Specialist wizards and UMD.

[Peanutch]

I am playing a focused specialist wizard banning abjuration, enchantment, and evocation.  Can UMD be used to bypass using scrolls and wands from a prohibited school?  I think it would be no different than say a rogue trying to emulate a wizard to activate a magic item.  Trying to get a general consensus before i go with it.

[Jackinthegreen]

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/classes/sorcererWizard.htm#schoolSpecialization

Spells of the prohibited school or schools are not available to the wizard, and she can’t even cast such spells from scrolls or fire them from wands.

It is entirely possible that they meant for wizards to never be able to cast such spells through scrolls or wands, even if they did use UMD for it.  If the above text was interpreted as all-encompassing that the wizard simply can't cast such spells, period, then that would include through UMD it seems.

[Peanutch]

Use a Wand: Normally, to use a wand, you must have the wand’s spell on your class spell list. This use of the skill allows you to use a wand as if you had a particular spell on your class spell list.

This seems to contradict the wizard entry, hence why i am bringing up the question.  The only spell i was looking to use was shield anyway, so no real big loss if i can't.

[Jackinthegreen]

Which do you think would take precedence?  The wording about general UMD wand use, or the wizard's specific wording saying "these spells can never be on your spell list."

[Peanutch]

At this point, i guess it is up to the dm's interpretation of the rules.  I am not trying to argue either way, just trying to get clarification.  Like i said, shield is the only spell i would use anyway, so if he says no, i am not really out much.

[CaptRory]

Blergh~

I think the rule of thumb is that the most specific ruling takes priority. In this case the strict rule for specialist wizards would take precedence over the more general ruling from Use Magic Device.

I could honestly see it going either way. A specialist wizard could drink a Potion of Shield or use a magic item that casts Shield x times a day right? Or some kind of item with permanent Shield right?

Its never a good idea to try and divine what someone was thinking when they wrote these things up.    If I had to guess, and I'm trying to do the mental gymnastics to follow someone else's train of thought here, they don't want a wizard that can't use, like, evocation spells to ignore the restrictions and reap the benefits by using a wand of fireballs. But going in through the side with Use Magic Device, which lets the wizard function as a rogue or bard and try to get something to work by waving it around and shouting words like a busted Television Remote, doesn't seem to be a bad compromise. Since he can't activate it at will as if it was on his spell list, he has to make his UMD checks to get it to function like any other class.

[Unbeliever]

I am reasonably confident that UMD would work.  UMD is a specific skill that gets around the limitations of using a magic item, e.g., spell trigger and completion ones.  And, it seems weird that a specialist wizard would be worse at using such items than a commoner.  If they wanted such an expansive read of specializing in the rules, they should have been more clear.

[zook1shoe]

Item Reprieve possibly adds support to specialists to be unable to use it them, but UMD might bypass this

[X-Codes]

I think the sensible thing to do would be to apply some sort of scope to rules in the SRD, since there's a whole lot of shit like this in the SRD but not so much in later texts.  Specialization is a Wizard thing, therefore the rules for specialization would say that your Wizard spellcasting doesn't let you cast Evocation spells from the Wizard's spell list, or something like that.  UMD is outside the scope of what you can or can't do as a Wizard, so you can still use UMD to do whatever.

[Peanutch]

Took spell reprieve for shield, problem solved.

[SorO_Lost]

On mobile. Short and to point.  Class spellcastering is instance based, cleric/wizard can not sacrifice wizard spells to cast cure spells, can cast any thing on cleric side. Backed up several times in FAQ.

You can UMD a Scoll, Wand, or really anything else just fine.

[Peanutch]

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/rg/20041116a.  From wizards explanation there, prohibited schools are just not part of your spell list.  So umd would work.

EDIT:  Still going to take spell reprieve to prevent in-game rules lawyering.