Lesser Rod of Quickening

[Staffan]

I mentioned this in the DMG errata thread, but figured it could use a thread of its own.

The costs for metamagic rods in the revised D&D rules seem a bit strange. They appear to follow a logical progression for costs, where:
* Regular rods cost 4 times as much as a Lesser rod, and Greater rods cost 9 times as much.
* A rod allowing a +2 feat costs 3 times as much as a +1 rod. +3 costs 5 times as much, and +4 costs 7 times as much.

These are not exact, but pretty close (aside from one glaring exception, it's more like 3.6-3.9, 8.1-8.7, 3.0, 4.7-4.9, and 6.9 - the differences can be chalked up to rounding or something). Looking at the original source of the rods, Tome & Blood, the same patterns emerge, except that they are more precise (and use a higher base cost: 5,400 gp instead of 3,000 gp for a Lesser +1 rod).

However, there is one rod that does not come anywhere near fitting this pattern: the Lesser metamagic rod of Quickening. The cost ought to be something like 20,000-21,000 gp, but the book cost is 35,000. I don't know why this rod is more expensive than the others, but it's possible that they only rounded the cost from Tome & Blood and forgot that they were generally reducing the cost of metamagic rods (the T&B rod costs 37,800 gp, which is a lot closer to 35,000 than 21,000).

Does anyone have any other idea on why the LROQ is so grossly overpriced? And does anyone think it would be unbalanced to lower the cost to, say, 20,000 gp?

 

[Ottergame]

Generally speaking, a Quickened spell is a whole lot better than any other metamagic feat spell short of Twin spell. With a quickened version of a spell, you can potentially hit a target with a spell twice in the same round.

 

[Storminator]

A quicken rod is huge. I have a modified Mageblade (uses wizard spells) in a game, and I have the Quicken Rod in my glove of storing. I pull out the rod, quicken a true strike, and pop the rod back into the glove, then power attack for full. I also quicken my Empowered Ray of Enfeeblement.

Free actions are the most valuable commodity in the game.

PS

 

[Staffan]

I realize that Quickening is powerful. It's just that the cost of the lesser rod is out of proportion both to the other lesser rods and to the other rods of quickening.

The regular rod of Quickening costs ~7 times as much as the regular rod of Extend. The greater rod of Quickening costs ~7 times as much as a regular rod of Silent. But the lesser rod of Quickening costs almost 12 times as much as a lesser rod of Enlarge (Extend, Silent and Enlarge are all +1 feats).

The regular rod of Maximize (+3 feat) costs ~4 times as much as the lesser rod. Ditto for the regular rod of Extend (+1 feat) and Empower (+2 feat). But the regular rod of Quicken only costs ~2 times as much as a lesser rod of Quicken.

These all point to the Lesser quickening rod having a price that's out of whack, unless there's some sort of specific advantage to quickening low-level spells that isn't present to the same degree for higher-level spells.

In other words, it's not the price of Quickening rods in general that I'm concerned about. It's specifically the Lesser rod. The regular and Greater rod seem to follow the pattern.

 

[Shadowdweller]

I suspect the reason has to do with slowing the power curve for Wizards. Consider that other rods ALREADY allow a wizard to exceed the normal bounds of spell levels (ie Empowered Fireball at Character Level 5). The classic case of comparison would be a Use-Activated item of Cure Light Wounds-- It's worth FAR more than the general formula for creating use-activated wonderous items.

 

[0-hr]

I pull out the rod, quicken a true strike, and pop the rod back into the glove, then power attack for full.

Wow, you've really got your DM snow'ed if you've convinced him that is a "reasonable" ammount of free actions in one round!

 

[Nail]

Word.

 

[James McMurray]

How is 3 free actions unreasonable? How many words would you allow people to say?

 

[Will]

Around here, any activation or otherwise 'active' free action is generally limited to one per round. Exception being shouting or speaking.

 

[AuraSeer]

I realize that Quickening is powerful. It's just that the cost of the lesser rod is out of proportion both to the other lesser rods and to the other rods of quickening.

That's because the item is more useful. Quickening a low-level spell is far better than simply boosting it, because you don't lose the opportunity to cast something else.

Consider a high-level wizard in the first round of a combat. If he uses a lesser rod of Empower on, say, a fireball, he can make one 15d6 explosion and then his turn is over. But if he uses a lesser rod of Quicken on the same spell, he can make a 10d6 explosion plus cast meteor swarm.

A mid-to-high level arcanist usually won't care if he runs out of low-level slots, because they are not a significant part of his combat effectiveness. So, the lesser rod of Quicken gives him extra boom power basically for free. That's why it doesn't follow the same progression as the other rods.