Use Magic Device
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I can't find UMD in the mechanics changes and I was wondering how it functions in CoA as I don't see the UMD roll that I have on other servers when playing a rogue as it pertains to wands and scrolls.
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wrt wands you are either able to use them or not (red in inventory), every point of umd counts btw rather than batches of 5 like in the vanilla version of nwn.
as far as scrolls go, this is a long running topic but essentially assume you will fail every roll to use a scroll and you wont be far off reality :(
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You can read scrolls, we use the PnP rules for them though, so it takes some decent points in the skill with higher level scrolls.
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At some point, I have been playing with the idea of UMD rolling for everything, same as it rolls with scrolls. Losing a roll won't expend charges or consume scrolls, it just won't work; Which is more thematic and fitting to me. A rogue or a bard shouldn't have a 100% success rate a wizard does, he is "faking" it, after all.
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I guess what I'm trying to figure out is how much UMD is required per caster level for a wand. For instance with 10 UMD I know I can use a shield wand but not a lightning bolt or haste wand.
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@deke From what I remember it's related to the item value. Unless things have changed since I played my last UMD rogue; If a bunch of charges got used up on a wand you couldn't use, it's value drops and it can become useable.
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Can confirm. If there is a wand you want and can't use at full charge, ask for several 10 charge versions instead!
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I'm uncertain, but don't UOB properties also change an items value like any other added property?
Making it roll UMD for things like wands and equipment would make the skill considerably less useful. It's almost a dead cert you'll fail scroll use as is. I've played characters with maxed out UMD and Skill Focus and still failed first and second circle scrolls.
The "it either works or doesn't" with wands always felt like it made up a little bit for the lack of scroll use. Making all UMD rolls means your multiclass rogues with caster levels wouldn't be able to use wands or scrolls.
From my own experiences; as it stands now, if you play a caster rogue with UMD, scroll use is virtually impossible except for adding them to your spell book. However, the trade off is you can access the divine wands and class specific gear (at least, stuff that doesn't bear the label [CLASS] ONLY NO UMD).
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It uses the "value" of the item (which is internally decided by the game using a 2da file, which is frankly... bizzarre!) to calculate if you have enough UMD.
And yes, pretty much any property makes an item "worth more" as far as the game is concerned (even negative ones!!!)