epic wands??

[fl8m]

after not reading the way wands worked i introduced a maximised fireball wand, needless to say the players loved it )
It was my mistake so no big deal, i figured when i got the epic level handbook i'd find convenient rules for epic wands.
but there aren't any... no craft epic wand, no epic wands in the magic item chapter, nothing.

any ideas why? i had just assumed wands with no level limitations and/or more charges.
although the idea of 50 maximised delay blast fireballs is rather frightening.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I think they didn't make epic wands because wands can't have spells above 4th anyway. A 20th-level character cannot make higher-level wands than an 8th-level character, so there's nothing a 21st-level character could achieve that a 20th-level character could not, at least with wands.
Also, epic characters prefer staffs, which hold more than one sort of spell and can have spells of any level (epic staffs even above 9th-level).

To your problem: add another power to your creation and call it a staff (maybe add maximized lightning bolt, empowered ice storm and and extended acid fog. Then call it staff of the elements or something!)

 

[Caliber]

I am pretty sure Staves can have 1 spell in them (I think it may have been in a Sage Advice or Eratta somewhere.)

Basicly, you just gave them a Staff of Maximised Fireball. Shouldn't be that bad. You could even make one at non-Epic levels.

 

[Jondor_Battlehammer]

According to T&B, you can make potions of higher than 3rd level, it just costs twice as much and also requires Craft Wonderous Items. While crafting a charged item costs the same for either staves or wands, putting a spell of higher than 4th level requires Craft Staff, lower requires Craft Wand. A staff could be made that holds only one spell, by the book, so I don't see any reason not to allow it to be whittled down to Wand size. Perhaps require both feats to pull it off, or bump the cost up to caster x level x 1,000 as opposed to 750 g.p.. Or simply create a Staff of fire with all spells Maximized to keep the status quo. Exspensive, so it shouldn't be abused.

No big mistake no matter what. With at most 50 charges, they just discovered a minor relic, and will either burn it up fast or hoard it till Fireballs are no longer so impresive, even Maximized.

 

[mkletch]

Heck, only the feat is important. You could use craft staff to make an item the size of a wand. A pixie staff would be a human wand. Think of it like the enlarge or reduce spell. While you may enlarge or reduce a potion, you still have to drink the whole thing. If you enlarge a wand, it becomes a small staff. If you reduce a staff, it becomes a large wand. THe actual size of the item is irrelevant...only the feat used matters.

On the other hand, I am considering a change in the item creation feats. Make craft wand a prerequisite for craft staff, and make craft wondrous item a prerequisite for forge ring. Other similar changes are also being considered, so that magic item production is not so trivial.

-Fletch!

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Heck, only the feat is important. You could use craft staff to make an item the size of a wand. A pixie staff would be a human wand. Think of it like the enlarge or reduce spell. While you may enlarge or reduce a potion, you still have to drink the whole thing. If you enlarge a wand, it becomes a small staff. If you reduce a staff, it becomes a large wand. THe actual size of the item is irrelevant...only the feat used matters.

On the other hand, I am considering a change in the item creation feats. Make craft wand a prerequisite for craft staff, and make craft wondrous item a prerequisite for forge ring. Other similar changes are also being considered, so that magic item production is not so trivial.

-Fletch!

No, a staff is a staff, and a wand is a wand.

Staffs have a fixed set of spells in it, which level can be anything from 0 to 9 (or even higher in epic staffs), and the spells drain one or two charges.

Wands have one spell in them, with 50 charges, with spell level 4th or below.

It's not about the size of the thing, but what they can do.

 

[Chroma]

Changes I made to Item Creation

On the other hand, I am considering a change in the item creation feats. Make craft wand a prerequisite for craft staff, and make craft wondrous item a prerequisite for forge ring. Other similar changes are also being considered, so that magic item production is not so trivial.

-Fletch!

I felt the same way when I started thinking about Item Creation in my campaign. Here's a thread detailing the changes I made. We're still tinkering and playtesting, but any input would be appreciated.