Question on how rods work.


Rules Questions


Ok this has been bothering me for a long time and I figured I should ask it here. For ages, I have seen people carrying multiple rods with stat bonuses and granting meta magics, without actually holding it in their hands, and saying it works just fine. Is this how rods actually work and you can just tie them to your belt or do you have to wield them like a wand or sword for them to have any effect?


PRD wrote:
Activation: Details relating to rod use vary from item to item. Unless noted otherwise, you must be holding a rod to use its abilities. See the individual descriptions for specifics.

It varies, but for most rods you need to be holding it to activate it.


Varies how? Like, to get a rod of eagle splendor to give a stat bonus, do you need to have it in your hand? What about metamagic rods? Also why can I not hold multiple wands in one hand, possibly glued together, and just fire one at a time?


You have to be wielding them unless they say otherwise. You can't activate multiples at once because the rules don't give you a way to do that- activating a wand is (at least) a standard action.


the rod of splendor says that one must "hold or carry" the rod...so if I were GM in that instance I would allow you to just have it on your belt or strapped to you somewhere.

meta magic rods must be "in hand" when you wish to use them

when you perform actions in RPG's like pathfinder they are suppose to be very thematic...activating a wand is a standard action, so mechanically you can only activate one wand at a time (once per round unless you somehow get more standard actions). Thematically you are concentrating on the specific action/words used to activate that one wand

Also from a mechanics/balancing standpoint its ridiculously OP to allow someone to activate a bundle of wands at once.


Drakkiel and QuidEst, thanks for the bit on rods but on wands, I believe I said to hold both in one hand but only be able to activate one per round as normal. Heck, even sovereign glue them end to end and swap from one to the other rather than go through your pack. Is there a rule against that?


Pathfinder Maps Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

The game falls apart if you allow multiple items to be used simultaneously, or to be used in a way that seems to negate the normal action economy for holding, retrieving and storing items.

Should you be able to glue 6 vials of alchemist fire together for 6x damage? What if you get a really big glass vial that holds ten doese at once? 10x damage?

Should you be able to glue 2, 3 or 6 wands together, then just hold the bundle and decide on a turn-by-turn basis which one to use?

No, you shouldn't be able to do it. And not because there is a specific rule saying you can't. PF doesn't tend to work like that. The rules tell you what you can do - like that you can use a standard action to activate a wand held in your hand. So that's what you can do. Period. The rules don't have to tell you that you can't hold 20 wands with the same command word, in one hand, and fire them at once.


Again, not saying fire them all at once. So the rules don't say I can't show some ingenuity and creativity with items, as long as I follow the rule of one activation per standard action? Cause that's what I am seeing, and then some unwritten interpretation that claims "No you can't even hold them." I am not asking if I should or shouldn't, it is if I can. I am trying to find and clarify the rules, not interpret them in a sense of "fairness." I like playing creatively and finding fun odd ways to use things as long as it does not say that I can't.

Also, Wheldrake, the game falls apart when the wizard exists and I can bypass entire dungeons to go straight to the boss room and yet I do it. The game only really falls apart if the group playing at the session end up no longer enjoying it.


Pathfinder Maps Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

If you as DM want to rule that you can superglue 2 wands together and selectively activate them whilst holding them in one hand, hey, no problem. I completely agree that the bottom line is the fun folks have playing the game.

I'm just saying that you won't find any rules specifically allowing or disallowing such antics.

And if you allow that, where do you draw the line? Why can't I creatively pour 100 vials of alchemist's fire into a small barrel and roll it down the hall for 100d6 of fun damage?


Honestly, I have no problem with the barrel thing. A single dose of gunpowder fires a bullet but 100 doses, and thus a powder keg, does 5d6 damage. So if one were to take the time, a person could figure how many doses it takes to do 1d6 and so on. No rule against it. It just costs you resources. Congrats on finding something that can give you a win at the cost of resources.


The rules don't expressly allow you to do it, and an interpretation of the rules that does allow it, while manageable, is sufficiently weak that it amounts to asking for GM permission anyway. As an aside, if wands could be glued to things, we wouldn't need a spell to stick them into swords temporarily.

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