Sor/Wiz 7 spells

[TYPO5478]

UMD is not a class skill for Wizards, and is a Trained Only skill to boot.

Yeah. That's why I said one with ranks.

 

[Gumby]

Quickened Fireball.





What?

 

[Thanee]

In that case, why not carry a scroll or two instead of always wasting a slot?

Because spells are more powerful than scrolls... if you need a specific attack, for example, the scroll will not be good to do that.

Also, making scrolls costs time, which you might not have.

Bye
Thanee

 

[TYPO5478]

Because spells are more powerful than scrolls... if you need a specific attack, for example, the scroll will not be good to do that.

Could you explain that please? How is a scroll of limited wish cast by a level 13 generalist any different than a prepared limited wish cast by a level 13 generalist?

 

[Nifft]

Could you explain that please? How is a scroll of limited wish cast by a level 13 generalist any different than a prepared limited wish cast by a level 13 generalist?

I'll tell you in two levels...

More helpfully, any associated save DC will be higher for the spell, thanks to your presumably higher-than-minimum Int bonus. You've chosen a spell which is often cast for non-save effects, though. In the case of limited wish, the difference is that you don't spend the 300 XP until you actually need to spend it; preparing and not using limited wish each day is a lot cheaper than making a scroll you don't use.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Quartz]

Yeah. That's why I said one with ranks.

True, but a single-classed wizard can't have any ranks.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

Limited Wish is where it is at, as they say.

I managed to grab an item through my GM to yoink Spell Domain, giving me Limited Wish in a domain slot.

And I take it EVERY DAY. And when I need it, I use it. Usually to emulate a Wizard spell I need. My character got dropped a mile up with no flight spells ... and I whipped out an Overland Flight from the Limited Wish slot. Actually it was an Extended Overland Flight (which might be a little tch under the rules, we never looked it up, but it works for us).

We actually had one guy with a calculator computing velocity and distance traveled before I could get the spell off and pull out of the dive ... that's a fun fight!

If you're limited to the two spells for right now, and want generality, I'd go with the Greater Shadow Conjuration.

You're basically metamagic'ing spells at that level, then. You're paying one slot more to get a whole passel of spells without needing to prep them, from lower levels. That's a nice generalist touch, letting you be prepared for a bunch of eventualities with fewer memorized spells.

--fje

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

True, but a single-classed wizard can't have any ranks.

Cross-class ranks.

There are no forbidden skills in 3.5, so anybody can take UMD at cross-class if they want, IIRC.

My group house-ruled two more Skill Points per level across the board for all characters, and my wife's Wizard took max cross-class ranks in UMD for this sort of thing.

Interesting to have some minor healing spells and stuff with the wizard, who can pitch-in as a back-ranks emergency healer or status-remover. (I think we had a Hail Mary Pass with a scroll of Heal at some point).

--fje

 

[dirkformica]

True, but a single-classed wizard can't have any ranks.

He can take ranks, but they'll be cross-classed and thus cost more as well as have a lower cap. The 13th Wizard (barring multi-classing or taking the Skill Knowledge feat from Unearthed Arcana) would have a max rank of 8 + Cha in UMD at the cost of 16 skill points. Of course, the Wizard doesn't need UMD to use a scroll of Limited Wish because it's on their class list. They just need to hit the Caster Level check.

 

[IanB]

Cross-class use of UMD for a character that doesn't already have a high charisma is going to be more or less fine for stuff like wand use (DC 20) but using a scroll (DC 20 plus caster level) is going to be quite difficult (the aforementioned scroll of heal, for example, is a minimum DC of 31 to use).

When you get into time sensitive use during combat, there are serious issues with relying on cross-class trained UMD imo.