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Post by Random on Mar 13, 2009 19:48:42 GMT -6
The book says 100 for wands and 200 for staves, but it doesn't seem logical that every single wand and staff encountered as treasure would have the exact same current quantity of charges. Perhaps roll 1d100 for wands and 2d100 for staves?
How do you guys do this?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2009 20:14:30 GMT -6
I've used a variety of methods, but lacking any specific need I generally decided whether the item was charged 25% - 50% - 75% and added 1d20 to the that hand-picked amount. That kept the power of the thing under my control while adding a degree of randomness to the mix.
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Post by Random on Mar 13, 2009 20:18:27 GMT -6
Might it be tied to the dungeon level it was found on?
I'm writing a bunch of scripts to generate various things, and currently I'm working the map and magic item tables (yes, I know someone has already done this, but I'd prefer to code it myself so I can do whatever I need to with it, without having to rely on tablesmith or something).
I curious if it would be more appropriate to generate a random amount of charges or just leave it assumed to always be 100 or 200.
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Post by coffee on Mar 13, 2009 23:43:12 GMT -6
Depends on how much power you want your players to have. Are they the type to become dependent on wands and staves? Is the mage going to become the "flak mage", i.e.; a rapid-firing artillery piece, instead of a careful spell hoarder?
Is giving them a fully charged wand going to remove challenges from their path? Or is it going to give them another meaningful decision to make during their adventures?
These are the kind of questions I would want to ask.
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Post by Random on Mar 13, 2009 23:47:55 GMT -6
I'm thinking of just determining it randomly for the purposes of a random generator script, as those numbers could be ignored if I felt like giving them maximum charges.
Mostly, I wanted to know how other people were handling this in their games.
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Post by waysoftheearth on Mar 13, 2009 23:54:05 GMT -6
It seems pretty important that the players don't know how many charges remain. That way, regardless of how many charges actually remain, any given use of a wand or staff might be its last.
If you like that idea you could take it further so that even the referee doesn't know how many charges remain -- and doesn't have to book-keep it either. Instead, roll a die each time the artefact is used. I'd use a d20 for wands and a d100 for staves, with a result of 1 indicates that it is exhausted -- but the player doesn't necessarily know it yet.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 14, 2009 4:18:17 GMT -6
Might it be tied to the dungeon level it was found on? That is usually a reasonable guide. |
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Post by calithena on Mar 14, 2009 18:50:12 GMT -6
"Back in the day", I used exactly the d100/2d100 suggested in the OP.
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Post by The Fiendish Dr. Samsara on Mar 16, 2009 3:44:55 GMT -6
Instead, roll a die each time the artefact is used. I'd use a d20 for wands and a d100 for staves, with a result of 1 indicates that it is exhausted -- but the player doesn't necessarily know it yet. That's a neat idea. I like it. It's not actually charges anymore; it's burn-out. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2009 17:57:25 GMT -6
Actually I like the older charge levels on wand/staff/rod. 100 for wand 50 for rod and 25 for staff. not only does this not over power the game/mage using them. it allows for more variety since in my game once a wand uses its last charge it turns to dust. Staves and rods can be recharged as their rules allow (or as I have changed them) but they don't have massive amounts of charges 200 charges is just excessive in my opinion. I am still playing 3.5 though so that may have somethng to do with it.
The 100/50/25 thing comes from 1st edition. I play 3.5 where wants only have 50 charges. I do let some have only 50 charges max (some of the higher power wands) but most have 100.
On initial finding of a wand staff or rod I just roll d20+5 for a staff, 2d20+10 for a rod and 1d100 for a non high powered wand and2d20+1d10 for a powerful wand.
Kind of long winded but there it is.
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Post by snorri on Apr 5, 2009 18:18:14 GMT -6
Monsters & Treasures says:
Any rule is correct, as long as it fits your game - that's the basics. But, BTB, this suggest two things:
- Wands are always 100 charges, and staves 200. There's few possible explanations, but if we assume there are lost in a dungeon for a while, they could slowly but surely re-charge themselves with the time, so that's why adventurers generally discover them at full charge!
- Metal Detection, Enemy Detection, Secret Doors & Traps Detection, Healing, Snake Staff, Staff of Striking have different rules:
* they're not considered as 8th level spell [we do'nt know which level they'are. Does it really matter? I would suggest: if you want to know, roll a dice]
* They got a different number of charges, or don't need charges - which would make them permanent. That seems to be a correct reading, as the Staff of Healng can be used once a day, and others have no precision - so they could probably be used at will.
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Post by kesher on Apr 5, 2009 21:35:34 GMT -6
Any rule is correct, as long as it fits your game - that's the basics. But, BTB, this suggest two things: - Wands are always 100 charges, and staves 200. There's few possible explanations, but if we assume there are lost in a dungeon for a while, they could slowly but surely re-charge themselves with the time, so that's why adventurers generally discover them at full charge! First, "Any rule is correct..."---that's wonderfully stated. It captures my own philosophy exactly! Second, the idea that just being in a dungeon slowly recharges magical items is brilliant. Especially if you link it with the earlier-mentioned idea of wand/staff/rod burn-out. |
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