| Tolvin |
I'm guessing I am the GM in question here and I feel the need to pipe in and share the full story. 1st: I have been dealing with this player for 6+ months. The group shifted from a 3.5 game to Pathfinder about 4 months ago under his suggestion. I then spent the next four months finding that my player spent a majority of his time misinterpreting the rules while I spent the entire time reading up on the new pathfinder rules so I can determine what was legitimate and what was crap he decided he could do but the rules said otherwise. In fact I found it was easier to list out the rules every couple of weeks and email them to this player to make sure he understood he was making a lot of mistakes. He and I started butting heads as soon I as I started quoting the rules to him.
WOTC and Dungeons and Dragons does have a hotline, I spent a lot of time contacting them as a player and a GM. During one GM session I had a player who wanted to design a wand wielding sorcerer. I took the opportunity to contact D&D, and interestingly enough so did one of the players who was thinking of something similar. We were both told the exact same thing. That Sorcerer's have to use magic device if the wand isn't on their known spell list. That is the 3.5 rule. When the issue came up again 4 weeks ago, I reread the rule in Pathfinder and 4th, because I wanted to make sure it hasn't changed and I was wrong. In both cases, the wording is vague as to the definition of spell list. For example I define Spell list for a character as the spells he has access to every day. For Wizards that is his spell book, for a Sorcerer his known spells, and for Clerics and Paladins its different because those classes get their spells from their god and get the entirety of the Cleric Spell list (Limited only by alignment).
So I based my decision on what I saw, which was that Pathfinder used the same definition as D&D for UMD. And since Sorcerer’s may select known spells from the Sorcerer/Wizard Spell list but “A Sorcerer’s selection is extremely limited,” I determined that Pathfinder hasn’t changed the rule whatsoever. My player defined his spell list too broadly while I viewed it in a restrictive sense.
So barring a clearly written difference in the rule by Pathfinder (which doesn't exist) I ruled that players can cast from a wand only spells they know in their spell book, as part of their known spells, or if granted by their god. My player started this thread to try to convince me I was wrong. I am sorry guys, I know all of you have your own opinions and experiences and a majority don't agree with me. But I do know the rule and absent something clearly written that changed the rule, it is the same rule: which makes sense since Pathfinder started with a template of Dungeons and Dragons.
I told my player he had 3 options: 1. Use Magic Device as a skill, 2. Contact Pathfinder and find out the rule, or 3. except my ruling. He refused all three and accused me of nerfing the game (a term he uses whenever he thinks he is right). I tired of his constant complaints and gave him a forth option, walk away. He chose to walk. And I and the group thank him for that.