Optimizing UMD on the Cheap

[Lycanthromancer]

Alrighty. I've got max ranks but a mediocre Charisma, very little in the way of money left (though I can "sell" some of my starting items if need be), and I don't have a single feat left I can use.

I have a magic item I want to UMD regularly (1/hour, since it's an always-on item, and I need to emulate a race). I need to boost my UMD check up by an extra +9, but everything I see is fairly expensive without going into homebrewed +skill items, which I'd rather not get into.

The DM has approved a MW Tool (gloves made from phantom fungus hide), but beyond that I'm at a loss. There's the circlet from the DMG, but that's rather expensive, and only a +3. Less expensive if I craft it, though, so there's that.

Anybody have any ideas? Preferably REALLY inexpensive ones. Just about anything this side of Dragon is allowed, so long as it's official WotC stuff.

[edit] Oh, and UPD = UMD in this game, so items stack for each, so long as it's not the same bonus type.

[Endarire]

What about divine insight or guidance of the avatar on an at-will item?

[Lycanthromancer]

What about divine insight or guidance of the avatar on an at-will item?

And how incredibly expensive would that be? Golly.

[Mixster]

10k for the guidance item IIRC.

[Lycanthromancer]

10k for the guidance item IIRC.

An amazing item, but this is in the same boat as use-activated True Strike. It's gonna take a bit more than 10k to pull that out of my hat, I'm sure.

[Mixster]

10k for the guidance item IIRC.

An amazing item, but this is in the same boat as use-activated True Strike. It's gonna take a bit more than 10k to pull that out of my hat, I'm sure.

I agree, but I can't think of anything else to help you. There was someone in the expert vs monk test that had something that added a +5 something bonus, never found out what it was, but you could try to dig through it to see if it's useful.

[SorO_Lost]

10k for the guidance item IIRC.

An amazing item, but this is in the same boat as use-activated True Strike. It's gonna take a bit more than 10k to pull that out of my hat, I'm sure.

I agree, but I can't think of anything else to help you. There was someone in the expert vs monk test that had something that added a +5 something bonus, never found out what it was, but you could try to dig through it to see if it's useful.

It is scroll only I think, brain farting on the name.

As a wand (DC 20), the Guidance of the Avatar is only 4,500gp. That's 90gp a charge. With a single rank, you have a 10% success and 5% total fail chance meaning out of combat (where you can freely retry) sports a 2/3s success rate.Anything you can gain above that bonus merely enhances that chance until it's viable in combat.

[rot42]

Just play a centaur?

I assume there is no way to squeeze the Magic Device Attunement feat from Complete Mage into the build? Consider that you are making a roll once an hour with a 24 hour penalty for rolling a natural 1. For an eight hour adventuring day, that is only 0.95^8 ? 66% of making it through the day. This gets worse if you do not hit 25 on a 2.

The Admiral's Bicorn (Stormwrack 131) gives +5, but cheap it is not, especially around level ten or so where I am guessing you are playing.

The Marshall's Motivate Charisma aura would get you a goodly part of the way there if you can sweet talk a fellow player into taking a level.

[Daniel678]

What about aid another? You can have 8 medium creatures surrounding you and an average of half will make the DC for an average of a +8 bonus. If you have 4 party members with UMD then you can get +8  just from them.

Hiring skilled laborers is 3sp a day. You don't need them in combat so you should be able to get them for that price.

[Dusk Eclipse]

I'll assume a 4 level dip into Warlock is not an option; how about ageing to old to get a +2 to the mental stats? That is a cheap (depending on class and maybe race) +1

[SorO_Lost]

What about aid another? You can have 8 medium creatures surrounding you and an average of half will make the DC for an average of a +8 bonus. If you have 4 party members with UMD then you can get +8  just from them.

Hiring skilled laborers is 3sp a day. You don't need them in combat so you should be able to get them for that price.

You can't Aid Other, you can however hire an Expert to UMD for you for a measly 3sp a day.

I assume there is no way to squeeze the Magic Device Attunement feat from Complete Mage into the build? Consider that you are making a roll once an hour with a 24 hour penalty for rolling a natural 1. For an eight hour adventuring day, that is only 0.95^8 ? 66% of making it through the day. This gets worse if you do not hit 25 on a 2.

Actually, you buy three of four Wands of Guidance of the Avatar with a couple charges each and you UMD those with a 1/3 locked out fail chance. Remember, if you failed to activate it, you never spent a charge. So retry and retry some more (just never activate blindly). If you do roll a 1, use a different wand, when you succeed, use your key item you wished to UMD.

Only works for out of combat stuff. Like Scrolls of Teleport, PAO, Shapechange, etc. which really is great, it puts spells like Shrink Item & Animate Dead in the hands of anyone. Also, if you're wanting to use spell in combat, play a spellcaster.

[snakeman830]

What about aid another? You can have 8 medium creatures surrounding you and an average of half will make the DC for an average of a +8 bonus. If you have 4 party members with UMD then you can get +8  just from them.

Hiring skilled laborers is 3sp a day. You don't need them in combat so you should be able to get them for that price.

You can't Aid Other, you can however hire an Expert to UMD for you for a measly 3sp a day.

Yeah, but that doesn't help you emulate a race.  Works for wands, staves, and scrolls, not so much for most wonderous items/rings.

[Lycanthromancer]

Thanks for the ideas, everyone!

Just play a centaur?

Nope. Though it says something that playing a race with relatively high LA/HD is easier than buffing UMD.

I assume there is no way to squeeze the Magic Device Attunement feat from Complete Mage into the build? Consider that you are making a roll once an hour with a 24 hour penalty for rolling a natural 1. For an eight hour adventuring day, that is only 0.95^8 ? 66% of making it through the day. This gets worse if you do not hit 25 on a 2.

Not really, no. I've already cut around 10 feats out of the build that I REALLY wanted, so cutting out another one is just too painful.

The Admiral's Bicorn (Stormwrack 131) gives +5, but cheap it is not, especially around level ten or so where I am guessing you are playing.

Yup. Level 10. I may be able to craft it, though.

The Marshall's Motivate Charisma aura would get you a goodly part of the way there if you can sweet talk a fellow player into taking a level.

Oddly, one of the players IS considering that, but I can't rely in it, or on Motivate Charisma as being an aura he chooses.

Thanks, though.

I'll assume a 4 level dip into Warlock is not an option; how about ageing to old to get a +2 to the mental stats? That is a cheap (depending on class and maybe race) +1

I've already gotten that one, and taken Dragonwrought to go with it. Even with all that, I could still only squeeze out a 12 Cha, given that I need my Int as high as I could go, and then Con is prioritized after that.

Actually, you buy three of four Wands of Guidance of the Avatar with a couple charges each and you UMD those with a 1/3 locked out fail chance. Remember, if you failed to activate it, you never spent a charge. So retry and retry some more (just never activate blindly). If you do roll a 1, use a different wand, when you succeed, use your key item you wished to UMD.

Only works for out of combat stuff. Like Scrolls of Teleport, PAO, Shapechange, etc. which really is great, it puts spells like Shrink Item & Animate Dead in the hands of anyone. Also, if you're wanting to use spell in combat, play a spellcaster.

That might be doable, though I'd be better with a couple of eternal wands if I can swing an arcane version...

[rot42]

I assume there is no way to squeeze the Magic Device Attunement feat from Complete Mage into the build? Consider that you are making a roll once an hour with a 24 hour penalty for rolling a natural 1. For an eight hour adventuring day, that is only 0.95^8 ? 66% of making it through the day. This gets worse if you do not hit 25 on a 2.

Actually, you buy three of four Wands of Guidance of the Avatar with a couple charges each and you UMD those with a 1/3 locked out fail chance. Remember, if you failed to activate it, you never spent a charge. So retry and retry some more (just never activate blindly). If you do roll a 1, use a different wand, when you succeed, use your key item you wished to UMD.

That will get you to the 'only fail on a one' point pretty effectively, but you still then need to UMD the device itself. Even with a +20 from GotA, a natural 1 kills the OP's ability to use whatever item this is. Although, yeah, I am not sure what item available at WBL would be worth a precious feat.

Only works for out of combat stuff. Like Scrolls of Teleport, PAO, Shapechange, etc. which really is great, it puts spells like Shrink Item & Animate Dead in the hands of anyone. Also, if you're wanting to use spell in combat, play a spellcaster.

No, no, you are going about it all wrong - repeated UMD checks is what non-casters do in high level combat. The more anti-optimized the check, the sooner the player can suffer a heroic mishap and roll up a wizard (j/k).

[Lycanthromancer]

Actually, you only screw yourself if the natural 1 fails the check.

[awaken DM golem]

These are probably too expensive , or too 3.0-ish.
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20030829a

[borg286]

I know feats are against the request, but Item Familiar quickly doubles the ranks and is the main way of being able to get a +60 by level 13.
If you're doing level 1 optimization and need the UMD shape soulmeld(mage spectacles) and being azurin makes casting from scrolls feasible.  Since you're not optimizing for high level play you dont need all those metamagic prerequisites.

[The_Mad_Linguist]

A self-founded weapon of legacy is a RAW way of getting a big boost to skills.  Plus, they're nifty.

[JaronK]

Item Familiar definitely works.  The Admiral's Bicorn gives +7 total (it gives +5 to charisma skills, and an additional +2 to all skills), and is a great item... but expensive to be sure.

JaronK

[PhaedrusXY]

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.

I think there are some cheap items in the MiC that give you one reroll per day or something, right? That could help.