Wand Adept [3.5 PRC, PEACH]

[BelGareth]

Wand Adept

Oh, I have something for that!
Alzrea, Wand Adept


ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Use magic Device: 8 ranks
Spellcraft: 4 ranks
Special: Must have used and depleted at least one wand by yourself.

Class Skills
The Wand Adept's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise (Int), Balance (Dex), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (history) (Int), Knowledge (local) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int).
Skills Points at Each Level: 6 + int

Hit Dice: d8


LevelBase Attack BonusFort SaveRef SaveWill SaveSpecialSpells Per Day
1st
+0
+0
+2
+2Wand Focus, Identify Wand—
2nd
+1
+0
+3
+3Metawand Ability+1 level of spellcasting class
3rd
+2
+1
+3
+3Wand Quick draw+1 level of spellcasting class
4th
+3
+1
+4
+4Metawand Ability--
5th
+3
+1
+4
+4Craft Wand+1 level of spellcasting class
6th
+4
+2
+5
+5Metawand Ability+1 level of spellcasting class
7th
+5
+2
+5
+5Push the Limits--
8th
+6/+1
+2
+6
+6Metawand Ability+1 level of spellcasting class
9th
+6/+1
+3
+6
+6Recharge+1 level of spellcasting class
10th
+7/+2
+3
+7
+7Wand Mastery, Metawand Ability--


Weapon Proficiency's : A Wand Adept gains no new proficiency's.

Spellcasting: At each level indicated on the table, you gain new spells per day and an increase in caster level (and spells known, if applicable) as if you had also gained a level in a spellcasting class to which you belonged before adding the prestige class level. You do not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. If you had more than one spellcasting class before becoming a Wand Adept, you must decide which class gains each level for the purpose of determining spells per day, caster level, and spells known.

If you did not have a spellcasting class before entering this prestige class, then you gain no benefit.

Wand Focus (Su): A Wand Adept adds his Charisma modifier to the DC, and his class levels to the caster level of any wand he wields.

Identify Wand (Su): A Wand Adept can identify the spell stored in a wand by handling and examining the wand for 1 minute and making a successful Spellcraft check (DC 30 + the level of the stored spell). A Wand Adept can use this ability a number of times per day equal to half his class level + his Cha modifier.

Metawand (Ex): The Wand Adept learns how to manipulate the eldritch energies held within the wand. At 2nd level the Wand adept gains one Metawand ability and another every 2 levels thereafter.

To use a Metawand ability, the Wand Adept must know the Metawand ability and expend an additional amount of charges listed. Doing this has no affect on the activation time, unless it is the Quicken Metawand ability, which makes it a swift action.

The Metawand affect is the exact same as its Metamagic counterpart. There is no limit to the amount of affects you may use at once (but only once per affect).

The cost of these abilities cannot be modified by feats that reduce the cost of Metamagic feats.


NameCost
Energy Substitution0
Subdual Substitution0
Split Ray0
Fiery1
Flash Frost1
Enlarge1
Extend1
Piercing Cold1
Sculpt1
Transdimensional1
Silent1
Empower2
Explosive2
Reach2
Widen3
Chain3
Delay3
Maximize3
Quicken4
Energy Admixture*4
Twin4
Persistent**6
RepeatSpell level+3
FortifySpell level+x


* - You must have the Energy Substitution Metawand ability
** - You must have the Extend Metawand ability


Wand Quick Draw (Ex): At 3rd level a Wand Adept can produce a wand stored at his belt or a bandolier as a free action, as if he were drawing a weapon with the Quick Draw Feat.

Craft Wand: At 5th level a Wand Adept is able to recreate wands from the extensive knowledge and use of using them constantly, he gains the Craft Wand feat as a bonus feat, if he already has this feat he gains a bonus feat for which he qualifies for.

The Wand Adept does not need to know the spell he is putting into the wand, he instead emulates the arcane patterns and flows that he has learned from his experience of using them. He must make a Use Magic Device check (DC 20 + Caster level) to emulate the spell normally required.

Push the Limits (Su): At 7th level, the Wand Adept as mastered the art of utilizing every last ounce of energy, when the Wand Adept uses a wand he may have the spell be affected by the Enhance Metamagic feat. A Wand Adept can use this ability a number of times per day equal to half his class level + his Cha modifier.

Recharge (Su): At 9th level, the Wand Adept gains the ability to recharge the wands he has made. For each point of Charisma modifier the Wand Adept has, he may add +5 charges to a wand per day. These charges do not need to all go in the same wand and can be freely distributed.

Wand Mastery (Su): At 10th level, the Wand Adept has mastered the art of using the Wand, he can use his effective character level as his caster level when using wands.

Notes

Basically, an advancement to the Canith Wand PRC.
Recharge is to allow the class to keep up and not have to continually buy more wands, at that level he is going to be throwing 3rd level max against much higher levels.
Also, why enhance comes free.
Not overly powerful, but fun.
I take this back, you could be throwing 3rd level metamagicked to the sky spells at people with spell levels way higher than 9th.


Change Log

10/19/2012 - Created PRC, added the feats section.
10/19/2012 - Changed recharge to wands you have created.
10/20/2012 - Added Su & Ex ability tags. Added Wand price table. Added Spellcasting.
10/22/2012 - Added limited use to Push the Limits.
11/14/2012 - Changed Identify wand to more uses per day from 1/day, added some clarifying text to spellcasting levels.
08/04/2016 - Removed Cha requirement. Removed Arcane advancement, and replaced with spell casting. Minor Formatting, and fixing of tables.

[BelGareth]

Feats

Extra Metawand

Prerequisite
1 Metawand

Benefit
You gain an additional Metawand ability

Wand Spell Penetration

Prerequisite
Wand Focus class ability

Benefit
You gain a +2 bonus to spell penetration with wands

Greater Wand Spell Penetration

Prerequisite
Wand Focus class ability, Wand Spell Penetration

Benefit
You gain a +2 bonus to spell penetration with wands. This stacks with the Wand Spell Penetration feat

Improved Wand Focus

Prerequisite
Wand Focus class ability

Benefit
You gain a +1 bonus to the DC's of wands

Greater Wand Focus

Prerequisite
Wand Focus class ability, Improved Wand Focus

Benefit
You gain a +1 bonus to the DC's of wands. This stacks with the Improved Wand Focus feat.


Extra Recharge

Prerequisite
Recharge class ability

Benefit
You gain a +1 bonus to your Cha modifier when calculating how many wand charges you gain per day.


Metawand Aptitude

Prerequisite
2 Metawand abilities

Benefit
When you choose this feat, choose 1 Metawand ability, that abilities cost is reduced by 1.

Special
This feat can be taken multiple times, each time it applies to a different Metawand ability.


Wand Opportunist

Prerequisite
Wand Focus class ability

Benefit
Whenever you are granted an attack of opportunity, you may attack with a wand.

Special
In conjunction with the Wand Quick Draw ability, this allows your to draw your wand and attack. You may only do this if one hand is empty and you have a wand to draw. If you meet these requirements, you are considered armed, and threaten attacks of opportunities within your normal reach.


Wand Savant

Prerequisite
Wand Mastery Class feature, Wand opportunist

Benefit
While wielding a wand, you may perform attacks of opportunity with your wand, and threaten out to a range of 10' (As long as the wand holds a ranged spell) and you reduce the time it takes to craft wands by 25%. (which stacks with the Exceptional Artisan feat)


Craft Greater Wand[Epic]

Prerequisite
Craft Wand, Master Wand, Spellcraft 23

Benefit
You can craft wands with spells up to 6th level.

Craft Supreme Wand[Epic]

Prerequisite
Craft Wand, Craft Greater Wand, Master Wand, Spellcraft 33

Benefit
You can craft wands with spells up to 9th level.

[JoshuaZ]

You should specify which abilities are (Ex) and which are (Su). Push the Limits is extremely powerful and should probably be reduced to a certain number of uses daily.

It also might make sense to have this progress spellcasting at at least a few levels (maybe ever even level?).

Regarding the feats some of them are more balanced than others.
Extra Recharge is quite weak. With only +1 a day I have trouble seeing anyone ever taking that.

Some of them also have wording that needs work. I'm not completely sure what you mean by Wand Savant's "You provoke out to 10ft. when holding a wand"- I presume you mean that others provoke attacks of opportunity with the wand on you?

[BelGareth]

Wand Costs



To create a magic wand, a character needs a small supply of materials, the most obvious being a baton or the pieces of the wand to be assembled. The cost for the materials is subsumed in the cost for creating the wand—375 gp × the level of the spell × the level of the caster. Wands are always fully charged (50 charges) when created.


Market Prices
{table=head]Spell Level|Clr, Drd, Wiz|Sor|Brd|Pal,Rgr
0|375 gp|375 gp|375 gp|—
1st|750 gp|750 gp|1,500 gp|1,500 gp
2nd|4,500 gp|6,000 gp|6,000 gp|6,000 gp
3rd|11,250 gp|13,500 gp|15,750 gp|11,250 gp
4th|21,000 gp|24,000 gp|30,000 gp|21,000 gp
5th|33,750 gp|37,500 gp|48,750 gp|—
6th|49,500 gp|54,000 gp|72,000 gp|—
7th|68,250 gp|73,500 gp|—|—
8th|90,000 gp|9,6000 gp|—|—
9th|114,750 gp|121,500 gp|—|—
[/table]

[BelGareth]

You should specify which abilities are (Ex) and which are (Su).
Oops, I forgot to add those...:smallredface:

Push the Limits is extremely powerful and should probably be reduced to a certain number of uses daily.
Hmm, I strongly disagree, the user is going to be mainly using 4th level spells (albeit heavily modded from Metawand abilities) vs regular spell casters who will, by that level, casting 7th level spells...But you might have a point...

It also might make sense to have this progress spellcasting at at least a few levels (maybe ever even level?).
This might be a good idea, although it was designed for non spellcasters...but you're right, adding a few might be doable for those classes that want to specialize in wands but not lose CL.

Regarding the feats some of them are more balanced than others.
Extra Recharge is quite weak. With only +1 a day I have trouble seeing anyone ever taking that.
Actually, thats +1 to your effective CHA mod so a total of +5 charges per day. Seems ok to me.

Some of them also have wording that needs work. I'm not completely sure what you mean by Wand Savant's "You provoke out to 10ft. when holding a wand"- I presume you mean that others provoke attacks of opportunity with the wand on you?
You are right, I had a hard time writing that ability.

Thanks for your input, remarks above.

EDIT: I added the spellcasting, makes sense.

[Amechra]

Wand Savant can be reworded as "while wielding a wand, you may perform attacks of opportunity with your wand, and threaten out to a range of 10'."

[BelGareth]

Wand Savant can be reworded as "while wielding a wand, you may perform attacks of opportunity with your wand, and threaten out to a range of 10'."

In the words of Scooter. SWEEUUT!!

Thanks, I was about to update that.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Interestingly enough the Formula 375 gp × spell level × caster level is wrong. The above table (and it's extrapolated from the SRD table) strangely enough has the caster level doubled, with no explanation. So if you want to have your wand prices elevate at a standard rate to those wands that are universally accepted in all games use the above table.

I think the formula is specifying the creation cost, which is always half of the market price.

[bobthe6th]

This feels like it could use an ability that let you burn wand charges to use it like a weapon. Or, have a base "free" weapon damage/ reach, then you could burn a charge or two to increase damage/range/crit(range or multiplier)/enhancement bonus/special abilities.

like, you can use any wand as a one handed ranged weapon dealing 1d4 damage 20/x2 crit, or a light one handed melee weapon dealing 1d6 damage 20/x2 crit. Then you could burn one charge for 20/x3 or 19-20/x2, or two charges for 20/x4 or 18-20/x2.

simple, but makes a wand a proper weapon.

other things, it would be cool if this had AFCs for different classes. like a warlock learning to add shapes/essences to wands by burning charges, or an artificer learning to charge wands instantly from his crafting reserve.

[BelGareth]

I think the formula is specifying the creation cost, which is always half of the market price.

You are right, nice catch.


This feels like it could use an ability that let you burn wand charges to use it like a weapon. Or, have a base "free" weapon damage/ reach, then you could burn a charge or two to increase damage/range/crit(range or multiplier)/enhancement bonus/special abilities.

like, you can use any wand as a one handed ranged weapon dealing 1d4 damage 20/x2 crit, or a light one handed melee weapon dealing 1d6 damage 20/x2 crit. Then you could burn one charge for 20/x3 or 19-20/x2, or two charges for 20/x4 or 18-20/x2.

simple, but makes a wand a proper weapon.

other things, it would be cool if this had AFCs for different classes. like a warlock learning to add shapes/essences to wands by burning charges, or an artificer learning to charge wands instantly from his crafting reserve.

The weapon idea to me, is a bit flimsy, I don't see how a little stick could become a weapon, unless you fluff up the ability to use the magical energy therein, but that, to me, would cost charges...just not what I wanted to do with the class....

However, I do like the Warlock idea...that is awesome.

[bobthe6th]

The weapon idea to me, is a bit flimsy, I don't see how a little stick could become a weapon, unless you fluff up the ability to use the magical energy therein, but that, to me, would cost charges...just not what I wanted to do with the class....

easy, the energy needed to make a basic blade is so minimal it is not missed. or, the wand adept can work the wand with that much more efficiency, getting an effective 1/10 of an extra charge they can make a light saber with.

wand opportunist looks fun, and could quickly be broken by AOOing with a disintegrate. giving a legitimate weapon is better.


However, I do like the Warlock idea...that is awesome.

everything is better with warlock.

[EdroGrimshell]

The weapon idea to me, is a bit flimsy, I don't see how a little stick could become a weapon, unless you fluff up the ability to use the magical energy therein, but that, to me, would cost charges...just not what I wanted to do with the class....

However, I do like the Warlock idea...that is awesome.

It's the same as Reserve Feats.

Also, how does this intreract with Eternal Wands?

[BelGareth]

It's the same as Reserve Feats.

Also, how does this intreract with Eternal Wands?

Good point, I will have to develop an ACL for that...

Also, Eternal wands...

Can enjoy Metawand abilities with a cost of 0 but not anything else. I'll add some text regarding this.

It also enjoys all the other benefits like a standard wand.

[ArkenBrony]

how does this class work for someone without any arcane spellcasting levels

[BelGareth]

how does this class work for someone without any arcane spellcasting levels

The spellcasting progression is a just a nice boon for any PC's with spellcasting classes that want to go into it, it's not necessary.

In fact, the prereq's (which i need to modify slightly) allow a non caster to take the class, allowing them to use their class level and Cha for DC's and caster levels.

[Morcleon]

how does this class work for someone without any arcane spellcasting levels

They don't get the +1 CL thing. But they still get the normal class features.

@Bel- Perhaps change all "Cha" references to "primary spellcasting ability"? It'll let artificers use this class too. :smalltongue:

[Debihuman]

Since wands by nature are limited to 4th level spells, I think introducing epic feats to allow wands of higher levels might be overpowered.

You should note that that it takes Divine Rank 6 to create wands that exceed the normal limits for such items. See Craft Artifact salient ability. While not everyone uses the rules from Deities and Demigods, you should at least take them into consideration or mention this information.

Debby

[Morcleon]

Since wands by nature are limited to 4th level spells, I think introducing epic feats to allow wands of higher levels might be overpowered.

You should note that that it takes Divine Rank 6 to create wands that exceed the normal limits for such items. See Craft Artifact salient ability. While not everyone uses the rules from Deities and Demigods, you should at least take them into consideration or mention this information.

Debby

It also takes ML 17 for a psion to craft a 9th level dorje. :smallamused:

Wands themselves are already rather underpowered, and by the time you get to epic level, there are a lot more overpowered things than being able to shoot a certain spell at minimum caster level 50 times for a huge chunk of money.

[Debihuman]

Sorry, but I'm not that familiar with psionics.

Wands are supposed to be weak. If you want more power, make a rod. You can gain the craft epic rod feat. Rods are underutilized in D&D while wands tend to be over-utilized.

Debby

[Morcleon]

Sorry, but I'm not that familiar with psionics.

Wands are supposed to be weak. If you want more power, make a rod. You can gain the craft epic rod feat. Rods are underutilized in D&D while wands tend to be over-utilized.

Debby

Wands may be weak, but it's logical to assume that someone at the power of Elminster or Mordenkainen (ie, epic level) has figured out a way to make wands more powerful than they are, if only to avoid having to prepare those situationally useful spells.

Also, Deities and Demigods wasn't made using the ELH rules, and due to that, most of the deities in that book could probably be taken down with a well optimized Lv 30.

[Debihuman]

What used to be simple wands in 2nd edition are mostly rods now. So no, Elminster's power isn't coming from a wand, it's coming from a rod. It's esthetic choice because we're used to pointy sticks rather than metal ones. This is because there was an overhaul in the magic system between editions.

Here are the 3.5 definitions of a wand and a rod:

Definition of a wand: A wand is a thin baton that contains a single spell of 4th level or lower. Each wand has 50 charges when created, and each charge expended allows the user to use the wand’s spell one time. A wand that runs out of charges is just a stick.

A typical wand is 6 inches to 12 inches long and about ¼ inch thick, and often weighs no more than 1 ounce. Most wands are wood, but some are bone. A rare few are metal, glass, or even ceramic, but these are quite exotic. Occasionally, a wand has a gem or some device at its tip, and most are decorated with carvings or runes. A typical wand has AC 7, 5 hit points, hardness 5, and a break DC of 16.

Definition of a rod: Rods are scepter-like devices that have unique magical powers and do not usually have charges. Anyone can use a rod. Rods weigh approximately 5 pounds. They range from 2 feet to 3 feet long and are usually made of iron or some other metal. (Many, as noted in their descriptions, can function as light maces or clubs due to their sturdy construction.) These sturdy items have AC 9, 10 hit points, hardness 10, and a break DC of 27.

This is why the previous edition wand of wonder became a rod of wonder in 3rd edition. Elminster's "wand" is a rod if you want it to cast higher level spells or contain several different spells.

Debby

[Morcleon]

If it's just aesthetic, where's the harm in letting an epic character get wands of higher levels than 4th? :smallbiggrin:

[Debihuman]

Why not just call it it a rod because that's what it really is?

The reason for this was to standardize the difference between rods and wands. The only reason rods get no love is that people have this image of a wizard and his pointy stick stuck in our collective memory from Gandalf to Elminster and Harry Potter.

So now we're stuck with sucky wands and nobody really wants to be a wizard with a rod. I get it. However, I'm not willing to rewrite the rules just for the look of a wand.

Rename this class as Rod Adept and watch me beat the pants of the Wand Adept.

Debby

[Amechra]

There are tricks that can put any spell of up to 8th level onto a wand.

It doubles charge cost, but eh.

[BelGareth]

Since wands by nature are limited to 4th level spells, I think introducing epic feats to allow wands of higher levels might be overpowered.

I couldn't disagree more, those epic feats are attainable at 20th and 30th levels, being able to craft wands up to 6th level at 20th in comparison to other classes and abilities is insignificant at the very best.

So what they can make a wand with a 6th level spell with 50 charges, at this level, pre epic spellcasters should be able to easily overcome 6th level spells, and be able to trump the ability of 50 6th level spells in an item. The comparison is mute, because, 7th 8th and 9th spells are so more potent, and will be used more over the lesser spell levels. This merely allows a non caster to utilize the spells at these higher levels (5th and 6th) whereas they couldn't before, giving them a little room to bridge the gap in power between Tier 1/2 classes and tier 3-4 classes. And we're talking about pre epic any ways, balance at that level is all speculative and up to the DM to mitigate.

And then there is the other feat, allowing players to craft wands up to 9th spells at 30th is overpowered? I fail to see how this is remotely possible, now for this arguments sake (and everyone's sanity) we'll assume no Epic spells, is it still to much to have 9th level spells in a wand. Hell no, 30th level PC's will have a myriad of items that grant 9th spells, Epic destinies and a barrage of PRC abilities and capstones. 9th level spells or access to plentiful resources for them do not break a game or a character at such a high level.

At that level of gameplay, even more so than the pre epic levels, the DM is really the deciding factor on what is allowed or what can be done, so again, it's going to be up to the DM to mitigate any and all power derived from the PC's.


You should note that that it takes Divine Rank 6 to create wands that exceed the normal limits for such items. See Craft Artifact salient ability. While not everyone uses the rules from Deities and Demigods, you should at least take them into consideration or mention this information.
Deities and Demigods while a great book for concepts and ideas is a horribly written book. It was also written in 3.0 and seriously lacking in any level of balance, and as Morcleon pointed out before the EPH was written (which has it's own issues).

Basically, why I have it in there is to allow this PRC to be useful at higher levels, taking a prestige class shouldn't cripple you at higher levels, because the abilities in it don't allow you to grow in power. It seems only logical to allow the improvement of wands, especially to a class that specializes in making and using them. When you take into consideration that you can make wondrous items that do the same exact thing (within the rules of item creation) for roughly the same cost with no spell cap, it seems only the logical thing to allow.

And it isn't a rod adept, because rods are expensive, this class is designed for 5th level characters to utilize wands even more so and gain an edge with them.

[Debihuman]

Except the basic premise of epic wands is all wrong. A rod and wand do similar things. If want a wand that casts 9th level spells, all you need to do is make it a rod. That is why there is an Epic Rod feat but no Epic Wand Feat. Wands are limited to 4th level spells but rods aren't. Plus you can put metamagic components on rods, which you can't on wands unless you adhere to the level limit. Plus, when you create a wand it has 50 charges. When you create a rod, they generally don't. Plus ANYONE can use a rod.

I understand the aesthetics of wanting a wand that does what a rod does, but it's kinda silly when you can already DO all that.

Debby

[Amechra]

Wands and Rods are actually quite distinct, not just for the reasons that you mention (which are great indicators that "higher level wands just do the same thing as rods" is malarkey)

After all, stuff like Dual Wand Wielder, Wand Master, Wand Modulation, that Warforged feat that let's you cast spells off wands as if they were runestaves, and a few other options that I forget about apply just to Wands, not to Rods.

After all, the higher-level version of Wands are Sceptres, which have one spell of up to 7th level and another spell of up to 4th level in them, both of which pull from the same pool of charges.

Hell, you might as well change the rules so that Staves count as wands for the purposes of your class features.

Or, as just a quick thought, add some method to use Eternal Wands as wands for the purposes of class features; that would be sweet!

[Debihuman]

Amechra: if your post was directed to me, I said that rods were more powerful versions of wands, not the reverse.

First, the feat is Double Wand Wielder from Complete Arcane and it allows you to use 2 wands though the 2nd wand expends 2 charges instead of 1.

Second, Wand Mastery feat from Eberron Campaign Setting allows you to increase the DC of your wands by 2 and increases their effective caster level by 2.

Wand Modulation is a spell (also from Eberron Campaign setting) that allows you to temporarily change spell in your wand to a different lower level one.

Scepters are from Lost Empires of Faerûn and require the Craft Scepter feat. Scepters got no love after that book. There's not a single scepter in the Magic Item Compendium. :frown:

Eternal wands are also from Eberron Campaign setting.
An eternal wand holds an arcane spell of 3rd level or lower with a maximum caster level of 6th. Unlike a traditional wand that holds 50 charges, an eternal wand allows any character who can cast arcane spells to use the spell contained in it twice per day. You also need the Craft Wondrous Item feat to make these rather than the Craft Wand feat.

Debby

[Amechra]

I was basically just sayin' that rods and wands aren't the same thing; a rod doesn't store a particular spell, it has it's own unique effect (like a Rod of Metamagic, a Rod of Sanctuary, a Rod of Lordly Might...)

I also already know what the different effects do (thanks for clarifying them for everyone else; seems I forgot to); I was writing a handbook on wands at one point.

And why not give Sceptres more love, then? After all, unlike Rods, which have unique effects, Sceptres just hold spells, and so you can design whatever Sceptre you damn well please.

And my suggestion for Eternal Wands is more along the lines of a:

Class Feature 1: You may treat Eternal Wands as if they were Wands of the same spell as they normally hold for all intents and purposes (so you can apply stuff like the metawand abilities of this PrC to it)

Class Feature 2: Choose X number of Wands that you own (could just be one at 1st, 4th, 7th, and 10th levels, or it could be 1/level, or whatever); they are now Eternal Wands, giving them 2/charges a day, etc.

That seem fair?

Eternal Sceptres would be cool, also; spend a charge to get the lower level effect, spend both charges to get a bigger effect? Sounds good to me!

[Debihuman]

While rods are more expensive to make, they don't run out of charges like wands do. Which 9th level spell do you want your wand/rod to have? Let;s say Summon Monster XI.

A wand of summon monster IX requires caster level 23 (because you have to have 2 epic feats). craft wand feat, master wand, craft greater wand, craft supreme wand. 375 gp x 9 x 23 = 77,625 gp base price to make.

I can make a rod of monster summon IX with craft rod, CL 17. A use-activated rod is more expensive: 9x17x2,000=306,000, but your wand is useless after 50 charges where the rod won't be.

A rod of summon monster IX will still be good after you've made 4 such wands of summoning. If you intend to summon more than 200 monsters, the rod is more cost efficient. If I want to limit it to 3 uses per day the cost is reduced to 184,,337 gp (provided I've done my math correctly). 306,00 divided by (5 divided by 3).

The question then really becomes how often are you going to use this item. Don't forget, anyone can use a rod so you can give it to someone else to use while you are doing else.

Debby

[Amechra]

I'm looking at my PHB, and there aren't any rods that have spells on them.

Some have the ability to emulate certain spells, but there aren't any rules for crafting a "rod" that just casts spells.

So, unless they added rules for making rods with generic spells on them, you can't do that.

Plus, as the OP has said, he's dealing with wands, and wand-type mechanics. He wants to have higher level wands, it really is just water off a duck's back.

But having the class progress into Sceptres would make more sense than having it go transition into Rods.

Still, it's OP's choice.

[Debihuman]

Technically you are correct though it doesn't specifically state that rods can't duplicate spells. However, to be fair, rods probably shouldn't only duplicate spells. For example, a rod of alertness lets you duplicate spells (as well as do other things), so it's possible.

Skip Williams (of Sage Advice) wrote that the defining feature of a rod is that "it has multiple powers that don't duplicate any known spell" except the rod of alertness proved him incorrect. See Making Magic Items (Part 5) in the WotC's archives if you are so inclined. Sorry I don't have the link.

That said, there's nothing inherent in the rules that specifically prevents you from crafting a rod of casting one spell only though it's boring and expensive.

The cheapest way to make a single spell item is to make it a staff even though the OP is fixated on making it a wand.

Like a wand, a staff has 50 charges, but you can double the charges used to half the price. The 375 price is the same price for wands and staffs. 375 gp x 9th level spell x 17th level caster level x 1/2 = 28,687 gp. Cost to create is 14,343 gp, 573 XP and takes 14 days.

If you can earn more than 28,687 gp by adventuring for 14 days, then is it really worth making the staff? The time consumption and XP cost really makes crafting magic items such a pain even more than the gp cost. You can always get more gp. You can't get back the time and I've never liked the XP cost of magic items, so I house rule it away.

Debby

[Amechra]

I've never paid attention to Sage Advice; Skip generally hasn't been the most knowledgeable about mechanics...

But I'll look up the crafting. Though, if you're going that route, why not just, you know, make a custom magic item that let's you cast the spell at will?

[Debihuman]

I said as much. It depends on how much you want to spend. A rod of casting summon monster IX is more expensive but you never run out of charges like you will with a staff. It's just a cost thing.

Debby