SunRods

[IronWolf]

Glowsticks is exactly how I've always envisioned them as well.

Yep, that's the same way I have imagined them. Bright glowsticks.

 

[Dagger75]

I always envisioned them small metal rods about a foot long with some alchemical substance at the end. When struck they burts into light at the end.

A freind once used one as improvised weapon. He smacked a drow across the face (1d4 Dmg) and lit the sunrod that way. We all laughed at it.

 

[werk]

I see them, and play them as the equivalent of glowsticks. Strike them to activate them and you can't turn them off till they use up their alchemical juices. They create burst lighting, akin to a lantern, not a flashlight.

Glowsticks baby!

Alchemical tube that glows brightly when struck.

 

[Mithran]

I always figured they glowed just at the tip.

 

[kenobi65]

I always figured they glowed just at the tip.

As did I.

Sunrod: This 1-foot-long, gold-tipped, iron rod glows brightly when struck. It clearly illuminates a 30-foot radius and provides shadowy illumination in a 60-foot radius. It glows for 6 hours, after which the gold tip is burned out and worthless.

This always has led me to believe that it's the gold tip which provides the illumination (since that's what burns out), though I admit it's not entirely clear.