D&D Introduction to Wandcraft, Pt. 1

In old-style RPGs, wands are typically single-purpose magical devices. An alternative exists with a separate type of wand used only to help cast normal spells and wield defensive magic during combat. I first featured the Harry-Potter-styled spellcasting in Calidar’s CAL1 In Stranger Skies, which introduced wands as powerful “personal devices,” rare and unique items attuned to a single owner. I’d like to look into simpler wands with moderate effects on gameplay but more color and personality, without eliminating conventional wandless spellcasting.

Artwork: Moptop4000 on Deviantart

The idea involves wands rated +1 to +4. This modifier affects two things:

1. Speed: Individual initiative for Spellcasters

2. Defense: Parrying and Saving Throws

Speed: Use the wand’s modifier as a bonus when rolling initiative, assuming the wand’s owner intends to cast a spell. Roll d10s rather than d6s. If relevant to the chosen game mechanics, use the wand’s bonus to reduce casting time (down to 1 Segment minimum). This concerns 1^st Edition AD&D and even more so to 2^nd Edition whose casting times mostly match spell levels. Casting times listed in Turns aren’t affected, however, those lasting 1 Round can be reduced to the appropriate number of Segments (1 Round = 10 Segments). For D&D-BECMI and similar OSR games, rolling for individual initiative would help, use the rated wands’ bonuses to see when spellcasters can take their turns.

Defense: The wand’s magic can be used to parry melee and missile attacks, just as if its owner were wielding a sword or a shield. Mechanics for parrying vary greatly depending on the chosen game version. Treat the wand’s modifier as a bonus to Armor Class against a specific attack of the owner's choice. Likewise, the wand enables using a combat action to deflect a spell aimed directly at the owner. In this situation, apply the wand’s bonus to a saving throw (provided one is allowed).

            An attempt to deflect an attack whether physical or magical counts as an action. If the players’ intentions have already been declared and the wands’ owners haven’t acted yet, they can still substitute their intended actions with attempts to deflect, regardless of initiative outcomes.

            As an option, the modifier also indicates how many separate attacks could be deflected during the same round. A +1 limits the wand to a single deflection while a +4 wand could thwart up to 4 attacks from different foes, all counted together as a single defensive action during a round. The player picks which attack may be deflected if more than one. Performing fewer deflections than what the wand can handle does not entitle a spellcaster to take some other action during the same round.

As an option, a DM may allow forfeiting two available deflections from wands +3 or better in exchange for a half-move during the round’s movement phase. 

Disarming: This combat action may take place once per round in lieu of all allowable deflections (see Self-Defense above). It counts as a ranged attack limited to a base 90’ range to a visible target, +30’ per “plus” modifier of the wand. The attacking spellcaster needs to roll a d8–2.

            If the score rolled is equal to or less than the wand’s rating, the targeted foe needs to save vs. spells with a penalty equal to the wand’s bonus. If the targeted object possesses a magical modifier of its own, it can be applied as a bonus to its owner’s saving throw. If the saving throw fails, the targeted item flies out of its owner’s hand in a random direction up to 5’ away, plus 10’ per “plus” modifier of the attacking wand (evidently, natural weapons like claws and fangs are unaffected). A targeted foe attempting to deflect a disarming action receives an extra +2 saving throw bonus. One benefit of the disarming mechanics is that it enables magic users to still participate in combat after running out of spells, although success is far from guaranteed.

Wand Movement: Observing the gestures of a wand’s owner provides a clue to another spellcaster on the intended type of action: a spell, a deflection, or a disarming attempt. The target needs to be able to see the attacker(s) to deflect spells. A visible projectile can still be deflected provided the wand’s owner can see where it flies from.

Wand Lengths: They come in 3 sizes—roll 1d6: 1-2. Short (9”-11”), 3-4. Medium (12”-15”), and 5-6. Long (16”-18”). Short wands win ties when rolling for Initiative. Medium-length wands are best for self-defense, conferring an extra +1 bonus to AC or saving throws. Long wands are best for disarming, inflicting an additional –1 penalty to a targeted foe’s saving throw.

            Length does not affect any other properties of the wands, which will be described in a later chapter. The size of a spellcaster isn’t necessarily relevant, although at a DM’s discretion, an owner taller than 6’ using a short wand could lose tied Initiative rolls, while someone shorter than 4’ using a long wand to disarm an opponent could forgo the penalty to an opponent’s saving throw.

The Nature of Wands

            Given the above-mentioned benefits, a rated wand should become an indispensable magic-users’ tool. Its appearance, background story, and the manner in which it was initially enchanted should be of interest. One may assume that the wand chooses its owner, therefore, not all spellcasters should be able to wield all wands, let alone a sentient one.

            The following tables suggest attributes reflecting the philosophy and race of a wand’s original enchanter. To be compatible with a new owner, at least one of the wand’s Shape and Solid Core attributes must fall within a numerical range matching the new owner’s ideals. The desired Shape ranges should be 8 or higher to be compatible with a Lawful character, between 5 and 13 for a Neutral character, and 10 or less for a Chaotic one. The Solid Core ranges are the same but for Good, Neutral, and Evil characters respectively. If both attributes are a match, then the full range of wand’s modifiers is available to its new owner, otherwise, treat as a +1 wand. If neither attribute is a match, then the wand isn’t compatible with its new contender and doesn't work at all.

            When creating a random wand, roll separately for each of all nine attributes, applying the correct adjustment.

Appearance                 (Adjustment: Lawful +2, Neutral nil, Chaotic –2)
Roll 2d8	Shape	Surface Texture	Adornments
0-4	Gnarled	Spikes and thorns	Pommel, tip, and multiple others
5-7	Crooked	Rough, natural bark	Pommel, tip, and one other
8-10	Contoured	Organic pattern	Pommel and tip
11-13	Subdued	Geometric pattern	Pommel
14-18	Straight	Smooth	None

             Shapes: Gnarled wands are the most uneven and twisted devices. A crooked wand is mostly asymmetrical, perhaps with a curved handle or with part of the shaft appearing as a natural piece of wood while the remainder is perfectly straight. A contoured wand features defined and artful shapes: it could be torsade-shaped, evenly braided, ridged, forked, indented, bulging in some places, etc. A subdued device bears a more sober contour, while a straight one is more like a slender, tapering shaft with little or no features. 

            Textures: Smooth wands are unblemished, featureless devices. Geometric patterns are carved on the wands’ surfaces, emphasizing straight lines and angles such as ridges, fretwork, and symmetrical trimmings. Organic patterns involve rounded designs more reminiscent of nature such as floral, leafy, or root-like textures, arabesques, spider webs, cloud or aquatic themes, fish or dragon scales, etc. Rough-style wands are more uneven, with all or part of the wands looking like unaltered pieces of wood. Spikes and thorns are self-explanatory.

            Adornments: They are only suggested here since the list is far from exhaustive. They include incrustations, inserts, plating, tips, pommels, beads, studs, embedded wires, shells, flakes, dangling charms, and so on. An engraved pommel could bear the heraldic arms of the original enchanter or a figure related to the wand’s core components. 

Core Components            (Adjustment: Good +2, Neutral nil, Evil –2)
Roll 2d8	Solid	Fluid (wands +3)	Spiritual (wands +4)
0-1	Fire giant	Red dragon	Demon
2-3	Chimera	Werewolf	Nightmare
4-5	Harpy	Manticore	Hellhound
6-7	Owlbear	Hydra	Mujina
8	Hippogriff	Basilisk	Banshee
9	Wolf	Auroch	Cave Bear
10	Sea serpent	Cockatrice	Elemental (1 of 4)
11-12	Sphinx	Wyvern	Salamander, flame
13-14	Phoenix	Centaur	Djinni
15-16	Pegasus	Griffon	Dryad
17-18	Storm giant	Gold dragon	Unicorn

            Core Components: A rated wand receives up to three core components during its enchantment process. Wands +1 and +2 only have one solid component, such as a hair or a whisker, a feather, desiccated organ powder, sinew, earwax, a bone shard, a fragment of skin, fang, claw, or horn, etc. Wands +3 also have a fluid component, such as bile, saliva, urine, mucus, blood, tears, semen, pus, sweat, stomach acid, or venom. Wands +4 possess all three components, including part of the listed creature’s spirit.

Original Enchanter            (Adj.: Demi-Humans +5, Humans & Dragonkind +5/0, Other 0)
Roll d00	Material	Finish	If Lacquered
1-5	Other Unworldly	Untreated or Polished	Black
6-10	Blackthorn or Bone
11-15	Black Walnut or Bloodwood
16-20	Hawthorn or Larch
21-25	Agar or Alder
26-30	Applewood or Ash		Ashen
31-35	Birch or Cherry		Umber
36-40	Dogwood or Ebony		Crimson
41-44	Elm or Fir		Plum
45-48	Hornbeam or Ivory		Ultramarine
49-52	Mahogany or Maple	Varnished	Moss green
53-56	Oak or Olive Wood		Teal
57-60	Pine or Poplar		Azure
61-64	Redwood or Reed		Celadon
65-68	Snakewood or Sycamore		Scarlet
69-72	Teak or Tigerwood		Amber
73-77	Vine or Willow		Gold
78-82	Acacia or Beech		Silver
83-87	Laurel or Cedar		White
88-92	Elder or Holly	Lacquered
93-97	Rosewood or Ironwood
98-102	Amaranth or Yew
103-105	Other Unworldly

            Original Enchanter: The race of the original wand maker can have a bearing on the material used and how it was treated. Demi-humans include elves, half-elves, gnomes, and fairy folk. Humans/Dragonkind includes humans and spellcasters related to dragons; a choice should be made for this category before rolling dice as to their adjustment (zero or +5), as best fits the wand maker’s philosophy. The “other” category is for all remaining spellcasters, including monstrous creatures.

            Materials: If the day of the month when rolling up the wand is an odd number, pick the first choice. “Other Unworldly” refers to unusual wand materials, such as metal, glassteel, crystal, ceramic, jade, hardened keratin, combinations of diverse materials, or some outer-planar substance at the referees’ discretion. Referees are free to pick materials and their properties.

            Finish: Untreated material is either coarse and with its natural texture or just polished from years of being handled. Ebony, bone, and ivory only ever get polished (no varnish, staining, or lacquering). Varnish gives a satin or glossy shine to the material’s natural color and grain (bark-like surfaces always retain their coarse textures).

            Lacquering: This process involves a tint masking the original material, which is listed in the third column. When checking tints, rolling doubles implies two colors (roll again, ignoring duplicate results).

Document updated June 25 2022 11:09 am.

Click Here for: Pt. 2 Wand Allegiance, Wand Advancement, Willpower.