| 5 people marked this as FAQ candidate. |
The Wasp Nest o Swarming (Ultimate Equipment) is described as fragile, but the text does not say whether it is reusable if the item is retrieved after the 9 minute duration is up.
Link to item description:
Wasp Nest of Swarming
Additionally, I was reading up on the Snapleaf item, and it seems intended to be a one-use item, but does not state it. There is contention on the forums, but one designer seems to have chimed in to state that it was intended to be a one-use item (considering the specific requirements of the activation, perhaps the price should then be cheaper?).
The description seems to be a little vague, but it would be adjudicated as a one-use item. The text mentions that it's fragile, and that it is triggered when kicked or stepped on, which would destroy such an item.
While the text doesn't specify, you can always reverse-engineer the item by cross-checking its crafting requirements and price against the pricing formula.
The Wasp Nest of Swarming uses the Insect Plague spell (5th level) with caster level 9. A single-use item would cost 50 * caster level * spell level GP. This impies 2250 GP cost for a single-use insect swarm item. The wasp nest is much cheaper than this, so it is certainly a single-use item. Since the Wasp Nest requires a ranged touch attack with a range increment of 10 instead of the generous 760 ft range that insect plague would otherwise have at caster level 9, it presumably got a steep price discount.
Then I await an official errata/ruling, as I've been using it as a reusable item in PFS for a few weeks now. I'm happy to part with it once I get a ruling. The GMs seemed to agree with my interpretation, but were baffled by it. When I saw the contention and ruling on the Snapleaf, I wondered if this wasn't just another item that was poorly written.
I hit the FAQ button as soon as I posted this thread. After looking deeper into the magic item price mechanics, it does seem apparent that, like the Snapleaf, this item was INTENDED to be a one-use item, but was just poorly worded in the description. As such, I'm going to bring this up with the GMs at my local PFS night, and see if they'd be willing to let me just sell it for half price (I've used it once in a scenario to create a distraction, but I would NEVER have purchased this item had I known it was a one-use item). I feel that to be a fair compromise, and would nip any future problems in the bud now. I lose 500 gp and the game doesn't suffer from an item that could be considered too powerful, albeit with very circumstantial uses (the swarm isn't controlled, so you can't just unleash it anywhere).
In one sense, this device is more powerful than the spell that it comes from, Insect Swarm, since with that spell the swarms are immobile once created - which seemed dumb to me, but them's the rules.
Snapleaf has already been officially clarified as a one-shot item. I imagine the nest is too.