Few suggestion requests


Advice


I am the GM for this, so the questions are from that point of view.

There will be an NPC that mostly uses a particular wand for killing opponents. I want this to still be within the fairly standard rules because it is quite likely that PC’s will eventually end up with the wand. I would like it to seem at least moderately effective and useful in the range of character level 5-8 or even a bit beyond.
Wands have the limitations of minimum casting stat. Yet it could be made at any caster level and meta-magiced up to 5th spell level. What single target attack (not AoE) spell seems most generally effective coming from a wand? For this, I really don't care if it is ranged or touch.

For the above wand, I was considering making it approx. 3 charges each day rather than 50 charges. Does that seem reasonable? What about making it rechargeable like a staff? Would it be a significant value/cost increase?

Dialect. Let’s say the people in this extremely isolated area speak a dialect of Varisien. The PC’s are not from the area. A PC that speaks and understands Varisien can communicate with and understand the locals. Not a problem. But say he wants to sound like a local. Would that be a bluff or a linguistics check? How high would you set the DC?


I'm not sure where you got the idea that a spell in a wand can be raised up to 5th level by Metamagic. I've never found this to be true. Can you cite a rule for that? Otherwise, the limit of 4th level is a hard limit.

I like Enervation, if the NPC has allies. If he needs to kill things directly, he could go with Phantasmal Killer. If you must kill via damage, then Inflict Critical Wounds might be OK.

Remember that no matter what you do, the saving throw against a spell cast from a wand is never higher than 14. Yes, there are some archetypes and maybe even a feat that might change this, but those only help if your NPC (or players) are built for this. Otherwise, a wand of a 4th level spell causes a save at DC 14.

Because of that, I tend to like spells that don't allow saves. Maximized Magic Missile at CL 9 does a flat 20 points and never misses, no saves. It's a bit low-power, actually, but compared to Inflict Critical Wounds at the same caster level (average 27, save for half, often does only 13 damage, also touch range) it doesn't seem too bad. Enervation and Phantasmal Killer allow saves that the PCs will probably make most of the time, and then when they use the wand, the monsters will save fairly often too, especially since you want this to be effective up to level 8 or beyond.

All for a mere 13,500 gp. Which is more than the entire wealth of a 10th level heroic NPC (per the Wealth By Level chart), and nearly the whole budget for an 11th level heroic NPC (almost all his net worth is consumed by this wand, very little left for the basics, certainly no other magic items bigger than potions or simple scrolls).


For the wand, I would lean towards vampiric touch. Just plain, old, vampiric touch. Seems reasonable for effectiveness, a thematic standpoint, and not OMG my players now have a stupidly, broken item.

I would also just keep the wand going off of the same rules (especially about not being able to recharge them). If you do want to go with a use/day, I might drop to twice for the use.

If the player just wants to sound like a local and knows the language, then I think a linguistics check (DC:10-15 depending on how familiar they are with the language). If they are actually trying to get people to believe they are from there area, then I would actually use the Disguise skill (opposed by perception. Normal civilians are considered to take 10 on perceptions).


You want to may give it daily charges instead of a flat 50 charges. You cannot do that for wands, but you can for some other item types. So if you do it, then it's not a wand anymore; it's a continuous command-word activated Wondrous Item with a daily limit.

So use those rules. Pick your spell, apply Metamagic if you want (this raises the level of course), then pick your caster level. It can be a stick like a wand, or a staff, or it can be a belt, a glove, a nose ring, a pebble, anything you want. The price is SL x CL x 1,800 (Command Word activation), then divide by (5/3) to limit it to 3 uses per day. Or if you like simplified math, SL x CL x 1,080 (no, that's not dyslexia).

The saves are pretty low still. This is pretty much true for all kinds of magic items.

If you really want to get away from low saves, make this a Staff (basically the only kind of magic item that uses the user's ability score to calculate the Save DC).


The 3.5 Eberron Setting introduced eternal wands, with 2 charges a day for just a bit more than a normal wand of the same spell level. I always felt that it was a fairly balanced option.


Your dialect question probably doesn't have a RAW answer.

Faking a dialect is actually a skill that requires hearing/learning the dialect and then practicing it over and over until you get it right. You need to know things like local slang (is it "truck" or "lorry", is it "apartment" or "flat", is is "trash can" or "bin", is it "elevator" or "lift", etc.) as well as know the actual accent involved.

It's not really a Bluff; that is mainly for telling a lie and not getting caught. Bluffing has no connection with actually knowing how to do something. You can no more bluff an accent that you do NOT know than you could bluff that you can fly when you can't actually fly.

It's also not really a Linguistics check. As written, that's for learning new languages. When you learn one, you're fluent. If we assume that means "You're fluent but don't know local dialectical variations" then we need to assign a DC to be that fluent. RAW does not. But if we set the DC to, let's say 5, then we get this weirdness:

I put a point into Linguistics to learn French, but I sound like a foreigner.
I put a point into Linguistics to learn German, but I sound like a foreigner.
I put a point into Linguistics to learn Chinese, but I sound like a foreigner.
I put a point into Linguistics to learn Italian, but I sound like a foreigner.
I put a point into Linguistics to learn Spanish, and now I'm so good at languages that I speak French, German, Chinese, Italian, and Spanish with perfect local and dialectical mastery.

Which makes no sense at all; learning Spanish doesn't suddenly make you better at Chinese.

The solution might be just that the ONE point you spend to learn the language makes you fluent enough to know the dialects. After all, this is not a great way to invest skill points, why not make it more beneficial.

If you insist on making rolls for dialects, then maybe it's just a flat INT check, say, at DC 10.


Yes, that was a typo. I meant 4th level.

I think a SoD spell, like phantasmal killer, would just be a waste of time. I think a no save or at worst a save for half would be the only way to go.

I like Enervation, but it would be hard to kill with it.

I was thinking like an intensified empowered magic missile or ear piercing scream.
Magic Missile has no save as well as no miss. But stopped by a simple shield spell (which have been kinda common in the campaign so far).
Ear Piercing Scream has a save, but almost nothing resists sonic damage.

I hadn't thought of Vampiric Touch, but that would fit for the concept and has no save.

Hellmouth Lash might be amusing and also has no save.

I think I will leave it as a normal charged wand. The number of charges will depend upon when/if they get it.
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I'm ruling that they can understand and be understood in the dialect. The question was specifically sounding like a local.

I can sorta see any of them (hadn't considered disguise).
Learning several languages does seem to help people sound more like a native. I would assume the additional practice at making more different sounding word noises helps. When people do learn to disguise themselves, I would think they would also have to practice with the voice. I can see pretending to be a local as a bluff check.

I think what I will do is up the DC a little beyond what I was thinking to maybe 17, but they can chose any of the 3 skills to use.

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