Wizard's Arcane Bond (with an object)

[MomentaryCalm]

Hi everyone,

I havent gamed in a while and am setting up a 3.5 game to teach some friends the ropes.

I decided to check out PF and was very impressed with what they had done. Most importantly it made me want to play again. I am make a character with a mate tomorrow. He wants to play a wizard and i am ready apart from one thing:

I really am missing something with the option for Wizards to bond with an object(such as a staff) instead of a familiar.

I love the idea of the rule but i can think of no benefit for using it . It seems a little contradicory.

1. The way i read the rule, if you have bonded with the object you need it to cast spells.
2. If you loss the bonded item you need to rolll on every spell you attempt to cast with failure meaning you lose the spell. But wizards with familiars dont seem to have this restriction.
2. Thats a major hassle. If your bonded item is destroyed - imagine not being able to re-attune yourself with a new item (which takes 8 hours) because you are in the middle of hostile territory. Every spell you try cast is a potential problem.
3. Apart from the vaguely written rule that allows you to cast any 1 spell per day with the staff (any spell you could normally cast) i really cant see any benefit to it.

Please tell me i am missing something here. The rest of the book looks great but this is just another way to take a wizard out of play. Not only is he nerfed if he loses his spell book - something i had hoped they would fix in PF - lossing the bonded item effectivly knocks his power too.

I can house rule the spell book thing (and have been for sometime) but have no clue what the intension was with this rule..

Any ideas?

 

[ruemere]

Hi everyone,

I havent gamed in a while and am setting up a 3.5 game to teach some friends the ropes.

I decided to check out PF and was very impressed with what they had done. Most importantly it made me want to play again. I am make a character with a mate tomorrow. He wants to play a wizard and i am ready apart from one thing:

I really am missing something with the option for Wizards to bond with an object(such as a staff) instead of a familiar.

I love the idea of the rule but i can think of no benefit for using it . It seems a little contradicory.

1. The way i read the rule, if you have bonded with the object you need it to cast spells.

Not entirely correct. You may cast spells without bonded object, however it is a little harder (until you get decent level of Spellcraft). Afterwards, it's just a formality.

2. If you loss the bonded item you need to rolll on every spell you attempt to cast with failure meaning you lose the spell. But wizards with familiars dont seem to have this restriction.

Correct.

2. Thats a major hassle. If your bonded item is destroyed - imagine not being able to re-attune yourself with a new item (which takes 8 hours) because you are in the middle of hostile territory. Every spell you try cast is a potential problem.

Correct.

3. Apart from the vaguely written rule that allows you to cast any 1 spell per day with the staff (any spell you could normally cast) i really cant see any benefit to it.

Wrong.

Please tell me i am missing something here. The rest of the book looks great but this is just another way to take a wizard out of play. Not only is he nerfed if he loses his spell book - something i had hoped they would fix in PF - lossing the bonded item effectivly knocks his power too.

I can house rule the spell book thing (and have been for sometime) but have no clue what the intension was with this rule..

Any ideas?

Of course. Here are the benefits.

1. Bonded object allows you to cast ANY one spell WITHOUT MEMORIZING it. Meaning, you just got one free spell of highest possible spell level (on which you would not be able to use any feats anyway). Or, you may use it to cast the spell you forgot to memorize. In short, this is serious power up. But that's not all...

2. You may enchant the item for your own use meeting feat requirements. Now, pick any Staff with any spells you always wanted to have. In case of a problem, just browse your friendly DMG for the best set of spells you may ever need. Also, in case you haven't noticed, Staves use your DC for spells
The best thing about that - once you exhaust the charges, it still keeps working for you - so just reattune yourself to another using that week long ritual and break previous one just before the ritual is finished.

This is serious power up, and negative aspects become meaningless once you get your Spellcraft to better level.

Regards,
Ruemere

 

[Scott DeWar]

As was mentioned about staves as magic items:
1. The casting of any spell in your spell book as a free spell is priceless in a bad pinch. I have an evoker and transmuter both pathfinder that can cast spells through their sword. The possibilities are actually quite endless.

2. The magicing of a bonded item costs less then if it was not a bonded item. Say youhave a ring and want to put shocking grasp charges in it. What ever the cost for a ring of shocking grasp is, I believe the cost is 1/2 the normal materials cost.

in the case of my two wizards with swords, they can magick their masterword sw0ords at 1/2 the normal cost. that woudl mean it would cost 500 gp to make it a +1 weapon or to add an effect that would cost the same as increasing the + of the weapon (special abilities such as acidic burs costing +1 bonus, Magic Item Comp pg 28). fi you haave a +1 weapon and wish acidic burst, it normally would cost base + masterwork + 4000 gp. whereby the bonded weapon would only cost 2000 for the total of acidic burst plus +1 enchantment. that is a great thing right there! if the bonded item is a wand, just think fo the potential!!

2. Thats a major hassle. If your bonded item is destroyed - imagine not being able to re-attune yourself with a new item (which takes 8 hours) because you are in the middle of hostile territory. Every spell you try cast is a potential problem.

if that happens, you just need to get the heck out of dodge and get to friendly territory...i am afraid.

as for loseing your bonded familiar, i am not familiar with that rule as i prefer not to have a familiar. that is an old 1st ed throwback as if you lose your familiare then, you lose hitpoints, permantly. i am sure that if you lose a familiar in 3.5/pf it is not a good thing though.

 

[MomentaryCalm]

Thanks for the help guys! I can see how this will make for a more interesting game for my players.

 

[ruemere]

Thanks for the help guys! I can see how this will make for a more interesting game for my players.

I have to admit I made a mistake. Pathfinder BETA staves are rechargable!
So, once you make a staff, you can keep using it forever.
Now you know why an iconic wizard uses a staff.

Recharging staves in Pathfinder BETA (Pathfinder BETA, page 360, Using Staves):
- each staff has 10 charges,
- to be able to recharge a staff, you must know at least one spell, which can be also cast using staff,
- to actually recharge a staff, you must spend spell slot during memorization. Spell slot level must be equal to spell level of highest spell available from the staff,
- you may recharge staff at the rate of one charge per day.

For example, for Staff of Charming (Charm Person [spell level 1], Charm Monster [spell level 4]):
- to be able to recharge it, you need to know either Charm Person or Charm Monster,
- recharging requires that you spend a spell slot of 4th spell level.

regards,
Ruemere