Waaaaaaaands?

[GutterFace]

can someone break this down for me:

activating a wand with a spell trigger: a word

can you activate multiple wands of the same spell like this as a standard action?

[Ernir]

can someone break this down for me:

activating a wand with a spell trigger: a word
Yes.


can you activate multiple wands of the same spell like this as a standard action?
No.

You may want to take a look at the Rod of Many Wands in Complete Mage, if that's what you're after.

[Menzath]

Standard Actions

Table: Standard Actions

1.Regardless of the action, if you move out of a threatened square, you usually provoke an attack of opportunity. This column indicates whether the action itself, not moving, provokes an attack of opportunity.
2.If you aid someone performing an action that would normally provoke an attack of opportunity, then the act of aiding another provokes an attack of opportunity as well.
3.If the object is being held, carried, or worn by a creature, yes. If not, no.



Action

Attack of
Opportunity1

Attack (melee) No
Attack (unarmed) Yes
Attack (ranged) Yes
Activate a magic item other than a potion or oil No
Aid another Maybe2
Bull rush Yes
Cast a spell (1 standard action casting time) Yes
Concentrate to maintain an active spell No
Dismiss a spell No
Draw a hidden weapon (see Sleight of Hand skill) No
Drink a potion or apply an oil Yes
Escape a grapple No
Feint No
Light a torch with a tindertwig Yes
Lower spell resistance No
Make a dying friend stable (see Heal skill) Yes
Overrun No
Read a scroll Yes
Ready (triggers a standard action) No
Sunder a weapon (attack) Yes
Sunder an object (attack) Maybe3
Total defense No
Turn or rebuke undead No
Use extraordinary ability No
Use skill that takes 1 action Usually
Use spell-like ability Yes
Use supernatural ability No

Attack

Making an attack is a standard action.

Melee Attacks

With a normal melee weapon, you can strike any opponent within 5 feet. (Opponents within 5 feet are considered adjacent to you.) Some melee weapons have reach, as indicated in their descriptions. With a typical reach weapon, you can strike opponents 10 feet away, but you can’t strike adjacent foes (those within 5 feet).

Unarmed Attacks

Striking for damage with punches, kicks, and head butts is much like attacking with a melee weapon, except for the following:

Attacks of Opportunity

Attacking unarmed provokes an attack of opportunity from the character you attack, provided she is armed. The attack of opportunity comes before your attack. An unarmed attack does not provoke attacks of opportunity from other foes nor does it provoke an attack of opportunity from an unarmed foe.

An unarmed character can’t take attacks of opportunity (but see "Armed" Unarmed Attacks, below).

"Armed" Unarmed Attacks

Sometimes a character’s or creature’s unarmed attack counts as an armed attack. A monk, a character with the Improved Unarmed Strike feat, a spellcaster delivering a touch attack spell, and a creature with natural physical weapons all count as being armed.

Note that being armed counts for both offense and defense (the character can make attacks of opportunity)

Unarmed Strike Damage

An unarmed strike from a Medium character deals 1d3 points of damage (plus your Strength modifier, as normal). A Small character’s unarmed strike deals 1d2 points of damage, while a Large character’s unarmed strike deals 1d4 points of damage. All damage from unarmed strikes is nonlethal damage. Unarmed strikes count as light weapons (for purposes of two-weapon attack penalties and so on).

Dealing Lethal Damage

You can specify that your unarmed strike will deal lethal damage before you make your attack roll, but you take a -4 penalty on your attack roll. If you have the Improved Unarmed Strike feat, you can deal lethal damage with an unarmed strike without taking a penalty on the attack roll.

Ranged Attacks

With a ranged weapon, you can shoot or throw at any target that is within the weapon’s maximum range and in line of sight. The maximum range for a thrown weapon is five range increments. For projectile weapons, it is ten range increments. Some ranged weapons have shorter maximum ranges, as specified in their descriptions.

Attack Rolls

An attack roll represents your attempts to strike your opponent.

Your attack roll is 1d20 + your attack bonus with the weapon you’re using. If the result is at least as high as the target’s AC, you hit and deal damage.

Automatic Misses and Hits

A natural 1 (the d20 comes up 1) on the attack roll is always a miss. A natural 20 (the d20 comes up 20) is always a hit. A natural 20 is also a threat—a possible critical hit.

Damage Rolls

If the attack roll result equals or exceeds the target’s AC, the attack hits and you deal damage. Roll the appropriate damage for your weapon. Damage is deducted from the target’s current hit points.

Multiple Attacks

A character who can make more than one attack per round must use the full attack action in order to get more than one attack.

Shooting or Throwing into a Melee

If you shoot or throw a ranged weapon at a target engaged in melee with a friendly character, you take a -4 penalty on your attack roll. Two characters are engaged in melee if they are enemies of each other and either threatens the other. (An unconscious or otherwise immobilized character is not considered engaged unless he is actually being attacked.)

If your target (or the part of your target you’re aiming at, if it’s a big target) is at least 10 feet away from the nearest friendly character, you can avoid the -4 penalty, even if the creature you’re aiming at is engaged in melee with a friendly character.

Precise Shot

If you have the Precise Shot feat you don’t take this penalty.

Fighting Defensively as a Standard Action

You can choose to fight defensively when attacking. If you do so, you take a -4 penalty on all attacks in a round to gain a +2 dodge bonus to AC for the same round. See also: Fighting Defensively as a Full-Round Action.

Critical Hits

When you make an attack roll and get a natural 20 (the d20 shows 20), you hit regardless of your target’s Armor Class, and you have scored a threat. The hit might be a critical hit (or "crit"). To find out if it’s a critical hit, you immediately make a critical roll—another attack roll with all the same modifiers as the attack roll you just made. If the critical roll also results in a hit against the target’s AC, your original hit is a critical hit. (The critical roll just needs to hit to give you a crit. It doesn’t need to come up 20 again.) If the critical roll is a miss, then your hit is just a regular hit.

A critical hit means that you roll your damage more than once, with all your usual bonuses, and add the rolls together. Unless otherwise specified, the threat range for a critical hit on an attack roll is 20, and the multiplier is ×2.

Exception: Extra damage dice over and above a weapon’s normal damage is not multiplied when you score a critical hit.

Increased Threat Range

Sometimes your threat range is greater than 20. That is, you can score a threat on a lower number. In such cases, a roll of lower than 20 is not an automatic hit. Any attack roll that doesn’t result in a hit is not a threat.

Increased Critical Multiplier

Some weapons deal better than double damage on a critical hit.

Spells and Critical Hits

A spell that requires an attack roll can score a critical hit. A spell attack that requires no attack roll cannot score a critical hit.

Cast a Spell

Most spells require 1 standard action to cast. You can cast such a spell either before or after you take a move action.

Note: You retain your Dexterity bonus to AC while casting.

Spell Components

To cast a spell with a verbal (V) component, your character must speak in a firm voice. If you’re gagged or in the area of a silence spell, you can’t cast such a spell. A spellcaster who has been deafened has a 20% chance to spoil any spell he tries to cast if that spell has a verbal component.

To cast a spell with a somatic (S) component, you must gesture freely with at least one hand. You can’t cast a spell of this type while bound, grappling, or with both your hands full or occupied.

To cast a spell with a material (M), focus (F), or divine focus (DF) component, you have to have the proper materials, as described by the spell. Unless these materials are elaborate preparing these materials is a free action. For material components and focuses whose costs are not listed, you can assume that you have them if you have your spell component pouch.

Some spells have an experience point (XP) component and entail an experience point cost to you. No spell can restore the lost XP. You cannot spend so much XP that you lose a level, so you cannot cast the spell unless you have enough XP to spare. However, you may, on gaining enough XP to achieve a new level, immediately spend the XP on casting the spell rather than keeping it to advance a level. The XP are expended when you cast the spell, whether or not the casting succeeds.

Concentration

You must concentrate to cast a spell. If you can’t concentrate you can’t cast a spell. If you start casting a spell but something interferes with your concentration you must make a Concentration check or lose the spell. The check’s DC depends on what is threatening your concentration (see the Concentration skill). If you fail, the spell fizzles with no effect. If you prepare spells, it is lost from preparation. If you cast at will, it counts against your daily limit of spells even though you did not cast it successfully.

Concentrating to Maintain a Spell

Some spells require continued concentration to keep them going. Concentrating to maintain a spell is a standard action that doesn’t provoke an attack of opportunity. Anything that could break your concentration when casting a spell can keep you from concentrating to maintain a spell. If your concentration breaks, the spell ends.

Casting Time

Most spells have a casting time of 1 standard action. A spell cast in this manner immediately takes effect.

Attacks of Opportunity

Generally, if you cast a spell, you provoke attacks of opportunity from threatening enemies. If you take damage from an attack of opportunity, you must make a Concentration check (DC 10 + points of damage taken + spell level) or lose the spell. Spells that require only a free action to cast don’t provoke attacks of opportunity.

Casting on the Defensive

Casting a spell while on the defensive does not provoke an attack of opportunity. It does, however, require a Concentration check (DC 15 + spell level) to pull off. Failure means that you lose the spell.

Touch Spells in Combat

Many spells have a range of touch. To use these spells, you cast the spell and then touch the subject, either in the same round or any time later. In the same round that you cast the spell, you may also touch (or attempt to touch) the target. You may take your move before casting the spell, after touching the target, or between casting the spell and touching the target. You can automatically touch one friend or use the spell on yourself, but to touch an opponent, you must succeed on an attack roll.

Touch Attacks

Touching an opponent with a touch spell is considered to be an armed attack and therefore does not provoke attacks of opportunity. However, the act of casting a spell does provoke an attack of opportunity. Touch attacks come in two types: melee touch attacks and ranged touch attacks. You can score critical hits with either type of attack. Your opponent’s AC against a touch attack does not include any armor bonus, shield bonus, or natural armor bonus. His size modifier, Dexterity modifier, and deflection bonus (if any) all apply normally.

Holding the Charge

If you don’t discharge the spell in the round when you cast the spell, you can hold the discharge of the spell (hold the charge) indefinitely. You can continue to make touch attacks round after round. You can touch one friend as a standard action or up to six friends as a full-round action. If you touch anything or anyone while holding a charge, even unintentionally, the spell discharges. If you cast another spell, the touch spell dissipates. Alternatively, you may make a normal unarmed attack (or an attack with a natural weapon) while holding a charge. In this case, you aren’t considered armed and you provoke attacks of opportunity as normal for the attack. (If your unarmed attack or natural weapon attack doesn’t provoke attacks of opportunity, neither does this attack.) If the attack hits, you deal normal damage for your unarmed attack or natural weapon and the spell discharges. If the attack misses, you are still holding the charge.

Dismiss a Spell

Dismissing an active spell is a standard action that doesn’t provoke attacks of opportunity.

Activate Magic Item

Many magic items don’t need to be activated. However, certain magic items need to be activated, especially potions, scrolls, wands, rods, and staffs. Activating a magic item is a standard action (unless the item description indicates otherwise).

Spell Completion Items

Activating a spell completion item is the equivalent of casting a spell. It requires concentration and provokes attacks of opportunity. You lose the spell if your concentration is broken, and you can attempt to activate the item while on the defensive, as with casting a spell.

Spell Trigger, Command Word, or Use-Activated Items

Activating any of these kinds of items does not require concentration and does not provoke attacks of opportunity.

Use Special Ability

Using a special ability is usually a standard action, but whether it is a standard action, a full-round action, or not an action at all is defined by the ability.

Spell-Like Abilities

Using a spell-like ability works like casting a spell in that it requires concentration and provokes attacks of opportunity. Spell-like abilities can be disrupted. If your concentration is broken, the attempt to use the ability fails, but the attempt counts as if you had used the ability. The casting time of a spell-like ability is 1 standard action, unless the ability description notes otherwise.

Using a Spell-Like Ability on the Defensive

You may attempt to use a spell-like ability on the defensive, just as with casting a spell. If the Concentration check (DC 15 + spell level) fails, you can’t use the ability, but the attempt counts as if you had used the ability.

Supernatural Abilities

Using a supernatural ability is usually a standard action (unless defined otherwise by the ability’s description). Its use cannot be disrupted, does not require concentration, and does not provoke attacks of opportunity.

Extraordinary Abilities

Using an extraordinary ability is usually not an action because most extraordinary abilities automatically happen in a reactive fashion. Those extraordinary abilities that are actions are usually standard actions that cannot be disrupted, do not require concentration, and do not provoke attacks of opportunity.

Total Defense

You can defend yourself as a standard action. You get a +4 dodge bonus to your AC for 1 round. Your AC improves at the start of this action. You can’t combine total defense with fighting defensively or with the benefit of the Combat Expertise feat (since both of those require you to declare an attack or full attack). You can’t make attacks of opportunity while using total defense.

Start/Complete Full-Round Action

The "start full-round action" standard action lets you start undertaking a full-round action, which you can complete in the following round by using another standard action. You can’t use this action to start or complete a full attack, charge, run, or withdraw.


Found from SRD. But the great thing about wands is you can have a spell with a casting time longer than a standard action, but as a wand it only takes a standard action. Too bad about swift and immediate spells though, they take a standard action too.

[GutterFace]

cool and very helpful im assuming as a full action you still cant activate a bunch o wands ha ha

[Vaz]

Please quote the relevant parts if you must quote, Menzath.

[Boci]

Found from SRD. But the great thing about wands is you can have a spell with a casting time longer than a standard action, but as a wand it only takes a standard action. Too bad about swift and immediate spells though, they take a standard action too.

That was changed in the Rules Compendium. It now takes the same time to activate the wand as it would to cast the spell.

[Menzath]

That was changed in the Rules Compendium. It now takes the same time to activate the wand as it would to cast the spell.

Huh that's odd. I have the 2012 reprint of the core books, but it reads the same for the use of magic items as the old 3.5


And I quoted the entire section because, if I did not it could have been taken as being edited or out of context and could have then been ignored for questionably validity

[GutterFace]

Huh that's odd. I have the 2012 reprint of the core books, but it reads the same for the use of magic items as the old 3.5


And I quoted the entire section because, if I did not it could have been taken as being edited or out of context and could have then been ignored for questionably validity

hmmmmm ive seen a lot of people saying strap a bunch of wands together and activate them. this is why i asked

[questionmark693]

I think when people mention having a bunch of wands on hand to be activated, they're referring to their ability to activate any *one* of them on a given turn, not that they can activate *all* of them on a given turn. It's still helpful, just not quite as overpowered as you might have been thinking :smallbiggrin:

[GutterFace]

hahaha that makes sense. im just making sure i am not missing something. dealing with a wand duelist player. and we dont need any shenanigans

[Tokuhara]

Quick slightly related question (my apologies Gutter, but reading this gave me a hilarious possible refluff)

Could one possibly use two Rods of Many, ie TWF them, and skin them as "magical six-shooters?"

[Phelix-Mu]

Quick slightly related question (my apologies Gutter, but reading this gave me a hilarious possible refluff)

Could one possibly use two Rods of Many, ie TWF them, and skin them as "magical six-shooters?"

I think if you make it a gnome and add steam-powered pistons that spew steam exhaust at plot-appropriate reload moments, then you are onto something.

Give him a poncho and a cigar, and the fun can really begin.:smallsmile::smallwink:

[Tokuhara]

I think if you make it a gnome and add steam-powered pistons that spew steam exhaust at plot-appropriate reload moments, then you are onto something.

Give him a poncho and a cigar, and the fun can really begin.:smallsmile::smallwink:

This was actually the image I had in mind, probably on an Artificer:

http://archive.rpgclassics.com/fanart/FinalFantasy/FFI_BlackMage.jpg

Think "Man with No Name" meets "Blast Wandificer"

[GutterFace]

This was actually the image I had in mind, probably on an Artificer:

http://archive.rpgclassics.com/fanart/FinalFantasy/FFI_BlackMage.jpg

Think "Man with No Name" meets "Blast Wandificer"

this......is awesome

[Menzath]

This was actually the image I had in mind, probably on an Artificer:

http://archive.rpgclassics.com/fanart/FinalFantasy/FFI_BlackMage.jpg

Think "Man with No Name" meets "Blast Wandificer"

Endorse 100%. Love those movies, music, setting, and characters were all amazing.

[Tokuhara]

Yeah. And it's an interesting fluff: He's an Artificer who grew up in a Mage School. Made fun of because he couldn't actually cast spells, he made two Rods of Many and packed them with wands and set out to become a bounty hunter. Deciding to give up his name and past, he is locally known as The Drifter, and has been known to arrive in towns that have turmoil. His methods are questionable, often settling issues by force, but his results are undeniable: He gets jobs done, for coin of course. Then as quickly as he arrives, he vanishes into the sunset, never heard from again.

[Big Fau]

Huh that's odd. I have the 2012 reprint of the core books, but it reads the same for the use of magic items as the old 3.5

Because the original Core errata was never updated when the RC was printed. The section in the reprints is an oversight.

[elonin]

Don't forget about dual wand wielder. Also is there any way to dual wield 2 rods (can't remember the name but the one that has 3 wand chambers)