Hi,
I'm not completly sure if this is a Rules question at all, but I also didn't knew where else to post it. Also tried the search funktion but either I didn't got the right key words, or I missed something when I scanned the search results (which were a lot, so that could have been happened).
So, my question is: Should wand charges be kept secret by the DM (and if the player tries to use the wand when it is empty the DM will tell him that he can't because the wand is out of charges)?
Or does a character finds out, how many charges are left as soon as he identifies the item?
Well the description of spellcraft is 'Identify the properties of a magic item using detect magic'. I would call the number of remaining charges a magic item a 'property', wouldn't you?
As a dm even if I thought the rules lent itself to secrecy I wouldn't do it. That is a lot of book keeping I suddenly have to do. And any time in a normal campaign, my group may have 10 or 12 wands. I would have to actively track the use of all of them. I'd rather let my players do that.
With the nerfing of Identify in Pathfinder Core (only a +10 to learn about the object), Detect Magic is more than good enough to determine the charges of the wand in question. All you need to negotiate with the GM is the amount of time it takes for the spellcaster to learn the amount of charges in the wand (10-15 minutes).
My argument has always been when you try to sell a wand with less than 50 charges. My GM uses the "half" rule, gleefully subtracting the gold amount of the charge from the wand first. Somehow these "slightly used" wands are never for sale at the local town, forcing you to pay full price for a 50-charge wand.
How the magic store owner automagically knows the charges in the wand I'm trying to sell, despite my successful Bluff check, I'll never know.
Lots of low-level players would pay for a 5-charge wand, because they would be paying only 75 or 80 gold instead of the full 750 gold.
With the nerfing of Identify in Pathfinder Core (only a +10 to learn about the object), Detect Magic is more than good enough to determine the charges of the wand in question. All you need to negotiate with the GM is the amount of time it takes for the spellcaster to learn the amount of charges in the wand (10-15 minutes).
Actually you dont need to negotiate it unless the gm houserules it.
'Attempting to ascertain the properties of a magic item takes 3 rounds per item to be identified and you must be able to thoroughly examine the object.'
Thank you for those replies... so I will give the bookkeeping back to my players! :oD
Thank you for those replies... so I will give the bookkeeping back to my players! :oD
Grats!
For the first part, that's what Identify is for. and any magic shop dealer worth his salt is going to be casting that spell (which has a good duration) on any magic item you're going to try to pawn off on him.As to the second part, occasionally someone will be able to buy a wand with less than 50 charges, the source of that wand of course would be one that's been sold by a previous adventurer.
Technically we (DMs) should be randomly generating available magic items for purchase... for wands you could roll a d100, if the value is <50 (50% it's full) the wand only has that many charges (and the price reflects it).
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Nathan Little