Had a quick question.

I am playing a warlock in a campaign (3.5 rule-set) I was curious about the 4th level feat "Deceive Item"

It allows the warlock to take 10 on a UMD check in any circumstance. Now, is this only really usable if you have more than 10 total points coming from the UMD skill?

Thanks in advance, and sorry for the more than likely rookie question...

~K

Taking 10 means you can assume the skill check's die roll is a 10. Normally you can only do it when you have time to focus, but the feat lets do it even when stressed, like during combat. I don't think it really has anything to do with the number of points you have associated with it.

Welcome to the Inn!!

Forgot the main part of my question when posting.

In order to use a scroll or a wand, one needs to roll higher than 20,(20+spell level for wands and scrolls I believe)

So, I assume that "taking 10" in that case would be of no use unless your skill in UMD is above 10, correct?

In order to beat something with DC check above twenty... I dunno. I think you can take a 20 on that. I forget the difference between taking 10 & 20... I had understood that Warlocks can use wands and scrolls like wizards and sorcerers, without a UMD check. Mebbie not. I dunno.

Edit:
Taking 10
When your character is not being threatened or distracted, you may choose to take 10. Instead of rolling 1d20 for the skill check, calculate your result as if you had rolled a 10. For many routine tasks, taking 10 makes them automatically successful. Distractions or threats (such as combat) make it impossible for a character to take 10. In most cases, taking 10 is purely a safety measure —you know (or expect) that an average roll will succeed but fear that a poor roll might fail, so you elect to settle for the average roll (a 10). Taking 10 is especially useful in situations where a particularly high roll wouldn’t help.

Taking 20
When you have plenty of time (generally 2 minutes for a skill that can normally be checked in 1 round, one full-round action, or one standard action), you are faced with no threats or distractions, and the skill being attempted carries no penalties for failure, you can take 20. In other words, eventually you will get a 20 on 1d20 if you roll enough times. Instead of rolling 1d20 for the skill check, just calculate your result as if you had rolled a 20.
Taking 20 means you are trying until you get it right, and it assumes that you fail many times before succeeding. Taking 20 takes twenty times as long as making a single check would take.

(From the Hypertext d20 site)

So taking a 10 on a check would only be useful if you had less than 10 in that skill.

The scrolls have an activation DC of 20+spell level, true. I can't seem to find any set DC in the wands' description, though, or the rods' or the staffs'. Might be in the Player's Handbook, under the Use Magic Device skill description. Haven't checked that.

The feat looks pretty dumb, unless you've maxed your UMD skill and have a high Intelligence score. At 4th lvl, your ranks in UMD can be as high as 7. Then you need Int 16 to get it up to 10. If I remember correctly, you can get a synergy bonus from Knowledge (Arcana), which might give you a +2 bonus if you have 5+ ranks in that skill. So you might make use of that Deceive Item thing with as low as Int 12 (although you'd need to max your UMD ranks and have at least 5 ranks in Knowledge (Arcana) to do so).

This assumes, of course, that I'm remembering all this correctly. And I do think that wands and staffs and rods don't need such a high check. I might need to look into it though.

No, I remember UMD checks being really big for even basic stuff. But you'll want to double check me on that. But yes, a feat to automatically take ten would only be useful at levels 1-2 or so. Or if you want to use a skill, but not have to point points into it. And that would be silly.

Actually, if the check results must be over 20, the feat won't be useful until around 4th level or above. 7th level would be ideal. Why? Because you need to have UMD 10+ to get a check above 20 with an automatic 10 on your roll. It is kinda useless at levels 1-2.