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Use Magic Device

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Skill
Passive Active
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Skill use magic device.png Use Magic Device (Charisma)

Description[edit]

Use Magic Device (UMD) is a trained only skill, meaning its use cannot be attempted without training at least one rank. It allows a character to bypass race restrictions and some alignment restrictions, and to use wands and scrolls of spells outside the character's own spell list.

UMD and Wands and Scrolls[edit]

If a character cannot naturally use a certain wand or scroll, UMD lets him try anyway. This requires a Use Magical Device skill check (1d20 + UMD modifier) greater than or equal to the Difficulty Class on the item, which is typically 18 plus twice the item's caster level. So, for a Heal scroll (caster level 11, spell level 6), the DC is 40, but you only need a UMD skill level of 39 to never fail because the lowest you can roll is a 1.

Each try, successful or not, uses up the scroll or one charge of the wand.

Scrolls can have less than a 100% chance of working even in normal use. If the character also has UMD trained, the better chance of success is used.

UMD and Equipment Restrictions[edit]

Some items are restricted to a specific race, class, or alignment. These items can be used by a character even if he does not meet the required criteria if the character has a Use Magic Device skill greater than or equal to the UMD Difficulty Class of the item. There is no random roll involved — this is a straight numeric comparison.

An item that has both an alignment and a race restriction will generally use the higher difficulty rating. This means that a +1 Icy Burst light hammer of Pure Good (Dwarf Only, Minimum Level of 4) should have a 20 UMD difficulty from the Pure Good modifier and a 14 from the race restriction, so any character who isn't a Dwarf or isn't Good needs a UMD skill modifier of at least 20 to equip the item.

Since this UMD check is only made when you attempt to equip an item, you can increase UMD temporarily (Eagle's Splendor, Rogue's Skill Boost, etc.) to raise it just long enough to put the item on. The item will remain equipped until you remove it deliberately or log out.

Restrictions with an "absolute" clause (i.e. "Race absolutely required:" or "Race absolutely excluded:") cannot be bypassed by UMD. These items will not list a UMD difficulty.

Race restriction[edit]

A race restricted item is an item that can only be used by a character of that race unless the restriction is bypassed by UMD. Generally a race restriction will reduce the item's minimum level requirement by 2 levels (without reducing the base price modifier). Therefore, a race restricted item is potentially more powerful than other items with the same minimum level.

  • For jewelry and clothing, Use Magic Device DCs to overcome race restriction are equal to the item's minimum level plus seven.
  • For weapons and armors, Use Magic Device DCs to overcome race restriction are equal to the item's minimum level plus ten.

Alignment restriction[edit]

Some items require the wearer to be of a certain alignment. Most of these require a UMD score of 20 (for examples, see the Iron Manacles from Delera's Tomb or Retribution from the Ruins of Threnal, or any item with a True Alignment prefix); Enduring Conviction requires a score of 30. Some rare items, such as the Ring of the Ancestors have a UMD of 0 - this means that UMD cannot be used to bypass the alignment requirement.

Benchmarks[edit]

Caster Level Spell Level Important Wands/Scrolls No-fail UMD
1 1 Master's Touch & most Level 1 items 19
equip most alignment-restricted items 20
3 2 Invisibility & most Level 2 items 23
5 3 Cure Serious Wounds, Repair Serious Damage, Halt Undead, Displacement 27
7 4 Cure Critical Wounds, Repair Critical Damage,
Stoneskin, Lesser Globe of Invulnerability, Fire Shield		 31
9 5 Raise Dead, Teleport, Waves of Fatigue 35
11 6 Heal, Reconstruct, Cure Moderate Wounds, Mass, Globe of Invulnerability,
Greater Heroism, Heroes' Feast, Shadow Walk, True Seeing		 39
13 7 Resurrection, Greater Teleport, Summon Monster VII 43
15 8 any scroll 47
17 9 any scroll 51

Artificer-only[edit]

Scrolls for Artificer-only spells (i.e., spells not shared by other caster classes) follow a different DC progressions than divine or arcane scrolls do. Namely, they have the following UMD benchmarks:

Caster Level Spell Level Important Wands/Scrolls No-fail UMD
1 1 any scroll 29
3 2 Elemental Weapons 35
6 3 Adamantine Weapons 41
9 4 any scroll 47
12 5 any scroll 53
15 6 any scroll 59
Note that Insightful Damage and Insightful Strikes are available from the Artificer Scroll Vendor, but are useless for anything but inscribing by an Artificer, since they are self-only and only apply to the equipped main-hand weapon (which is busy being occupied by the scroll at the time).

Sources of UMD[edit]

Ranks in the UMD skill (up to 11 or 23 on heroic levels, 10 on epic levels)

Charisma modifier adds to UMD if you have at least 1 trained level of UMD:

Exceptional Charisma Skills items,

Competence bonus to UMD from one of (does not stack):

(See also Use Magic Device items for updated list of items with competence and enhancement bonus to UMD)

Enhancement bonus to UMD from one of (does not stack):

Luck bonus to UMD from one of (does not stack):

Feat bonus (these stack):

Morale bonus from one of (does not stack):

  • Good Hope - Bard spell - +2 morale bonus
  • Heroism - Bard/Sorcerer/Wizard spell, sold on scrolls, potions (Portable Hole), clickie on random and some named items - +2 morale bonus
  • Greater Heroism - Bard/Sorcerer/Wizard spell, sold on scrolls, clickie on some named items - +4 morale bonus
  • Shavarath Environmental Effects +4 morale bonus for being on the Shavarath plane (can't cast GH? Just visit Amrath for the +4 UMD you need to equip your weapon, etc.)
  • +1: Phiarlan Inspiration - Guild Airship buff (old style)

Profane bonus from:

Quality bonus to UMD from one of (does not stack):


Other stacking bonuses:

External links[edit]

The Definitive UMD Bonus Thread

See also[edit]

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