Why is UMD so good?

[danzibr]

I'm making a Bard and everyone always raves about UMD, but after reading about it (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/useMagicDevice.htm), I don't see why it's so good. We're starting at level 3 and I plan to buy a wand of cure light wounds, but since it's on my class spell list I don't even need UMD.

I can see why it'd be more useful for a Rogue who gets no spells, but is it that useful for a Bard?

[Taelas]

Basically, because it allows you to do things T1 classes can do.

[Pigkappa]

Because there are lots of spells on the Cleric list and the Sorcerer/Wizard list which you can't cast as a Bard. There are hundreds of spells and some of them happen to be extremely broken, and this is why full casters are the most useful classes in the game. By UMD, you can use all the wands and scrolls in the game and be sometimes as broken as those classes are.

[Gwendol]

It is if you want to cast a spell off a scroll or wand which is not on your class list. Also, Bards have high CHA and the skill points to spare, which makes the class more versatile (more spells = more versatility).

[Quietus]

It essentially lets you look at any item you can't use, roll a die, and say "Yes, I can do that." You want to swing around a Holy Avenger as an evil bard? Yeah, you can do that. You want to use items that only work for dwarves when you're a human? You can do that. You want to use wands/scrolls/etc of any spell ever? You can do that. It's all just a skill check away.

[Kurald Galain]

That said, it only becomes really useful once you've got a few more levels and skill ranks. For example, don't expect to reliably use out-of-class wands at level 1.

[Ranting Fool]

Because there are lots of spells on the Cleric list and the Sorcerer/Wizard list which you can't cast as a Bard. There are hundreds of spells and some of them happen to be extremely broken, and this is why full casters are the most useful classes in the game. By UMD, you can use all the wands and scrolls in the game and be sometimes as broken as those classes are.

+1
As far as I remember Bards don't go around chucking fireballs (Hey i've not used one in ages) UMD once high enough gives you a complete selections of spells, if you can buy it you can use it, and versatility is King in high powered D&D games.

[Slipperychicken]

Because magic is good, and more magic is better. Your class doesn't have all the magic, but UMD let's you have a *lot* more than usual, albeit for a bit of gold, which is more than worth it. It also gives you more uses of magic per day, which smashes the game's assumption that you only have so much each day, and makes you crazy powerful. It also lets you use magic items and equipment that would be otherwise prohibited, further increasing your versatility.

EDIT: Removed an unwanted apostrophe.

[Soranar]

Bards also have the added benefit of access to a familiar (through obtain familiar)

Suddenly your pet also becomes a caster and he shares spells with you.

UMD is a very strong skill

[Ramza00]

Look up the spells Wings of Cover in Races of Dragon.
Look up the spells Friendly Fire in Exemplars of Evil. Understand that the spell allows you to redirect the spell at any target in 30ft friendly or unfriendly, it also allows you to redirect the spell at the ground for the ground is considered a valid target.

[Bahamut Omega]

As stated previously, UMD is awesome because you can effectively cast any spell, wear any magic item, etc. provided you can make the check.

The DCs are high, though, and you won't get much practical use from it until you can hit a DC 20 reliably. As a Bard, this'll probably happen for you around level 6-9 (assuming Cha 16, and max ranks); faster if you take Skill Focus (UMD). That said, you can usually use it to buff yourself prior to a fight by simply rolling until you succeed or you roll a 1, which prevents you from activating that item for 24 hours.

Bear in mind a couple caveats for the skill. First, your caster level is tied to whatever item you're using, which is often a lot lower than opposing casters. Thus, your spell effects are likely to be more easily dispelled. Second, rolling a 1 and failing means you can't try to activate it again for 24 hours; you might need to keep two wands of CLW just in case you blow a check.

[dsmiles]

"Why is UMD so good?"

Two words:

Blindly activate.

A DC 25 skill check to activate any magic item. Any. :smallamused:
What I won't tell you is that you'll probably explode if you fail.

[Talya]

"Why is UMD so good?"

Two words:

Blindly activate.

A DC 25 skill check to activate any magic item. Any. :smallamused:
What I won't tell you is that you'll probably explode if you fail.

Ha.

"Hmm. Wonder what this does?" was never something my party liked to hear from me.

[Duke of URL]

Others have touched on it, but I'll repeat -- it's all about versatility. Anything that gives you additional options beyond your normal class and feat choices is a Good ThingTM, even more so when it gives you access to additional spells. While the emulate alignment. ability score, etc., features are nice to have in certain cases, you're really after wands (and possibly scrolls, but that generally requires higher investment in UMD).

There are a wide selection of low-level spells that are very, very useful and are distributed across the various spell lists. In general, you want spells where you don't care about caster level or save DC, so while some offensive/defensive spells might make it in (e.g., grease and glitterdust are just plain useful spells because of their no-save effects; rogues like orb of X wands for ranged touch sneak attacks), you're primarily looking for utility spells which help make you a better jack of all trades than you already are.

[Ranting Fool]

"Hmm. Wonder what this does?" was never something my party liked to hear from me.

Famous Last Words for many a brave soul! :smallbiggrin:

[Axier]

Artificer Batman?

Warforged Artificer Iron Man?

More importantly, it makes Warlock absolutely rock being able to activate any magic item they find.

[Thrawn183]

There are a wide selection of low-level spells that are very, very useful and are distributed across the various spell lists.

I just want to chime in on just how right Duke of URL is here. You know how everyone loves that an Archivist can eventually get access to all divine spells? UMD is like that, but for all spells... period.

[Frozen_Feet]

Because spells are good, and UMD gives access to all spells. And magic items. Considering how much D&D content is spells and magic items...

[Igneel]

Currently in a game where one player (and Aboleth (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/aboleth.htm) Psion believe it or not) that has a high enough UMD modifier to Emulate Race and occasionally uses a set of Horseshoes of Flame (Savage Species) by emulating being a horse.

Horseshoes of Flame: 3/day, 7 hours/time, turn into a nightmare. When transformed, gain Fly 90ft (good), +1d4 points of fire damage on each successful hoof attack, +2 Dex, +10 Int, and +6 Cha.

Then the wands and scrolls... Just going through the Spell Compendium makes some of the players drool

[SowZ]

Basically, improving affinity with magic items in general is great since so much of the power in D&D comes from items. A Bard with max ranks in UMD and the Craft Wondrous Item feat is a powerful person, indeed.

[Yuki Akuma]

Don't get a Wand of Cure Light Wounds. Get a Wand of Lesser Vigor. :smallwink: It heals more HP over a longer period of time, but you really shouldn't be relying on healing in combat anyway.

It's not on the Bard spell list, but, hey, look at that! UMD lets you use it. And since you're not using it in combat it doesn't matter if you don't have a +10 modifier yet.

[Benly]

It's easy to end up overstating how powerful UMD is. It's not as powerful as even a moderately-good class feature, in my opinion - but then, it doesn't have to be, because it's not competing against them. It's competing against other skills. UMD plus a Wand of Knock = Open Lock. UMD plus a Wand of Levitate = Climb. On top of standing in for other skills, it also helps you more in combat than nearly any other skill will; you're not likely to find a skill trick that does as much in a fight as a Wand of Grease will.

That said, it's a slow starter. You're not likely to get a lot of mileage out of it in early levels before you can afford utility wands, and a lot of gameplay takes place at that level. You could probably skip it at low levels, but then again it's not like you're giving up much to pick it up.

[erikun]

Get a wand of Sleep, knock out groups of enemies in ambush, and then sell off the wand when it isn't useful anymore. The best part? You won't have that spell sitting in your know spells when it isn't useful anymore.

Get a wand of Silent Image, and create a static object whenever you don't want to be seen.

Get a wand of Entangle, and be amazed at how well that keeps opponents pinned down. For a bit more, there's also Web and Glitterdust.

Get a wand of Invisibility, for when you or another party member wants to sneak around.


Huh, all of those except Entangle/Web are already Bard spells.

[Laniius]

I'm making a Bard and everyone always raves about UMD, but after reading about it (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/skills/useMagicDevice.htm), I don't see why it's so good. We're starting at level 3 and I plan to buy a wand of cure light wounds, but since it's on my class spell list I don't even need UMD.

I can see why it'd be more useful for a Rogue who gets no spells, but is it that useful for a Bard?

Do you have a favorite cleric spell that you like but your cleric doesn't want to prepare? Do you want the Fly spell, along with many others that don't appear on your spell list, but appear on the sorceror/wizard list? Well then we at WANDCO may have just the deal for you!

Come on down to WANDCO. For the low-low price of (750 * caster level * spell level) / (50/number of charges in the wand) YOU TOO can experience the thrill of a large spell list.

*WANDCO is not responsible for how your DM rules the action it takes to activate a spell-trigger item. WANDCO also provides staves at reasonable prices, though does not guarantee single-spell staves being a possibility. See our subsidiary, SCROLLS4U for other reasons why UMD is useful.

[Ramza00]

Look up the spells Wings of Cover in Races of Dragon.
Look up the spells Friendly Fire in Exemplars of Evil. Understand that the spell allows you to redirect the spell at any target in 30ft friendly or unfriendly, it also allows you to redirect the spell at the ground for the ground is considered a valid target.

[Chronos]

Another example: Say you're in the classic party of Fighter, Rogue, Cleric, Wizard. The cleric, of course, has a bunch of spells to fix up the other characters when something happens to them (permanent-duration paralysis, curses, Feeblemind, petrification, ability drain, death, etc.). All well and good, but what happens when one of those things happens to the cleric himself, and prevents him from casting the spell that would fix it? Why, then, the rogue uses UMD on the appropriate scroll that he's carrying to fix up the cleric. Those fix-up spells are good candidates for scrolls, anyway, so you might as well have multiple characters who can use them.

[Laniius]

Get a wand of Sleep, knock out groups of enemies in ambush, and then sell off the wand when it isn't useful anymore. The best part? You won't have that spell sitting in your know spells when it isn't useful anymore.

Get a wand of Silent Image, and create a static object whenever you don't want to be seen.

Get a wand of Entangle, and be amazed at how well that keeps opponents pinned down. For a bit more, there's also Web and Glitterdust.

Get a wand of Invisibility, for when you or another party member wants to sneak around.


Huh, all of those except Entangle/Web are already Bard spells.

Get a wand of Shillelagh for when you want to lay the smack down.

Get a wand of Lesser Shivering Touch and later upgrade to Shivering Touch if you want to have an "I win" button or alternatively books thrown at your head.

Get a wand of Obscuring Mist if you like miss chance (hint: you probably like miss chance).

Get a wand of Ray of Enfeeblement if you want a core-only "I win" button.

Get a wand of mage armor if you don't want anything as crass as a chain shirt ruffling your petticoats. Get a wand of shield for the same reason.

Get a wand of Shocking Grasp if you can't resist a good joy buzzer, though that admittedly gets less powerful as you level up.

Get a wand of Benign Transposition if you want to be fun at parties.

And that is just scratching the surface, and not touching on the benefits of race emulation or alignment emulation later on.

[Sudain]

Most of my games don't run race/alignment restrictions so that may be less important to you.

If you have a Magic Mart where anything and everything you could possibly want is available, on demand then this is a strong skill. You pay through the schnoz to do tricks on a lesser level others could normally do. (Not getting that +3 enhancement on my armor since I've blown my gold on UMD item XXX)

If you get random items that aren't explained(want of fireballs just described as a wand with etchings of fire on it or just an cedar wand) then it becomes much more useful.

So... for me this is a skill I really want to love but can't due to my groups. Thank you for asking this question; I was wondering the same thing for a long time.

[ericgrau]

Basically, because it allows you to do things T1 classes can do.
This, except that this is exactly why people say UMD is great and UMD actually isn't that great. With the high gp costs you're mostly limited to level 1 and 2 scrolls until high levels. Kinda handy in between combats for utility things but far from uber. The low caster level and save DCs prevent most of them in combat. For example ray of enfeeblement for 1d6+1 isn't "I win" it's "I just wasted my turn". By the time you can afford better your other options are likewise better. At higher levels you can afford not only level 3 scrolls but also wands and staffs. Wands are nicer than scrolls for their low gp cost per charge, and staffs are much nicer thanks to their higher spell power. Staffs could be sweet at high levels. But any class could do the same with a 1 level dip in a caster class. So UMD is nice but not essential to pull this off.

[danzibr]

So... for me this is a skill I really want to love but can't due to my groups. Thank you for asking this question; I was wondering the same thing for a long time.
Hmm I've never been thanked for asking a question before. You're welcome! I'll ask good questions any time I can.