House Rule: Spellcraft as BB Use Magic Device

[CWalk89]

I am about to start a new BB campaign (using the 0one Games module "Fangs from the Past") and want to pitch a house rule I've been developing - What if Spellcraft in its BB form was used more akin to Use Magic Device in the CRB? Here's how I see it working:

Identify a potion, scroll, wand

• Use Detect Magic
  
• Spellcraft DC 15 + caster level

Identify other magic item

• Use Detect Magic
  
• Spellcraft DC 20

Identify a spell being cast

• Spellcraft DC 15 + spell level

Use a scroll
If the correct class ...

• Use Read Magic
  
• Spellcraft DC 20

If another class ...

• Spellcraft DC 20

Use a wand
If the correct class ...

• Use the wand

If another class ...

• Spellcraft DC 20

In your collective opinion, would this application of Spellcraft horribly unbalance the game? I feel as though non-casters at 1st-2nd level wouldn't be able to invest heavily enough in the skill to reliably use scrolls and wands in combat. The main unbalancing factor, in my opinion, would be wizards and clerics potentially having the entirety of the game's magic system at their disposal. Even so, at 1st-2nd level, it still wouldn't be combat-viable, right?

I'd appreciate any and all comments, suggestions, and alterations to what I've developed. Cheers!

[Sean K Reynolds]

The only reason the Beginner Box doesn't have Use Magic Device as a skill is we wanted the intro game to be simpler for people to learn. If you're willing to take on the added complexity, you could just add in the UMD skill and use it just like in the Core Rulebook.

[CWalk89]

I would add Use Magic Device, but my OCD dislikes that there's no option for it on the provided character sheets or Hero Lab. Plus, we'd then have the continued problem of Spellcraft being too weak or vague to be considered useful.

Would the existence of UMD or Spellcraft-as-UMD horribly unbalance a BB game?

[Sean K Reynolds]

Not at all.

Especially as there's a lot of overlap between Kn(arcana) and Spellcraft, if you wanted to remodel Kn(arcana) as "the skill that lets you know esoteric things about magic" and Spellcraft as "the skill that lets you figure out how to use magic items you wouldn't normally be able to use." And it would let you use the Beginner Box character sheets. :)

[Slime]

CWalk89 wrote:

(...)

Use a scroll
If the correct class ...

• Use Read Magic
  
• Spellcraft DC 20

If another class ...

• Spellcraft DC 20

Use a wand
If the correct class ...

• Use the wand

If another class ...

• Spellcraft DC 20

(...)

I'd add the item's spell level to the "another class ..." DC.

[CWalk89]

I was planning to add the scroll's spell level to the DC for using non-class scrolls since that's what the CRB does, right?

Wands in CRB are always UMD DC 20, so I was planning the same for this game.

Thanks for the input, all! Can't wait to run it next week.