Author Topic: Optimizing UMD on the Cheap  (Read 7528 times)

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Lycanthromancer

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Re: Optimizing UMD on the Cheap
« Reply #20 on: June 15, 2011, 11:11:16 PM »
That will get you to the 'only fail on a one' point pretty effectively
Natural 1 only autofails on attack rolls and saving throws. If you have a +19 UMD check, you never fail to activate a wand (DC 20), for example.
Correct, but it's a common (if crappy) houserule that nat 1s always fail regardless.

I think there are some cheap items in the MiC that give you one reroll per day or something, right? That could help.
Are you talking about chronocharms? None of those for UMD (though I wish there were).
[spoiler]Masculine men like masculine things. Masculine men are masculine. Therefore, liking masculine men is masculine.

I dare anyone to find a hole in that logic.
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rot42

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Re: Optimizing UMD on the Cheap
« Reply #21 on: June 16, 2011, 12:12:22 PM »
Actually, you only screw yourself if the natural 1 fails the check.

Whaddaya know, I never noticed that a massive enough bonus gets around the 5% auto-fail. Here I was all set to quote the rule text, only to find that it supports your position instead. Thanks :).

Lycanthromancer

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Re: Optimizing UMD on the Cheap
« Reply #22 on: June 16, 2011, 12:13:28 PM »
Actually, you only screw yourself if the natural 1 fails the check.

Whaddaya know, I never noticed that a massive enough bonus gets around the 5% auto-fail. Here I was all set to quote the rule text, only to find that it supports your position instead. Thanks :).
Yar.

Also, we have a spellthief in the party and two factotums. I'm sure that could be useful somehow...
« Last Edit: June 16, 2011, 12:17:25 PM by Lycanthromancer »
[spoiler]Masculine men like masculine things. Masculine men are masculine. Therefore, liking masculine men is masculine.

I dare anyone to find a hole in that logic.
______________________________________
[/spoiler]I'm a writer. These are my stories. Some are even SFW! (Warning: Mostly Gay.)
My awesome poster collection. (Warning, some are NSFW.)
Agita's awesome poster collection.
[spoiler]
+1 Lycanthromancer
Which book is Lycanthromancer in?
Lyca ... is in the book. Yes he is.
 :D
shit.. concerning psionics optimization, lycan IS the book
[/spoiler]

The_Mad_Linguist

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Re: Optimizing UMD on the Cheap
« Reply #23 on: June 16, 2011, 03:48:38 PM »
Also, we have a spellthief in the party and two factotums. I'm sure that could be useful somehow...
Unlimited sorc/wiz spells is always useful, even if they are low level.
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Lycanthromancer

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Re: Optimizing UMD on the Cheap
« Reply #24 on: June 16, 2011, 06:42:52 PM »
I figure I'll take Owl's Wisdom as a spell-like, so he can buff me for a +2. It's not much, but...
[spoiler]Masculine men like masculine things. Masculine men are masculine. Therefore, liking masculine men is masculine.

I dare anyone to find a hole in that logic.
______________________________________
[/spoiler]I'm a writer. These are my stories. Some are even SFW! (Warning: Mostly Gay.)
My awesome poster collection. (Warning, some are NSFW.)
Agita's awesome poster collection.
[spoiler]
+1 Lycanthromancer
Which book is Lycanthromancer in?
Lyca ... is in the book. Yes he is.
 :D
shit.. concerning psionics optimization, lycan IS the book
[/spoiler]

JaronK

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Re: Optimizing UMD on the Cheap
« Reply #25 on: June 16, 2011, 06:49:37 PM »
Unlimited sorc/wiz spells is always useful, even if they are low level.

Unlimited Ghoul Glyph and Explosive Runes = fun with art!

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kremti

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Re: Optimizing UMD on the Cheap
« Reply #26 on: June 21, 2011, 11:57:41 AM »
Magic Savant is also a Bard 2 spell (personal range, 1 round/CL) from Complete Mage, that adds +4 insight bonus to UMD, and if you have 10 or more ranks in UMD, it let you take 10 on the skill check even under combat situation...

Can you use that somehow?

-K

Lycanthromancer

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Re: Optimizing UMD on the Cheap
« Reply #27 on: June 21, 2011, 07:49:04 PM »
Magic Savant is also a Bard 2 spell (personal range, 1 round/CL) from Complete Mage, that adds +4 insight bonus to UMD, and if you have 10 or more ranks in UMD, it let you take 10 on the skill check even under combat situation...

Can you use that somehow?

-K
I could UMD an item of it?
[spoiler]Masculine men like masculine things. Masculine men are masculine. Therefore, liking masculine men is masculine.

I dare anyone to find a hole in that logic.
______________________________________
[/spoiler]I'm a writer. These are my stories. Some are even SFW! (Warning: Mostly Gay.)
My awesome poster collection. (Warning, some are NSFW.)
Agita's awesome poster collection.
[spoiler]
+1 Lycanthromancer
Which book is Lycanthromancer in?
Lyca ... is in the book. Yes he is.
 :D
shit.. concerning psionics optimization, lycan IS the book
[/spoiler]

awaken DM golem

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Re: Optimizing UMD on the Cheap
« Reply #28 on: June 21, 2011, 09:22:42 PM »
Sooo ... what you're saying is:
You UMD a UMD item, to UMD some-third-thing else  ???


{ ... insert OH! that's why there's three question marks on that smiley face ... }

Lycanthromancer

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Re: Optimizing UMD on the Cheap
« Reply #29 on: June 21, 2011, 09:54:07 PM »
Sooo ... what you're saying is:
You UMD a UMD item, to UMD some-third-thing else  ???


{ ... insert OH! that's why there's three question marks on that smiley face ... }

Well, to be fair, the check to UMD a wand is lower than that on my horseshoes.

Also, aren't eternal wands usable by any arcane class? I think?
[spoiler]Masculine men like masculine things. Masculine men are masculine. Therefore, liking masculine men is masculine.

I dare anyone to find a hole in that logic.
______________________________________
[/spoiler]I'm a writer. These are my stories. Some are even SFW! (Warning: Mostly Gay.)
My awesome poster collection. (Warning, some are NSFW.)
Agita's awesome poster collection.
[spoiler]
+1 Lycanthromancer
Which book is Lycanthromancer in?
Lyca ... is in the book. Yes he is.
 :D
shit.. concerning psionics optimization, lycan IS the book
[/spoiler]

PhaedrusXY

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Re: Optimizing UMD on the Cheap
« Reply #30 on: June 22, 2011, 12:06:04 AM »
Also, aren't eternal wands usable by any arcane class? I think?
I'm pretty sure that's right. Hmm... which means that a cleric with the magic domain could also use them...
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SorO_Lost

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Re: Optimizing UMD on the Cheap
« Reply #31 on: June 22, 2011, 12:31:16 AM »
Sooo ... what you're saying is:
You UMD a UMD item, to UMD some-third-thing else  ???
Yep.

The concept is easy. You take one Rank in UMD and spend 50gp on a tool for it. Ignoring your Charisma Bonus you have a bonus of +3 which amounts to a 20% chance to successfully UMD a wand, which are DC 20. Scrolls on the other hand are DC 25 + Caster Level.

By repeating your UMD check every round one of two outcomes will happen. You successfully make your check to use the Wand or you roll a 1 and the Wand cannot be retried until tomorrow. Hence picking up multiple charged wands to deal with the lock out.

When you do pass the DC, the Wand casts Guidance of the Avatar giving you a +20 bonus to your next UMD check. Your UMD bonus is now +23 and you are now capable of beating DC 25. In fact you only need a 3 on your roll to use a 1st level spell from a scroll. Depending on your personal threshold limit, say a 50% chance is acceptable to you, you could UMD up to a CL 8 scroll, or a 4th level spell off of one measly rank.

All it costs is 50gp for the UMD tool, 90gp per charge on the wand, and probably 2 skill points (for cross class cost).

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If that comment on Eternal Wands is true, then awesome. SLAs default to arcane so several races become capable of using them.

« Last Edit: June 22, 2011, 02:12:43 AM by SorO_Lost »
Tiers explained in 8 sentences. With examples!
[spoiler]Tiers break down into who has spellcasting more than anything else due to spells being better than anything else in the game.
6: Skill based. Commoner, Expert, Samurai.
5: Mundane warrior. Barbarian, Fighter, Monk.
4: Partial casters. Adapt, Hexblade, Paladin, Ranger, Spelltheif.
3: Focused casters. Bard, Beguiler, Dread Necromancer, Martial Adapts, Warmage.
2: Full casters. Favored Soul, Psion, Sorcerer, Wu Jen.
1: Elitists. Artificer, Cleric, Druid, Wizard.
0: Gods. StP Erudite, Illthid Savant, Pun-Pun, Rocks fall & you die.
[/spoiler]

The_Mad_Linguist

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Re: Optimizing UMD on the Cheap
« Reply #32 on: June 22, 2011, 12:51:55 AM »
If that comment on Eternal Wands is true, then awesome. SLAs default to arcane so several races become capable of using them.
Can I get a quote on that?  All I recall is that SLAs are preferentially assumed to be of the same level as the arcane version of a spell
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Lycanthromancer

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Re: Optimizing UMD on the Cheap
« Reply #33 on: June 22, 2011, 12:56:13 AM »
Also, remember that you only screw yourself for 24 hours on a nat 1 if the nat 1 fails the check. If it passes, then you activate the item.
[spoiler]Masculine men like masculine things. Masculine men are masculine. Therefore, liking masculine men is masculine.

I dare anyone to find a hole in that logic.
______________________________________
[/spoiler]I'm a writer. These are my stories. Some are even SFW! (Warning: Mostly Gay.)
My awesome poster collection. (Warning, some are NSFW.)
Agita's awesome poster collection.
[spoiler]
+1 Lycanthromancer
Which book is Lycanthromancer in?
Lyca ... is in the book. Yes he is.
 :D
shit.. concerning psionics optimization, lycan IS the book
[/spoiler]

SorO_Lost

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Re: Optimizing UMD on the Cheap
« Reply #34 on: June 22, 2011, 02:19:47 AM »
If that comment on Eternal Wands is true, then awesome. SLAs default to arcane so several races become capable of using them.
Can I get a quote on that?  All I recall is that SLAs are preferentially assumed to be of the same level as the arcane version of a spell
I think that's what it is.
Quote from: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#spellLikeAbilities

Reread the Warlock's Invocation's entry. It never once states Invocations are arcane based, they are simply written in to gain the benefit of +1 arcane caster level PrCs. Not even the Warlock's SLAs are arcane based. My bad.
Tiers explained in 8 sentences. With examples!
[spoiler]Tiers break down into who has spellcasting more than anything else due to spells being better than anything else in the game.
6: Skill based. Commoner, Expert, Samurai.
5: Mundane warrior. Barbarian, Fighter, Monk.
4: Partial casters. Adapt, Hexblade, Paladin, Ranger, Spelltheif.
3: Focused casters. Bard, Beguiler, Dread Necromancer, Martial Adapts, Warmage.
2: Full casters. Favored Soul, Psion, Sorcerer, Wu Jen.
1: Elitists. Artificer, Cleric, Druid, Wizard.
0: Gods. StP Erudite, Illthid Savant, Pun-Pun, Rocks fall & you die.
[/spoiler]

The_Mad_Linguist

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Re: Optimizing UMD on the Cheap
« Reply #35 on: June 22, 2011, 03:07:21 AM »
Reread the Warlock's Invocation's entry. It never once states Invocations are arcane based, they are simply written in to gain the benefit of +1 arcane caster level PrCs. Not even the Warlock's SLAs are arcane based. My bad.
No problem.  Glad that we can resolve things on the board courteously.
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SorO_Lost

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Re: Optimizing UMD on the Cheap
« Reply #36 on: June 22, 2011, 03:53:31 AM »
Reread the Warlock's Invocation's entry. It never once states Invocations are arcane based, they are simply written in to gain the benefit of +1 arcane caster level PrCs. Not even the Warlock's SLAs are arcane based. My bad.
No problem.  Glad that we can resolve things on the board courteously.
Hey, I'm not always evil or the terrible devil's advocate :p
Tiers explained in 8 sentences. With examples!
[spoiler]Tiers break down into who has spellcasting more than anything else due to spells being better than anything else in the game.
6: Skill based. Commoner, Expert, Samurai.
5: Mundane warrior. Barbarian, Fighter, Monk.
4: Partial casters. Adapt, Hexblade, Paladin, Ranger, Spelltheif.
3: Focused casters. Bard, Beguiler, Dread Necromancer, Martial Adapts, Warmage.
2: Full casters. Favored Soul, Psion, Sorcerer, Wu Jen.
1: Elitists. Artificer, Cleric, Druid, Wizard.
0: Gods. StP Erudite, Illthid Savant, Pun-Pun, Rocks fall & you die.
[/spoiler]