Magic wands and consumable item rewards

[The Shadowdove]

Hey forum-lurkers,

I am wanting to reward my players with less magic trinkets and swords/etc. and was hoping you could help by suggesting some sources and/or items that you know of off hand.

Specifically I'm looking at magic wands, rechargeable or unreplenishable, and consumable items like limited use magical items, potions, and edibles.

What have you guys encountered in your games, seen in sources that you like, or have you thought of that seem like good alternatives to static bonus or magic weapon type rewards?


Thanks in advance! Your superior book smarts and experience are much appreciated.

-Dove

[indemnity]

Fantasy CostCo (http://theadventurezone.tumblr.com/post/134492216267/fantasy-costco-products-round-3)from the podcast, The Adventure Zone

Also a whole bunch more ideas on the Reddit thread (https://www.reddit.com/r/TheAdventureZone/comments/49x76p/item_submission_thread_part_2/).

Example
The Glutton’s Fork (750 GP)
Once a day this fork will allow the user to eat any non-magical item they can fit in their mouth and gain 2d6 points of health. Just tap the fork on the item and it will turn edible.

[gfishfunk]

What I like to do for wands is provide 2d4 charges (only useable once per day) of some kind of utility spell that the players do not have access to already. Not something ridiculously situational, but something interesting. Grease, Fog Cloud, Command.....Gaseous Form?) IF you have the time, just crack open the player's handbook and skim spell titles until you see something you don't recognize because no one has ever used it.

The best sort of utility stuff are the things that are not immediately applicable and obvious. If you have a potion of water-breathing and the cave ends with a well...that is not a reward, that is a key is the form of a magic item.

How about a potion of stone: you can drink the potion and turn to stone for an hour, and are guaranteed to be invulnerable to all damage. How do you use that? The fun is in getting your players to use the magic items creatively.

Consolidated Ideas: (all potions can be edibles, whatever)
- Wands with utility spell, 2d4 charges
- Potion of Stone: turn to stone for an hour
- Potion of Colossal Form: Turns a PC into a colossal sized creature for 1 hour: 80' tall. Does NOT enlarge any equipment, clothes, or magic items. The player can *attempt* to drink a smaller amount to become less large...
- Potion of Resurrection NOW! Casts the Resurrection spell on on the PC that drinks it although the spell lasts for the week, essentially temporarily changing the race of the PC.

[Segev]

Does it bug anybody else how stupidly expensive it is to create scrolls, now? Is there even a reason to, rather than a wand of similar rarity?

[R.Shackleford]

Hey forum-lurkers,

I am wanting to reward my players with less magic trinkets and swords/etc. and was hoping you could help by suggesting some sources and/or items that you know of off hand.

Specifically I'm looking at magic wands, rechargeable or unreplenishable, and consumable items like limited use magical items, potions, and edibles.

What have you guys encountered in your games, seen in sources that you like, or have you thought of that seem like good alternatives to static bonus or magic weapon type rewards?


Thanks in advance! Your superior book smarts and experience are much appreciated.

-Dove

I had somewhat this same issue and then it snowballed into getting rid of vancian caster classes and subclasses and adding in spell gems (which gives access to spells 1 - 4).

It is a slippery slope! :p


Does it bug anybody else how stupidly expensive it is to create scrolls, now? Is there even a reason to, rather than a wand of similar rarity?

I've always hated how expensive magic items have been in D&D, though now that magic is rare it makes some sense.

Back in 3e/4e magic was common as all hell and yet magic stuff was still costly... Made little sense for immersion as no one outside of PCs and Kings could afford the magic... But the magic was common. I chalked it up to the merchant guilds not liking money.

[gfishfunk]

There is an understandable balance: if magic creation was free or practically free, magic users would spend every moment of downtime creating new wands of fireball over and over again, effectively creating additional spell slots.

[R.Shackleford]

There is an understandable balance: if magic creation was free or practically free, magic users would spend every moment of downtime creating new wands of fireball over and over again, effectively creating additional spell slots.

Which is why you make item creation an NPC task, but just because it is an NPC task doesn't mean it has to be expensive for the player.

[Segev]

I've always hated how expensive magic items have been in D&D, though now that magic is rare it makes some sense.

Back in 3e/4e magic was common as all hell and yet magic stuff was still costly... Made little sense for immersion as no one outside of PCs and Kings could afford the magic... But the magic was common. I chalked it up to the merchant guilds not liking money.

3e, it could be expensive, but it was usually fairly reasonable for what you got. Scroll-scribing was actually rather inexpensive, at lower levels, and was reasonable for a wizard to do for personal use. Now, I can't see it as being reasonable for NPCs to do, either. 100 gp for a single casting of a 1st level spell is hugely expensive. 4 days' effort and 100 gp to make one for yourself even more so.

Especially when you can spend those 4 days and 100 gp on a wand.

[R.Shackleford]

3e, it could be expensive, but it was usually fairly reasonable for what you got. Scroll-scribing was actually rather inexpensive, at lower levels, and was reasonable for a wizard to do for personal use. Now, I can't see it as being reasonable for NPCs to do, either. 100 gp for a single casting of a 1st level spell is hugely expensive. 4 days' effort and 100 gp to make one for yourself even more so.

Especially when you can spend those 4 days and 100 gp on a wand.

Wands needed the player to be at least 5th level in 3e. That's over half way through most games. The only way wands were typically worth it (at low levels) is if you could buy partially charged wands.

Scrolls were cheap but still more expensive than they should have with how much magic was in the world.

The prices of these things are retirement funds.

If you want PCs to make items don't give them full control. Have them need help or they can help someone else.

Want to make a scroll? Well the wizard has the spell but a scribe needs to actually wrote down the spell as writing that spell into a scroll is different than writing it into a spell book. You need to cast the spell I to the scroll once the scribe is finished.

Want to make a +1 flaming longsword? Better find a blacksmith who can forge the sword as you cast the spells into the ore as it is being formed.

Item creation is an NPC task, PCs can help, but if you want to full time make magic items then go play SIM Merchant.

[Segev]

I'm afraid that we're talking past each other, here. Ah well.

It is clear that 5e does not want wizards scribing scrolls. I do wonder why NPCs would bother, either, when it costs so much for so little. I don't think I'd buy a scroll for what the book says it costs to make one, unless it was of a spell I didn't yet have in my spellbook. And then, it'd be cheaper for the wizard who made it to charge me 100 gp to let me copy out of his spellbook.