a section with the stored spells would be useful, although it seems like it would be a hassle to enter the different stats rather than just writing it in the notes option.

However, I would like to know if leveled spells that don't use spell slots due to a limited use feature (i.e. Misty Step from Fey Touched, Disguise Self/Detect Magic from Firbolg) can be stored in the ring. A spell slot isn't consumed while the spell is cast, but it does consume a slot of some sort.

Also, can the ring store spells that were cast as a ritual?

Update: DM ruled that it can store a free use spell if there's space in the ring for it.

Quote from OboeGotNoElbow >>

Update: DM ruled that it can store a free use spell if there's space in the ring for it.

 That's how I would have ruled it too.  It doesn't say specifically that you need to expend a slot for it, just that "any creature can cast a spell of 1st through 5th level into the ring by touching the ring as the spell is cast."  Doesn't say that it specifically has to come from the Spellcasting or Pact Magic class abilities, and presumably you could barter with a monstrous NPC to cast a powerful spell into the ring, such as Dream from a Dusk Hag, for a price.  It would just take up the lowest level spell slot it could.

Quote from Corvidmori >>

give everyone in the party a ring and everyone casts fireball

 No silvery barbs that’s what my party did

That's a case of "the DM did this to themselves."  +5 casts of silvery barbs each day per party member is just disgusting.  🤣

You are correct. Spells cast from the ring do not use any of your spell slots. 

Let's summarize all we've talked about here. I also added comments based on the underlying principles that:

• The original caster is unrestricted in using class features and magic items to modify the spell as it is cast into the ring.
• The attuned user of the ring is just unleashing the stored energy put into the ring by the original caster, and as such cannot modify it in any way.

What is a ring of spell storing?

• As the name indicates, it stores spells.
• The ring can store up to a total of 5 levels of spells.
• Each spell stored in the ring takes up space equal to the level of the spell (e.g. burning hands takes 1 level, fireball takes 3 levels, and so on). This spell level might be modified when the spell is stored in the ring.
• The item description does not state how to treat cantrips, so it's up to the DM. In other cases in the game where a cantrip must be treated as having a level, they are often treated as 1st level. I'd recommend this for the sake of simplicity, but that's not a rule, just my opinion.

How do the spells get into the ring?

• Any creature with the ability to cast a spell can place a spell into the ring by touching it and casting the spell. This includes class features like Spellcasting, Pact Magic, Shadow Magic, and Disciple of the Elements. It also includes racial abilities like Infernal Legacy and creatures with feats such as Magic Initiate, Fey Touched, or Gift of the Metallic Dragon.
• The caster expends all the resources necessary to cast the spell, including material components, spell slots, ki points, daily uses, sorcery points, and so on, at the time the spell is placed in the ring.
• All characteristics of the spell such as save DC, spell attack bonus, upcasting to a higher level, the application of class features like metagmagic, and the use of magic items such as wand of the war mage to increase save DC or spell attack bonus are set by the caster at the time the spell is placed in the ring.
• Casting time is also affected by the original caster. A sorcerer can quicken a spell when it is cast into the ring. A ritual spell takes 10 more minutes if that's how it was cast into the ring.
• An upcast spell takes space in the ring equal to its upcast level.
• The ring can hold spells from different casters, classes, races, etc. at the same time, and as such can each have different characteristics like save DC.
• Spells stay in the ring until they are cast. When a ring is found in some random treasure hoard, it contains 1d6 - 1 levels of spells, determined by the DM. The DM can choose to specify the spells in the ring without the random roll, usually if there is some story around where the ring came from and who owned it before. If the ring contains fewer than 5 levels, additional spells can be immediately added to fill those levels.

How are the spells cast out of the ring?

• The creature attuned to the ring can cast the spells out of the ring.
• Any creature can attune the ring (assuming the creature is able to attune magic items at all).
• The attuned creature does not have to be able to cast spells to use the ring.
• When a creature attunes the ring, it immediately knows the spells stored within and how they work. It does not necessarily understand if the spell has been modified by upcasting, metamagic, etc., unless it already has an understanding of the spell as a basis for comparison.
• Casting a spell from the ring does not use any of the attuned creature's resources such as spell slots, ki points, etc. The original caster spent those resources already.
• The spell does not require any verbal, somatic, or material components as per the rules for casting spells from magic items. If it did, that would imply the ring imparts the knowledge to cast the spell or magically compels the attuned creature to speak magic words or perform somatic gestures.
• If the spell requires concentration, the attuned creature that cast the spell must maintain it.
• The attuned creature cannot use any of its own abilities or items to modify the spell in any way, including upcasting or using metamagic. The original caster fixed all characteristics of the spell when it was added to the ring.
• Spells cast from the ring cannot benefit from items such as wand of the war mage either, in the same way that such items cannot affect magic items with a fixed save DC or spell attack bonus.
• A spell cast from the ring cannot be interrupted by counterspell unless the counterspelling caster can somehow detect that the attuned creature is using the ring.
• Once a spell is cast, it is gone from the ring. The number of levels it used up out of the 5 available are now free to hold a new spell.

Someone brought up the cost of magic items on several occasions, mentioning 3rd edition as a comparison. It's important to note that magic items that allow spells to be stored and cast, such as wands, are intended to work differently in 5e. In 3e, casters spent their own experience points to make items and charge them with spells. A wand of fireballs could hold up to 100 castings when created, but unlike 5e, the wand was consumable. It did not recover used spells. In the Forgotten Realms, this all changed as the result of changes to magic coming out of the Spellplague and the Second Sundering. That wand of fireballs your 5e character just found might have been created by a caster a century ago under the 3e rules, but it no longer functions the same way thanks to those story elements. Since magic items like these are no longer the simple consumables they were in 3e, their crafting rules are less formulaic (as per the rules in Xanathar's Guide). On the plus side, they no longer consume the creator's experience points. That was a drag.

If the spell would normally require concentration, would the caster need to maintain the concentration?

Using the Secret Chest spell and some regular ol' resources, you've just given your party 2 months of a secret chest by sharing the ring around. :D

They never said the caster was willing so if the Rouge slipped one down the enemy wizards robe it no longer has counter spell of 5lev and below 

 <till the ring fills>

Oh **** yes.

Secret Chest + Find Familiar for the whole team!

Quote from Minitohozuki >>

If the spell would normally require concentration, would the caster need to maintain the concentration?

 The attuned wearer of the ring must maintain concentration if the spell requires it. 

Quote from The_man_of_many_name >>

They never said the caster was willing so if the Rouge slipped one down the enemy wizards robe it no longer has counter spell of 5lev and below 

 <till the ring fills> 

You're implying that the ring, simply by touching any caster, will automatically absorb any spell they cast whether they want it to or not. That is not how the item is intended to work.

The wording is "Any creature can cast a spell of 1st through 5th level into the ring by touching the ring as the spell is cast." By using the word "can", it's indicated that the caster is choosing to do so when they cast the spell into the ring. It doesn't happen without the caster's intent.

Further, it also states that "If the ring can't hold the spell, the spell is expended without effect." That indicates that a caster can keep trying to load up spells, but they just fizzle and nothing happens if the ring is full. If the ring absorbed spells involuntarily, then any caster wearing such a ring would never be able to cast a spell under 6th level, because the ring would absorb them and discard them constantly.

No, the ring does not work like you're suggesting. If you're looking for an item like that, a rod of absorption is the closest I can think of.

Can you "catch" a spell targeted at you with the ring?