Crosswind This is because -only evil people- would wear baby-skin boots. If you suddenly decide that you -are- the type of person who wears baby-skin boots, please contact a DM and we can probably shift your alignment accordingly.

-Cross

How should UMD be RP'd in such instances in the first place?

If an item is restricted to certain races because of its size, don't use it even if you could with UMD. If you're using something that is evil to use, such as baby-skin boots or the Tome of Extreme Evil That Screams at Mystra and Makes Evil Babies Everywhere, you should either be evil already, or be shifted towards evil.

My personal opinion is that UMD should only be used for relatively basic magical items which are not highly customized for a specific group. Examples of this include wands and scrolls, which a clever fellow with a nack for experimentation could figure out.

In other words: UMD allows you to figure out how magic works, even though you weren't schooled in it. I'm a lot more skeptical about the idea of it allowing you to "pretend" that you're evil, or modify armor or weapons to fit your size.

Also, sometimes DMs create items that are personalized, and slap restrictions on them so that they won't be used by just anyone. Usually it's fairly clear why they wouldn't be for just anyone, so UMD getting around that is sad.

Song of Orpheus In other words: UMD allows you to figure out how magic works, even though you weren't schooled in it. I'm a lot more skeptical about the idea of it allowing you to "pretend" that you're evil, or modify armor or weapons to fit your size.

This is a case-dependent issue, of course. Baby-skin boots have the restriction on them not (necessarily) because the item itself would reject a good or neutral character, but rather because a good or neutral character simply could not bear to use such an item. Then again, at least a neutral character would not necessarily object to using an item blessed by an evil deity (and thusly warded against inappropriate use) so long as the item itself and its effects are not repulsive or evil in themselves.

So it's a question of "magically protected" vs. "naturally so-and-so". That's why I think the description is very important with regards to UMD.

Evil items generally ooze evil. Using it is generally an evil act, even if you used UMD. This is why an alignment shift would be in order. It isn't usually a magical protection so much as only someone truly evil would dare to use such a thing.

I understand there may be some inconsistency here, but it really is essentially a case by case scenario. Unfortunately we as Dms simply don't have the necessary tools to regulate this.

As an example, we may add class-specific items to help out a specific class, but this unfortunately has the opposite effect if this item can then be used by a different class that it wasn't intended for (ranger/druids boots, bard gloves, etc.)

Feel free to consult a DM's judgement regarding specific items. It's a very multi-purpose skill, and regardless I think it's quite powerful in EfU even if for just the wands.