Quick UMD question

[WarKitty]

Something that's come up for me with UMD:

I had an item that had a 24-hour activation time. They fail to identify it, but one of the PC's has use magic device. He rolls his check and makes it.

Now I know UMD can't shorten activation times. But he *did* make the roll, so I don't want to say "sorry it doesn't work." I'm certainly not going to rule that he was sitting there for 24 hours!

How would you handle this? I think I ended up saying "you get the sense it would take a lot longer to activate this." But then he assumed "a lot longer" meant like 3 or 4 rounds, so he tried again until I finally gave him the duration. Which feels like a bit much info for UMD.

[dariathalon]

I would probably have run it as follows...

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*successful check*

DM: Alright, you feel as though you are making progress. The magic is flowing in the right direction, but you feel like you are going to be at this for awhile. Do you keep at it?

Player: Yes.

DM: It's been 1 minute, things are still progressing, but extremely slowly. Do you continue the process?

Player: Yes.

DM: It's been 10 minutes and things are still going well, but you aren't done yet, and have realized it will take MUCH longer. Do you continue your work or abandon it?

Player: Keep going.

DM: Alright, how long are you willing to devote to the project? Your check was successful, but if you give up before the activation is complete or are interrupted in that time, the item will not function correctly.

The player will then either give a timeframe or say until it is finished, which you can then go on with the game around him for. With that long of an activation time, especially if the player was unprepared for it (say starting in the evening or something), you might call for a few concentration checks to keep going at say the 6, 12, and 18 hour marks or something.

If you are a generous DM: If the player does decide to abandon the task after a set time limit, you might give him a knowledge arcana check or something like that to try to estimate how far he's gotten into the process. DC 15 might reveal more or less than half way. DC 20 might reveal to the nearest 25%, at which point they might be able to guess the activation time if they are willing to make some assumptions. DC 25 might give the exact activation time. You could then give them the choice of continuing the task or not

That's what I'd do anyway.

[WarKitty]

That might work. I really got caught off guard that time. I figured since they'd failed to identify it they'd stow it and cast identify later. They were in the middle of the boss lair, so sitting around was a really *bad* idea. But the player seemed to have the constant idea that it was just a few more rounds...

[Cowboy_ninja]

That might work. I really got caught off guard that time. I figured since they'd failed to identify it they'd stow it and cast identify later. They were in the middle of the boss lair, so sitting around was a really *bad* idea. But the player seemed to have the constant idea that it was just a few more rounds...

Remind your players that a "round" is 6 seconds, and 12-30 seconds doesn't = "along time".

Also, I'd feel free to use phrases like " a few more seconds", "less than a minute" to describe things in rounds.

In this particular case I'd immediatly correct the PC's line of thought with something like" no no no, when I say a lot longer to activate im talking half a day...probably more."

[dariathalon]

That might work. I really got caught off guard that time. I figured since they'd failed to identify it they'd stow it and cast identify later. They were in the middle of the boss lair, so sitting around was a really *bad* idea. But the player seemed to have the constant idea that it was just a few more rounds...

I figured that it was something like that. That's why asking them how long they were willing to devote to the project seems like a good idea. How long are you willing to sit still in hostile territory? If you want to dissuade them from sitting around, you can cut the initial couple of times down. Say it's been 30 seconds, 1 minute, 5 minutes, then ask how long they'll work on it and mention the possibility of being interrupted in that time by an encounter or something.

[WarKitty]

Oh yeah, to complicate things the item was supposed to require two people to activate it...

[tyckspoon]

I probably would have said something along the lines of "you're pretty sure you did it right, but this one seems to need more than you can do alone." Also, did it really need 2 people activating it for 24 hours continuously (...built for Warforged, maybe) or did it just need 24 hours to start working after being activated, the way certain magic items have to attune to a user before they actually do anything?

[WarKitty]

I probably would have said something along the lines of "you're pretty sure you did it right, but this one seems to need more than you can do alone." Also, did it really need 2 people activating it for 24 hours continuously (...built for Warforged, maybe) or did it just need 24 hours to start working after being activated, the way certain magic items have to attune to a user before they actually do anything?

It was a pair of magic wedding rings. I'm oversimplifying a bit, but it required the completion of several major elements of a highly ritualized wedding ceremony. So it did require 24 hours or so, but in several segments. Which to be honest is another thing UMD was not designed for - magic items that activate through specific rituals or other actions.

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No, *that* was not one of the elements, for any of you who were thinking it!