Not Just Another Pointy Stick: Spell Storage Solutions Pt 3b
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In the first half of this article, I looked at the fundamental concepts at the foundation of wands and staves and the characteristics that define them, and offered several variations on those basics to vastly increase the variety of magic items within this category. But that was just the hors d’oeuvre; having established that, fundamentally (and excluding whatever the magical effect might be), wands and staves are basically just “sticks that point”, it’s time to get into the meat of this article: the great variety of objects that can also be defined as a “stick that points”, and which can therefore be interpreted by the creative GM as a wand or staff…
1. Arrows
Let’s start with a very obvious equivalent to a stick that you point – the arrow. Why not an arrow which releases a fireball when it hits? Or an illusion that appears wherever the arrow lands?
If you want to get technical, you could say that the arrow shaft is the wand, while the arrow head can contain all the standard magical-arrow effects.
Arrows break with distressing regularity when they hit something hard. There are two ways of using them, in a fantasy context: the ‘sniper’ option, where you take the time to aim at a specific target, and the massed-fire into a ‘killing field’ option where your shaft is but one of many, most of which will not find a target. Depending on the terrain (rocky or trees = bad, soil & sand = good) you may find that the latter gives a reduced chance of arrow breakage. The usual ratios that I have seen are 2 in 3 break and 1 in 3 break, respectively. Swamp and Water are good in terms of arrow breakage but bad in terms of arrow recoverability, so this is a third case again. Bolts, which are more often made of metal, are a different story again.
That gives the GM who implements this idea a decision to make. Wands tend to have a better breakage chance than ordinary arrows, i,e, they are frequently more durable. The choice is between preserving this durability in the face of completely different usage, or maintaining the normal arrow breakage rate; depending on the choices with respect to what happens when a wand breaks (Eager, Go-Getter, or Reluctant) this can have a major bearing on the combat effectiveness of a small unit, making such arrow-wands the equivalent of mortar shells (depending also on the spell chosen, of course).
There are more options than the purely destructive to consider. A Healing spell, area effect, on such an arrow would enable healing to be delivered to front-line combatants from the back lines. Cloud-kill attacks assume new potency. Any spell that is normally not castable at range becomes so – at worst, the GM might rule that the recipients have to touch the arrow after it has landed at their feet.
This also makes viable a new metamagic: Delay. For +1 spell level, the caster can delay the activation of a spell beyond the time of its being triggered by 1-3 combat rounds. Viable? It would be so useful that if it were possible, it would almost certainly be an inevitable development – though whether or not that development predates the commencement of the campaign is a whole different decision.
If these possibilities seem too overpowered to you, you might consider the ‘disposable wands’ variation in this context.
If it doesn’t, there are a whole range of traps that can be made simpler or more deadly or just more plausible as a result. You may trip the alarm, but have a small window to cancel the spell effect using an appropriate counterspell – if you already know what the spell is that is going to be activated.
These options vastly enrich the tactical complexity of combat. This can be a good thing (experienced players and GM who can handle the added complexity) or overwhelming (less experienced players and/or GM). So think carefully before adopting this idea.
2. Swords
Of course, a wand doesn’t have to be made of wood. Why not a metal one? A natural for lightning spells – but there is so much more that can be done with this idea. Why not a sword with Acid Splash? Or Daze? Or Disrupt Undead, Touch Of Fatigue, Obscuring Mist, True Strike, Hypnotism, Cause Fear, Chill Touch, Ray Of Enfeeblement, or Reduce Person – and that’s just the 0th- and 1st-level Sorcerer/Wizard spells that seem appropriate!
But the notion of swords as wands raises a question that was looked at briefly in the first half of the article: spells in wands that are usable by character classes other than the casting class. This egalitarianism of access to magic can go some way to mitigating class power imbalances, and that’s a pronounced up-side, but it can also diminish the uniqueness of the Wizard class, which is a significant down-side. If that is a concern, it may be wise to introduce a counter-balancing requirement, an additional “cost” that is required in construction of the magic item in order to make the magic accessible.
The ideal model for such a cost is the metamagic feat, in effect levying a spell-level penalty as an exchange for the accessibility. My personal feeling is that two or three levels would be appropriate, and certainly in line with the other metamagic feats; that means that if normal wands can contain 4th level spells or less, wands for non-mages could only (effectively) contain spells of 2nd or even 1st level. If you want greater flexibility, contemplate the Reducing Metamagics described in my 2009 article, Broadening Magical Horizons: Some Feats from Fumanor and Shards Of Divinity.
Sidebar: Compound Magics
Speaking of “so much more that can be done with Swords as a Wand”: Why not one spell in the hilt and another in the blade that work in concert? What can you do with that idea? A Cloud Kill and a gust of wind to move it away from the caster in a straight line? A shield spell in the hilt and a magic missile in the blade?
Another obvious possibility is that short- and long-swords are Wand equivalents, while larger swords are the equivalent of Staves or Rods. A whole new class of magic items (effectively) results. A sword that contains a set of Metamagically-enhanced Buff spells to boost the martial prowess of the wielder sounds like something that would be both unique and appealing to fighters and other such classes – or a nasty surprise for the PCs when these are in the hands of guards or the Watch!
3. Dowsing Rods
Dowsing Rods are either a Y-shaped stick or two stiff lengths of metal wire bent at 90 degrees that are held in each hand. In the former case, when they detect oil, or minerals, or water, or whatever the user is looking for (and they have to be specific), the toe of the Y dips; in the latter case, the two lengths of wire turn toward each other. In both cases, you have to be right on top of the deposit, i.e. in the same hex.
Dowsing rods are not something I’ve seen in any fantasy game, which is a little strange given that the idea can be verifiably traced to the 16th century and almost certainly pre-dates that historical record by an unknown period of time. This puts it squarely into the heart of the medieval time-frame.
The key with Dowsing (assuming that it works in your campaign) is that it is usable by anyone, though naturally-talented operators may have greater sensitivity to this commodity or that. Reliability remains suspect, of course, relative to a spell, which is generally thought of by a modern audience as being a scientific process for inducing a change in the environment or circumstance, universally-reliably by default, spell resistance notwithstanding.
If you want to undermine that pseudo-scientific faith in the reliability of magic, it’s easy to do. All you have to do is make the mage roll to cast a spell each time, while throwing out “spell resistance” in the form described by the rules, instead making it a modifier to the mage’s roll. Effectively, everyone and everything then has an innate level of spell resistance, but some have more than others. Mechanically, it’s a relatively small change that might well have very little effect on actual reliability, but psychologically, it’s huge. And it means that if you have a policy of “X always fails” in interpreting your die rolls, instead of the resistance being what fails, it’s the spell.
Why not dowsing rods that contain appropriate spells as though they were a wand?
Heck, why not dowsing rods that are a mundane form of Detect Magic? Less reliable, perhaps, than a spell, but a heck of a lot cheaper in terms of spell slots, freeing up one or more slots for something else. This makes very little difference at high levels, when characters have lots of spells they can cast, but it can be a life-saver at low levels and helps avoid the “helpless 1st level mage” problem – at least to some extent – enabling lower level characters to pull their own weight within the party.
Or perhaps Dowsing Rods can detect things for which there are no specific Detect spells? All you need to do to implement this is to write up a spell, “Detect [X] By Dowsing” and then provide a list of what X is permitted to be – the creator of the rods needs to specify what the rod can detect when the ‘magic item’ containing that spell is created.
I have seen some proposals (in very space-operaish science fiction, of the kind of para-psychological sci-fi that John W. Campbell loved) that mandates the dowsing rods be anointed with a sample of what is desired. This imparts a greater pseudo-scientific rigor to the concept – perhaps just enough to suspend disbelief in a cynical modern audience.
But the ultimate trick has to be dowsing rods that are actually two-handed wands – at least until the word gets around. “What’re you gonna do, Shorty – drown us with the water you’ve dowsed?” “Not quite. Lightning Bolt!”
A still better idea, in my opinion, is to restrict the magic that can be imbued in wand form to a type of spell that rarely comes to mind when creating wands: Ranger and Druid spells. In effect, this creates a whole new sub-class of magic item within the broad category of “wands”.
Sidebar: Detect Magic and it’s limits
Speaking of Detect Magic, this seems like an opportune moment to pontificate a little on the subject.
If there is one spell that GMs should routinely overhaul for every campaign, this is it. Why? Because it is, by its very nature, a flavor text delivery vehicle.
The traditional view of Detect Magic is that it makes magic items glow. But there’s a lot of flexibility. What if:
- Mages felt a tingle instead of seeing a visual effect?
- There was a bell tinkle instead of a visual effect?
- There was a particular scent or a particular taste in the mouth instead of a visual effect?
But, even if we stick with the standard visual effect, there are variations to explore.
Can everyone see the effect?
Sometimes, I will have the effects of Detect Magic be a visible glow that everyone can see. In other campaigns, only the mage was able to see the effect. I once toyed with the possibility that only a random person within a given radius would be able to see the effect, different with every casting. Another time I had everything glow, but magic items glowed a different color for the mage. But the visible-to-everyone is the option that I most often go with, because that opens the door to other variations.
How Bright?
Sometimes, the intensity is fixed, at other times it depended on the strength of the magic, and on one occasion, it was a quantum effect based on the number of magic items, not their relative strength. Sometimes, the glow is soft, at other times its more pronounced, and in my first AD&D campaign it was bright enough to read by.
How big an area?
Sometimes, I will have the items affected surrounded by a glowing aura a few millimeters (maybe a tenth of an inch) deep. On other occasions, the glow has been a foot, and on still other occasions a full five feet was suffused with a glow in which the magical items were brighter.
Monochrome? What Color? Multicolored? Patterns!?
I’ve had interpretations of the spell in which the light was monochrome pearly white; and interpretations in which it was bright neon-like color – red, blue, green, yellow, or orange. I’ve also tied the color to the school of magic, and used patterns to distinguish arcane magic from clerical from Druidic and so on – psychedelic for wizard stuff, infused with fairy-dust effects for clerical, paisley in natural tones for Druidic, and so on. In that campaign, these were all human magical styles; Elves and Dwarves also had their own techniques. Elvish magic was like spreading tendrils or growing animated vines (Drow vs Surface Elves) and Dwarfish magic looked like a lava lamp made from real lava. Elementals also had their own magic, and these were all done as ripples in the water of different colors depending on the type of elemental – electric blue for air, red for fire, deep blue for water, and sepia for earth. But each of these different visual effects (and more besides) could be applied as “the” detect magic effect in a single campaign.
Expanding the detection benefits
One thing that I always like to do is have some visual distinctiveness to the displays that – for the player who pays attention – offers some clue as to the nature of the items being detected. Keeping these consistent is often a challenge, but worth the effort when the penny drops, because it means that instead of a roll that can be failed, all the player needs to do is keep their ears open. The benefits of having players listen because they know you might drop in a hint or clue makes the effort worthwhile.
Sometimes I’ve had words appear briefly in the shadows, or a visual representation of the command word, or some other iconographic representation of the actual spell. At other times the information I’m dropping clues about is something that an appropriate skill check won’t tell the player, like the spell level.
In the Shards Of Divinity campaign, there were clues in the descriptions of “Detect Magic” effects relating to who manufactured the item – Dwarves did things one way, Elves another, and so on.
Wand of Detect Magic
Like the Wand Of Healing, wands of Detect Magic, in combination with some of the ideas offered above, free up characters to be something more than mages if your players are limited in number – providing that non-mages can use them, of course. A rogue and a fighter and a couple of wands and you have a small, but effective, party.
Detect Magic as a class ability conferred by Spell
Finally, an option that I’ve never used but have had tucked away in my back pocket for a long time, a blend of psychometry and D&D magic. In order to qualify to be a mage, you must have the Talent, and the way they test for the Talent is to place an array of mundane objects in front of the prospective mage with one magic item included, which the character has to identify by picking up or touching each item. If they have the Talent, when they touch a magic item, they will feel a thrill in their arm, a thick, soft, shock. That is the Detect Magic ability, i.e. The Talent, and if you have it, the Magic will not be denied – but if you don’t, you can never cast a spell. The “Spell”, Detect Magic, doesn’t actually exist, but possessing it confers Detect Magic as a class ability.
Every character class covets members who have The Talent; they are automatically presumed to be The Elite, they have something that others don’t. But at the same time, many people who don’t have it resent those who do. Those with the Talent may pursue any career, become any character class they want, but the three areas that they tend to drift into are the spellcasting classes.
That’s about as far as I’ve ever taken thinking about the concept. There’s obviously a lot more development work to be done – at the moment, it’s the start of a campaign concept, but it’s not there yet. And that means that anyone who reads this can develop it, and everyone who does so will do something different with it. And that’s exciting!
4. Tridents
Another, slightly larger, “stick that points” is a trident. Whether one tine (prong) or all function as wands, or the whole serves as a staff, is up to the GM. But this raises still more ideas for the GM to consider. Perhaps its the shaft that serves as a Staff. Or maybe you can combine the ideas: Shaft as a staff and one or more prongs that function as wands!
Variants: ‘One Point’ or ‘Many Points’
This plays squarely into some of the variations discussed earlier (two-handed wand usage, discussed in “We Just Don’t Get Along”). If the tines require the same activation phrase and the same spell to be contained, this idea is far less flexible than if you can have one tine for a Druidic spell and one for a Clerical Spell and one for a Wizard spell all going off at the same time – or with only one activatable at a time.
In fact, I originally thought of this as a way to “one-up” a two-handed wand-wielder!
5. Lances
If swords and pole arms are at least worthy of being considered then why not something that only works if it’s pointed at an enemy? Why not a lance? If there was ever a weapon that might also serve as a staff or a rod… and the notion of a Lance with Telekinesis works well as a means of simulating effects from several fantasy novels, such as the Mallorean.
Redefinition as Mundane Weapons
But there’s a problem: the mundane properties of the lance hardly make it all that desirable as a weapon. 1d6/1d8 damage, doubled if mounted? Given the compromises that are necessary to use it – compromises that are inadequately described by the rules – this hardly seems an appropriate amount, even with a x3 critical potentially laden on top. Fully-armored novices were killed on any number of occasions by lances and so were experienced Knights. As for the comment that lances “could” be used one-handed while mounted, where do I start? It would be more accurate to say that Lances “could” be used two-handed but not one-handed when not mounted.
In fact, Lances are so clumsy a weapon when one isn’t riding a mount that I would impose huge disadvantages on such use. The most ridiculous thing I ever saw in the SSI computer games based on AD&D was the sight of a Dread Knight on foot swinging a lance around like it was a longsword while running around the battlefield.
Lances work in the real world by adding the weight (and strength) of the mount to the weight (and strength) of the rider and seeking to forcibly dismount an opponent by applying all that force to the target’s shield. It’s normal for them to be used one-handed. Against unshielded enemies, impaling is a distinct probability, and the risk of the sheer force driving the point of the lance through visors or even armor plate to crush bones and destroy internal organs is extremely grave.
To remedy the problems with the representation of lances in RPGs is not simple. The simplest solution is for the weapon, when used dismounted, to add a bonus to the AC of the target (+4 seems about right); for the weapon to be so clumsy that you can only attack with it when dismounted on every third combat round; and for the base damage to be reduced a die size under those circumstances to d4/d6. When mounted, of course, all those penalties go away; the weight of the mount (and its armor) should be converted to additional STR according to the requirements for lifting that much weight, or a fixed fraction of that when charging, and that in turn to yield a bonus STR modifier that can be broken up by the wielder, split between a better chance to hit and better damage total, and for every 4 points of bonus modifier so allocated, the critical threat range increases by one.
Unfortunately, the monster manual doesn’t list the weights of a horse, but it is well known that these were smaller and lighter than modern animals. In cases like this, I turn to a reference that I have used before, “And a 10′ pole”. The “Renaissance Equipment” section lists a ‘Greater Warhorse’ as having a weight of 1100lb, a ‘Lesser Warhorse’ as having a weight of 950lb, a heavy horse as 1300lb, a medium horse as 900lb, and a light horse as 800lb. The same weights are shown in the Middle Ages section and the Iron Age / Roman Empire section. The Bronze Age section lists only Light and Medium horses, but their weights are unchanged. Personally, I suspect that these are being a little generous, an opinion that seems backed up by the “Size Of Warhorses” section of the Wikipedia article on Horses In The Middle Ages, but that doesn’t give weights for horses, only estimated sizes in Hands.
For those who want to go the extra step in accuracy of weights, I suggest you consult the web-page provided by the Department Of Agriculture of Victoria, Condition Scoring and Weight Estimation – note that you will have to convert the weights shown from kilograms to lb by multiplying them by 2.20462. Or you can simply increase it by 10% and then double the result and you should be close enough.
Based on these two sources, and using the lower boundary of “heavy load” for Warhorses and the upper boundary of “heavy load” for other horses, I propose the following weights:
- Heavy Warhorse:
- Bronze Age: n/a
- Iron Age / Roman: n/a
- Middle Ages: 850lb (STR 28)
- Renaissance: 1100lb (STR 31)
- Light Warhorse:
- Bronze Age: n/a
- Iron Age / Roman: n/a
- Middle Ages: 760lb (STR 28)
- Renaissance: 950lb (STR 30)
- Heavy Horse:
- Bronze Age: n/a
- Iron Age / Roman: 720lb (STR 25)
- Middle Ages: 870lb (STR 26)
- Renaissance: 1180lb (STR 28)
- Medium Horse:
- Bronze Age: 600lb (STR 23)
- Iron Age / Roman: 630lb (STR 24)
- Middle Ages: 800lb (STR 25)
- Renaissance: 870lb (STR 26)
- Light Horse:
- Bronze Age: 440lb (STR 21)
- Iron Age / Roman: 510lb (STR 22)
- Middle Ages: 640lb (STR 24)
- Renaissance: 760lb (STR 25)
Of course, if you wanted to have a cart pulled by a team of horses as your “mount”, the GM would need to work out an ‘effective’ STR score for himself. It certainly wouldn’t be the sum of the dead loads. In fact, given that such transport (loaded) tends to increase in weight until the team for which it is designed is no faster than an unburdened horse, plus a little extra weight for good measure, you could argue for using exactly the same values as given above.
These weights give modifiers for distribution of between +5 and +10, but don’t make allowance for any armor on the horse, or for the weight of the rider and his armor, etc. So you could conceivably end up with a range of possible modifiers of +6 to +11 or maybe even +12. Those are not enough to be game-unbalancing, but they are enough that an armored character on horseback with a lance would be a significantly-greater threat than the current rules provide – bearing in mind that these bonuses are only while charging and such animals won’t turn on a dime! The balance feels about right, to me – your opinion may vary; at least this gives you a starting point for some informed decisions.
As magic items
And so to the possibilities of Magical Lances as Rods. On the basis of the metamagic penalty discussed earlier, let’s assume that the most potent spell that could be loaded into such an item is 6th or 7th level: what possibilities suggest themselves? Let’s look at the 6th-level possibilities: True Seeing is a clear contender. Greater Heroism is appropriate. Bigby’s Forceful Hand could make life interesting – for the enemy. Circle Of Death would be very potent, as would Undeath to Death under the right circumstances. Eyebight would be an effective choice. And Disintegrate is just vicious.
Any of these would make a potent magic weapon, easily on par with Rods and Staves.
6. Other Pole-arms
Having mentioned the possibility already, it’s only reasonable to state this possibility explicitly. I’ve seen spears which enhanced the wielder in fiction and legend a number of times, especially when it comes to Norse/Viking related material, for example.
One of the things that irks me on an ongoing basis is that there is not enough justification in the 3.x / Pathfinder rules for pole-arms, never mind for the vast number of variations. These all arose for a reason. I’m not suggesting for one second that anything as complex as Rolemaster be contemplated, but doing a little research on each and finding out what the intended purpose of the design refinement was, then giving the weapon +1 to hit and/or +1 critical threat when used in this way doesn’t seem out of place. Some designs might also yield a -1 to hit and/or to damage when not used for this purpose, depending on how clumsy they were. For example, a pike might (and I haven’t looked it up) be specific against chainmail, or might negate shield bonuses when used by chainmail-wearing foes.
7. Other Items
Finally, I want to look beyond the whole “stick that points” and suggest a range of items that might function as wands (in particular) to interesting, entertaining, and/or functional effect – when married to the right spell, of course.
7a. Compacts & Broaches
There are some magic items that already fall into this category – though I haven’t checked to see whether or not they survived into 3.x / Pathfinder. Given the existence of things like a Necklace of Missiles, I see absolutely no reason why a compact or broach couldn’t function as a wand. A compact, you wave around, and would be suitable for Divination magics; a broach would ‘point’ in the direction the character was facing, or might contain a magic that enhances the wearer in some respect.
7b. Gloves
Gloves are another obvious item, especially for spells that require a touch attack.
7c. Boots
You immediately think of mobility when Boots get mentioned. But why not something like Knock (requires a Kick) or Silence or Spider climb?
7d. Boot Buckles
Boot Buckles of protection? Or Eagle’s Splendour?
7e. Saddles
Saddles could enhance the rider – or the mount. Or both, or either, depending on how many charges were to be consumed. Protections, or Water Breathing, come to mind immediately, beyond the obvious mobility items. Bull’s Strength, Cat’s Grace, or Levitate are other good suggestions.
7f. Horseshoes
Horseshoes of Spider Climb? Or Mirror Image? There are other possibilities, but those two are enough to suggest that this has merit as a possibility. But beyond that, why not simulate “luck” with protection spells?
7g. Pots & Cups
Mage Hand comes to mind – for self-cleaning and stowing. Ghost Sound could create ambiance. Perhaps an Unseen Servant could use these to fetch fresh water from the nearest source on command, or carry small objects, or just get you a refill at the bar without interrupting your character’s poker game. Couple that with a Locate Object spell to get someone who can always find where you’ve left your keys – or your coin pouch.
7h. Spoons
Spoons that stir themselves (Mage Hand). Or that disguise you as someone who normally carries/uses a spoon, like a cook (Disguise Self).
7i. Brooms
The obvious choices here are Fly (a cut-down Witches Broom) and Mage Hand or Unseen Servant to simulate The Sorceror’s Apprentice!
7j. Spell Bottles
A particularly nasty idea – Spell Bottles with “Shatter” activated by a command word, possibly containing oil or acid.
Expanding Wands even further
I thought I would round this article out by further expanding the concept of just what sort of magics a wand could contain – especially when combined with some of the variations listed above.
Variant: Wands Of Metamagic
No trainee wizard should go adventuring with a Wand that grants him a metamagic. Assume that a Metamagic is a spell equal to the spell level modifier that it imposes on a caster and hey presto – these can easily be incorporated into a spell that does nothing but confer that metamagic on spells cast with the appropriate trigger. Better yet, because these metamagics are coming from the wand and not the caster, he suffers no spell-level penalty. Because this effect could be quite powerful with a lot of Charges, combining this with the disposable wands discussed last time would seem to be a prudent move – and restricts the benefits enough that actually obtaining the Feat would remain a good choice for a character.
This has less and less value as a character rises in levels, so this is a great tool for bolstering a low-level party.
Variant: Wands Of Feats
That naturally lends itself to the idea of a wand that can confer any specific feat on the recipient for a period of time. Need to turn your castle’s entire staff into archers? This can make it happen – for a while. A wand that gives someone the Perform Skill (Song) so that wherever the character goes, there will be someone to sing for them? Why not? It typically takes four character levels to obtain a feat on a permanent basis (some get them faster); four character levels are enough to grant a spellcasting class two new levels of spell; so receiving a Temporary Feat would be a reasonable second-level “spell”. The great advantage is that these are things that a Wizard can’t actually cast as a spell, so they are a genuine increase in the variety of magic items.
Variant: Wands Of Skill
A wand that confers temporary skill levels is another obvious choice. Four ranks seems a reasonable choice – for a temporary benefit. Two ranks might be a better choice in terms of game balance. If you were an adventurer, wouldn’t you want a wand that conferred +2 or +4 to the Cooking skill of a chef just long enough for them to prepare your meal? And that, of course, merely scratches the surface of the possibilities.
I suggest the GM think twice before allowing Knowledge skills to be distributed via wand, however.
Variant: Wands Of (Class) Ability
The most exotic possibility along this line of thinking is to temporarily confer a class skill upon someone of another class entirely. This is such a potent possibility that I suggest it be reserved for a Staff or Rod. I’ve already suggested that the class level at which a particular ability can be received be equated to “the number of spell levels a spellcaster would gain in a like number of character levels” in order to determine a spell level equivalence, and we’ve already discussed the possibility of a penalty to permit non-spellcasters to use a magic item; combine those two ideas and you have a wand/staff that can temporarily give everyone the stealth abilities of a Rogue, or the Turn Undead of a cleric, or the martial prowess of a Fighter, or… well, you get the idea.
This makes plots possible that would otherwise be impossible. You don’t get much more powerful than that (in a good way) from a GM’s point of view.
My recharger doesn’t fit
The final thing to discuss is recharging of wands and staves. Is this just a matter of having someone who can cast the appropriate spell cast it into the item? Or perhaps it has to be someone with the “Craft” feat? Or perhaps the caster levels have to equal or exceed those of whoever recharged the magic item last time?
I particularly like the last one, because it means that no matter how useful a rare wand or staff might be, it will eventually reach the point of being impractical/impossible to recharge.
This consideration offers a way of counterbalancing the impact of releasing such variety of magic items into your campaign. That makes it worthy of serious consideration. Perhaps wands etc that simply do damage suffer from this restriction, while those that enhance roleplay and just add flavor to the campaign do not. THAT is worth VERY careful thought.
And is also the perfect note on which to conclude this discussion!
Part four of this series is tentatively scheduled for the end of the month, when the subject will be permanent enchantments, and (amongst other things) just how permanent they should really be…
- If I Could Save Magic In A Bottle: Spell Storage Solutions Pt 1
- A Heart Of Shiny Magic: Spell Storage Solutions Pt 2
- Just Another Pointy Stick: Spell Storage Solutions Pt 3a
- Not Just Another Pointy Stick: Spell Storage Solutions Pt 3b
- The Energizer Bunny: Spell Storage Solutions Pt 4
- The Ultimate Weapon: Spell Storage Solutions Pt 5
- Let’s Make A Relic: Spell Storage Solutions Pt 5a – The Crown Of Insight
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