A Red Wizard of Thay's Staff of Holy Word: How does this work?

[Endarire]

I was hoping I could use my uber Red Wizard CL of 47 on a UMDed Staff of holy word.

I know I can UMD a staff with a high enough check, but what would the CL be?

[The_Mad_Linguist]

As far as I can tell, UMD does not work that way.

This skill does not let you actually use the class feature of another class. It just lets you activate items as if you had that class feature.

Unlike with other sorts of magic items, the wielder can use

[betrayor]

You would be better with taking arcane disciple to gain Holy word on your spelllist and use it in a staff normally.....

[Echoes]

As far as I can tell, UMD does not work that way.

This skill does not let you actually use the class feature of another class. It just lets you activate items as if you had that class feature.

Unlike with other sorts of magic items, the wielder can use

What? No, UMD does exactly what the OP wants. From the SRD:

This use of the skill also applies to other spell trigger magic items, such as staffs.

Since staffs always use your CL if it's higher than their base CL, a Red Wizard can absolutely UMD a staff of holy word and use their boosted CL.

[Endarire]

What's the UMD check to activate the staff?

[AndyJames]

As far as I can tell, UMD does not work that way.

This skill does not let you actually use the class feature of another class. It just lets you activate items as if you had that class feature.

Unlike with other sorts of magic items, the wielder can use

What? No, UMD does exactly what the OP wants. From the SRD:

This use of the skill also applies to other spell trigger magic items, such as staffs.

Since staffs always use your CL if it's higher than their base CL, a Red Wizard can absolutely UMD a staff of holy word and use their boosted CL.

I think he means that the Red Wizard doesn't have a CLERIC caster level, and so will use the staff's level only.

[betrayor]

What's the UMD check to activate the staff?

It is 20...

[The_Mad_Linguist]

As far as I can tell, UMD does not work that way.

This skill does not let you actually use the class feature of another class. It just lets you activate items as if you had that class feature.

Unlike with other sorts of magic items, the wielder can use

What? No, UMD does exactly what the OP wants. From the SRD:

This use of the skill also applies to other spell trigger magic items, such as staffs.

Since staffs always use your CL if it's higher than their base CL, a Red Wizard can absolutely UMD a staff of holy word and use their boosted CL.

I think he means that the Red Wizard doesn't have a CLERIC caster level, and so will use the staff's level only.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

[spacemonkey555]

I think he means that the Red Wizard doesn't have a CLERIC caster level, and so will use the staff's level only.

The UMD rules specify that you use spell trigger items as if the spell were on your list, so you would use your own caster level if better.

"This use of the skill allows you to use a wand as if you had a particular spell on your class spell list. This use of the skill also applies to other spell trigger magic items, such as staffs."

[Echoes]

class to apply your caster level to any particular staff?