Recharging Magic Items

[Rystil Arden]

would it be more acceptable though potentially awkward to phrase/envision to force recharging and creating to hit the max? You calculate cost at per charge but must fully charge a wand.

Yes, that would be better. It actually makes sense in a way if you consider the recharging ritual to not be so mechanically precise and that it just recharges the wand all the way. Perhaps you expose the wand of lightning bolt to a natural lightning storm and cast a ritual as the lightning strikes, charging it all the way up--you don't choose to have it gain only 5 charges out of a missing 41 just like you can't choose to create a wand with 1 charge to begin.

 

[Erekose13]

Sounds good to me. I'll add that in when I stick in the mechanical examples. Does the spell make sense? Is it too high at 4th level?

 

[Rystil Arden]

Sounds good to me. I'll add that in when I stick in the mechanical examples. Does the spell make sense? Is it too high at 4th level?

I think it works great now. As for the spell, I really don't like it. Got a cursed item that also has some beneficial properties that forces a trade-off? Not anymore--just steal the good part away to a new item. This just seems like too much for a spell to allow without even having access to the appropriate feats. At most, I'd create a spell that destroys items and creates a pool of ars vitae or some such that can be used to create new items by someone with the craft feats at reduced cost based on the value of the old item.

 

[Bront]

I think it should be a higher level spell now that I think about it. Honestly, Wish already does what this spell does, with an added 5,000 XP penalty.

 

[orsal]

Ah I get you, I was working on the assumption that you could only purchase/initially create full wands. Which is so far the case, but does not always have to be. Unless of course it were a corollary to this proposal...

I would think that, if it were possible to charge a spent wand with a single charge more cheaply than any other item to cast the same spell can be created, there would be a market for used-up wands. So it'd be hard to explain being unableto buy them with just a small number of charges.

 

[IcyCool]

With respect to the recharging rules, perhaps the following change would put people's fears to rest?

Modification to the recharge rules:
Recharging charged items is not very exact, nor very safe. The magical energies required to recharge an item are dangerous, and potent. A slight miscalculation, and the recharging energies could overload the metaphysical dimensions of the item and cause it to explode.

1. When choosing to recharge an item, you must always recharge it to its full number of charges.

2. An item must have at least 1 charge left in order for it to be recharged. A charged item that has been reduced to 0 charges has lost its magical ability to store charges and must be re-enchanted.

3. An item must have no more than 1/5 the number of charges it had when fully charged (round up to the nearest whole number). If the item has more than 1/5 its fully charged number, then recharging the item will overload its capability and cause the item to detonate in an explosion of magical energy. This explosion deals 10d6 points of magical damage. An item that detonates is rendered useless.

For example, Tim the Wizard wants to recharge his wand of magic missile. His wand has 6 charges remaining, out of a fully charged 50. Since 6 is greater than or equal to 1, and it is less than one fifth of 50, he can recharge his wand to full without danger of it exploding. If his wand contained 11 charges, this would be more than one fifth of 50, and so the wand would detonate if he tried to recharge it.

Another example, Tim the Wizard has gotten ahold of a Ring of Wishes with one charge remaining, and wants to recharge it. A ring of wishes normally has three charges. One fifth of 3 (0.6), rounded up to the nearest whole number is 1. As long as the Ring has at least 1 charge and no more than 1 charge, Tim can recharge it without risking an explosion.

 

[Rystil Arden]

An item must have no more than 1/5 the number of charges it had when fully charged (round up to the nearest whole number). If the item has more than 1/5 its fully charged number, then recharging the item will overload its capability and cause the item to detonate in an explosion of magical energy. This explosion deals 10d6 points of magical damage. An item that detonates is rendered useless.

Oops! You make a good point IcyCool--I had forgotten about using a fully-charged wand as a scroll by recharging it to full every time you use it. The reason that's a little bit less abusive is that you did have to shell out the full price of 50 charges just before pulling that trick.

 

[IcyCool]

Basically, with that change, you can't recharge a wand unless it has 1-10 charges, and you must recharge it to full. Maybe changing it to one half instead of one fifth might be a bit more appealing (and still keep scrolls viable).

 

[Knight Otu]

There is a sidebar in Unearthed Arcana regarding recharging magic items, which includes a 10% up-front cost (excluding material and XP components). How would such an up-front cost affect affect the issues with recharging items?

 

[Rystil Arden]

There is a sidebar in Unearthed Arcana regarding recharging magic items, which includes a 10% up-front cost (excluding material and XP components). How would such an up-front cost affect affect the issues with recharging items?

You mean you pay 10% + the cost of the missing charges? That would create an interesting balance between scrolls (which remain the cheapest), recharging (and paying a bit extra per charge), and making a whole new wand (and paying for all 50 up front).