Rod of Wonder!

[tleilaxu]

This is a thread about the infamous Rod of Wonder (Wand of Wonder).

Lots of issues to talk about.

A)In the DMG it encourages the DM to give the RoW different than listed powers. Do you have a different chart? What kind of powers does the Rod have?

B)Share an amusing story about how the Rod affected your campaign.

C) Do you like the Rod of Wonder or hate it?

D) What is a good level to drop this item into the game?

E) Has anyone detailed the history of a RoW? How and why was it made? Ever had a character make one?

F) Does the rod function like it does on purpose or is it a damaged magical item?

G) Does the Rod have unlimited uses per day?

H) Anything else having to do with the rod!

 

[Sollir Furryfoot]

Hrm, afraid I can't help much, haven't really seen one of these in any of the games I've been in to my dismay

A) I believe there was a previous thread here which contained a collection of several different, pretty interesting lists, although I'm not sure if that thread still exists...

G) Does the rod have unlimited uses per day?

-AFAIK, Yes

 

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

RPG.net used to have a very funny feature where random pages you opened on their site would have a footnote at the bottom with a random effect from the wand of wonder, rolled randomly from RPG.net's list of 1000 different effects. Unfortunately, I can no longer find it on their site, and Google isn't helping much. Poke around though, I'm sure it's still out there. Posting on RPG.net's message board might help.

 

[Volaran]

Not from my own campaign, but a fellow I met once at a Con had an amusing story from his. Back in the days of 2e, his party had rescued a gnomish mage and been rewarded with the only thing that had been left in his tower...twelve wands of wonder keyed to the same command word.

The rest of the story involved the party strapping them together and naming it the "Cannon of Wow!"

 

[Painfully]

I had a player just last week who possessed a rod of wonder.

He looked into a pool that was like a mirror of opposition. It creates a perfect double of the person looking into it, and the double immediately attacks the original. So, here I have two sorcerers zapping each other with their rods of wonder. Hehehehe!!!

When the others in the party saw the rod of wonder come out they knew it was time to take cover! Gale force winds! Green grass everywhere! Lightning bolt! Slow spell! And, then, finally, the bad guy turns the good guy ethereal.

Too bad the party doesn't know who's who, eh?

 

[Thresher]

I have vague memories of a 2nd ed Wild mage with one, it was like travelling with a lunatic armed with a Nerf Bat that had an underslung tac nuke launcher.
Sometimes the enemy would die, sometimes they'd get hardcore and sometimes if we'd be real lucky he wouldnt roll a 1 and brew up a few acres with us in it.

I know he died, I vaugely remember us burying the charred bits with the stick and not really feeling that bad... Its somewhere around Geoff and Bissel I think if you want to dig it up

 

[psychognome]

Haven't got to play a character with it, haven't got any experiences of one being used... yet. My intention is to have my next high-level character have one.

And to answer your question D:
Look at the Starting Money table (somewhere in the DMG). If the players can afford to have one without it having a cost greater than most of their equipment, there's nothing to stop you from dropping it.

 

[Kweezil]

I've used rods/wands of wonder several times in my games. They've been use at will items, but come with the disclaimer that the rod is there to provide a whimsical bit of humour, and won't be allowed to derail plots or ruin the game. I use a different chart for the random effects, one I found on a NetBook archive years ago. I'd be willing to send people a copy or post it here if people are interested.

My most recent campaign had a faery wizard who had been given a rod of wonder as a gift as part of an adventure (Stephan d'Amberville from X2 - Castle Amber) which she proceeded to use with great relish and very little effect, on either foes or party members. In a previous game one of the PCs found a rod for which her own name was the command word (a hint at a Baldur's Gate-inspired plot-twist about her past) and it certainly made conversations... interesting , at least until they figured that out.

And then there was the sceptre of chaos, a minor artifact even the chaos mage was afraid to use. It was a +4 light mace that triggered a wild surge each time it struck someone (with the victim counting as both caster and target for the purposes of the surge).

 

[Morbidity]

I've used rods/wands of wonder several times in my games. They've been use at will items, but come with the disclaimer that the rod is there to provide a whimsical bit of humour, and won't be allowed to derail plots or ruin the game.

Ahhh.... I played a gnomish druid with a whimsical sense of humour who desperately wanted a wand of wonder. I was well on my way to convincing my DM that he should give it to me (dating him at the time was helping) when the group split up. Sigh ... the horror that the party felt at simply the notion of my character having such an item was splendiferous. Chaotic neutral characters are ever so much fun.

 

[Richards]

Dragon #147 had an article with alternate powers for wands of wonder. It was written by a friend of mine, Richard A. Hunt. Yet another reason to snatch up a copy of the Dragon Magazine CD-ROM Anthology!

Johnathan