Could I UMD a relic out of giving me its power?

[Neowulf]

I'm building a character who has a variable strength score & would like to mostly make him a ranged combatant, but my problem mostly lies with my damage bonus. I'm about to buy an item that will let me use my major stat for both to-hit & damage, but if I were to use it with a normal composite bow then I'd only be limited to my normal strength bonus
I don't want to take the feat just to use this weapon, so I thought I could trick it into thinking I gave up a 5th level spell slot

I should note that I'm a bard with +30 to my UMD checks, so I can make virtually all of them
do you think I'd be able to fool a weapon of a god that I don't worship into letting me have its awesome abilities without cost?

[Crake]

UMD does not let you duplicate feats (True believer) or expend resources you don't have (sacrificing a spell slot you don't have), nor does it allow you to emulate a faith, only an alignment, so if you had spell slots, but didn't follow the right deity, regardless of alignment, you wouldn't be able to sacrifice the spell slots.

In short: No, UMD does not let you use relics.

[Neowulf]

UMD does not let you duplicate feats (True believer) or expend resources you don't have (sacrificing a spell slot you don't have), nor does it allow you to emulate a faith, only an alignment, so if you had spell slots, but didn't follow the right deity, regardless of alignment, you wouldn't be able to sacrifice the spell slots.

In short: No, UMD does not let you use relics.

I was asking more about emulating like I had a 5th level divine spell slot (a class feature) to give up

[Deophaun]

I was asking more about emulating like I had a 5th level divine spell slot (a class feature) to give up
You can emulate having slots. You cannot emulate sacrificing one.

[Kelb_Panthera]

You can emulate having slots. You cannot emulate sacrificing one.

While this is true, you might ask your DM if he'd allow you to use that emulation to feed the relic the spell energy contained in a pearl of power 5. I don't think it's strictly RAW legal but it never hurts to ask.

[Necroticplague]

I was asking more about emulating like I had a 5th level divine spell slot (a class feature) to give up

Nope. You could emulate being able to cast spells (and heck, that's basically what you're doing when you UMD a scroll), but you can't give up something you don't have.

[Troacctid]

The UMD skill actually does give an example in the text that involves emulating giving up a resource that you don't have. So it actually is possible. But the limits of it are not well defined, so ultimately cases like these fall under the DM's discretion.

[Zanos]

The UMD skill actually does give an example in the text that involves emulating giving up a resource that you don't have. So it actually is possible. But the limits of it are not well defined, so ultimately cases like these fall under the DM's discretion.
Yep. The quote:

Emulate a Class Feature: Sometimes you need to use a class feature to activate a magic item. In this case, your effective level in the emulated class equals your Use Magic Device check result minus 20. For example, Lidda finds a magic chalice that turns regular water into holy water when a cleric or an experienced paladin channels positive energy into it as if turning undead. She attempts to activate the item by emulating the cleric’s undead turning ability. Her effective cleric level is her check result minus 20. Since a cleric can turn undead at 1st level, she needs a Use Magic Device check result of 21 or higher to succeed.

[Jowgen]

Other than using the above example (which opens some bad doors...), there are two other arguments that can be made. First is that you can emulate the Pious Templar PrC, which has True Believer as a prerequesite feat, and that emulating it counts as having the prerequesties, as there can be no Pious Templar without the True Believer feat. A Hail Mary argument imo, but it's something

Second, Dragon 329 p. 67 features "The Blinding Claw", an artifact belonging to Pazuzu, which anyone other than Pazuzu can only use if Pazuzu is dead or by "resorting to the Use Magic Device Skill to deceive the Blinding Claw that the user is in fact the Prince of the Lower Aerial Kingdoms. This requires a DC 40 Use Magic Device check".

This isn't stated as a general rule, but implication is that DC 40 UMD allows one to convince even Artifacts that one is a specific unique individual. This very much is major league stuff that Relics and their prerequesites don't measure up to, so it certainly seems more than reasonable. But as always YMMV.

[Gelcur]

Second, Dragon 329 p. 67 features "The Blinding Claw", an artifact belonging to Pazuzu, which anyone other than Pazuzu can only use if Pazuzu is dead or by "resorting to the Use Magic Device Skill to deceive the Blinding Claw that the user is in fact the Prince of the Lower Aerial Kingdoms. This requires a DC 40 Use Magic Device check".

Beat me to it. Use it to emulate someone with True Believer and avoid all the Spell Slot stuff.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

You could always try for Taulmaril (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ask/20061227a).