Rod of Wonder?

[Frostmarrow]

Perhaps this has been asked before. What ever happened to that old Rod of Wonder? Do you miss it? I certainly don't. Someone else always got it (and not me) and proceeded to wreak havoc all over Greyhawk City; burning the docks with a fireball or making the grass grow tall at the Whistling Fish...

[Edit: Changed the name to Rod of...]

 

[rounser]

What about the Rod of Wonder? It's a decent enough replacement I would have thought...

 

[Gez]

What about the Rod of Wonder? It's a decent enough replacement I would have thought...

Exactly. That's why I answered No. Given that it don't hold one spell that can be cast 50 times, it is more logical to call it a "rod" than a "wand". Rods may have strange powers, wands are pretty simple. Hence, we don't miss it since it's still here.

 

[Frostmarrow]

I actually looked the item up prior to writing the first post in the SRD in order to avoid this. It didn't occur to me however that they might have changed the name of the item. He. Please feel free to discuss the Rod of Wonder instead.

 

[Seule]

I used to love the Wand of Wonder, I even had one (short-lived) character who managed to get one. However, I no longer do.
I'm older now, and with the advent of 3rd edition, I've become a big fan of game balance. The Rod is inherently hard to balance, as it could do pretty much anything, helpful or not. It might be good for a 'joke' game or episode, but I wouldn't put one into my campaign without a good reason. Plus, having randomness that is truly random and doesn't repeat is very hard.

--Seule

 

[Ulrick]

I one time had a Wand of Wonder in my games way back when. However, I had it customized. A player's character discovered and the first time he used it was against some orcs. He uttered the command word "wonderment" and suddenly a huge rotting dead cow appeared above the orcs' heads and crushed them...




Ulrick

 

[Alaric_Prympax]

My first DM always had a Wand of Wonder and a Deck of Many Things in his campaign; at least once a session one of these items came into play, but I must say it was my magic-user who had the Wand of Wonder and used it in deperation at time hoping something good would happpen and I would not summon a mouse.

It must be just me but I do not like the name change to 'Rod' of Wonder from 'Wand' of Wonder (I think Wand sounds better). I understand the machanical aspeck of the game why they made Rods to one thing and Wands another. But I always thought that what determined a rod or a staff or a wand was its size not its functionality. Granted I'm not in favor of a Wand of Power or Wand of the Magi but one could argue that the something wand size (6" to 1') just wasn't big enough to hold that much magic/power and thus a bigger receptacle was needed. Once again I understand why WotC changed it but it just doesn't bring as much wonder to the items as they used to.


Sorry for the extremely bad pun there but I just had to go there.

 

[Desdichado]

I think the new Rod of Wonder is just fine. In fact, my character spends a considerable amount of time polishing his Rod of Wonder.

 

[mzsylver]

i miss the name Wand of Wonder. it just doesnt sound as cool now that it's Rod of Wonder. however, i like the fact that it is uncharged now.

i used to DM a wild mage who would occasionally attempt to control it in desperate situations. it was always very amusing...

*evil DM smile*

 

[Quickbeam]

Bah -- silly double post!!