Use Magic Device: What are good spells to use it for?

[Starbuck_II]

I'm getting UMD when I become a Lore Master next level. What UMD skill items should I get?

I'm a Wu Jen so I lack some Wizard spells. So any ideas for scrolls/wands, etc would be helpful.

[Azerian Kelimon]

Timestop. Gate. Touch of clumsiness/stupidity. Foresight. Celerity.

With those, you're gonna break games, and that's the end of it.

[Saph]

Timestop. Gate.

He's a starting loremaster. That means level 8 or so, so no 9th-level spells.


Touch of clumsiness/stupidity. .

Effective but broken, and probably not worth it in the long run.


Foresight.

Useless.


Celerity.

Utterly useless and actually counterproductive, as it loses you actions.

Now, as for useful spells:

Your UMD will be too low to use the higher-level stuff to begin with, so you're best served by wands and level 1 scrolls. Fortunately, these are the most cost-effective items anyway.

Your best bet is probably cure items - wands of Cure Light Wounds and Lesser Vigour. This lets you heal efficiently and will save party members' lives (and your own).

A wand of Grease is also a good buy. The enemies will easily make the DC 11 Reflex save, but they'll still be flat-footed for a turn, allowing the rogue to sneak attack them.

If you want an attack item, a CL 9 wand of one of the Lesser Orb spells is one of the more cost-effective weapons out there.

Beyond that, depends on what you want to do and what the other members of your party are. Do you want extra healing, extra firepower, or extra utility?

- Saph

[OneWinged4ngel]

Dude, you just called Foresight useless. :smallconfused:

Seriously though, you can use pretty much the same scrolls you would get as a Wizard or Cleric of your level, so long as your UMD score is good.

[Saph]

Dude, you just called Foresight useless. :smallconfused:

Oh, it's a great spell. But a scroll of it is 3,825 gp and requires a UMD check of 37. Not very practical at level 8.


Seriously though, you can use pretty much the same scrolls you would get as a Wizard or Cleric of your level, so long as your UMD score is good.

If he's just going into Loremaster, he probably won't have more than 7-8 ranks in the skill. Hence he's probably best off concentrating on wands until he takes a second Loremaster level, as they only require a UMD check of 20 (and don't require you to emulate an ability score).

- Saph

[Tor the Fallen]

Uh, foresight lets you never be surprised. That's pretty ****ing good.

[Mr. Friendly]

Are you just ignoring what Saph is saying?

Yes, Foreseight is nice... when you can afford it and can cast it.

What is being discussed is a level 8 (EIGHT) character. Said character can neither afford, nor use a scroll (or similar item) of Foresight.

[Saph]

Uh, foresight lets you never be surprised. That's pretty ****ing good.

Foresight is good at the time you get it because by level 17, combats are short and deadly and spellcasters have access to lots of immediate actions. A level 17 character can also afford the money for a Greater Metamagic Rod of Extend Spell to keep the Foresight up for a respectable amount of time (otherwise you have to know in advance that you're going to be surprised so you can cast the Foresight before it).

However, at lower levels, paying 4k for a one-shot scroll of Foresight that you'll have trouble even activating isn't a good use of funds.

- Saph

[shadowdemon_lord]

What is with this board and assuming all builds are 20th level? Anyway, onto good spells. I'd reiterate the usefullness of cure light wounds wands. You pay a pittance (750 gp), for 50 cure light wounds spells. Beyond that, having a wand of detect magic might not be a bad idea (I know you can already cast it, but zero level wands are cheap as all get out, and being able to detect everything you come across is not a bad thing). UMD really only gets powerful at higher levels when you have access to psi crowns, staves, and higher level wands.

[Starbuck_II]

I should have explained more throughly, I couldn't enter Loremaster right away. I'm now 11th level, but even with Int 20 (next level I get 1 stat point at level 12) I will only get 5 + 4 class skill points: so max will be 9 if I dump it all there.
Wu Jen 7/ Fatespinner 4 (I love reroll ability)



Timestop. Gate. Touch of clumsiness/stupidity. Foresight. Celerity.

While I appreciate the enthusiams... I don't think my DM will let me find 9th level spells in scroll form. I might be able to find 7th (I'd have to check how big the main kingdom's wealth level thing allows); I've never asked.

My DM distrust spell Compendruim so I might not be allowed a couple of those spells (including clumisness/stupidity). He has allowed a some spells from it so there is hope.



our UMD will be too low to use the higher-level stuff to begin with, so you're best served by wands and level 1 scrolls. Fortunately, these are the most cost-effective items anyway.

True Wands are easy always DC 20.


Your best bet is probably cure items - wands of Cure Light Wounds and Lesser Vigour. This lets you heal efficiently and will save party members' lives (and your own).

We have a Favored Soul so I don't want to step on her healing toes. But since she doesn't always make every game that might be a great idea.


A wand of Grease is also a good buy. The enemies will easily make the DC 11 Reflex save, but they'll still be flat-footed for a turn, allowing the rogue to sneak attack them.

No Rogue, but we do havea Beguiler so his spells will benefit if I grease them.



If you want an attack item, a CL 9 wand of one of the Lesser Orb spells is one of the more cost-effective weapons out there.

Beyond that, depends on what you want to do and what the other members of your party are. Do you want extra healing, extra firepower, or extra utility?

Ooh, a caster wand of lesser Orbs, I like the sound of that.

My Party Members: Unsure of level, I think everyone 8, 9, 10, or 11th (depending on if they miss too many sessions)
1. Human Scout/Dervish: TWfing dancing dude (since Dervish is a dance), pretty grest when he has room to manuever. I think level 11, unsure of build.
2. Elf Fighter 6/Tempest 5: TWfing dude that doesn't dance. His third ever character (started D&D last year in another campaign). He has decent AC and attack (he started out pretty bad as a fighter). He is thinking of Fighter levels next (he loves feats).
3. Human Samurai/Ronin: Similar to Tempest dude, but has good Intimidate. Well, her AC is lower, but eh. I think level 10.
4. Human Dragon Shaman 10: Good AC, worships the Copper Dragon I think.
5. Human Favored Soul 7 or 8 (she misses alot of sessions)
6. Human Wizard 8/3 Initiate of Seven Vials: I think this is his build. He is a blaster Wizard, but has started adding a few battlefield controls into repetoire. He could be level 12, I have never asked.
7. Human Beguiler/Telepathy Prc in Complete Arcane (forget name).
8. Dwarf Fighter/Dwarven Defender: I have no idea of his levels. Good AC, and great attack rolls.
9. Knight 12: The Leader of our Party. Rolls terrible.

Sometimes we get an NPC Bard named Tom travelling with us, but not always: I think level 7 or 8.

[Saph]

I should have explained more throughly, I couldn't enter Loremaster right away. I'm now 11th level, but even with Int 20 (next level I get 1 skill point) I will only get 5 + 4 class skill points: so max will be 9 if I dump it all there.
Wu Jen 7/ Fatespinner 4 (I love reroll ability)

Ah, that changes things a bit. With 9 ranks or so in UMD you'll have trouble activating scrolls, so you're best off with wands to begin with, unless you want to buy an item that boosts your UMD checks.


True Wands are easy always DC 20.

We have a Favored Soul so I don't want to step on her healing toes. But since she doesn't always make every game that might be a great idea.

Having a second (or a third, or a fourth) character able to use healing wands is always a good thing, so I'd go for that. Wands of Lesser Vigour are the most cost-effective, but wands of CLW are almost as good.


My Party Members: Unsure of level, I think everyone 8, 9, 10, or 11th (depending on if they miss too many sessions)
1. Human Scout/Dervish: TWfing dancing dude (since Dervish is a dance), pretty grest when he has room to manuever. I think level 11, unsure of build.
2. Elf Fighter 6/Tempest 5: TWfing dude that doesn't dance. His third ever character (started D&D last year in another campaign). He has decent AC and attack (he started out pretty bad as a fighter). He is thinking of Fighter levels next (he loves feats).
3. Human Samurai/Ronin: Similar to Tempest dude, but has good Intimidate. Well, her AC is lower, but eh. I think level 10.
4. Human Dragon Shaman 10: Good AC, worships the Copper Dragon I think.
5. Human Favored Soul 7 or 8 (she misses alot of sessions)
6. Human Wizard 8/3 Initiate of Seven Vials: I think this is his build. He is a blaster Wizard, but has started adding a few battlefield controls into repetoire. He could be level 12, I have never asked.
7. Human Beguiler/Telepathy Prc in Complete Arcane (forget name).
8. Dwarf Fighter/Dwarven Defender: I have no idea of his levels. Good AC, and great attack rolls.
9. Knight 12: The Leader of our Party. Rolls terrible.

Sometimes we get an NPC Bard named Tom travelling with us, but not always: I think level 7 or 8.

Wow. That's a lot of characters.

I think you could definitely do with some more clerical magic, since you've only got one, maybe two healers out of 10 PCs. Scrolls/wands of CLW, Lesser Vigour, Lesser Restoration, Restoration, Neutralise Poison, etc, would be good (ask the party to chip in, maybe). I'm guessing you guys must need a lot of healing after a battle - but maybe the Dragon Shaman does most of it?

- Saph

[Duke of URL]

I'm getting UMD when I become a Lore Master next level. What UMD skill items should I get?

I'm a Wu Jen so I lack some Wizard spells. So any ideas for scrolls/wands, etc would be helpful.

UMD is great for keeping around scrolls or wands of special purpose spells. Examine your character and party role, and pick those items that will shore up your weaknesses and let you be useful when your normal strengths can't be used.

There's really no point being more specific, because it's all situation dependent. Backup healing (and to a lesser extent, buffing) is often nice to have, alternate means of dealing damage or debuffing/disabling opponents can keep you from being frustrated if your normal options won't work in a given situation, and seldom-used (but very useful when you need them) spells are great to have in your pocket as a scroll or wand.

[TheLogman]

Healing is great, especially scrolls or even better wands of CLW or Vigor. Also useful are Rope Trick, and if you're strapped for damage dealing in your group, some basic damage spells like Lightening Bolt and Fireball would be nice. If you know you're going up against bigger groups of enemies, Killing Cloud is good, and finally, you can never go wrong with Summon Spells, since being able to Spam minions is always a good thing.

[leperkhaun]

in general iv found that low level spells in wands of utility spells make for great UMD, with a scroll or two of a couple powerfull spells for those oh'crap moments.

Loading up on high level UMD items is fun and can help out, but can be very expensive, more so if you want more than the miniumum caster level.

If you have someone in the party who can craft those it makes it easier.

[Starbuck_II]

in general iv found that low level spells in wands of utility spells make for great UMD, with a scroll or two of a couple powerfull spells for those oh'crap moments.

Loading up on high level UMD items is fun and can help out, but can be very expensive, more so if you want more than the miniumum caster level.

If you have someone in the party who can craft those it makes it easier.
I'm the only one who crafts. The Wizard has Scribe scroll, but never uses it.

[Person_Man]

Your playing in a party of 10?!? Really, you don't need UMD. You need a megaphone and one of those airport runway flashlights to coordinate things.