For this question, I am using this homebrew centaur race on DNDBeyond. One of its traits is Equine Weakness, part of which states:
As you lack the lower body of a humanoid, you are unable to wear humanoid armor below the belt (ex: leggings, greaves, or boots).
Thief rogues get the Use Magic Device feature at level 13:
By 13th level, you have learned enough about the workings of magic that you can improvise the use of items even when they are not intended for you. You ignore all class, race, and level requirements on the use of magic items.
Would a centaur thief be able to wear magic pants?
The textual issue here seems to depend on whether Use Magic Device allows the PC to ignore requirements written into the magic item description only, or if it also applies to limitations written into class/race descriptions.
I can see this going either way, but what do you think is the most faithful, RAW interpretation? (No “rule of cool”, “it’s up to the DM”, etc. answers, please.)
Best Answer
No.
Or, to unpack it a little:
The Use Magic Device feature is there to avoid magical racial (or class/level) restrictions - if you've got a magic item that is designed to "only work for dwarves" even though it is, say, a hammer, then Use Magic Device allows the thief to "fool it" and use it anyway.
But what we have here isn't a "racial restriction"; What we have here is a physical restriction. For example, Use Magic Device would not allow a thief to use magical boots even though both his legs have been cut off. There is simply nowhere to put them. By the same token, a centaur cannot put on pants, so the thief can't set about "fooling" the magic into working for him.
You can probably use a sort of game logic here too, though I haven't checked. If a magic item says "Only useable by dwarves" or the like, the Use Magic Device can circumvent it. But in this case, it's not the magic item that has the restriction. It's the race that has the restriction.