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General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
The new Use Magic Device: Good or bad?
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<blockquote data-quote="Belbarrus" data-source="post: 1379322" data-attributes="member: 10962"><p>I currently have a Barbarian 4/Rogue 9 character with 6 Charisma. I have maxed out my UMD to 16 ranks, my -2 Charisma mod is canceled out by my +2 Stone of Luck, giving me a total of +16 in UMD. So, my 13th level character needs to roll a 4 or higher to use a wand. What do I most commonly use? First I use a Wand of Heroism (+2 Morale bonus to attack, saves and skill checks for 40 minutes) and I have a Wand of Cure Moderate Wounds and a few Wands of Cure Light Wounds. I help with the post-battle curing.</p><p></p><p>I also have a Scroll of Stone to Flesh in case the party Wizard is petrified, someone else can restore him. I have a few scrolls of Blur, a Wand of Greater Invisibility and a Wand of FLy. I cannot picture my character "flying" around all of the time, like the Half-Orc Barbarian in the group. I just use the Fly wand to get me past difficult obstacles like cliffs, chasms, lava, etc.</p><p></p><p>I have a +2 Synergy bonus when using scrolls from having 5 ranks in Decipher Script.</p><p></p><p>So far, using UMD has not been a problem or considered "unbalancing" at all. My skill is not high enough to make the attempt automatically (yet), so I take a chance in wasting a combat round or two if I want to use a wand or scroll at the beginning of combat and when combats only last 6-8 rounds, wasting 1 or 2 rounds can mean a lot.</p><p></p><p>Also, while wands do not have this limitation, using scrolls requires that the character have the minimum ability score. For example to use a scroll with Fireball, the user must have at least a 13 Intelligence to use a 3rd level spell. Don't forget this when you have a 10th level Fighter with 8 Int, 8 Wis and 8 Cha trying to use scrolls. They have to use the UMD skill to decipher the scroll, then use the skill to emulate the ability score, then use the skill again to see if they can cast the spell. My Barb/Rogue character has a 14 Intelligence and 12 Wisdom, so I CAN use most low level scrolls without needing to emulate an ability score.</p><p></p><p>Also, the skill does not say anything about not being able to Take 20, and since there is no penalty for failing to use a Wand (only activating blindly or failing to read a scroll can backfire), I can take 20 on using wands. Of course this is not always a good thing, since using a Wand still has the casting time of the spell and taking 20 with a Wand of Identify takes 20 hours <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>B</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Belbarrus, post: 1379322, member: 10962"] I currently have a Barbarian 4/Rogue 9 character with 6 Charisma. I have maxed out my UMD to 16 ranks, my -2 Charisma mod is canceled out by my +2 Stone of Luck, giving me a total of +16 in UMD. So, my 13th level character needs to roll a 4 or higher to use a wand. What do I most commonly use? First I use a Wand of Heroism (+2 Morale bonus to attack, saves and skill checks for 40 minutes) and I have a Wand of Cure Moderate Wounds and a few Wands of Cure Light Wounds. I help with the post-battle curing. I also have a Scroll of Stone to Flesh in case the party Wizard is petrified, someone else can restore him. I have a few scrolls of Blur, a Wand of Greater Invisibility and a Wand of FLy. I cannot picture my character "flying" around all of the time, like the Half-Orc Barbarian in the group. I just use the Fly wand to get me past difficult obstacles like cliffs, chasms, lava, etc. I have a +2 Synergy bonus when using scrolls from having 5 ranks in Decipher Script. So far, using UMD has not been a problem or considered "unbalancing" at all. My skill is not high enough to make the attempt automatically (yet), so I take a chance in wasting a combat round or two if I want to use a wand or scroll at the beginning of combat and when combats only last 6-8 rounds, wasting 1 or 2 rounds can mean a lot. Also, while wands do not have this limitation, using scrolls requires that the character have the minimum ability score. For example to use a scroll with Fireball, the user must have at least a 13 Intelligence to use a 3rd level spell. Don't forget this when you have a 10th level Fighter with 8 Int, 8 Wis and 8 Cha trying to use scrolls. They have to use the UMD skill to decipher the scroll, then use the skill to emulate the ability score, then use the skill again to see if they can cast the spell. My Barb/Rogue character has a 14 Intelligence and 12 Wisdom, so I CAN use most low level scrolls without needing to emulate an ability score. Also, the skill does not say anything about not being able to Take 20, and since there is no penalty for failing to use a Wand (only activating blindly or failing to read a scroll can backfire), I can take 20 on using wands. Of course this is not always a good thing, since using a Wand still has the casting time of the spell and taking 20 with a Wand of Identify takes 20 hours :) B [/QUOTE]
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The new Use Magic Device: Good or bad?
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