PFS: should a Bard invest in UMD?


Advice

Grand Lodge

It seems like so many good spells are already on the Bard spell list. Is it worth investing points in UMD for Bards?

TIA

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Krunchyfrogg wrote:

It seems like so many good spells are already on the Bard spell list. Is it worth investing points in UMD for Bards?

TIA

Ask yourself this... what spells do you want to use that aren't on the Bard's list? How much would you use them, given the extra action and gold cost to do so? Then decide if it's worth the investment.


YES!!!!

The real question is how much. There are certainly a lot of variables in this but if you don't make at least a passing attempt at this then one day you will sit at a table and find no one can use the device and someone gets burned. After all in PFS you can't assume that someone is going to show up with X,Y, or Z so you got to be able to help yourself as much as you can.


Much depends on the rest of the party. If there's a high-Cha character (which a Bard doesn't need to be) or one who can spare a feat or trait, let them take UMD. And if you've a well-rounded party there's no need for UMD at all.
But if the above doesn't apply, then yes: it would be "worth it" for the Bard to take UMD.


I'd say definitely, especially if you're not taking an archetype that gives up versatile performance. Since perform ends up being 3 skills for the price of one, you've got significantly less competition for your skill points. That being said, if the only wand you intend to pick up is a cure light wounds wand, there certainly isn't much reason to. But being able to save money by using scrolls vs potions isn't a bad option.


I say yes, it is a gate way to all sorts of funny and great options. Make sure you built up a library of different scrolls and you can ad even more versatility to a already very Versatile class. But if you only have 4 skill points pr level it May bea bad idea.


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The big selling point of UMD in PFS is that you can't keep the magic items. So if you come across some random wand in a scenario you squeeze as many charges out of it as you can.

Sovereign Court

YES. Max ranks UMD. Even with high Cha and max ranks my 12th level bard had to roll pretty high to fire off a 6th level wizard scroll... UMD is not a skill you can just throw a couple ranks in, unless you don't mind being limited to wands.

Greater disarm via whip vs. wizard staff or rod = fun times.


Purple Dragon Knight wrote:

YES. Max ranks UMD. Even with high Cha and max ranks my 12th level bard had to roll pretty high to fire off a 6th level wizard scroll... UMD is not a skill you can just throw a couple ranks in, unless you don't mind being limited to wands.

Greater disarm via whip vs. wizard staff or rod = fun times.

And if you build towards it, you can even wind up high enough to read 6th level scrolls w/out a hitch. At 11th I ended up with a 31 UMD, which allowed me to fake the stat needed and the class level required on 6th level scrolls and succeed on a 1.

EDIT: Expensive, but a secondary healer with heal was a life saver in a couple of scenarios.


In PFS, I think everyone should invest in UMD. I've had tables where there coincidentally is a scroll of remove X shortly after or before you get hit with condition X. But there is no one that can activate it.

I've seen a couple of tables where not a single character had even a single rank in UMD and all were martial characters. So no one could activate their heal wands. They had to 'waste' a bunch of money on potions before they left on mission.

There are often scrolls, wands, or staves found during a mission that no one at the table can use with their class abilities.

Non-PFS, it is often less important since there is more likely to be a few different types of casters and usually you only need 1 or 2 characters to have ranks in UMD. But in PFS a large number of players always assume someone else will be the 1 guy with UMD. So it ends up being nobody.

Silver Crusade

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Never hurts to invest in UMD. Totally worth it. One example is fast movement:

Spend 2 pp on a Wand of Longstrider. Activate with UMD out of combat. Your move is now +10' for the next hour, which is often the entire PFS run. Use up all 50 charges over your entire PFS career.

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