| 1 person marked this as FAQ candidate. |
I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that it doesn't. So basicly if you have UMD you can try till you succeed (unless you roll a nat 1 then it's blocked for 24 hours), but you only use a charge if the spell actually works.
I can't find that anywhere anymore though. I'm probably looking in the wrong place, so if you can point me to it that would be great.
I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that it doesn't. So basicly if you have UMD you can try till you succeed (unless you roll a nat 1 then it's blocked for 24 hours), but you only use a charge if the spell actually works.
I can't find that anywhere anymore though. I'm probably looking in the wrong place, so if you can point me to it that would be great.
This JUST happened in my game, leaving me wondering if you're one of my fellow players, though if not... here's my +1 for the question. Couldn't find it myself.
-T
No. The rules don't say you do. UMD is just trying to activate it. You don't fail to get it to do what you want. You fail to get it to do anything.
That makes sense. If I can't convince the wand that I'm actually a caster who knows what he's doing, then the wand is just a oddly formed stick.
I do think however if you try to blindly activate it, failing by 10 or more the mishap will expend a charge.
However my question was actually aimed at "I know this is a wand of CLW and I even know the activation word, I just can't usually cast it".
And no Verge, not one of your players. We just sort of lost our cleric in a PbP and I was wondering if it be a viable way for my ninja to use the CLW wand with UMD instead.
Since it doesn't use a charge I'd say it is perfectly ok for between combats. Might take twice as long and I may need a backup wand (incase of a nat 1) but should work.
Most likely, this won't be a big deal in your games since those PCs that use UMD will try to raise it pretty high so they can only fail on a 1, and NPCs will usually have the ability to cast the spell themselves or have a high UMD. The rules do not state it, but I might rule the 10 or more or maybe on top of rolling a 1 (which also has that not being able to use the wand the rest of the day thing btw).
Actually if you manage to push your UMD high enough that you succeed on a 2 but fail on a 1 I'd strongly recommend you raise it by one more point so you also succeed on that nasty 1... :) Skills don't auto-fail on a 1.
The 24 hour thing is "if you roll a natural 1 AND fail" ... if you don't fail you can roll nat 1s all day and the wand still works.
However we're pretty low level still and can't get my UMD that high.
Actually if you manage to push your UMD high enough that you succeed on a 2 but fail on a 1 I'd strongly recommend you raise it by one more point so you also succeed on that nasty 1... :) Skills don't auto-fail on a 1.
The 24 hour thing is "if you roll a natural 1 AND fail" ... if you don't fail you can roll nat 1s all day and the wand still works.However we're pretty low level still and can't get my UMD that high.
Wrong, UMD fails on a natural one. See the "Try Again" section:
Yes, but if you ever roll a natural 1 while attempting to activate an item and you fail, then you can't try to activate that item again for 24 hours.
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/skills/use-magic-device
Sangalor, read that again. If you roll a natural one AND FAIL, then you can't use it again for 24 hours. Rolling a natural one does not fail automatically.
Sangalor, read that again. If you roll a natural one AND FAIL, then you can't use it again for 24 hours. Rolling a natural one does not fail automatically.
Ah, good catch! I stand corrected :-)
Much better and more consistent that way, I like it.
Yea, it's like a "soft auto-fail". In that it's not an auto-fail at all =/
I do think however if you try to blindly activate it, failing by 10 or more the mishap will expend a charge.
As long as you know the wand's properties and are just trying to use it as if you had the spell on your spell list, you can avoid any chance of mishap. You don't see too many people attempting to blindly activate unidentified wands these days, at least not from my experiences.
(Although style points should be awarded to anyone who does so.)