Identify... this!

[Golandrinel]

Wands and Staves are spell trigger items. Go read the description of a Spell trigger item in the DMG.


ho ho ho ... yes, I will, only got it yesterday .. but am an age old 2e DM ... guess that's what I was basing things on.


To sum it up, if the spell is on your spell list, you know how to do the final verbal component needed to activate a spell trigger magic item containing that spell.


This still sounds a bit of a strange concept...


If you want magic items that only you can use, then you add that to them. It is listed as an option in the DMG during the creation process. If you don't take this option, then the magic items you make are just as useable by your enemies as any other.


Does this cost any more (in gold and in levels)?


It is hardly difficult for a high level mage to figure our command words anyhow. Analyze Dweomer will discover a command word in a few rounds.


Keeping a high level mage out of the action for a few rounds sounds pretty handy to me!


Yes, magic items are made from proven recipes and spells known by casters throughout the world. In most D&D worlds, wands are an especially common magic item carried by every wizard or caster who wants to live any length of time.


Yuck! This smacks of monty haul .... Can you clarify this for me about the published campaign settings please? If so, I'll probably have to convert my homebrew up to 3e....


My wizard doesn't leave home without his wands and a healthy number of scrolls.


LOL ... American Express???

 

[Li Shenron]

Sorry, I disagree with your thoughts on wands. It almost seems as though you think that magic items are turned out by a factory somewhere .

Indeed, by the core rules, Wands ARE.

 

[Shalewind]

Yuck! This smacks of monty haul .... Can you clarify this for me about the published campaign settings please? If so, I'll probably have to convert my homebrew up to 3e....

Indeed! However, 3e is balanced with wealth and magical items in mind. Thus, if you want the system to balance as it was meant to you have to use "their" conception of these magical items.

Check out the NPC equipment lists in the DMG. These are fairly low versions of these characters and they have tons of magical trinkets and such. A real adventuring crew played by modules will have picked up more scrolls, wands, and potions than they know what to do with.

Personally I find the idea of reliance on magical items a little repulsive. But that's why I try to run a low magic setting.

A global command word is unrealistic.

Not really. Remember, spells in 3e are all the same. If you know a spell, you know THE version of that spell. 3e doesn't support the theory that multiple casters figure things out in different ways. The same verbal components are used in all spells, that's why spellcraft can be used to ID a spell being cast. Command words are simply an extensive of these verbal components. IMHO.

 

[Dimwhit]

To sum it up, if the spell is on your spell list, you know how to do the final verbal component needed to activate a spell trigger magic item containing that spell.

True. However, if a Wizard doesn't know that the wand in front of him is a Wand of Fireballs, he can't just figure it out. It has to be identified. Once it is, then the Wizard can easily activate it.

This is why the Rogue has Use Magic Device. If you can't identify, then the Rogue can try to activate it. Once he does, then the Wizard could probably swipe it from the Rogue and use it.

At least this is how we've been playing it. Wands, Staves, etc. can't be 'figured out' by Wizards, Clerics, etc. Only Rogues or an Identify spell.

 

[Murrdox]

For wands, we give a 20% chance that there are markings of some sort on the wand that reveal what spell it is. If you know what spell it is, then you can cast it.

You CANNOT simply use a wand that you haven't identified or has no markings, simply by running through command words.

This is because some wands have different targets and effects. Thus, in my mind, waving a wand of "Inflict Serious Wounds" at a rock isn't going to do anything, even if you speak the appropriate command word.

I suppose if someone wanted to use "Detect Magic" to figure out the approximate spell level, and then go through every individual spell on her spell list in trying to use the wand, eventually she would come up with the correct spell, but I don't allow this... after all, what are you going to as a target to "test" and see if the wand is "Inflict Serious Wounds"? A fellow Party member?

I simply tell my players what their items are, and make them pay for the identification costs later. If I give one of my players a +2 longsword, I simply tell them "This longsword feels unusally accurate, guiding your hand to the target. It glows". Then I tell them it's a +2 longsword, write it down, and pay the cost to identify it when you get back to town (a +2 longsword automatically "works"). On the other hand, if it's a +1 Flaming longsword, I'll let them know it's a +1 Flaming longsword, but they can't use the Flaming ability until they Analyze Deowomer (can't spell it) on it, and find the command word. However, detect magic reveals its more powerful than a simple +1 sword, so the character knows that he needs to go back to town to do further magic on it. I even tell them when they have cursed items, but my players are good enough to roleplay using cursed items when their characters don't necessarily know that they're cursed. I had a Barbarian player pick up a Cursed +2 Chainshirt of Drinking (He had to consume alcohol everyday for it to work) once. He was perfectly content to suddenly carry around a large keg of strong wine with him wherever he went. As far as his character knew... he just suddenly developed a taste for spirits.

Wonderous items are also usually obvious (boots of flying are usually going to have little wings on the side... gauntlets of ogre power will make you feel stronger, etc.... )

 

[BeauNiddle]

Detect Magic gives the level of the item (e.g. +2 weapon).

Now you can sell it for it's correct price [also allows magic shop owners to sell items correctly without needing to cast 6th level spells].

Identify tells you the lowest level as per spell description.

For the few items where identify doesn't cover the expected amount then use/construction usually gives enough hints.

You only really need A.D. for the wierd high level items (that you only start getting when you can cast 6th level spells).

Detect Magic is the key.

 

[Dr. Zoom]

Wands and Staves are spell trigger items. Go read the description of a Spell trigger item in the DMG.

To sum it up, if the spell is on your spell list, you know how to do the final verbal component needed to activate a spell trigger magic item containing that spell.

The Spell Trigger paragraph on page 175 of the DMG also says in the second to the last sentence, "The user must still determine what spell is stored in the item before she can and activate it."

Also, on page 206 of the DMG in the Wands section under Special Qualities, it says that 30% of wands found will provide some clue as to their function. Why would they need this if it is automatic?

I believe these two passages in the DMG support the idea that the spellcaster must first determine what spell the item stores, then he may use it as you describe. He does not just pick it up and divine what spell is there.

 

[Corlon]

identify gives you the command words.

Just mess around with them, this has given some fun in my campaign.

Because if you know exactly what your item does, where's the unkown awe in the fact that it's magical?

 

[Hypersmurf]

The Spell Trigger paragraph on page 175 of the DMG also says in the second to the last sentence, "The user must still determine what spell is stored in the item before she can and activate it."

Kreynolds and I had a very silly argument about this a while back.

Someone else suggested a solution that I've adopted as a House Rule - you can attempt to activate a wand as whatever sort of spell you like. If it's a Wand of Invisibility, and you point it at an orc and try to activate a Magic Missile, nothing happens. If you point it at the Barbarian and try to activate a Bull's Strength, nothing happens. If you point it at a rock and try to activate Invisibility, poof, it's an invisible rock. However - each attempt to activate a spell burns a charge from the wand, whether or not it's the right spell.

(Brings up a nice mental image... Wizard comes home after a hard day at the Potion Store to find his two kids covering behind chairs at opposite ends of the living room, pointing his Wands of Stoneskin at each other and yelling "Zap! Zap! Kablam!"

"Nooooooo...!")

-Hyp.

 

[Ferox4]

This is how we do it- Identify still tells you the item's most basic function (including command/activation words), however we have incorporated a Spellcraft check to determine all of an item's powers. Spellcraft DC 15 + caster level to create. Ring of Warmth (DC22); Staff of Power (DC30); Gloves of Dexterity (DC23). You get the idea.

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