Cheating the System with Wands

[Horse85]

Building an Abjurant Champion at 7th level. Samuel Thorne, Gray Elf Sorcerer 2/Fighter 4/Abjurant Champion 1. He's pretty much all built, and I'm in the final stage of character building: gear shopping.

I seem to remember hearing about some item that lets you put wands on your forearm and not have to use up a hand to cast spells from them. I'm wondering about this because I'd like Samuel to be swinging a greatsword while also being able to cast the swift-action Karmic spells in Complete Mage. Does such an item exist in 3.5? If so, please include its name as well as what book it's in.

[Crake]

Building an Abjurant Champion at 7th level. Samuel Thorne, Gray Elf Sorcerer 2/Fighter 4/Abjurant Champion 1. He's pretty much all built, and I'm in the final stage of character building: gear shopping.

I seem to remember hearing about some item that lets you put wands on your forearm and not have to use up a hand to cast spells from them. I'm wondering about this because I'd like Samuel to be swinging a greatsword while also being able to cast the swift-action Karmic spells in Complete Mage. Does such an item exist in 3.5? If so, please include its name as well as what book it's in.

Sounds like you're combining two items into one there. There's the wand bracer that lets you store 5 wands in it and draw them as a swift action. You still need a free hand to use the wand though. Then there's the wand chamber, which can be built into a weapon, and allows you to activate the wand inside while holding the weapon. Sounds like the latter is more the one you're looking for, it'll let you cast spells from the wand in your greatsword while still wielding it, although you'd be limited to 1 wand at a time.

[Piggy Knowles]

Sounds like you're combining two items into one there. There's the wand bracer that lets you store 5 wands in it and draw them as a swift action. You still need a free hand to use the wand though. Then there's the wand chamber, which can be built into a weapon, and allows you to activate the wand inside while holding the weapon. Sounds like the latter is more the one you're looking for, it'll let you cast spells from the wand in your greatsword while still wielding it, although you'd be limited to 1 wand at a time.

Get some armor spikes and gauntlets with wand chambers as well, if you're looking for more slots.

[Vaz]

If you have a Double Weapon; say a Quarterstaff, then you can put a Wand Chamber on each end; you now have two weapons.

Add on that it can be a Runestaff (know additional spells while held for a Sorcerer can be very useful) and be an actual staff which you can cast spells from.

[Deophaun]

Get some armor spikes and gauntlets with wand chambers as well, if you're looking for more slots.
I don't think either of those weapons qualifies:

As a rule of thumb, weapons cannot have modifications unless they have a solid hilt or handle that is at least 6 inches in length.

A wand chamber is a thin, cylindrical slot on the handle of a weapon or the edge of a shield that can hold a single wand.

[Piggy Knowles]

I don't think either of those weapons qualifies:

Whoops, you're absolutely correct.

What if you took a wand bracer, which lets you draw wands from it as a swift action, and attached a thin line or piece of string to each wand connecting it to your wrist, so that if you drop the wand it's still hanging near you?

Then you could take one hand off your weapon as a free action, draw a wand as a swift action, use the wand, drop it as a free action, and put your hand back on your weapon as a free action. Instead of dropping to the floor it would be hanging from your wrist. It wouldn't be in your bracer anymore, so you wouldn't be able to draw it as a swift action until you replaced it, but it would stay with you and presumably you could still nab it as a move action if need be.

[Horse85]

Wand Chamber sounds like exactly what I want, but I'm not seeing it in Magic Item Compendium. What book is it in?

[DMJeff]

Whoops, you're absolutely correct.

What if you took a wand bracer, which lets you draw wands from it as a swift action, and attached a thin line or piece of string to each wand connecting it to your wrist, so that if you drop the wand it's still hanging near you?

Then you could take one hand off your weapon as a free action, draw a wand as a swift action, use the wand, drop it as a free action, and put your hand back on your weapon as a free action. Instead of dropping to the floor it would be hanging from your wrist. It wouldn't be in your bracer anymore, so you wouldn't be able to draw it as a swift action until you replaced it, but it would stay with you and presumably you could still nab it as a move action if need be.

Make A Thri-Kreen! 4 arms problem solved?

[Thiyr]

Wand Chamber sounds like exactly what I want, but I'm not seeing it in Magic Item Compendium. What book is it in?

Its a mundane item from Dungeonscape.

[ZeroSpace9000]

Wand chambers would be in Dungeonscape. Relatively cheap too, at about 100gp.

[Uncle Pine]

I seem to remember hearing about some item that lets you put wands on your forearm and not have to use up a hand to cast spells from them. I'm wondering about this because I'd like Samuel to be swinging a greatsword while also being able to cast the swift-action Karmic spells in Complete Mage. Does such an item exist in 3.5? If so, please include its name as well as what book it's in.

Wand chamber (Dungeonscape 34, 100 gp) + elbow blade (Complete Scoundrel 110, 4 gp).

[kirerellim]

Jez the staff idea is awesome lol Shoot fire from one end of the staff, ice from the other.

[DarkSonic1337]

Didn't the Magic Item Compendium nerf wand chambers? I keep hearing people suggest the old Dungeonscape version. Is the MIC version a different item or something?

[Vaz]

Wand Chambers are in Dungeonscape. The MIC nerf that I can think of was the removal of the standard action clause so that it still takes the same amount of time to cast as the base spell.

[Tvtyrant]

Wand Chambers are in Dungeonscape. The MIC nerf that I can think of was the removal of the standard action clause so that it still takes the same amount of time to cast as the base spell.

Not sure that is a nerf, as just about everyone now uses wands of Wraith Strike in their weapons.

[Horse85]

Thanks, guys. And the Thri-kreen idea, while good, is impossible. I'm playing in a home-brew campaign setting that my DM created (it's called Magus Europa, check it out, maguseuropa.wikidot.com). It's basically real world, early 18th century, but with elves, dwarves, magic, etc. I guess Thri-kreen could exist in some remote part of the world, but I'm also gonna be playing as my recently-deceased character's brother, so that would be tough to explain.

[Uncle Pine]

Should you need more than one wand with your character, remember that you can have up to 8 hidden weapons (each with a wand chamber) on yourself: 2 boot blades, 2 elbow blades, 2 knee blades and 2 sleeve blades. They're all described in Complete Scoundrel and you'd get them all for 864 gp (800 gp for 8 wand chambers and 64 gp for the hidden weapons).
If you're interested, you could give to some or all of those weapons utility enhancements. And, if you have access to greater magic weapon, having 8 +1 defending weapons could boost your AC to ludicrous levels. :smallbiggrin:

[Bronk]

I think the item you're looking for is the 'bracer of wands' from Dragon 291. Each of the two bracers in the pair can store 3 wands, and you can cast spells from each wand without drawing them by first attuning them for the cost of one charge each.

[Joe the Rat]

I'm thinking the hidden blades mostly fail on the "six inches of hilt or handle" clause... and then there's the whole "casting from your foot" thing that would be a bit hard to sell to most DMs.

[Uncle Pine]

I'm thinking the hidden blades mostly fail on the "six inches of hilt or handle" clause... and then there's the whole "casting from your foot" thing that would be a bit hard to sell to most DMs.

I failed to find any rule about the lenght of daggers', punching daggers' and short swords' hilts. However, since surprise weapons are treated as normal weapons, nothing stops you from buying Large surprise weapons (which hilts are probably longer than six inches). By RAW, the only penalty you'd incur is a to-hit penalty for using weapons of different size.

[Yogibear41]

There is a warforged component that lets you store a wand in your arm, and it takes up the bracers item slot. However it can only be removed once the wand reaches 0 charges once it is inserted.

[Fouredged Sword]

...guess Thri-kreen could exist in some remote part of the world, but I'm also gonna be playing as my recently-deceased character's brother, so that would be tough to explain.

"Never trust discount Bob's discount resurrection. End of story."

Also useful for

"...and that is why your brother is half-elven and you are not. It wasn't the mailman."

[Swaoeaeieu]

"Never trust discount Bob's discount resurrection. End of story."

Also useful for

"...and that is why your brother is half-elven and you are not. It wasn't the mailman."

or even simpler: "son... you're adopted." "Really?" "you have four arms dear, we are sure."

[iceman10058]

this is homebrewed, but at a much higher cost and crafting them myself, i made a pair of wand bracers i could cast from. the total cost for them was 600 each, but it was so worth having the pair