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<blockquote data-quote="UltimaGabe" data-source="post: 2785906" data-attributes="member: 16019">In order to activate a Spell Completion item, you simply need to make a UMD check equal to 20 + the caster level, as well as a UMD check to emulate the requisite ability score (if his ability score isn't high enough). A failed UMD roll simply means you fail to activate the item. It's not wasted, and you can try again the next round (or whenever you would otherwise be able to use the item again). The only exception is if you roll a natural 1, AND if that natural 1 causes you to fail, then you can't activate that particular magic item until 24 hours have passed.In short, UMD isn't extremely useful at low levels- the DCs are all very high, and you can't take 10, so there's almost always gonna be a chance of failure. However, at higher levels, it's amazing- once you've got a high enough modifier (that is, at least +15), you can activate all kinds of items you otherwise wouldn't be able to with little or no chance of failure. After all, activating a wand of any sort is only a DC 20, if I'm not mistaken, as long as you know what spell is inside- so if you ever wind up with a +19 (10th-level character with 13 ranks, a +3 from a 16, and, say, Skill Focus: UMD, or just a higher-level character with more ranks) you'll never have any chance of failing to use a Wand.It can be amazing, but only if you invest a LOT of ranks in it.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="UltimaGabe, post: 2785906, member: 16019"] In order to activate a Spell Completion item, you simply need to make a UMD check equal to 20 + the caster level, as well as a UMD check to emulate the requisite ability score (if his ability score isn't high enough). A failed UMD roll simply means you fail to activate the item. It's not wasted, and you can try again the next round (or whenever you would otherwise be able to use the item again). The only exception is if you roll a natural 1, AND if that natural 1 causes you to fail, then you can't activate that particular magic item until 24 hours have passed. In short, UMD isn't extremely useful at low levels- the DCs are all very high, and you can't take 10, so there's almost always gonna be a chance of failure. However, at higher levels, it's amazing- once you've got a high enough modifier (that is, at least +15), you can activate all kinds of items you otherwise wouldn't be able to with little or no chance of failure. After all, activating a wand of any sort is only a DC 20, if I'm not mistaken, as long as you know what spell is inside- so if you ever wind up with a +19 (10th-level character with 13 ranks, a +3 from a 16, and, say, Skill Focus: UMD, or just a higher-level character with more ranks) you'll never have any chance of failing to use a Wand. It can be amazing, but only if you invest a LOT of ranks in it. [/QUOTE]

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