Non Metamagic Rods


Pathfinder First Edition General Discussion


Ok, so I know that everyone loves their Metamagic rods, go it.

I noticed that rods are usable by anyone, and they're dammed cool. Why don't we see more people using or building them? As far as I can tell, the rules for crafting them are virtually non existent. I'd love to have a character focused around rods that's not a caster.

Just looking for folks take on non Metamagic rods in general, favourite rods, or one you've made in games.


In most cases, I think people are already focused on other items, so they don't think about rods too often. XD They've already got their eye on something. Still, if the GM put a few non-metamagic rods in as treasure, they might see some use...


Blindmage wrote:

Ok, so I know that everyone loves their Metamagic rods, go it.

I noticed that rods are usable by anyone, and they're dammed cool. Why don't we see more people using or building them? As far as I can tell, the rules for crafting them are virtually non existent. I'd love to have a character focused around rods that's not a caster.

Just looking for folks take on non Metamagic rods in general, favourite rods, or one you've made in games.

Metamagic rods are very flexible, universal to all casters, and are usually the most powerful (and therefore the best price-efficient purchase of all the Rod items). Because of this, you won't really see many other sorts of rods unless you craft one yourself, or find one in a treasure trove.

That's the same reason you don't see things like non-Metamagic Rods, or even Staves, unless it's randomly generated or specifically owned by a BBEG or something, because they usually aren't worth the money to purchase. It's an optimization thing, sure, but a lot of the "good" Staves and Rods are way too expensive for what they provide you.

The rule of cool might be nice and all, but like everything else, it's limited by the Pathfinder chassis and design principles. It's also the same reason why a lot of the Specific Weapons and Armor suck.

Am I saying that there aren't any good Rods? Sure there are, a Rod of Cancellation, an Immovable Rod, some of the other utility stuff is very nice to have and convenient for certain purposes. But it's not exactly a necessity for every party member.


I think they can be pretty awesome, thematically.

Think about a Rod of Thunderous Force, it's super cool, tons of flavour, but with only 1/day uses, it's an emergency move at best.

I was hoping to get help with the crafting rules for rods, how could the per day uses be increased, or some kind of guideline for pricing effects, like the Rod of the Python, an iconic effect, as is the Rod of the Viper.

Are rods priced like slotted wonderful items?


The description for crafting Rods can be found here. It is a little vague and will lead to mixed results, meaning GM FIAT is required.

For the record, though, 1/X abilities can be improved upon by increasing the charges per day. As an example, Boots of Speed are calculated as 3 (spell level) x 10 (caster level) x 2,000 / (5 / 1), which results in the 12,000 gold price, and allows for a 10 rounds/day increase. You can alter the equation slightly, giving you double the round usage per day, resulting in 3 X 10 X 2,000 / (5 / 2). This doubles the price of the item, but allows more uses per day.

On the same vein, you can simply remove the need for charges entirely and just make it an at-will/use-activated ability that lasts up to 10 rounds at a time, and the cost becomes 60,000 gold. It could even be made into a Continuous item, which then increases the value quad-fold, into a whopping 240,000 gold. Considering that activating the item is a Free Action anyway, there's no reason to do this unless you're trying to circumvent the Nauseated condition from screwing you over, but regardless, you're still screwed.

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder First Edition / General Discussion / Non Metamagic Rods All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.
Recent threads in General Discussion