[RPG] Does casting a spell from an Ioun Stone/Ring of Spell Storing require components

dnd-5emagic-itemsspell-components

Items such as the Reserved Ioun Stone and Ring of Spell Storing state that:

The spell uses the slot level, spell save DC, spell attack bonus, and spellcasting ability of the original caster, but is otherwise treated as if you cast the spell.

There is no mention of not needing components, which suggests that components are needed twice for these items: once to cast the spell into it and again when casting a spell from them.

Is this correct?

Best Answer

No. Components are required casting into the ring/stone but not out.

DMG p141 (emphasis mine) indicates that the item's description would have to explicitly indicate it would require material components.

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.

The passage within the Ioun Stone and Ring of Spell Storing refers solely to the power level of the spell coming out of the ring or stone as opposed to a set level such as that found on a wand or scroll.

Components (including material) would have been used at the time of casting the spell to be stored in the items in the first place. Double whammy would be counter to the spirit of the item as well as the logic behind them in my opinion.

Another way of thinking... One way to think about it that may help make sense with relation to the base spellcasting rule from the beginning of the chapter is that the item doesn't have innate spells until it is granted one. Think of it as a variable instead of a constant. In the case of a wand the spell Web would be a constant and has specific parameters built in when it is created. Here you instead have a variable that you can set. Once you cast, let's say, Revivify into the Ring of Spell Storing you are making the spell inherent to the item once all parameters are set on the fly when you insert it into the ring, ready for consumption like any other magical item.

Recently I was thinking about this late one night with sleep deprivation and I must say that you could consider certain spells to be exceptions to this rule. See my follow up question.