I came across an entry from one of the adventures in Dungeon in which there was a wand of burning hands "CL 3rd". Is that possible? I mean you have to be caster level 5th to be able to make a wand in the first place. Can you purposefully dumb down the spell that you use in your wand? Why would you?
I gave the wand to a player and he immediately cried foul and has been grumbling and complaining ever since. I told him that it's just a wand of inferior quality. He's not satisfied. Bah.
Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
|
You can set the caster level for a wand at the time of creation. Your player is being a whiner - by the book, the default level on a wand of burning hands is 1st, not 5th, so he is getting a better than normal wand, not an inferior wand. The wands in the DMG are set at the lowest possible caster level for that spell. Note that there are multiple versions of the wand of magic missile for multiple caster levels.
Edit: Here's a quote from the magic items section of the SRD just in case you need more:
For potions, scrolls, and wands, the creator can set the caster level of an item at any number high enough to cast the stored spell and not higher than her own caster level. For other magic items, the caster level is determined by the creator. The minimum caster level is that which is needed to meet the prerequisites given.
To create a magic wand, a character needs a small supply of materials, the most obvious being a baton or the pieces of the wand to be assembled. The cost for the materials is subsumed in the cost for creating the wand—375 gp × the level of the spell × the level of the caster. Wands are always fully charged (50 charges) when created.
|
Can you purposefully dumb down the spell that you use in your wand? Why would you?
Mostly because it is cheaper.
Burning hands cast at 1st level -- costs 375 gp for the creator to make.
Burning hands cast at 2nd level -- costs 750 gp
Burning hands cast at 3rd level -- costs 1,125 gp
Burning hands cast at 5th level -- costs 1,875 gp to create.
It makes a little more difference with burning hands, but consider a wand of cure light wounds -- for 375 gp you get 1d8+1 -- for 1,500 more gp you can get a wand that heals a whole 4 more points per charge. It doesn't seem worth it to me.
And this isn't even considering the xp costs involved (30 xp for a 1st level caster and 150 xp for a 5th level caster).
Your player is being a whiner
Yep. That much I knew.
Yes of course! The cost! The XP! Silly me.
If he keeps whining I'll reduce all of the rest of the wands that I've so generously given them as CL 5th.
Thanks for the answers!
What do you need to make a wand?
My players are slogging through the isle of dread (so 2 years ago, I know)
We converted to Pathfinder midstream...anywayThere's no labs, no nothing, no spells to find, they have finally made it to a native settlement at Tanaroa and want to make a wand of fireballs.
Aside from a stick and the material components, what is everyone's best guess as to what kinds of material components they need - it says you must use up materials equal to half the value of the wand if you have the create feat but I need to decide what kinds of things they need to collect....then send them out into the jungle again
IDEAS?
Bat Gauno, perhaps an expensive wood like teak? Maybe some expensive metal to tip the wand like brass or copper, or a body part from a creature which is firebreathing or rlated to the plane of fire? Like ash from a destoryed fire elemental, tears from an efreeti perhaps? Scale from a red dragon? Any sort of exotic type of creature or material would be fun.