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Making guns palatable in high fantasy [Design Theory]
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<blockquote data-quote="(Psi)SeveredHead" data-source="post: 5761416" data-attributes="member: 1165"><p>That's probably why tinker gnomes are hated.</p><p> </p><p></p><p></p><p>There don't seem to be good rules for that. Players are generally unwilling to give up the "kill the bad guy" option in order to "make them keep their heads down".</p><p> </p><p></p><p></p><p>Which classes can use Use Magic Device?</p><p></p><p>The DC to use a wand is at least 20, but there are higher DCs for "activate blindly". (Otherwise, said rogue would have to pay a wizard to use an identify spell/ritual to figure out the command word.)</p><p></p><p>In 3.x terms, a rogue with Charisma 14 at start needs to reach 8th-level (assuming no Charisma boosting, as that's going into Dex) to activate a wand with a known command word half the time, and I don't think the DM would allow the rogue to "take 10" on such checks, not without another ability to do so. An expert can take any 10 class skills, and could probably do a little better, although their starting highest stat (Cha) would be 13, but they might as well boost Cha, take Skill Focus (Use Magic Device) and a +2/+2 feat, if available for that, letting them pull this off at <strong>4th-level</strong>. A 1st-level wizard could do so reliably with no checks (it would break the rules of game balance in terms of item values to NPCs, but I don't think we're talking about that here).</p><p></p><p>At this point, the real reason Wands of Fireball aren't given to experts on the field is the expense of making these wands and how quickly experts die. (Yes, wizards are also fragile, but they have better defensive options.)</p><p></p><p>In Eberron, artificers can use wands more easily, and I think even magewrights can do so. (Magewrights are an NPC class that are all about making and using items. Using the Mark of Making, Cannith magewrights might be able to make Wands of Fire despite not having class levels or even appropriate ability scores, using the "background" super economy-busting items that PCs never get to use.) Of course, Eberron is specifically written to allow for this.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="(Psi)SeveredHead, post: 5761416, member: 1165"] That's probably why tinker gnomes are hated. There don't seem to be good rules for that. Players are generally unwilling to give up the "kill the bad guy" option in order to "make them keep their heads down". Which classes can use Use Magic Device? The DC to use a wand is at least 20, but there are higher DCs for "activate blindly". (Otherwise, said rogue would have to pay a wizard to use an identify spell/ritual to figure out the command word.) In 3.x terms, a rogue with Charisma 14 at start needs to reach 8th-level (assuming no Charisma boosting, as that's going into Dex) to activate a wand with a known command word half the time, and I don't think the DM would allow the rogue to "take 10" on such checks, not without another ability to do so. An expert can take any 10 class skills, and could probably do a little better, although their starting highest stat (Cha) would be 13, but they might as well boost Cha, take Skill Focus (Use Magic Device) and a +2/+2 feat, if available for that, letting them pull this off at [b]4th-level[/b]. A 1st-level wizard could do so reliably with no checks (it would break the rules of game balance in terms of item values to NPCs, but I don't think we're talking about that here). At this point, the real reason Wands of Fireball aren't given to experts on the field is the expense of making these wands and how quickly experts die. (Yes, wizards are also fragile, but they have better defensive options.) In Eberron, artificers can use wands more easily, and I think even magewrights can do so. (Magewrights are an NPC class that are all about making and using items. Using the Mark of Making, Cannith magewrights might be able to make Wands of Fire despite not having class levels or even appropriate ability scores, using the "background" super economy-busting items that PCs never get to use.) Of course, Eberron is specifically written to allow for this. [/QUOTE]
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