I read a few times that one tactic for witches (or wizards too I guess) is to have a raven familiar, give him a wand and have him fly around casting spells with it.
Now ok, a raven can speak, so I guess he can speak the activation word required for a wand so at least that part is no problem (all other familiars would already fail at this point - except the thrush)
But a wand is not a command word item its spell trigger, and requires the user to have that spell on their spelllist.
So a witch familiar stores the spells, but does it actually count as knowing them or sharing the witches spelllist? I'm pretty sure they can't cast on their own.
UMD also isn't really an option, since a familiar doesn't actually level up and gain feat slots or skill points to increase anything.
So... how does that work? If it works at all, and isn't some faulty logic?
D'oh, you're right. For some reason I read that entry backwards, as like the wizard getting the familiars skill ranks. Which of course makes no sense.
Yes, guess the UMD aproach works then.
Does it just get the masters ranks, or also class skill bonus, skill focus, trait bonus etc? It says it uses its own ability mod, which in this case is a -2, but doesn't mention the other stuff that can affect a skill.
In either way you need a DC 20 to activate a wand, so you'll need alot of levels to do this reliably.
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The Familiar shares the master's skill ranks, but not any other stuff - since UMD isn't one of the Familiar's class skills (they're listed on page 83 of the Core book) they don't get that bonus, or any bonuses from the master's Skill Focus (UMD) or anything like that.
On the other hand, the master (if he or she has Int and Cha of 13+) can blow a Feat on the Evolved Familiar Feat (Ultimate Magic, page 149) and select the 1pt evolution 'skilled' (APG page 61) to grant the Familiar a +8 racial bonus to UMD.
What tool provides a bonus to UMD?
I ask, because if it's a custom jobby, then you can probably also talk your DM into making a custom UMD boosting magic item. Maybe a harness that holds a wand, even.
What doesn't work is that the average raven, can't lift or aim a wand due to lack of the physical equipment to do so.
Not relevant to wand cheese, but:
New Caledonian Crows have been observed in the wild using stick tools with their beaks to extract insects from logs. While young birds in the wild normally learn this technique from elders, a laboratory crow named "Betty" improvised a hooked tool from a wire with no prior experience.
Common ravens are one of only a few species who make their own toys. They have been observed breaking off twigs to play with socially.
Back to the witch thing,
If a witch familiar has a wand, and the wand is of a spell that the witch (and therefore familiar) knows, then the familiar shouldn't need a UMD check at all, correct?
No, a familiar cannot use a wand without UMD. the spells ahve to be on the class list. the spells are ont he witches class list not the familiars. the Familiar cant use them in any way.
Really wether ravens can use wands is up to DM interpetationr eally. Or you can solve it all with an Advanced familiar and most of the arguments go away against it.
Brownies and Imps etc also tend to ahve good cha stats.
So basically you take improved familiar and choose "Azata, Lyrakien," which then gets your ranks for UMD but uses her CHA (a 20), right?
Aha.
Faerie Dragons are sorcerers.
yes in our rise f the runelords game my gnome rogue has a brownie familiar uses a ninny efficient quiver and a bunch of wands.