Editing DnDWiki:Use Magic Device

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==USE MAGIC DEVICE ([[Charisma]]; TRAINED ONLY)==

Use this skill to activate magic devices, including scrolls and wands, that you could not otherwise activate.

===[[Skill Check|Check]]:===

You can use this skill to read a [[spells|spell]] or to activate a magic item. Use Magic Device lets you use a magic item as if you had the spell ability or class features of another class, as if you were a different race, or as if you were of a different [[alignment]].  

You make a Use Magic Device [[Skill Check|check]] each time you activate a device such as a [[wand]].  

If you are using the [[Skill Check|check]] to emulate an [[alignment]] or some other quality in an on going manner (to emulate a [[neutral]] [[evil]] [[alignment]] in order to keep your self from being damaged by a book of vile darkness you are carrying when you are not [[evil]], for example), you need to make the relevant Use Magic Device [[Skill Check|check]] once per hour.  You must consciously choose which requirement to emulate.  That is, you must know what you are trying to emulate when you make a Use Magic Device [[Skill Check|check]] for that purpose.  

The [[Difficulty Class|DCs]] for various tasks involving Use Magic Device [[Skill Check|checks]] are summarized on the table below.  

{|Border=1
!Task!!Use Magic Device [[Difficulty Class|DC]]
|-
|Activate blindly||25
|-
|Decipher a written spell||25 + [[spell level]]
|-
|Use a scroll||20 + caster level
|-
|Use a wand||20
|-
|Emulate a class feature||20
|-
|Emulate an ability score||See text
|-
|Emulate a race||25
|-
|Emulate an alignment||30
|}

====Activate Blindly:====

Some magic items are activated by special words, thoughts, or actions.  You can activate such an item as if you were using the activation word, thought, or action, even when you’re not and even if you don’t know it.  You do have to perform some equivalent activity in order to make the [[[Skill Check|check]].  That is, you must speak, wave the item around, or otherwise attempt to get it to activate. You get a special +2 bonus on your Use Magic Device [[Skill Check|check]] if you’ve activated the item in question at least once before.
If you fail by 9 or less, you can’t activate the device. If you fail by 10 or more, you suffer a mishap. 

A mishap means that magical energy gets released but it doesn’t do what you wanted it to do.  The [[DM]] determines the result of a mishaps, as with scroll mishaps.  The default mishaps are that the item affects the wrong target or that uncontrolled magical energy is released, dealing 2[[d6]] points of damage to you.  This mishap is in addition to the chance for a mishap that you normally run when you cast a spell from a scroll that you could not otherwise cast yourself.  

====Decipher a Written Spell:====

This usage works just like deciphering a written spell with the [[Spellcraft]] [[skill]], except that the [[Difficulty Class|DC]] is 5 points higher. Deciphering a written spell requires 1 minute of concentration.

====Emulate an Ability Score:====

To cast a spell from a scroll, you need a high score in the appropriate ability ([[Intelligence]] for [[wizard]] [[spells]], [[Wisdom]] for divine [[spells]], or [[Charisma]] for [[sorcerer]] or [[bard]] spells). Your effective [[ability score]] (appropriate to the class you’re emulating when you try to cast the spell from the scroll) is your Use Magic Device [[Skill Check|check]] result minus 15. If you already have a high enough score in the appropriate ability, you don’t need to make this [[Skill Check|check]].  

====Emulate an Alignment:====

Some magic items have positive or negative effects based on the user’s alignment. Use Magic Device lets you use these items as if you were of an alignment of your choice.  For example, a book of vile darkness damages nonevil characters who touch it. With a successful Use Magic Device check, Lidda could emulate an evil alignment so that she could handle a book of vile darkness safely. You can emulate only one alignment at a time.  

====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 [[Skill Check|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 [[turn undead|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 [[Skill check]] result of 21 or higher to succeed.

This [[skill]] does not let you actually use the class feature of another class.  It just lets you activate items as if you had that class feature.

If the class whose feature you are emulating has an [[alignment]] requirement, you must meet it, either honestly or by emulating an appropriate alignment with a separate Use Magic Device [[Skill Check|check]] (see
above).

====Emulate a Race:====

Some magic items work only for members of certain races, or work better for members of those races. You can use such an item as if you were a race of your choice. For example, Lidda, a [[halfling]], could attempt to use a [[dwarven thrower]]  as if she were a [[dwarf]]. If she failed her Use Magic Device [[Skill Check|check]], the hammer would work for her as it
normally would for a [[halfling]], but if she succeeded, it would work for her as if she were a [[dwarf]]. You can emulate only one race at a time.

====Use a Scroll:====

If you are casting a [[spells|spell]] from a scroll, you have to decipher it first. Normally, to cast a [[spells|spell]] from a scroll, you must have the scroll’s [[spells|spell]] on your class [[spells|spell]] list. Use Magic Device allows you to use a scroll as if you had a particular spell on your class [[spells|spell]] list. The [[Difficulty Class|DC]] is equal to 20 + the caster level of the [[spells|spell]] you are trying to cast from the scroll.  For instance, to cast [[web]] (a 2nd-level [[wizard]] [[spells|spell]]) from a scroll, you would need a Use Magic Device [[Skill Check|check]] result of 23 or better, since the minimum caster level for [[web]] is 3rd level.  In addition, casting a [[spells|spell]] from a scroll requires a minimum score (10 + [[spell level]]) in the appropriate ability.  If you don’t have a sufficient score in that ability, you must emulate the ability score with a separate Use Magic Device [[Skill Check|check]] (see above).  This use of the [[skill]] also applies to other [[spells|spell]] completion magic items.  

====Use a Wand:====

Normally, to use a wand, you must have the wand’s [[spells|spell]] on your class [[spells|spell]] list. This use of the [[skill]] allows you to use a wand as if you had a particular [[spells|spell]] on your class [[spells|spell]] list.  This use of the [[skill]] also applies to other [[spells|spell]] trigger magic items, such as staffs.  

===[[Action]]:===

None. The Use Magic Device [[Skill Check|check]] is made as part of the [[action]] (if any) required to activate the magic item. 

===Try Again:===

Yes, but if you ever roll a natural 1 while attempting to activate an item and you fail, then you can’t try to activate that item again for 24 hours.

===Special:===

* You cannot take 10 with this [[skill]].

* You can’t aid another on Use Magic Device [[Skill Check|checks]].  Only the user of the item may attempt such a [[Skill Check|check]].  

* If you have the [[Magical Aptitude]] [[feats|feat]], you get a +2 bonus on Use Magic Device [[Skill Check|checks]].  

===Synergy:===

* If you have 5 or more [[rank]]s in [[Spellcraft]], you get a +2 bonus on Use Magic Device [[Skill Check|checks]] related to scrolls.

* If you have 5 or more ranks in [[Decipher Script]], you get a +2 bonus on Use Magic Device [[Skill Check|checks]] related to scrolls.

* If you have 5 or more ranks in Use Magic Device, you get a +2 bonus to [[Spellcraft]] [[Skill Check|checks]] made to decipher [[spells]] on scrolls.

[[Category:Skills]]