Best Wands?

[Dire Mongoose]

What are the best wands to have, factoring in purchase/crafting cost, for

A) A party

and/or

B) One or more kinds of UMD-class-skill-having character?

In the (A) category, things like Cure Light Wounds or Infernal Healing are staples; I've also found Lesser Restoration to be pretty solid for a lot of campaigns (typically when you need LR because the party's hit some kind of stat-dropping encounter, you need it like 10 times stat, which is the textbook case for a wand.)

In the (B) category, depending on the character I've seen pretty good mileage out of things like Enlarge Person, Shield, and Bestow Grace.

What else out there is a must-have or a bargain? In the latter case, if it requires realizing that class X gets a spell early, call it out.

[Benicio Del Espada]

I've found Protection from Evil (or whatever you're not) a great wand to have, and drained many a charge. In one campaign without a rogue type, Knock got us into a lot of places we couldn't have otherwise gotten into.

[Cheapy]

A summoner selling a level 2 wand of haste is more likely than a Paladin making a level 1 wand of lesser restoration, I've found.

Also, a wand of lesser restoration has an activation time of 3 rounds.

[Rory]

Cheapy wrote:

Also, a wand of lesser restoration has an activation time of 3 rounds.

Does that mean a Wand of Enlarge Person takes 1 round to activate too?

[nosig]

for a party - Endure Elements - for those trips cross the desert/snowfields. How many charges to cover the party for the day? Remember the Familiars/ACs and mounts.

[InVinoVeritas]

Rory wrote:

Cheapy wrote:

Also, a wand of lesser restoration has an activation time of 3 rounds.

Does that mean a Wand of Enlarge Person takes 1 round to activate too?

Yes, it does. This is one of the few areas that potions have an advantage over wands.

[nosig]

Wand of Mount - just when you need the party to mount up and ride. Plus there are so many funny uses for summoned horses that last hours...lol!

[Dire Mongoose]

Rory wrote:

Cheapy wrote:

Also, a wand of lesser restoration has an activation time of 3 rounds.

Does that mean a Wand of Enlarge Person takes 1 round to activate too?

Yep and yep. Basically wands take a standard action or the casting time of the spell, whichever is longer.

The advantage of the Wand of Lesser Restoration isn't that you can cheese the casting time; it's that (in my experience) it's rare to want one LR in a day, you either want zero, or more of them than you would ever reasonably prepare (e.g. the whole group got poisoned or slapped by shadows or whatever).

[nosig]

Wand of Vanish - to get out of melee with no AOOs (and a poor acrobatics)

[Rory]

InVinoVeritas wrote:

Rory wrote:

Cheapy wrote:

Also, a wand of lesser restoration has an activation time of 3 rounds.

Does that mean a Wand of Enlarge Person takes 1 round to activate too?

Yes, it does. This is one of the few areas that potions have an advantage over wands.

Good info. Thanks!

[Cheapy]

This is a useful thread! It's where I learned LR had a 3 round casting time.

Not sure why people FAQd my post though...