Maybe you’re adventuring on a budget. Maybe towns are few and far between. Maybe your party’s druid is becoming conscious of your carbon footprint. Whatever your reason, you’re looking to pinch every copper and waste as little as possible.
Imagine the look your druid gives your wizard when he tries to throw out a used-up wand.
In some campaigns, this might not be an issue. Perhaps wands dissolve away into nothingness after expending their last charge. This is a perfectly acceptable ruling for a DM to make, and it works narratively, too. Maybe the wand is only physically held together by the magic inside it. With that magic gone, it crumbles into dust.
If you’ve ever wondered, ‘is there a point in recharging a wand, like you can do with a staff?’ Let me say with certainty that the answer is a resounding and definite no. Anyone with the skills and abilities necessary to do so would be better off using those skills and abilities to make whole new ones. Staves differ in that the number of various powers they can generate make them significantly more versatile (and therefore worth the trouble). Furthermore, those with the ability to recharge staves are more common than those who can create whole new ones from scratch.
For those intent on being frugal, however, depleted wands do have a few handy applications.
Used wands as crossbow bolts and arrows
Much in the same way that depleted spells scrolls can be used to add a little extra kick to your firearms, depleted wands can be used to make bows and crossbows a little deadlier. Being of the right general shape and size, depleted wands require little modification to serve this purpose.
Physically crafting a depleted wand into an arrow or bolt requires 5 minutes of work and a DC: 20 Craft: Bowyer/Fletcher Skill check. This check differs from a normal one only in the materials used to create the shaft of the projectile. Failure by 5 or more indicates that the wand has been destroyed in the attempt.
Depleted wand arrows and crossbow bolts may be made of Masterwork quality and enchanted as normal.
Arrows and crossbow bolts created in this way gain a special power, selected at the time of creation from the lists below. This higher level the spell that was on the depleted wand, the greater the strength of the special power.
Regardless of type, depleted wand arrows and crossbow bolts are never recoverable; they are reduced to dust and fine ash upon impact, hit or miss.
Depleted wands level 1-3
- projectile deals +1 force damage
- reduce miss chance by 10%
- projectile is considered to be made of Adamantine, Alchemical Silver or Cold Iron (choose 1)
- increase range by 10%
- Flashbang: on a successful hit target must Reflex Save (DC: 10+damage dealt) or become Dazed (as the spell, CL=level of the depleted wand) for 1rd.
- Marker: projectile produces Glitterdust (as the spell, CL=level of depleted wand) for 1d6rds.
Depleted wands level 4-6
- projectile deals +1d4 force damage
- reduce miss chance by 15%
- projectile is considered to be magic for the purpose of overcoming Damage Reduction
- increase range by 20%
- Flashbang: on a successful hit target must Reflex Save (DC: 10+damage dealt) or become Dazed (as the spell, CL=level of the depleted wand) for 1d4rds.
- Marker: projectile produces Glitterdust (as the spell, CL=level of depleted wand) for 2d6rds.
Depleted wands level 7-9
- projectile deals +1d6 force damage
- reduce miss chance by 20%
- projectile is considered Axiomatic, Anarchic, Holy or Unholy (choose 1)
- increase range by 30%
- Flashbang: on a successful hit target must Reflex Save (DC: 10+damage dealt) or become Dazed (as the spell, CL=level of depleted wand) for 1d6rds.
- Marker: projectile produces Glitterdust (as the spell, CL=level of depleted wand) for 3d6rds.
Depleted wands as alchemical items
Not only might the druid insist on recycling, so too might the group’s alchemist. Depleted wands can be transformed into certain alchemical items, provided you know the trick.
Learning the alchemical formulae
This requires access to either a library, alchemist’s guild or some other similarly equipped depository of knowledge. The research itself takes 1d8 hours represented by 3 consecutive DC: 15 Search checks. Failure on any one of these indicates that the attempt is wasted, but there is no limit to the number of attempts that can be made.
Each different alchemical item requires a different formula in order to make said item out of a depleted wand. Learning each different formula follows the procedure described above.
- a depleted wand of any level can be transformed into a Tindertwig-like alchemical item; it functions exactly like a normal Tindertwig, except that it is the size of a wand and has a number of uses equal to the level of the depleted wand from which it was made. Such an item burns harmlessly away into nothing after expending it’s last use.
- a depleted wand of at least 2nd level can be transformed into a Sunrod, which functions normally except that when it burns out it then crumbles into fine dust.
- a depleted wand of at least 3rd level can be broken down and melted into enough acid to fill a flask. Acid created in this way becomes inert (harmless) after 1d4 days (+1 day per level by which the depleted wand exceeds 3)
- depleted wands of at least 4th level can be melted down and distilled in enough alchemist’s fire to fill a flask. Alchemist’s fire created in this way becomes inert (non-flammable) after 1d4 days (+1 day per level by which the depleted wand exceeds 4)
- level 4 depleted wands may also be transformed into smokesticks.
- depleted wands of at least level 5 may be ground down and re-sculpted into thunderstones. Thunderstones created in this way crumble into harmless sand after 1d4 days (+1 day per level by which the depleted wand exceeds 5)
- depleted wands of at least 6th level may be boiled down into enough tanglefoot goo to fill a bag. Tanglefoot bags created in this way harden into useless lumps after 1d4 days (+1 day per level by which the depleted wand exceeds 6)
- level 6 depleted wands may also be boiled down and distilled into antitoxin. Antitoxin created in this way becomes inert (useless) after 1d4 days (+1 day per level by which the depleted wand exceeds 6)
Suffice to say, this could serve as a guidepost for using depleted wands to make other kinds of alchemical items. Feel free to tweak, adjust or otherwise modify these rules to suit your own game.
Using the formula
Elsewhere on the DDN, we discussed an alternate rules set for how the Craft Skill works. Whether you’re working with those rules or nothing but the Core 3 Books, using the formula to transform depleted wands into alchemical items works the same. Ultimately, depleted wands take the place of alchemical ingredients that would otherwise have to be purchased (or somehow obtained).
In short, turning depleted wands into alchemical items differs from simply making alchemical items from raw ingredients in that the wands become the ingredients. Also, the alchemical items they make usually aren’t as good as normal ones.
I just saved you a trip to the alchemy shop.
In a related matter…
All this talk about wands has me feeling frisky. Keep an eye on Ask A Nerd for more on the subject.
Enjoy!
-L. Doderman
