Hello fellow adventurers I was wondering something. How do you tell how many charges are on a wand without getting a new one and keeping track of the amount of charges? I'm asking because of the fact that we got ripped off on our last wand.
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From what I can tell from Spellcraft, you must use Detect Magic and Spellcraft to ascertain the properties of items. It takes three rounds per item and you make a Spellcraft roll with a DC equal to 15+ item's caster level.
Using the Identify spell adds a +10 enhancement bonus to your check.
So, there is no 100% guarantee that you will get it absolutely perfectly right. Additionally some spells make it more difficult to figure out the item.
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Honestly I can't think of or find any reason why this wouldn't be covered by the identify rules. 'Number of charges' SHOULD be one of the discernible 'magical properties'. If anyone knows of a rule that says otherwise, I'd love to see it.
While it would be a property, the identifier must still succeed at the Spellcraft check or get no information or misleading information (depends on how the GM wants to run it).
Hello fellow adventurers I was wondering something. How do you tell how many charges are on a wand without getting a new one and keeping track of the amount of charges? I'm asking because of the fact that we got ripped off on our last wand.
sixth level wizard/sorc/bard spell called analyze dweomer its the only thing i have seen that specifically states that it reveals the number of charges. Your GM could rule that detect magic with spellcraft to identify the properties of a magic item will give you it or some other ruling but analyze dweomer is a sure thing.
sixth level wizard/sorc/bard spell called analyze dweomer its the only thing i have seen that specifically states that it reveals the number of charges. Your GM could rule that detect magic with spellcraft to identify the properties of a magic item will give you it or some other ruling but analyze dweomer is a sure thing.
This appears to be the RAW correct answer.
As a GM, I always tell the players how many charges there are because I don't want to track it on top of all the other stuff I have to track. Unless I really want to screw the party over, or make them want to seek revenge, there's no reason to mislead them with such a minor thing.
i will also generally tell the players how many charges are left, because i don't want to keep track of that. i have in the past been tempted to change that based on sloppy bookeeping, but eh...sunder attempt can remove a pesky wand that doesn't seem to ever run out of charges....
I think you get that information when you identify it. Of course, if you take someone's word for how many charges there are you can easily get screwed over.
Yeah we had a sorcerer just go and buy a wand without trying to check to see how many charges it had. it had 13 charges and it cost us 20 charges worth of gold. We had enough money to get a new one they just insisted on buying that one. Gosh darn it Remmy!
It takes a special kind of crazy to rip-off adventurers. These are the guys that go into dragon lairs and kill monsters for fun and profit. If they figure out you screwed them, they will be back, and will be PISSED. Assuming they do come back. Very high mortality rate. Even higher when they are using shoddy goods.
Any smart, respectable, shopkeeper is going to want to build a solid reputation with the local adventurers. When they do come back from the dragon's lair, they have stuff to sell and cartloads of gold to buy stuff with. Building a rapport with them can have very nice long-term results.
But if you are buying wands off the back of a cart from a sleazy merchant, caveat emptor.