What's the difference between crafting a wand and a wondrous item with spell charges?

[Windrammer]

Couldn't you just spare yourself the feat cost and coolness penalty and make wondrous items with spell charges? Is it just slightly more expensive or what?

Also, what does it take to put spell effects on shields and weapons and such?

And how does the xp/gold cost work for putting different level spell effects on stuff anyways

[rockdeworld]

The cost is the same, but your DM has to be ok with letting you craft spell-trigger wondrous items, since the only rules I know of for creating custom items comes from the Adding New Abilities section.

AFAIK, putting spell effects on weapons and armor/shields requires them to be Spell Storing.

I'm not exactly sure what you're asking about xp/gold cost, but here's an example:
Wand, CLW, CL 1:
Base price: 1 x 1 x 750 = 750
Raw material cost: 750/2 = 325
XP cost: 750/25 = 30

Wand, CLW, CL 10:
Base price: 1 x 10 x 750 = 7500
Raw material cost: 7500/2 = 3250
XP cost: 7500/25 = 300

Wand, CMW, CL 3 (minimum CL):
Base price: 2 x 3 x 750 = 4500
Raw material cost: 4500/2 = 2250
XP cost: 4500/25 = 180

Wand, CMW, CL 10:
Base price: 2 x 10 x 750 = 15000
Raw material cost: 15000/2 = 7500
XP cost: 15000/25 = 600

[Diarmuid]

The other thing to take into account is that wands dont have a "no item slot" modifier, and if you're making wondrous items that you want to act like wands, then your DM may impose that extra cost. Might not be a big deal on a single item, but if you're idea is to make lots of things, then it could add up fast.

[marphod]

The cost is the same, but your DM has to be ok with letting you craft spell-trigger wondrous items, since the only rules I know of for creating custom items comes from the Adding New Abilities section.



DMG 282: Creating Magic Items

Tables 7-32 and 7-33, for more details.

Wonderous items have the same base price as a wand. If it is slotted (other than held), add 50%. If slotless (Ioun Stone), add 100%.

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Thus ever taking Craft Wand unless it is free or a prereq makes little sense, as Wonderous can do the same things, and doesn't have the 4th level spell limitation.

[rockdeworld]

DMG 282: Creating Magic Items

Tables 7-32 and 7-33, for more details.

Wonderous items have the same base price as a wand. If it is slotted (other than held), add 50%. If slotless (Ioun Stone), add 100%.
I should've been clearer: the only rules I know of that allow you to create custom magic items are under the "Adding New Abilities" section.

[Sagetim]

Well, one of the immediate differences is that wands are spell completion items. This means that if you don't have the spell on your class list, then you would need use the skill Use Magic Device to activate it. Another difference is the price. A 50 charge wand costs caster level x spell level x 750, while a charged wondrous item is not calculated that way. As well, a wondrous item with spell charges on it (be they replenishing or not) do not require you to have the spell on your class list to activate the item. It has a command word, or a function on use, which means that anyone can learn how to use it with minimal effort.

You can find the guidelines in the DMG starting on page 282, Creating Magic Items. The table we're going to look at however, is a few pages further on page 285.

So, after looking at those tables, we're going to make a wand of fireball with a caster level of 5. This uses the formula mentioned in a post above mine:
Caster level 5 x Spell level 3x 750gp = 11,250 gold
This nets you a caster level 5 wand with 50 charges. It is a spell trigger item and requires the spell to be on your class spell list to use it normally. If your caster level is less than 5 with regards to that spell list, then you have to make a caster level check to activate the wand, otherwise you point and blast and you're good to go.

Now, if you wanted to make a glove that had unlimited fireballs per day on command, you would look at a formula like this:
caster level 5 (the minimum) x spell level 3 x 2000gp = 30,000 gp.
Under the rules for use activated items, they can be given a command word. The end result is that your glove of fireball is taking up your gloves slot, but lets anyone who wears the glove and says the right word to shoot a fireball. As much as they want.

If you wanted a gem, bauble, or other thing that doesn't take up item space to let someone cast the same fireball unlimited times per day, then the cost doubles (because it doesn't use up a magic item slot). Such an item could take many forms, a coin, a gem stone, a book, whatever. Say the right word and aim the spell and blam, fireball. That said, unlimited fireballs for 60k is a pretty steep price for fireballs.


Different rules come into play if you do different things, however. For a more complicated example: A cloak that grants the wearer a Stone Skin effect. We're going to put a minimum caster level on it to keep the price down, but it would mean that you need to either refresh the effect by taking the cloak off and on again, or perhaps use a command word to refresh your stone skin. Or if the DM is feeling generous, the cloak doesn't have a damage limit and just gives you 10/adamantine dr while worn.

In any case: caster level 7 x spell level 4 x 2000 = 56,000. However, there are further modifiers: Spell has material components cost: add directly to cost of spell per charge. For a continuous use item, calculate as if 100 charges. Stoneskin has a material components cost of 250 gold per casting, so multiply that by 100 and we get +25,000 gold to the cost of the item. This gives us 81,000 gold pieces. But we're not done yet. As a continuous use item it has a cost multiplier of x1.5 because the duration of the spell is 10 minutes per level. This results in a total cost of:
81,000 x 1.5 = 121,500 gp. That is some damn expensive DR.

So let's reel the price back a bit. What can we get on the cheapsies with this system? Well, you could go with an item that has charges per day. Let's say a use activated glove of lightning bolt. Caster level 5 x spell level 3 x 2000 to start with gets us back to 30,000 gold. This is the ulimited use price though. When you use charges per day you divide by 5/charges per day. So, if we go with a glove that just has 1 charge per day, it costs 30,000/ (5/1) = 30,000/5 = 6,000 gold. Hm, that's still a bit pricey, but anyone can use the glove. By comparison, we could base this on a wand:

wand of lightning (like a wand of fireball) at caster level 5 costs 11,250 gold.

11,250/5= 2,250 gold. That's a much better base price. It has the unfortunate down sides of being a wand, and thus requiring craft wand and having all other limits associated with being a wand...but it's a shot of lightning per day that you didn't necessarily have before, and it's pretty cheap. If you wanted to push the limits of a per day item, you could pick up 5 charges per day for the same price as a 50 charge item. This could be quite handy in the long run, as there will hopefully be few days where you'll need to drop wand based lightining bolt more than 5 times in a day.

[Stegyre]

Well, one of the immediate differences is that wands are spell completion items.
No. Wands are spell trigger items. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wands.htm) The distinction is important, as the use of spell completion items triggers an AoO, but use of a spell trigger item does not.


Another difference is the price. A 50 charge wand costs caster level x spell level x 750, while a charged wondrous item is not calculated that way.
Actually, as long as it is also a 50-charge item, it is calculated exactly the same way, according to the guideline. (See Table: Estimating Magic Item Gold Piece Values (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/creatingMagicItems.htm), specifically, the section on "Spell Effect," entry "50 charges, spell trigger.")

Admittedly, these are guidelines, not rules, and a GM is well within his or her rights to say you cannot craft a wondrous item that essentially is filling the role of a wand. But if it's allowed, this is the guideline.


So, after looking at those tables, we're going to make a wand of fireball with a caster level of 5. This uses the formula mentioned in a post above mine:
Caster level 5 x Spell level 3x 750gp = 11,250 gold
This nets you a caster level 5 wand with 50 charges. It is a spell trigger item and requires the spell to be on your class spell list to use it normally. If your caster level is less than 5 with regards to that spell list, then you have to make a caster level check to activate the wand, otherwise you point and blast and you're good to go.
No. Successful use of a spell trigger item is automatic, if the spell is on your class list. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicItemBasics.htm#spellTrigger) This is expressly true, even if you are at a level currently incapable of casting spells (e.g., Ranger or Paladin levels 1-3).

You may be mistaking this for spell completion items, such as scrolls, which have a different rule (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicItemBasics.htm#spellTrigger).


Now, if you wanted to make a glove that had unlimited fireballs per day on command, you would look at a formula like this:
caster level 5 (the minimum) x spell level 3 x 2000gp = 30,000 gp.
Under the rules for use activated items, they can be given a command word. The end result is that your glove of fireball is taking up your gloves slot, but lets anyone who wears the glove and says the right word to shoot a fireball. As much as they want.
The guidelines admittedly become foggier at this point, but no. The specific formula you are using is for a use-activated or continuous item. This is particularly inappropriate for an item creating an instantaneous effect. (Note the footnote, providing a price multipllier depending upon the duration of the underlying spell effect.)

If you wanted to craft a Glove of Fireballs that will shoot them on command (a Command Word item), you would use the Command Word formula (as that would be the appropriate method of activation): SL(3)*CL(5)*1,800 = 27,000. Hypothetically, one might consider a body slot affinities mutliplier, but the hands slot is appropriate for "destructive power," which is not an unreasonable description of something that shoots fireballs.

That is decidedly more expensive than the wand cost (11,250), but also decidedly better, as it never runs out. (In most campaigns, a PC would be better off with the wand, as you would rarely cast even 50 CL 5 fireballs, so it's more economical. In practice, most characters would be much better off with one or two eternal wands of fireballs (@10,900).

[Sagetim]

No. Wands are spell trigger items. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wands.htm) The distinction is important, as the use of spell completion items triggers an AoO, but use of a spell trigger item does not.


Actually, as long as it is also a 50-charge item, it is calculated exactly the same way, according to the guideline. (See Table: Estimating Magic Item Gold Piece Values (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/creatingMagicItems.htm), specifically, the section on "Spell Effect," entry "50 charges, spell trigger.")

Admittedly, these are guidelines, not rules, and a GM is well within his or her rights to say you cannot craft a wondrous item that essentially is filling the role of a wand. But if it's allowed, this is the guideline.


No. Successful use of a spell trigger item is automatic, if the spell is on your class list. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicItemBasics.htm#spellTrigger) This is expressly true, even if you are at a level currently incapable of casting spells (e.g., Ranger or Paladin levels 1-3).

You may be mistaking this for spell completion items, such as scrolls, which have a different rule (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicItemBasics.htm#spellTrigger).


The guidelines admittedly become foggier at this point, but no. The specific formula you are using is for a use-activated or continuous item. This is particularly inappropriate for an item creating an instantaneous effect. (Note the footnote, providing a price multipllier depending upon the duration of the underlying spell effect.)

If you wanted to craft a Glove of Fireballs that will shoot them on command (a Command Word item), you would use the Command Word formula (as that would be the appropriate method of activation): SL(3)*CL(5)*1,800 = 27,000. Hypothetically, one might consider a body slot affinities mutliplier, but the hands slot is appropriate for "destructive power," which is not an unreasonable description of something that shoots fireballs.

That is decidedly more expensive than the wand cost (11,250), but also decidedly better, as it never runs out. (In most campaigns, a PC would be better off with the wand, as you would rarely cast even 50 CL 5 fireballs, so it's more economical. In practice, most characters would be much better off with one or two eternal wands of fireballs (@10,900).

To clarify: I meant that items could have charges without being spell trigger items. A helm of teleportation would be an example of an item that is not a spell trigger item but has charges (per day). Yes, I was mixing up the rules for spell completion items and spell trigger items.

I generally assume that the item is going to go with the formula that costs more, so I went with use activated/continuous item pricing and kind of forgot that command word item pricing exists. Yes, even when looking at the table with it listed right there. As for how often fireballs are shot....well, I've found dropping fireballs to be tremendously useful when dealing with problems. Is there some suspicious looking grass nearby? drop a fireball. Does that house look a bit odd? Drop a fireball. Are there undead attacking a town? Drop a fireball. Are there a bunch of bandits gathering to form an army? Drop a lot of fireballs as you run (or prefereably fly) away. Would my character burn through a 50 charge wand or staff in the course of a game? Yes. Yes he would. Unless that was a particularly short campaign with a lot of fire immune/resistant enemies. Even then, fireball can solve problems by dealing damage to support structures such as wooden pillars. Hell, in a game I'm currently in he blew out nearly 20 charges on a staff of fire in only 5 or 6 sessions. Fireball is great.

But if you're dropping enough to make a magic item to get unlimited use of a particular spell, there are better choices than fireball, even with just level 3 spells. Remove Disease would be one I would probably go with, if only because there are a lot of peasants in most dnd worlds, and they probably don't have regular access to a level 5 or better cleric to fix their diseases for them.