Quick Question: need info on Wave of Grief

[Delemental]

I have a player who has asked about creating a magic item using the spell Wave of Grief, which I believe is a 2nd level cleric spell. However, I'm at work away from my books, so can't recall the spell's details (or even which book it's in, to be honest). I'd like to have an answer to the player's question before the game tonight (too many other things to worry about without having to go over item creation).

Can anyone give me the gist of the spell? I don't need a verbatim quoting (though if you really feel like it...). In particular, I need to know if there are level-dependent features to the spell (to help set a CL for the item).

Thanks!

 

[UltimaGabe]

Can't say I've ever heard of a "Wave of Grief" spell... maybe he's thinking of something like the Bard spell Crushing Despair?

 

[Branok]

Complete Divine Spell

Wave of Grief
Enchantment [Evil, Mind-Affecting]
Level: Bard 2, Blackguard 2, Cleric 2
Components: S,M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Area: Cone
Duration: 1 round/level
Saving Throw: Will negates
Spell Resistance: Yes

All within the cone of the spell is cast are overcome with sorrow and grief. They suffer a -3 morale penalty on all attack rolls, saving throws, ability checks, and skill checks.
Material Component: Three Tears



Now, there are two ways to do this, it can be either a wand of Wave of Grief, or any item with 50 charges of this spell, or a command-word activated item such as a ring or wondrous item. The price of the wand would be 750*3*2= 4500 gp. But since you asked about the CL of the item, I'm assuming that your player wants an item that has unlimited charges, usable from 1-3 times per day. I'll give you the price for each type. i really think you should determine the CL by yourself, or take the list of Wondrous Items in the DMG and scan for equivalent items that are command activated.

For starters, according to Table 7-33 in the DMG, it would be a command word activated item, so it would use the following base price:

Spell Level*caster level*1800 gp
this becomes: 2*3*1800= 10800gp.
But wait, now that that's done you have to check how many charges per day you want it to have. It says the following:

Base Price Adjustment: Divide by (5 divided by charges per day)

So, I'll give you the price of items with up to 5 charges per day:
Base Price:
1 charge/day: 10800/(5/1)= 2160 gp
2 charges/day: 10800/(5/2)= 4320 gp
3 charges/day: 10800/(5/3)= 6480 gp
4 charges/day: 10800/(5/4)= 8640 gp
5 charges/day: 10800/(5/5)= 10800 gp
etc.
etc..
etc...
Remember that this is the base price, but if he wants to create it, he must spend only half of the base priceand 1/25 of the base price in XP, hence they would be (1 charge/day)1080 gp and 86.4 XP, (2 charges/day)2160 gp and 172.8 XP, (3 charges/day)3240 gp and 259.2 XP, (4 charges/day) 4320 gp and 345.6 XP, and (5 charges/day) 5400 gp and 432 XP.
For the caster level, I would do it as a multiple of two or three, it's up to you. For example:
1 charge/day: CL 3rd (the minimum for casting the spell)
2 charges/day: CL 4th or 6th
3 charges/day: CL 6th or 9th
4 charges/day: CL 8th or 12th
5 charges/day: CL 10th or 15th

The only level dependant features are the range and duration. The only thing that kind of worries me is that it would be a kind of low Saving throw DC, only 13, since according to the DMG you should use the Spell level + the lowest possible ability score bonus necessary to cast the spell, or 2 + 1, which isn't very high at all. Maybe you could alter the DC of the item, and for every 500 or 1000 gp added in the creation (not part of the base price)of the item, you could increase the save DC of the saving throw. For example, if it were to have 5 charges per day, and you wanted it to have a save DC of 18, it would have a market price of 15,800 gp. Which I find to be very reasonable. Of course, the restriction to increasing the item's DC would have to be the creator's ability bonus. Hence, a 15th level caster could only create the item with a Save DC of 17. This is strictly House Rules territory, but I would stick with it because it seems pretty solid to me. It's not that expensive, and it isn't broken like some other items I've seen.

Glad to be of service,
Branok.

 

[Delemental]

Thank you, Branok. The info on pricing was helpful - it'll save me the trouble of referencing the SRD.

I didn't know the spell had the Evil descriptor, though. Though not a huge problem for the cleric (True Neutral), he plans on giving it to someone else to use (thus it will be a command word item as opposed to a wand), and most of the rest of the party is good.

Hmm, at the same time I don't necessarily agree with the Evil designator on some spells (Deathwatch?). I'll have to consider this.