Magic Item Use

Magic Item Use (MIU) is the skill associated with the use of magical items. Training this skill will increase the character's ability to activate items as well as the duration of activated magic. Additionally, training in MIU lends success with tasks related to the use of magical items, abilities, and spells (including the runestaff). MIU is one of the cheapest skills available for members of pure professions.

Type	Square			Semi			Pure
Profession	Rogue	Warrior	Monk	Bard	Paladin	Ranger	Cleric	Empath	Savant	Sorcerer	Wizard
Max Ranks Per Level	1	1	1	2	1	1	2	2	-	2	2
Training Point Cost	0/8	0/8	0/7	0/4	0/6	0/5	0/2	0/2	-	0/2	0/1

Activating Magic Items

The following verbs can be used to activate a magic item. Each item responds to a particular action by releasing the magic within. In general, common sense can be used to determine the appropriate action (food items are eaten, liquids drank, worn items tapped or rubbed, wands & rods waved or raised). Otherwise, consult a loresinger or utilize trial and error methods.

Activator Verb	Skill Required	Activator Skill Modifier	Activator Duration Modifier
Tap	MIU	+ 25	50%
Rub	MIU	0	100%
Wave	MIU	0	100%
Raise	MIU	- 40	133%
Eat	None	N/A	Base only
Drink	None	N/A	Base only

• Only wave can be used to target others (WAVE AT {target}). All other verbs initiate their effect immediately upon activation.
• Scrolls utilize the Arcane Symbols skill. The INVOKE (verb) is used to access their magic.
• Certain items do not require a skill check, regardless of the activator verb (e.g. small statues & heavy quartz orbs).

Calculating Success

Executing the appropriate verb to activate a magic item will make an attempt at activation. The character's stats, skills and other relevant variables (as seen in the formula below) are factored together. This total is displayed as the "modifiers" value. A d100 roll is then added, and if the total is greater than 100, the activation is successful.

Modifiers = (MIU Skill bonus) + (Activator Skill Modifier) + (Stat Modifier)

+ (Magical Knowledge Bonus) + (INTUITION bonus) + (LOGIC bonus)

- (Spell Level * 5) - (Armor Penalty) - (Encumbrance Penalty)

• The inherent magical hindrance of armor can also potentially cause activations to fail.
• One must possess at least as many ranks of MIU as the level of the spell to be activated in order to succeed.

Example

'Morbo' is a wizard with 50 ranks of MIU (150 skill bonus). Using Magic Item Creation (420), he has placed the Elemental Wave (410) spell into an amulet and selected rub as the activator. Morbo is not encumbered, and has removed his armor for the time being. He has an Aura bonus of +20, a Logic bonus of +10 and an Intuition bonus of +10. He then makes an attempt at activating his amulet.

(150) + (0) + (40) + (60) + (10) + (10) - (50) = 220

Morbo was easily able to activate his amulet successfully, regardless of the d100 roll. Then, a friend hands him a rod with Lesser Shroud (120) which he attempts to activate. His Wisdom bonus is 10, and raise is used to activate it.

(150) + (-40) + (20) + (0) + (10) + (10) - (100) = 50

Morbo would have needed a d100 roll of 51 or greater to activate a rod with the spell Lesser Shroud successfully. Unfortunately, the rod actually contained the spell Disintegrate (705), causing his head to melt rather abruptly.

Stat Modifier

Stat modifiers are determined by the associated spell circle activated and the activation verb. For this table, use stat bonus and not the value of the stat itself (round down).

Circle Number	Spell Circle	Wave	Rub	Tap	Raise
100s	Minor Spiritual	WISDOM	WISDOM x 2	WISDOM x 2	WISDOM x 2
200s	Major Spiritual	WISDOM ÷ 2	WISDOM	WISDOM	WISDOM
300s	Cleric Base	WISDOM ÷ 2	WISDOM †	WISDOM †	WISDOM †
400s	Minor Elemental	AURA	AURA x 2	AURA x 2	AURA x 2
500s	Major Elemental	AURA ÷ 2	AURA	AURA	AURA
600s	Ranger Base	WISDOM	WISDOM †	WISDOM †	WISDOM †
700s	Sorcerer Base	(WIS + AUR) ÷ 4	(WIS + AUR) ÷ 2	(WIS + AUR) ÷ 2	(WIS + AUR) ÷ 2
900s	Wizard Base	AURA ÷ 4	AURA	AURA	AURA
1000s	Bard Base	LOG + INT †	LOG + INT †	LOG + INT †	LOG + INT †
1100s	Empath Base	WISDOM ÷ 2	WISDOM †	WISDOM †	WISDOM †
1200s	Minor Mental	?	?	?	?
1600s	Paladin Base	LOG + INT †	LOG + INT †	LOG + INT †	LOG + INT †
1700s	Arcane	(AUR + WIS + LOG) ÷ 3	(AUR + WIS + LOG) ÷ 3	(AUR + WIS + LOG) ÷ 3	(AUR + WIS + LOG) ÷ 3

† Not yet confirmed.

Magical Knowledge Bonus

Whether or not the spell to be activated lies within a character's sphere of magical knowledge can enhance the possibility of success.

Character has direct knowledge of the spell to be activated, regardless of whether or not they can cast it yet	+60
Character can learn spells from the same circle of the spell to be activated, but has not trained that rank yet	+40
Character can learn spells from the same sphere of the spell to be activated, but cannot directly train from the same circle	+20
Character has no influence in the spell's sphere	0

• Warriors and rogues are not magical enough to claim influence in any sphere; they receive bonuses for both minor circles and none for all others.
• Hybridists (bards, empaths, and sorcerers) are considered aligned with multiple spheres, and receive bonuses accordingly.
• When activating magic from a hybrid circle, it is considered "within a known sphere" by characters fluent in either sphere. For example, sorcerer magic is partially elemental, therefore a wizard would receive the full +20 bonus for their affiliation with the elemental sphere.

Armor Penalty

Not being adequately trained for worn armor may penalize a character's attempt to activate certain magical items. This penalty is based on the armor's Roundtime adder and the wearer's Armor Use skill. There is no armor penalty to the activation roll if the character is properly trained, or is wearing robes or light leather. The penalty for AsG 6 (full leather) and higher is 20 points per second of untrained RT adder. The formula for calculating the amount of armor use skill required to fully negate the penalty is (RT adder * 20) - 10.

Note: Armor penalties do not apply when using the tap or rub activators.

Encumbrance Penalty

Encumbrance will reduce the activation modifiers when using WAVE AND RAISE by 1 pt. for each 1% of encumbered body weight. E.g., a halfling with a body weight of 120 lbs. and 24 lbs. of encumbered weight will see a reduction to their activation modifiers of 20. (24 / 120 = .20 or 20%). There are NO encumbrance penalties when activating an item with the RUB and TAP verbs.

Encumbrance penalty calculation:

100 * ( encumbered weight / character's body weight)

Calculating Duration

To calculate the duration of a spell's magical effect when initiated from a magical item, use the following formula. Each rank of the corresponding skill is counted as half a 'phantom' rank of that spell's circle. The overall duration is modified depending upon the activating verb. The more challenging activation verbs offer longer duration modifiers.

Duration = Base Duration/2 + ([MIU Ranks ÷ 2] × Activator Duration Modifier × Per Spell Rank Duration)

Example

Morbo has 50 ranks of MIU and activates an item with the Spirit Shield spell. The base duration of Spirit Shield is 1200 sec, and an additional duration of 60 sec for each Major Spiritual spell rank known.

• Tap:

1200 + ([50/2] × 0.5 × 60) = 1950 sec

• Rub & Wave:

1200 + ([50/2] × 1 × 60) = 2700 sec

• Raise:

1200 + ([50/2] × [4/3] × 60) = 3200 sec

• Eat & Drink:

1200 sec only

Lore Effects

A character may train in elemental, mental, or spiritual lores to gain additional benefits from spells activated by magic item use. The bonuses applied by lore training are identical to those provided if cast through spell research training or spell knowledge enhancive items. However, major spell circles (major elemental and spiritual) require double the lore ranks to unlock the same bonuses and professional circles (cleric, bard, empath, paladin, ranger, sorcerer, and wizard base) require triple the training (Raise Dead (318) is an exception and does not require additional training). Minor circles (minor elemental, mental, and spiritual) do not require additional training in this way.

Related Articles

• Charge Item (517)
• Common Magical Items
• Magic item
• Magic Item Creation (420)

External Links

• Official Magic Item Use Skill