Hi everyone,
I got a bit curious about alignment restrictions. Like, what's the lore behind it? I mean, the OOC restrictions aren't valid any more, so that isn't what I mean. But like, IRL, there's no item I can use that... doesn't accept me as its' owner, so I'm unsure about the official lore on Amia.
First off, what I would assume is a bit of an exception (that horrendously fails, to be honest) are the brog orc gloves from the boss. The description implies that they don't fit the smaller races, and that's why they're restricted to all the "normal-hand-sized" folks. But that is the only place where that seems logical.
That explanation fails for all universal subraces, even on humans. That explanation also fails on all alignment restrictions, and even some other cases. So, I was curious: I always assumed it was something along the lines of a "power word", you needed to use to activate the item. Or generally some other way, where if the item doesn't think you're "worthy", it doesn't have its' extra powers. (I might have gotten this idea off of the Drizzt books, where I believe the sword works like that)
I personally would have assumed that in character you could still hold the item, in the case of a weapon, still use it, or as any wearable, still put it on. It would simply be as powerful as a mundane item. I mean, logic would seem to tell me that there's nothing stopping me from putting on a cloak. Or a ring. As long as it fits me, I should be able to slip it on my finger, right? A sword, I can always hold an item? So why can't I swing it? Why can't I swing it at someone? What's stopping me?
But, I never really asked how this works, I just always tried to think of it that way... Is there an official explanation? I guess magic could actually stop me from equipping an item, but it seems like more powerful magic, since it would (seemingly, in my mind) have to mess with my mind, my thoughts, and make me not want/able to put it on. And since so many items have one sort of restriction or another on it, it would seems weird.
Additionally, UMD is a Charisma skill. It seems more like you're tricking the item into thinking you're the right alignment, than as though you were brute-forcing you way through a mind spell. A spell that reminds me a bit of the second idea would be
Illusory Script, or any other sort of
Suggestion, but those are non-permanent, Will-affecting spells. And that would mean Wisdom, not Charisma...