Enchanting Staves, Rods, Wands, etc

Technik4

First Post
The current system of enchanting weapons is geared towards melee and melee alone, but wouldn't it be cool if spellcasters could wield a Penetrating Quarterstaff +3, where the 3 meant +3 to caster level or +3 DCs (with the Penetrating part giving a bonus vs SR). Clearly, especially with the nerfed DCs in 3.5, this would be a more expensive item than a regular +3 Quarterstaff, but what should the prices be?

Well, I'm going to set-up a rough system below, and I'm looking for flaws/abuses, expansions, etc.

+1 4,000
+2 12,000
+3 26,000
+4 44,000
+5 66,000
+6 88,000*
+7 118,000
+8 158,000
+9 202,000
+10 250,000

*- A weapon may not have a bonus higher than +5.

Magic weapons have enhancement bonuses ranging from +1 to +5. They apply these bonuses to one of two things, decided upon magic item creation - Spell DCs or Caster Level. These enhancements may only be placed on wands, rods, and staves for the price above. For placing these enhancements on other weapons, the price is multiplied by 1.5.

All weapons to be enhanced must be masterwork. A magical weapon from another source is already considered to be magical (and thus may be more expensive to enhance than a non-magical weapon).

Weapon Costs
< 10,000: +0
< 20,000: +1
< 40,000: +2
< 80,000: +3
<160,000: +4
<320,000: +5

This means that if you want to enhance a minor wand (a wand that costs 4,500 or less) it is treated as not being magical, and costs 4,000 gold to enhance to a +1. A staff on the other hand will almost always be considered a +1 weapon already. So the cost of enhancing a +1 DC Wand of Magic Missiles and a Staff of Fire is the same, 8,000 gold pieces. A weapon may not be enhanced beyond +10, so a Staff of Power (which is already considered to be a +5 Weapon) may only take up to +5 in ehancements (and the first enhancement costs 22,000 gp).

Magic Weapon Special Ability Descriptions
In addition to enhancement bonuses, weapons can have one or more of the special abilities detailed below. A weapon with a special ability must have at least a +1 enhancement bonus to have a special ability.

Counterspelling
A Counterspelling weapon can be readied to counter a spell 1/day even if the wielder doesn't have an appropriate spell slot. This counterspell automatically suceeds as long as the spell being countered is at most 2 levels higher than the highest the wielder can cast. Additionally, any other counterspell attempts with this weapon using Dispel Magic or Greater Dispel Magic have a +2 to their chance of suceeding.



That's all for now, I will update more later.

Technik
 

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The first idea sounds like a Metamagic Rod (Heighten). I'd price it as a Metamagic Rod which heightened the spell a specific number of levels (increasing DC and penetration of some kinds of magic defenses). Usable 3/day, per the DMG's Metamagic Rods.

Rod of Metamagic (Heighten +1):
Lesser: 3,000 gp
Normal: 11,000 gp
Greater: 24,500 gp

Rod of Metamagic (Heighten +2):
Lesser: 9,000 gp
Normal: 32,000 gp
Greater: 73,000 gp

Rod of Metamagic (Heighten +3):
Lesser: 14,000 gp
Normal: 54,000 gp
Greater: 121,500 gp

Rod of Metamagic (Heighten +4):
Lesser: 35,000 gp
Normal: 75,500 gp
Greater: 170,000 gp

However, I don't personally like the rest of the wizard-oriented weapon enhancements. IMHO wizards should be keeping their hands free to cast spells.

-- Nifft
 


My pricing was based off of martial weapon enhancements. Mine were usually a bit more expensive, anywhere from 25-50% more than an equivelant +1 to hit/+1 damage weapon, and the weapon only gives you +1 to one thing, DCs or Caster Level. Granted compared to a fictional rod of heightening, it seems powerful, but if you compare it to something like a Headband of Intelligence, it holds up better. Buying and enchanting a weapon puts a wizard in a precarious situation. Wands, Rods, and Staves are all weapons, meaning Sunder-able.

As for why weapons, well I like to see wizards with staves, rods, and wands, not just their hands. Its quite expensive to power up say, a sword, almost to the point of it not-being worth it. However, I think its nice because these can be cool effects to put on intelligent items or artifacts, or just randomly found treasure. It seems like Eldritch Knights may have weapons (like a sword) that enhance their spellcasting instead of their attack and damage bonuses.

I plan on making a few more Special Abilities, and perhaps refining the costs a little better. Keep the feedback rollin in!

Technik
 

I'd rather allow a Wizard to place the goodies of a Rod inside a Staff (or other weapon) for an additional cost -- say, +50% of the Rod's base price. Then, you could have an Elven Quickblade (Keen Silver Rapier of Speed +1 with a built-in Meta-Rod (Quicken), total cost 50,000 (+5 weapon) + 410 (Silver MW Rapier) + 112500 (Meta-rod (Quicken) +50%) = 162910 gp) -- perfect for the high-level Bard!

I wouldn't add these abilities as equivalent to enhancement bonuses. 3.5e did a smart thing when they removed certain armor properties from being enhancement-equivalent.

-- Nifft
 

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