Why Use Magic Device for Sorcerers

[David Fryer]

I was helping my group roll up their characters for the Pathfinder playtest and a question came up about sorcerers. Why exactly do they have the Use Magic Item skill? I thought that the skill was to use magical items if you did not have magical talents already.

[Malkari Durant]

I think sorcerers have Use Magic Device as a class skill now to represent the ease to which they can tap all things magical. This is to include the ability to more easily use the magic stored in objects. Like say using a wand of cure light wounds more easily than his wizard counterpart

[0gre]

David Fryer wrote:

I was helping my group roll up their characters for the Pathfinder playtest and a question came up about sorcerers. Why exactly do they have the Use Magic Item skill? I thought that the skill was to use magical items if you did not have magical talents already.

They would use this to use clerical, druidic, or bard items. For those wands of CLW, Longstrider, etc

[Disciple of Sakura]

According to the WotC podcast/interview regarding the changes made to the Sorcerer between 3.0 and 3.5, UMD was considered for addition to their skill list. The general idea was "sorcerers are good with all sorts of magic." In the end, it was cut because they thought it stepped too much on the rogue's toes.

Personally, I approve the addition. I don't imagine every sorcerer will acquire UMD ranks, but I do suspect that some will, and it's particularly appropriate when you consider where some of the bloodlines come from. Celestial especially seems to indicate ties to divine magic, and using a wand of Cure Light Wounds via a skill is thematically appropriate in such cases.