D&D 5E Wands and Focus's

[Connor Dierdorff]

Hi everyone first post so sorry if i messed up on format or something pls let me know if i did and ill fix it

So I was recently playing 5e with my usual group and we came across what the dm described as an intricate wand with a strange feeling to it. I was playing a pact of tome warlock and being the only PC who could identify it I took it and got to work. It turned out to be a wand of warmage+1 pretty neat we don't get a lot of magic items so i was jazzed. But one question I had was could I use it as an arcane focus. The phb section for wands basically just says they're arcane focus's but idk how that works with special wands like wand of warmage and others. So can i use it as a focus or do i just get its bonus's and still need to use my free hand for components ? thank you and may your success be criticals.

 

[mrpopstar]

You can use it as a focus.

 

[Li Shenron]

Hi everyone first post so sorry if i messed up on format or something pls let me know if i did and ill fix it

So I was recently playing 5e with my usual group and we came across what the dm described as an intricate wand with a strange feeling to it. I was playing a pact of tome warlock and being the only PC who could identify it I took it and got to work. It turned out to be a wand of warmage+1 pretty neat we don't get a lot of magic items so i was jazzed. But one question I had was could I use it as an arcane focus. The phb section for wands basically just says they're arcane focus's but idk how that works with special wands like wand of warmage and others. So can i use it as a focus or do i just get its bonus's and still need to use my free hand for components ? thank you and may your success be criticals.

Depends on the wand. Only your DM knows.

 

[AndruC]

Regarding magic wands, there is no rule that explicitly states that they can be used as an arcane focus. That said, a wand is a wand, magic or not.

 

[DEFCON 1]

It's a "logic and common sense" ruling that hopefully your DM will go along with.

- The warlock class states you can use an arcane focus as a spellcasting focus for your warlock spells.

- In the Equipment section under Adventuring Gear, the wand is one of the options under Arcane focus. Thus you can buy a regular wand for 10 GP to use as your spellcasting focus. This wand is not technically "magical" per se.

- There are magical wands listed in the Magic Items section of the book, although they are not specifically stated as fulfilling the requirement of being a spellcasting focus. This is probably because the writers chose to save space in the book and did not feel it necessary to point out that a wand is a wand, whether its magical or not.

As a result... hopefully your DM will understand the logic and common sense that tells us that if we can use a wand we can buy for 10 GP as an arcane focus... we also should be able to use a wand that costs more than that for the same purpose. Let's hope your DM can arrive at that same logical conclusion.

 

[Li Shenron]

It's a "logic and common sense" ruling that hopefully your DM will go along with.

Even more logic and common sense suggests that whatever you use as an arcane focus is practically irrelevant.

 

[CubicsRube]

Now I want to make a Gnome illusionist called Wacky Tabacky that charms everyone with his codpiece arcane focus...