What was the origin of "Use Magic Device"?

[Glyfair]

I mean, how exactly does one 'trick' an inanimate object?

That really depends on how the magic item determines your race, alignment or whatever.

Today we see in TV and movies various ways to get past high tech things like fingerprint scanners and retina scanners (whether they work in real life is irrelevant, but whether you can believe they might work). Why shouldn't there be some equivalent for magic items? The trick, of course, is the determining how the magic item works. IMO, either the player or the DM should come up with a plausible explanation and go with it on the fly. It should be different for every different item.

 

[jdrakeh]

I thought it was from Vance's character, Cugel the Clever. Doesn't he misread a spell at some point?

That would be my guess. . . though Cugel actually recited the spell in question from memory, after studying it for weeks on end while The Laughing Mage was otherwise occupied (if it's the spell I'm thinking of).

 

[Claudius Gaius]

I believe there may have been some options for using other magical devices in the second edition "options" books and some of the material on adding new skills for high-level rogues. I vaguely recall that being in Dark Sun originally, but I could easily be wrong. It's been a long time since I got those books off the shelf.

 

[Li Shenron]

It's always stood out to me too, especially the part that lets you 'trick' an item into believing you're a different alignment or race or whatever. I mean, how exactly does one 'trick' an inanimate object?

I rather wonder how does an inanimate object evaluate whether you're good or evil.

 

[KrazyHades]

Especially when you get into arguments over alignment...

 

[Anson Caralya]

I think it is mostly from Cugel the Clever. In Eyes of the Overworld...

[SBlock]Cugel specifically casts a spell from Iucounu the Laughing Magician's spellbook to have a demon appear and carry him away. Cugel mispronounces some words and is carried away himself.[/SBlock]Sounds almost exactly like the AD&D thief ability.

Gray Mouser may have been an influence, but the ability is more Cugel (who had no magical training) then Mouser (whose background lead some versions to have low level MU abilities).

My memory was that the Gray Mouser did it first, but checking copyright dates, it's shockingly close. Eyes of the Overworld includes stories published in '65 and '66, while The Lords of Quarmal, in which Mouser casts a "Great Spell," was published as a novella in '64. But I agree with the previous poster -- the Mouser has a period of arcane training in his past, while Cugel is just a rogue.

 

[Steel_Wind]

As noted, the literary premise was Mouser and Cugel.

This lead in turn to D&D and 1st edition's Read Scrolls ability for thieves.

This lead in turn to Rolemaster's Rod/Staves/Wands and Attunement skills. This was essentially the Use Magic Device skill. In order to use the misc item, you needed to "attune" to it in Rolemaster. Different classes got different skill costs and profession bonuses for this key ability. Among the non-spell users, Rogues got it comparatively cheap. Ditto for "Runes" (Essentially, "Read Scrolls" in Rolemaster)

IMO, Use Magic Device in 3e was simply an importation of the Rolemaster Attunement skill mechanic (whose own roots lie in "Read Scrolls") back into D&D 3e and then some tinkering was applied.

But we all know that Monte Cook had nothing to do with making D&D 3e more like Rolemaster, right?

 

[Blair Goatsblood]

Indiana Jones and James Bond are Rogues for example.

I always use Indiana Jones as an example of a lawful good rogue when explaining alignment to new players.