Someone asked me to help him make a new character.
He wants to really specialze in wands. Feats like craft wand, staff like wand, and skill focus craft (whichever one used to make wands) are obvious. The half-elf trait arcane training is a possibility.
But are there any other feats or traits I am missing?
He has especially said he wants to rely on the wands for offense. But what attack spells are still decent in wands?
Can this character really be done or is it just a wasted exercise?
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Ive done this 1ce on a character back in 3.5 but that was with a mystic theurge, sorcerer, cleric that focused exclusively on healing and killing undead. A lot of the crud that made the character useful was feats that dont exists in pathfinder. Though the 1 item that made it doable was the Efficient Quiver since it could hold all the item i made.
I would probably make a Magus and, at 3rd level, use my Magus Arcana and the feat Extra Arcana to gain Wand Mastery and Wand Wielder all at once. You probably can't afford any wands before 3rd level anyway, so the character will play like they've always been good with wands:)
You can take Craft Wand as early as 5th level, but I wouldn't bother with Skill Focus, as the rolls to craft wands are fairly easy and there are ways to boost them without wasting a feat, like Masterwork Tools, the spell Crafter's Fortune, etc.
. . .the rolls to craft wands are fairly easy and there are ways to boost them without wasting a feat, like Masterwork Tools, the spell Crafter's Fortune, etc.
I just went to confirm that the DC for crafting wands really is as low as I thought. It's even lower! It's five plus the caster level of the item, or "CL+5" for short.
"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 but not higher than her own caster level." So the CL for a wand will never be higher than your character's level.
Assuming you're making the toughest wand possible (that you can still use, that is), max ranks in a craft skill, plus 3 for it being a class-skill, plus an INT bonus of at least 2, and you will never fail a roll.
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So the big problem with a Wand is that by default it assumes that it was prepared by the lowest level caster possible.
So a level 1 wand assumes a 1st level spell and that the caster has a casting score of 11
So, for example, a 1st level wand has a DC of 11 and lasts for 1 round, 1 minute, 10 minutes, 1 hour...whatever the spell's duration is.
a 2nd level wand assumes a 2nd level spell and a caster with a casting score of 12
so it has a DC of 13 and lasts for 2 rounds, 2 minutes, 20 minutes, 2 hours, again, whatever
As has already been stated, the Bard can increase the DC at 10th level, and Magus can do it much earlier, but you run into another problem
Even if you can increase the DC, the wand is still at minimum CL unless you make it yourself at a higher CL (Which increases cost)
So a wand of fireball always does 5d6.
WIZARDS have an ability in UM called Staff-Like Wand: Your research has unlocked a new power in conjunction with using a wand. Similar to using a magic staff, you use your own Intelligence score and relevant feats to set the DC for saves against spells you cast from a wand, and you can use your caster level when activating the power of a wand if it's higher than the caster level of the wand. You must be at least an 11th-level wizard and must have the Craft Staff feat to select this discovery.
As you can see, this is by far the most powerful, but yikes! You must have Craft Staff as a feat AND need to be 11th level? But wait, you can't take craft staff anyway until 11th level...so really you need to wait until 13th level.
Also, you run into ANOTHER problem.
Burnout
See, wands only go up to 4th level. So, this not only gets VERY expensive, both in terms of gold and class resources like feats and arcanas, but also limits you at higher levels because you've built a class that uses wands at low levels.
Consider things though for that Wizard that makes it to 13 and gets that feat. He ca craft a Magic Missile wand, for example at 1st level for half price (375 gp) but whenever he activates the wand, it uses his caster level (getting all 5 missiles).
The other thing to take into account to is that Staff-Like Wand isn't limited to arcane wands only.
A question about the Staff-like Wand Arcane Discovery - does this ability apply to all wands or only spells on the Wizard's spell list? For instance, could a Wizard use a Divine Cure X Wounds if he makes a UMD check and, using his Staff-like Wand Arcane Discovery, set the caster level of the wand to his own when he uses it, or is it at the caster used at creation?It works the same way as staves. If you let a wizard UMD a staff of healing and use his caster level, do the same with wands.
So, the Staf-like Wand Wizard can carry around Wands of Cure, Wands of Prayer, Wands of Bless etc.
One of the most powerful spells you can put into a wand is, of course, Enervation. 50 attempts at draining levels? Yes please!
The other thing to remember is spells from other classes spell list. For instance, Summoners get Teleport as a 4th level spell. So you could craft a Wand of Teleport and if the GM is nice, you don't have to UMD it.
A Wand-Master Wizard should be raiding every spell list possible for the maximum benefit of 4th level spells he could craft into wands.
Someone asked me to help him make a new character.
He wants to really specialze in wands. Feats like craft wand, staff like wand, and skill focus craft (whichever one used to make wands) are obvious. The half-elf trait arcane training is a possibility.
But are there any other feats or traits I am missing?
He has especially said he wants to rely on the wands for offense. But what attack spells are still decent in wands?
Can this character really be done or is it just a wasted exercise?
Are you limited to Pathfinder only?
Supposed backwards compatible meand you can use 3.5 unless DM says otherwise.Feats:
1. Double Wand Wielder: TWf with wands (use 2 at same time), second wand uses 2 charges instead of one though.
2. Inspired Master: +1 caster to any spell trigger item (like wands)
3. Reckless Wand Wielder: (free action before using) +2 caster, but cost an extra charge for wands
4. Wandstrike: (Standard action) You can attack with a wand, deals 1d6 damage, no modifier (touch attack). Activates wand at same time it hits if wish (ray spells hit automatically).
a. Ray of enfeeblement makes a good choice (since it auto hits now)
So the big problem with a Wand is that by default it assumes that it was prepared by the lowest level caster possible
Since it costs half-price to craft your own wands, I assume you'll either find or craft all of your own wands, rather than buy any at retail, making them whatever caster level is best for the application.
Also, there are a number of 1st level spells that are quite good when cast at CL 1 and don't require a save. For a Magus, I'd suggest True Strike, Enlarge Person, Expeditious Retreat, Shield, Obscuring Mist, Silent Image. . .
In any case, I don't think a wand-specialist is going to be a "Tier 1" Certified Grade A buttkicker, but there's no reason it can't be a fun and effective character.
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13th level. It requires a feat and he needs Craft Staff as a prerequisite and that's not available till 11th.
I'm not saying it's not good, I'm just saying that while yes it is powerful, some of the best spells on wands, like Enervation, don't care about caster level or save DCs, so you're not really getting any benefit.
hmm...
PF only.
Our campaigns usually die at around level 13-15.
So I don't think he will be interested in a build that doesn't really start to become effective until almost then end.
I believe he was thinking this would give him lots of his top level spells when he was in the mid levels (5-10) rather than just 1 or 2 a day of his top level spells. (I think he also just got done rewatching all the Harry Potte movies and was 'inspired' if you can call it that.)
I will talk it over with him. I think he will drop it.
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13th level. It requires a feat and he needs Craft Staff as a prerequisite and that's not available till 11th.
I'm not saying it's not good, I'm just saying that while yes it is powerful, some of the best spells on wands, like Enervation, don't care about caster level or save DCs, so you're not really getting any benefit.
Oh yeah, that's dumb. A liberal dm might let you save that 10th level bonus feat and use it at 11th. I probably would.
I think you underestimate the value of the wand. Most offensive wands are totally useless because of their DCs. This makes them worth using. A 13th cl fireball from a 5cl wand? Yes, please.
yeah, but think about it this way: A CL 13 wand of Fireball is still only going to do 10d6. That's an average of 35 damage. For a standard action. At 13th level, a fighter is probably doing 35 damage on ONE attack.
Now you also have a Save. Lets be generous as say that you have a Save DC of 22 (10 + 3 + 9 for int (Int of 29).
Many monsters at the level you are at are going to make that save ~50% of the time. Now, you might run into a big monster that has a poor fort, but now you have another problem: Resistances. Big monsters, while having poor fort saves, are often resistant or immune to elemental damage.
So now your 35 damage fireball might be cut down to 17 by a save, or 30, 25, 20 by resistances. God help you if the monster saves AND has resistances. Or is immune.
A better example would be a wand of Dispel Magic, which doesn't have a Save DC but DOES rely on Caster Level, for the same cost.
Even better would be something like a wand of Fly or Haste, where you don't really care about CL or DC.
Another route entirely could be to play a Wizard with a bonded object wand. Then, presumably, the character would cast ALL of his spells using a wand. Also, he would be able to "Craft Wand" on it without spending a feat.
I can't help but read part of this thread as a great argument against ever making a character with Staff-Like Wand:(
A 13th level Wizard who can cast extra spells of levels 1-4? He can already cast six spells per day at each of those spell levels, not to mention all of his level 5-7 spells. Sure, there would be that one time when having the ability to spam Fireballs was helpful, but would it really be worth the money to have that wand sitting around until that time? If you really want that capability now and then, slap those spells into a staff.