Best Ping-O'-Stick


Pathfinder First Edition General Discussion


Pretty simple, just want to know what you guys favorite wand or potion is for the following.

1) Best wand/potion for Damage

2) Best wand/potion for utility

3) Favorite wand/potion

4) Funniest wand/potion


Potion:
1) Enlarge Person. On a strong melee fighter it will net a solid amount of damage and scale better than most other CL 1 spells.

2) Oil of Daylight. Its one of a few spells which is genuinely better in liquid form than as a scroll because if you can read the scroll of daylight, you probably don't need the scroll of daylight.

3) Oil of Silence. So many fun applications. Apply to chainsaw and sneak up on people. Apply to crossbow bolt and "counterspell." Apply to tomato and shut up bad comedians.

4) Pants.

Wands:

1) Heroism. +2 Attack does a nice bit of damage. +2 saves can mean another round of attacks (instead of [insert unfortunate fight-ending condition here]). +2 Skills can help with battlefield postioning. All for relatively cheap.

2) Channel the Gift. Its expensive, but its a wand of 50 free 3rd or lower full CL spells.

3) Protection from (insert appropriate alignment). Cheap enough to buy a bunch of and then pop on the melee fighter before every door in a dungeon, and it prevents some of the worst effects in the game.

4) Beast Shape. Its a wand of Fish.


Paradozen wrote:
2) Oil of Daylight. Its one of a few spells which is genuinely better in liquid form than as a scroll because if you can read the scroll of daylight, you probably don't need the scroll of daylight.

Really? What kind of caster spends spell slots on Daylight, of all spells?

Generally speaking, I don't like potions, period. I don't buy them if I can help it—scrolls and wands are great, and if I'm playing someone who can't cast and has no UMD, I'd rather spend that gold on other items. The odd potion of Enlarge Person or Invisibility has its uses, though. Maybe one potion of healing in case of major "dead cleric"-style emergency.


Wand of ill omen.
Strong no save debuff that can make a difference even at high Levels.


Damage: Maaayyybe enlarge person, but damage's not what wands and potions are best at.

Utility: A potion of cure light wounds has little effect in battle most often, but it's a true boon to diplomacy. Always have one if you're not a caster who has the spell available.

Potions/wands of lesser restoration and delay poison have their place too but they're not the 'best' IMO.

Favorite: CLW as above.

Funniest: glibness.


Damage: Potion of Fly, so your beatstick can actually get on with the beating

Utility: too many definitions to narrow down to a single effect, but Fly would probably be applicable here too

Favorite: Wand of Maximized Magic Missile

Funniest: Wand of Reincarnate

Scarab Sages

Darigaaz the Igniter wrote:
Wand of Reincarnate

That would be fun, but the craft/buy price will be really high.

Crafting Wands wrote:
The creator must have prepared the spell to be stored (or must know the spell, in the case of a sorcerer or bard) and must provide any focuses the spell requires. Fifty of each needed material component are required (one for each charge).

Since it cost 1,000 gold per casting, you will need an additional 50,000 gold on top of a minimum caster price of 21,000. So 71,000 for that, but some people might not have that gold to use for that.


Cao Phen wrote:
Darigaaz the Igniter wrote:
Wand of Reincarnate

That would be fun, but the craft/buy price will be really high.

Crafting Wands wrote:
The creator must have prepared the spell to be stored (or must know the spell, in the case of a sorcerer or bard) and must provide any focuses the spell requires. Fifty of each needed material component are required (one for each charge).
Since it cost 1,000 gold per casting, you will need an additional 50,000 gold on top of a minimum caster price of 21,000. So 71,000 for that, but some people might not have that gold to use for that.

22,000 gp actually. The oils are a focus so you only need to provide 1 set.

EDIT: Nevermind, seems that spell has been fixed/errata'd recently.


Kobold Cleaver wrote:
Paradozen wrote:
2) Oil of Daylight. Its one of a few spells which is genuinely better in liquid form than as a scroll because if you can read the scroll of daylight, you probably don't need the scroll of daylight.

Really? What kind of caster spends spell slots on Daylight, of all spells?

Generally speaking, I don't like potions, period. I don't buy them if I can help it—scrolls and wands are great, and if I'm playing someone who can't cast and has no UMD, I'd rather spend that gold on other items. The odd potion of Enlarge Person or Invisibility has its uses, though. Maybe one potion of healing in case of major "dead cleric"-style emergency.

I think he was referring to the fact that you actually need to read the scroll, which may be a bit hard if you are in total darkness.


Oh. Ha!

The Exchange

Kobold Cleaver wrote:
Paradozen wrote:
2) Oil of Daylight. Its one of a few spells which is genuinely better in liquid form than as a scroll because if you can read the scroll of daylight, you probably don't need the scroll of daylight.
Really? What kind of caster spends spell slots on Daylight, of all spells?

One who experienced the following interaction between well prepared see in darkness bad guys and the party.

Deeper darkness
Oil of daylight
Readied action (found out later it was CL15) dispel magic
Stumble around trying to find things.
Stab, stab
Hang on, I've got another. Oil of daylight
Readied action CL15 dispel magic
I may be a strong fighter, but I have one too. Draw oil of daylight from haversack.. Attack of opportunity stab. Apply oil of daylight. Combat reflexes sunder potion vial.
This led to a discussion about what would happen to an oil that literally glowed if it was sundered before it could be applied. GM eventually decided to let it work. Turned out to be irrelevant as two actions later in initiative the sorcerer dispelled it again.

So yeah, my cleric does prepare daylight nowadays.


Is there a way to get a alchemist the ability to make wands, because if so couldn't you use the alchemist discovery, Combine Extracts, to make a wand with multiple spell effects?


Daylight actually just dispels deeper darkness, so dispel wouldn't do anything—both spells cancel each other out. Can't dispel a dispel.


Kobold Cleaver wrote:
Daylight actually just dispels deeper darkness, so dispel wouldn't do anything—both spells cancel each other out. Can't dispel a dispel.

Sure you can. Have you ever seen two blue decks go at it in Magic: the Gathering?


Belafon wrote:
Kobold Cleaver wrote:
Paradozen wrote:
2) Oil of Daylight. Its one of a few spells which is genuinely better in liquid form than as a scroll because if you can read the scroll of daylight, you probably don't need the scroll of daylight.
Really? What kind of caster spends spell slots on Daylight, of all spells?

One who experienced the following interaction between well prepared see in darkness bad guys and the party.

Deeper darkness
Oil of daylight
Readied action (found out later it was CL15) dispel magic
Stumble around trying to find things.
Stab, stab
Hang on, I've got another. Oil of daylight
Readied action CL15 dispel magic
I may be a strong fighter, but I have one too. Draw oil of daylight from haversack.. Attack of opportunity stab. Apply oil of daylight. Combat reflexes sunder potion vial.
This led to a discussion about what would happen to an oil that literally glowed if it was sundered before it could be applied. GM eventually decided to let it work. Turned out to be irrelevant as two actions later in initiative the sorcerer dispelled it again.

So yeah, my cleric does prepare daylight nowadays.

I had something similar to this happen in a game once. Now all my well-prepared adventurers pay for a casting of Heightened Continual Flame cast at 5th or 6th level. Cast it on the inside of the cover of a locket or Wayfinder, and you have a nigh-uncounterable anti-darkness effect ready to deploy when you need it.

Put it on something that fits in a spring loaded wrist sheath and you don't even have to waste an action on getting rid of that pesky darkness.

The Exchange

Kobold Cleaver wrote:
Daylight actually just dispels deeper darkness, so dispel wouldn't do anything—both spells cancel each other out. Can't dispel a dispel.

Daylight does dispel deeper darkness... if you cast it on the object that is the source of the spell. Which might be hard to find in deeper darkness. And both are touch spells. Just casting daylight in an area encompassed by deeper darkness doesn't dispel it; instead you get into the "overlapping areas" rules and those areas revert to their normal light level.

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