I tried giving an NPC a magic scroll to use but they never seem to use it.

Do the actors not use the magic scroll system in this game?

I can "equip" a potion on an actor and the actor will drink it, but equipping a scroll (target spell) seems to do nothing even while the actor is in combat.

Just plain adding the scroll to their inventory does not seem to do anything but "put one in their inventory".

AFAIK, no. Scroll system is rather pointless on NPCs since they can essentially cast whatever they want at any time with the cast function.

Um, if you mean scripting the npc to cast then.... no, that is not true, casting a target spell will not work with NPC via scripting. Only touch spells and even that is flaky...

So, you know for a fact then that NPC do not use scrolls?

NPC that are scripted to cast at a target will often fire the spell down the negative y-axis rather than in the direction of the target...and also do other strange things.

From the wiki:
This function is unreliable when used to force an actor to cast a Target-range spell on a target which is not within Touch-range. Often the actor will attempt to walk into touch-range of the target and then cast the spell, but more frequently he will simply ignore the function.

If you want to make it a one time cast, give them an Ability type spell. They'll cast that.

True indeed. I had the opposite problem of trying to prevent an NPC from using their racial ability spell and found the only solution to be silencing them, which prevents any spell being used..

Thanks, but unfortunately that will not work for target spells. You cannot set Abilities and Powers to Target only to Self.

Oh well in the end I forced a cast animation and used an activator, then changed the spell projectile source to the caster. to bad because it is a big chunk of code to get it done that way. Would have been much nicer just to write:

"MyNPC.cast MySpell target"

Such is life in the CS....

npcs DO use the scrolls in their inventory. Ever wonder how a necromancer or mage blasted you after you hit them with silence? They pack several scrolls. While most scroll use for magic casters will be less obvious, give a summon scroll to your companions. You'll clearly see {companion name}'s {summoned creature}. Npcs also use the vanilla game healing and magic potions (necromancers again), i.e., Strong Potion of...