Advice on Wand Shopping for a Familiar

[Emmit Svenson]

I’m planning to play a CG wizard, stack the use magic device skill, and get a Lyrakien improved familiar, reasoning that since she shares my skill ranks and has a good charisma bonus, she should be able to wield wands and other magic items reliably.

I figure I’ll get her an efficient quiver and stock her with a wand for every occasion, plus a few scrolls for uncommon situations.

So far, I’m considering getting:

Wand of Obscuring Mist
Wand of Cure Light Wounds
Wand of Silent Image
Wand of Vanish
Wand of Mage Armor
Wand of Resist Energy
Wand of Lesser Restoration
Wand of Delay Poison
Wand of Longstrider
Wand of Expeditious Retreat
Wand of Protection from Evil
Wand of Enlarge Person

What these all have in common is they’re on some class’s 1st level list and they generally don’t require a save or a SR check to have a significant effect. Many of them I can get at the crafted price, too.

I’d like everyone’s advice on:

1) What other wands, scrolls and magic items could she wield that would be a good return on the gold invested?

and

2) Which few items should I buy first?

[Tom S 820]

Remove Fear, Remove Charm and Compeltion.

[Ambrus]

Wand of ill omen. Have her ready an action to use it right before you cast your own spell at the same enemy. Result: two saving throws for every spell you cast.

[pipedreamsam]

Grease - Make charging a little more difficult and help grappled allies
True strike - Make sure the fighter hits when it counts
Shield of faith?

[SirGeshko]

pipedreamsam wrote:

Grease - Make charging a little more difficult and help grappled allies

True strike - Make sure the fighter hits when it counts
Shield of faith?

I thought the biggest limitation of True Strike was the Target: You line. Even on a wand, doesn't it only affect the caster?

[pipedreamsam]

SirGeshko wrote:

pipedreamsam wrote:

Grease - Make charging a little more difficult and help grappled allies

True strike - Make sure the fighter hits when it counts
Shield of faith?

I thought the biggest limitation of True Strike was the Target: You line. Even on a wand, doesn't it only affect the caster?

You are correct, my mistake.

[Blueluck]

I would start with Cure Light Wounds. CLW is a good buy anyway, and puts your familiar in a position to be a combat healer, rather than ever wasting a PC action on that.

Vanish only lasts rounds/level, so you might want to hold off on that until you buy one at a higher caster level.

Something you might want to consider in some of these cases is a wondrous item with uses/day instead of a wand. While something like CLW might be used twenty times in a day, Obscuring Mist is probably more cost effective as a 1-2 per day item.