Author Topic: UMD and scrolls  (Read 2361 times)

William Roberts

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UMD and scrolls
« on: October 26, 2016, 08:25:55 PM »
Despite being one-shot items, high-level scrolls are not cheap. When purchasing one, you may think your UMD makes you able to use it because the color indicator does not turn red, but apparently that means you have only some chance of successfully using it.

Someone with no UMD knows automatically and with 100 percent probability he or she cannot use a given item without first buying it. Thus, having UMD makes the person having it more ignorant of the very skill they are supposed to have acquired, if he or she cannot at least estimate the probability of using the  item.

Is there any formula, then, for knowing the probability of successfully using a given scroll based on a given UMD?




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APorg

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Re: UMD and scrolls
« Reply #1 on: October 26, 2016, 08:33:03 PM »
Use a cheap level 0 or 1 scroll to test what the DC is, then add +1 for every level of scroll above that.
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William Roberts

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Re: UMD and scrolls
« Reply #2 on: October 26, 2016, 08:58:17 PM »
Thanks.


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Apsalar

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Re: UMD and scrolls
« Reply #3 on: October 26, 2016, 09:35:33 PM »
The DC for using a scroll is 20 + spell level.

APorg

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Re: UMD and scrolls
« Reply #4 on: October 26, 2016, 09:38:59 PM »
But it also goes down if you have Spellcraft, I believe... at least the DC on scroll use for my bard is less than 20 in many cases!
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Syl

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Re: UMD and scrolls
« Reply #5 on: October 26, 2016, 09:44:11 PM »
But it also goes down if you have Spellcraft, I believe... at least the DC on scroll use for my bard is less than 20 in many cases!

Yes the first 5 points you put into Spellcraft drops the DC to use scrolls by 2. however i believe they upped the DC to use scrolls as well

not sure would need to test on my spare scrolls

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Emomina

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Re: UMD and scrolls
« Reply #6 on: October 28, 2016, 02:23:22 AM »
The red halo around an item does give your character in-character knowledge they are not proficient with the use or knowledge of how to effectively use an item.

The lack of the red halo does NOT however mean the opposite.  Use Magic Device is not an ubiquitous skill, its ad hoc and effective on a case-by-case basis.  Your character knows how to "fake it" well enough to activate an item or spell-trigger. But for example, your character might have two identical items and one time they get the activation correct, and the next they fail miserably. No UMD character should view their ability to "fake it" to be tried and true reliable skill set, it just means that unlike other people you sometimes can effectively use that which you cannot. Which is better than never being able to.
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SanneJ

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Re: UMD and scrolls
« Reply #7 on: October 28, 2016, 07:23:34 AM »
The DC for using a scroll is 20 + spell level.

I think you also need to emulate an ability score, but I'm not sure if or how that is in nwn.
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LeviShultz

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Re: UMD and scrolls
« Reply #8 on: October 28, 2016, 08:48:30 AM »
I think you also need to emulate an ability score, but I'm not sure if or how that is in nwn.

Nope, its (UMD score + d20) Vs. (Spell Circle lvl + 20). 5 base ranks in spell craft will lower the DC of the scroll by 2 as well

Example:

A character with 15 points in UMD reads a Time Stop scroll. They roll a 13. The check is failed, the spell doesn't go off and the scroll is consumed.

(15 + 13) vs (20 + 9)               Failed

But should the character have invested 5 base ranks into spell craft the check would have been passed.

(15 + 13) vs ((20 + 9) - 2)        Succeeded

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