Prestige Points spent, then retrained class [still level 1]

[Zalheralucavi]

Ok, so a few months ago I made my first PFS character, a Paladin. I played two sessions at a convention and haven't had the chance to play since. After the second session I spent 2 PP to buy a wand of Cure Light Wounds. The wand still has all 50 charges.

I'm now looking into getting with a PFS group that meets weekly, but I've retrained the character entirely into a level 1 Magus, as I prefer its playstyle. CLW isn't on the Magus spell list; is there a way to change my [as of yet unused] wand of CLW for another wand that I can use without UMD checks? Thanks in advance.

[Dylos]

It would make sense if a level 1 rebuild could do such a thing, but I do not believe it is currently possible to get a refund for anything purchased with PP, or an exchange. Of course, Infernal Healing would be a much more useful wand for you as a Magus since you can use it without UMD, but UMD isn't necessarily a bad skill either.

I think you're stuck with the wand of Cure Light Wounds.

[The Fox]

Yes, I believe that you can.

The rules for retraining are on p. 10 of the Guide to PFS. They aren't clear. There is this FAQ, but it relates to items purchased with gold. However, what you wish to do seems to be within the spirit of that rule: allowing you, a new player, to change a character you are unhappy with to one you will enjoy more.

Now some unsolicited advice.
1. If you aren't completely dissatisfied with the Paladin, consider making a second character altogether. It is going to happen at some point anyway.
2. If you do change wands, consider infernal healing if you have the required additional resource (Inner Sea World Guide has it, as does another smaller book that I can't remember right now).
3. Even if you can't cast cure light wounds, it is a good wand to have. Chances are good that someone in your group can use it on you, and it takes some of the pressure off those characters to provide healing for you and others in your party.

Edit: as Dylos and I have just demonstrated, you are going to get conflicting opinions on this. :) My suggestion: start a new character for your Magus. If you like the Paladin, keep playing it; if not, sit on that rebuild until you are ready to build it into a class that can use cure light wounds.

[Sior]

The problem with rebuilding is you are selling back your items for full gold value before purchasing your new starting kit. This means that any potions you bought and used are still going to count against your total gold refund. As items bought with Prestige cannot be sold for any amount of gold and there is absolutely nowhere saying that you can be refunded Prestige points, I'd go with a hearty negative on getting rid of the wand.

As the Fox mentioned, I recommend either making a new character for the magus and retrain the paladin into a ranger or something that DOES have CLW on their list, or continuing with the magus rebuild and holding onto it in case you find yourself in a clericless party and needed some CLW charges mid-fight from the ranger or druid.

[Zalheralucavi]

Hmm, very good information, thanks all. I agree it's in the spirit of the rule to allow it, but I could not find anything specific about it either, and in those cases I tend to assume it's a no go.

Now, it's not a total loss; Magus has UMD as a class skill and one of the traits I took was Pragmatic Activator from Ultimate Campaign allowing me to use Int instead of Cha for UMD checks, so while it wouldn't be reliable in combat, out of combat healing with the wand would still be possible. I would prefer Infernal Healing, indeed, or perhaps Shield, but the CLW wand isn't garbage in any case.

Also, while I know I'll eventually make a new character, I kind of really wanted to convert this one to Magus since it's 1 session away from level up, and I have a completed Haunting of Harrowshire chronicle sheet to apply to a character as soon as it hits level 2, which would help me skip some of the squishier Magus levels and step right up to getting my Dervish Dance feat and first Arcana.

Still, though, it's not like I dislike the pally and I think I still want to multi him into Warpriest after level 4. I might just keep him and make the Magus a reroll.

At any rate, good data think think over, thanks folks!

[Talgeron]

It's not a bad thing to have an extra wand of cure light floating around, anyway. Even if you can't use it, likely someone has it on their spell list and can use it to wand you back up to full between combats. My fighter carries a wand of cure light and a wand of infernal healing at level 11, just because.

[Josh M Foster]

Nick Greene wrote:

It's not a bad thing to have an extra wand of cure light floating around, anyway. Even if you can't use it, likely someone has it on their spell list and can use it to wand you back up to full between combats.

Nick's absolutely right. The Wand of Cure Light Wounds and the Wand of Infernal Healing are the 2PP Medkits of the Pathfinder Society. Everyone should have at least CLW (because it's just 2 PP), and those less... virtuous in their morality might want to carry both. You can carry the infernal healing only, but some casters will refuse to use it, and some characters will refuse to benefit due to the spell's nature.

That being said, infernal healing is the more efficient of the two, in terms of hp/charge.

Honestly, I don't think you can get the PP refund, but I don't really think it hurts you.

[kinevon]

Actually, if you did, indeed, buy it AFTER playing the second time, but before ever playing the PC again, it is not something that you should have any trouble re-specing, as the item was purchased either before leaving the table after the second game, which is unlikely but would move into something to discuss with that GM, or bought as something to be recorded on your third game's chronicle, in which case it hasn't been purchased yet, and can be changed.