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View Full Version : Why do potions & wands stop at 3rd and 4th level respectively?



HydwenPrydain
2007-08-07, 10:33 PM
It's always bothered me that you can't craft potions or wands of higher level spells. What is the rationale for this? Would it be imbalancing to allow potions and wands of higher-level spells? Staffs still have a big advantage in allowing a caster to use his level and save DCs rather than the minimum, and the cost of potions is prohibitive.

Arbitrarity
2007-08-07, 10:35 PM
Because... such mighty magic cannot be imbued into the tiny material of the wand, nor the limited quantity (one gulp!) of the potion?


Naahh. Because that's how it is. Wondrous items have rules for duplicating higher level potions anyways, and I can't see a major balance issue.

But: Staffs>wands in every concievable way. A staff of disintigrate would cost the same as a wand of disintigrate, and with better DC's, CL, etc.

Nerd-o-rama
2007-08-07, 10:41 PM
Wand of Gate. Expensive, sure, but you can spam no-save-just-die versions of the spell all day for the cost of some gold.

Big campaign-ending boss fight coming up? Spend a few thousand, summon 40 Balors.

This is partly why Staffs exist, as they make high-level spells appropriately expensive.

Jasdoif
2007-08-07, 11:15 PM
Wand of Gate. Expensive, sure, but you can spam no-save-just-die versions of the spell all day for the cost of some gold.

Big campaign-ending boss fight coming up? Spend a few thousand, summon 40 Balors.

This is partly why Staffs exist, as they make high-level spells appropriately expensive.And you only need to have a single level in sorcerer or wizard (or make a DC 20 UMD check) to use that wand, and don't even need that for potions and oils.

I believe that's why the level limit is there, to keep high level magic away from a single level dip. The same would also account for why the DMG says you can make a wand from any applicable spell, but staffs are predefined.

cupkeyk
2007-08-07, 11:39 PM
Get four ranks of Knowledge (History) and Craft wand, You now qualify for Craft Scepter, from Lost Empires Of Faerun. A scepter is essentially a wand that can store up to level seven spells. Spells from 1-4 use up the usual 1 charge while spells from 5-7 use up two charges. You can put up two two spells in one scepter by increasing the cost by about fifty percent but the second spell cannot be higher than four and a single scepter cannot hold more than fifty charges but you can always use the fifty for either of the two spells in it. A scepter costs (750*caster level^1*spell level^1) + (375*caster level^2*spell level^). Where either caster level ^ cannot be less than six and either spell level can be zero, making it a one spell scepter.