The Wonderful World of Wands
November 22nd, 2011
Hello everyone, and welcome to another exciting Grave Plots, where we bring you new plot hooks and adventure ideas each and every week. This week is Wand Week here at Necromancers of the Northwest, and that means that we'll be devoting today's article to little bits of magical wood. Personally, I've never really been a big fan of wands as a means of magical implementation; they aren't as iconic as staves, or as cool as an athame, and while you can usually bludgeon someone with a rod when things go bad, if you hit something with a wand, odds are good you're not going accomplish much. Furthermore, the mechanical treatment of the magic wand in 3.5 D&D or Pathfinder has me left feeling somewhat underwhelmed; after all, the wand is but one of a number of magic items which, in essence, allow the wielder to cast a predetermined spell a predetermined number of times before becoming something useless. Not only do I find this treatment of the magical tool to be somewhat redundant, I feel that it doesn't really allow for the wide range of unique functionality that wands tend to carry in folk lore and popular fiction, though again with rods and staves hanging around, the game's pretty much got those devices covered.
In all honesty, thought, it's not the mechanics that have me lukewarm on wands: it's probably the fact that every time I hear “wand,” I think about the white and black number used by stage magicians, and every time an evil wizard brandishes his insidious magical device, I half expect a puff of smoke and a bouquet of flowers to be flourished wickedly at the mighty heroes who brought more impressive weapons. But really, this article isn't about how I feel about wands: it's about making the wand a part of your next adventure. So how do we make wands the center of attention in your next adventure? Good question; let's have a look at some ways to make the wand a part of your game.
Now, sure, you could have an adventure where the PCs delve through a perilous dungeon in pursuit of a unique or powerful wand, but that would require you create a unique and powerful wand (which really probably should be a staff or rod instead) and that you simply make a dungeon and put the wand at the end of it, which really wouldn't leave me with a lot to talk about. So instead, we'll be discussing how to use wands during the course of an adventure.
Wands in Encounters
One of the easiest and most effective things you can do to make any adventure into a great adventure is to have great encounters, and one of the things the wand does well is make for better, more entertaining encounters. Both on the field of battle and off, wands can bring an extra flourish of magic to spice up already exciting encounters, and they can do it for cheap – or relatively cheap, anyway. You still can't go around throwing out wands in every encounter, as that will be both devastating to your in-game economies and, more importantly, likely to get boring and predictable pretty quickly. So it’s important to use wands sparingly and with attention to where they're likely to have the most impact on the game. With that in mind, let's take a close look at just who you should have wielding these economy models of magical power.
Who Should Have Wands?
The answer to this question depends on the situation. When featuring a wand in an encounter, particularly one where it's in the hands of one of the bad guys, it's typically a good idea that the wand be placed where it’s going to be most impressive. Since wands allow a lot of magical muscle for cheap, they can be a great way to put powerful spells at the hands of relatively weak casters. This is especially impressive for low-level boss-type casters, who typically must choose between having offensive or defensive or situational utility spells at the ready, and even then running shy once the battle starts.
Give that same level 5 wizard a wand of scorching ray (made with only 10 charges, something easily within the reach of his NPC gear), however, and you change the game, giving him a reliable bit of reoccurring offense for any battles with meddling adventurers and allowing him to focus his own spell slots on more defensive and situational magic, and therefore altering the entire dynamic of an otherwise straightforward and fairly uninspired battle. The best part is that when your players find wands in the hands of an NPC corpse, they likely won't have full charges, meaning you can control just how much magic power you’re handing over to the PCs at the end of a battle.
Wands aren't just good for low-level mage bosses though; lots of other characters benefit from some non-spell-slot-taxing magical power. For instance, maybe you don’t want your NPC wizard’s apprentice to be a pushover when confronting the PCs, but he just doesn't have the spell power to fight effectively due to his 3 levels of commoner or whatever; have his master lend him a wand of fireball, however, and he can unleash some pretty effective flame-based magic ages before he could actually attempt such a powerful spell. Want to make that rogue look like a wizard? Outfit him with a handful of wands, allowing him to perform whatever magic you need him to be able to do; he can even hide them up his sleeves with Sleight of Hand. Perhaps you want to make the minions of your high-level wizard (who has since moved on to orbs and staves or what-have-you) more relevant late game: give 'em a wand of acid arrow or cure serious wounds and watch the PCs struggle to deal with the little guys.
Let's not forget about another person who absolutely needs a wand, or more accurately. a lot of wands: the wand purveyor. Probably my favorite scene involving a wand comes from the Harry Potter book series (where wands are somewhat more important than in D&D), when Harry goes to visit the wand shop. Each wand was specially constructed, and even though each was made only of wood, the dozen or so wands described in the shop all managed to have some measure of personality. Modern-day wand purveyors and do-it-yourself wiccans (and anyone else looking for a wand for spiritual or ritual purposes) tend to create wands with a lot of distinct personality: they tend to be elaborately carved, capped with gems or less precious stones, painted or otherwise personalized to enhance their appearance. I would encourage you to do this as well; when the PCs are in the wand/potion/scroll emporium, spend a little time coming up some suitable descriptions for how the wands are decorated, and come up with a cool magic word to complete the spell trigger. Make your decisions involving the personal history of each wand, and not just solely on the spell contained within.
Well, that’s all for this week, folks; hope to see you next week for the conclusion of our animal week articles. Thanks for reading, and until next time, allow me to wish you all the best in your gaming endeavors.