Using a scroll of Mage Armor

Halivar said:
This has never made sense to me. Scrolls are magical writings, not a device. But that's just me.

Well, since the Use Magic Device skill is actually a carry-over from the 1st Ed AD&D Thief ability to read magical scrolls (except Clerical scrolls) at 10th level (with a 25% failure), which then carried over to the 2nd Ed 10th level thief ability to read magical and clerical scrolls (with a 25% failure), I see it as a logical extension. I won't debate the meaning of the word device.

Personally, I think the skill is kind of nifty.
 

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Heh - this got me to thinking and I went back and checked my OD&D books as well. Sure enough, page x8 of the Expert Rules has it. At 10th level, a Thief gains the ability to read Magic User and Elf scrolls. However, there is a 10% chance that the spell will backfire.

So, it has always been a possibility for a Thief to use magic scrolls of some sort. It is a recent addition for it to apply to other magic items that the character would not normally be able to use.
 

Minor quibble, I'm not sure if that set counts as "Original D&D" (OD&D). The Expert Set came out several years after the AD&D 1st Ed. Player's Handbook. Personally, I call that line "Basic D&D", OD&D being the original white-book set.
 
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Fair enough. I never had the white books. And I never checked the copyright dates on my 1st Ed PHB vs my Red & Blue book basic set. I just remember that I bought the Red and Blue books in 1980 and didn't pick up the 1st Ed PHB until 1981. But, looking at the copyrights now, you are correct. 1st Ed PHB is 1978. :)
 

tennyson said:
The scroll was created by the wizard in the party. Perhaps that is where we went wrong? Maybe the cleric shouldn't have been able to cast it at all...

Indeed, that was wrong then. The cleric cannot use it.

However, in theory, he could (like when having the Magic domain), so your question isn't invalid at all! :)

Bye
Thanee
 

3.0: Page 203 of the DMG goes into a detailed description of what is required to be able to activate a scroll. Assuming the character has decyphered the scroll with a Read Magic spell or Spellcraft check (DC 15+spell level), the other 3 major requirements are:

1) The spell must be of the correct type (arcane or divine). I take this to mean that if a 1st level cleric scribed Cause Fear, a 1st level wizard would be unable to activate the scroll, even though Cause Fear is a 1st level wizard spell.

2) The character must have the spell on their class spell list.

3) The character must have the requisite ability score to cast spells of the given level.

Note that any spellcasting class (Bard, Cleric, Paladin, Ranger, Sorcerer, and Wizard) can use scrolls, or craft them if they have Scribe Scroll. You can use a scroll crafted by somebody of a different class as long as you still meet all the criteria above.

Use Magic Device basically allows the Rogue/Bard to emulate either a class feature of another class or a different alignment when attempting to activate a magical device. It is a very powerful skill, since it applies to any and all magic items that are in one way or another restricted to a particular class or alignment. A Neutral or Evil rogue could use this skill to activate a Horn of Goodness/Evil to create a Magic Circle Against Evil, for instance, when normally the Neutral rogue couldn't activate it at all, and the Evil rogue would activate a Magic Circle Against Good. Or he could wield a weapon that would otherwise deal damage to somebody of his alignment. UMD is most often used for wands and scrolls, but it is considereably more versitile.
 

MerakSpielman said:
3.0: Page 203 of the DMG goes into a detailed description of what is required to be able to activate a scroll.

3.5 DMG finally states explicitly that scrolls suffer Arcane Failure, too.

-Hyp.
 



Hypersmurf said:
3.5 DMG finally states explicitly that scrolls suffer Arcane Failure, too.

-Hyp.
You know, that loophole never occured to me. Scribe tons of scrolls, get into the big, heavy, super-duper armor, and you're a battle mage... Glad they fixed it.
 

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