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Hi all,
I have a bit of a corner case question that I'm trying to get my head around.
An Occultist only has access to the spells of his chosen implement schools and can only cast 1 spell of each level of that school as chosen.
If they buy a Shard of Psychic Power that contains a spell of one of their known implement schools then my understanding is that they can use one of their spell slots to cast the contained spell, in effect having a second spell of that level for that implement school.
For example if they have say Illusions as an Implement school and chose Blur as their known second level spell, but also have a Shard with Mirror Image in it then they can cast Blur and Mirror Image as needed (up to the numbers of times per day that they can cast second level spells)
Now here are my questions.
What if the Occultist buys or finds a Shard of Ablative Barrier, which is a 2nd level spell of the Conjuration Implement school which they have not selected.
How do they use it?
a) Can they use it "as is" because while they do not have the school, it is on their spell list?
b) Can they use it with UMD?
i) If so what would the target DC be? Do they have to emulate a class ability (of having Conjuration spells known) which is a DC 20?
ii) If i) is the case do they use their actual caster level or do they use their UMD roll -20 as per the UMD rule for emulating a class ability?
Thanks!
I would say: a) No they can't use it as the spell is not on their spell list ...
If the bearer is a psychic spellcaster and has that spell on her class spell list, she can use her spell slots to cast that spell as if it were one of her spells known.
No spells from any other school are considered to be on the occultist’s spell list until he selects the associated implement school.
As to b), I'm not sure. My general understanding was that UMD can be used for any magic item, but I've never thought about it with items like these.
A shard would give you a spell known, but doesn't have the ability to add it to your spell list. UMD doesn't add things to your class spell list. I think b) just doesn't work.
UMD has th following sub-skills:
Activate Blindly
Decipher a Written Spell
Emulate an Ability Score
Emulate an Alignment
Emulate a Class Feature
Emulate a Race
Use a Scroll
Use a Wand, Staff, or Other Spell Trigger Item
A Shard of Psychic Power is not an activated item. It does not need deciphering, it is not ability or alignment dependent. You already have the class feature needed.
Therefore, UMD has no useful interaction with the shard.
/cevah
UMD has th following sub-skills:
Activate Blindly
Decipher a Written Spell
Emulate an Ability Score
Emulate an Alignment
Emulate a Class Feature
Emulate a Race
Use a Scroll
Use a Wand, Staff, or Other Spell Trigger ItemA Shard of Psychic Power is not an activated item. It does not need deciphering, it is not ability or alignment dependent. You already have the class feature needed.
Therefore, UMD has no useful interaction with the shard.
/cevah
It seems to me that if you have the needed class feature that you can then cast the spell. If an occultist cannot cast the spell (by being in a "forbidden" school), then they obviously do not possess the requisite class feature.
To the OP, my opinion would be that using a Shard of Ablative Barrier would require a UMD roll of 24: 20 to emulate the Conjuration Implement, +4 to reach a caster level of 4 (the caster level necessary to cast 2nd level spells).
An Implement School is not a class feature. The class feature is Implements.
If it was as you say, your UMD description is wrong. It would be DC 20 for the feature, but no check for CL since it does not count as a scroll. Having a shard for spell above your level in a school you have won't work since you don't have the SL slot to cast the spell.
/cevah
I'm a bit out of my depth here, but a specific Implement would be equivalent to a specific Witch Hex as far as class features go.
If you had something that interacted with Evil Eye, but you didn't actually have Evil Eye (despite having other hexes) would you be able to interact with that thing at all?
I don't know if that's the best comparison, but I just thought I'd throw it out there.
Emulate Class Feature works. You specifically use it to emulate spellcasting, which is why you can cast spells from scrolls that aren't on your list.
Emulate Class feature does not work.
Emulate a Class Feature: Sometimes you need to use a class feature to activate a magic item.
How do you activate a shard? It has no functions that are activated.
/cevah