Rod of Wonder - Great item, or Greatest Item?

[icefractal]

So, I was just looking at the Rod of Wonder, and I noticed something. While you certainly can use it as an amusing, not particularly effective weapon - it can also be used as an excellent, low-priced way to shrink people. And also, with somewhat more preparation, as a gem farm that pays for itself within a few days.

The key is this - while the effects are very random, there are only two that affect the wielder, assuming you pick a target at least 100' or so away: change color, and shrink to 1/12 height (so, roughly 3-4 size categories smaller). Therefore, if you don't mind being purple or green for a while (and the RoW isn't an artifact, so presumably that can be removed by Break Enchantment) then you can be micro-sized with a couple minutes of work. And so can all the rest of your party, followers, etc, because the rod doesn't run out.

One unspecified factor is the duration. It could be read as permanent, but it could also be read as 1 minute/level like the spell. If the latter, that makes this more of a scry-n-die buff than an all-day one. The PF version is two size categories smaller, and explicitly lasts 24 hours.

For the gem farm, you just get your low-level followers together, and have one spam the rod for the "10-40 gems" result, while the others just stand ready to rush out and collect the gems - and also harvest/burn the grass from the other result when it gets too tall.

So - a hell of a bargain for 12K. And something I'm surprised I don't see the use of more often.

[Invader]

It's hardly an effective way to make money when you take into account how long it would take plus all the bs you'd have to put up with to get the few gems out of it.

[icefractal]

"How long it would take" is three days - or less.

The rod has a 3% chance of producing 10-40 gp of gems, so on average that's 25 gems every three minutes. The only "BS" that would actually have an effect is the wielder changing color (possible to dispel later), and grass growing (not necessarily a bad thing, and you could solve it by activated in mid-air).

So, that's 500 gp / hour. If you have your rod-user work an 8-hour day, that's 4K gp. Plus a few minutes for the rest of your followers to scoop up and bag all the gems (or just set up a big funnel leading to a portable hole).

But wait - it gets better. If you have, say, 10 workers, you could multiply your production by just having them pass the rod around in a circle, thus firing it off 10x a round.

But honestly, we got one for the size reduction; something that (AFAIK) there's no better source of.

[Invader]

But there are dozens of other far less intensive random ways of making far more money much more quickly. It's still hardly effective compared to those and you're over looking or down playing some of the effects.

[Xervous]

just pray the DM doesn't use something like this (http://www.freewebs.com/orrex/NLRME.pdf) for the rod...

ours did and we ended up with a bearded door and a sandcastle (was simply a castle beforehand)

[WbtE]

But there are dozens of other far less intensive random ways of making far more money much more quickly. It's still hardly effective compared to those and you're over looking or down playing some of the effects.

I don't think that there are many available for your 1st-level followers.

[Zanos]

But there are dozens of other far less intensive random ways of making far more money much more quickly. It's still hardly effective compared to those and you're over looking or down playing some of the effects.
So what if it's not efficient? It's not a trick that I've heard of before, and just because something else is better doesn't make this not an interesting idea.

If we only cared about the most efficient way to do anything, the answer would just be "pun-pun", and there would be no other discussion.

Since the size reduction effect is based on Reduce Person, I'll throw my hat in the "it lasts 1min/CL hat", I suppose. Still nifty though, as even a generous puts you at at least down two size categories. Gotta watch your carry capacity, though.


I don't think that there are many available for your 1st-level followers.
A rod of wonder costs 12k GP, which is far away from the wealth of any first level character.

[WbtE]

A rod of wonder costs 12k GP, which is far away from the wealth of any first level character.

I must not have explained myself properly. When I asked if there were alternatives for 1st-level followers, I meant NPC characters subordinate to a higher-level PC (and therefore, using items belonging to that character on their behalf).

[icefractal]

Yeah, I wasn't suggesting that the PCs spend all day zapping it. But if you have minions, you can buy one of these and have them all pass it around, generating considerably more income than most things a 1st level character can do.


It's still hardly effective compared to those and you're over looking or down playing some of the effects.Well, 4K per day per person (just one rod needed) doesn't sound too bad, and unlike methods like Flesh to Salt or Wall of Iron, you're directly generating stuff that can be used for trade currency. And unless the DM uses a homebrew effects table, then no, none of the effects cause much trouble.