Custom Wands

Unlike many magic items that are crafted and then enchanted with magic, a wand is purpose built to store the magic it will contain, worked from wood and infused with magic. Wands are very valuable to adventurers, and the power they wield should never be underestimated, as they can save precious resources.

The following are edited rules from the Kibbles Compendium of Craft and Creation.

Using Wands: Rule Clarification

I'm not sure if this is explicitly stated anywhere, but just in case:

• When you cast a spell using a wand, you are still casting a spell. It can be counterspelled as if you cast it normally.
• Unless otherwise stated, casting a spell using a wand still requires all components. The wand itself counts as the spellcasting focus for the spell, but components with cost must still be provided and verbal / somatic components must still be performed.
• You must hold the wand in one hand to use it. It cant just be somewhere vaguely on your person.

Related Tool & Ability Score

Wand whittling works using Woodcarver’s tools. Attempting to craft a wand without these is impossible. The related ability score is Dexterity. The process to whittle a wand is one of systematic application of magical theory to integrate spells into a wand in a function that can later be used.
Additionally, like Scroll Scribing and Enchanting, proficiency in Arcana is required; without proficiency in arcana, you can’t add your Tool proficiency to the crafting roll.

Materials: Wood & Essence

The Materials for Wand Whittling are wood and essences. The wood used in wands is typically purchased, and below are the table of prices. If they are found as part of treasure, they are calculated as any other precious non-currency treasure would be calculated.

What Are Rare Woods?

The most common examples would be from trees in exotic locations—wood from the enchanted forests or wild stretches of the outer planes. The exact nature of the wands can match the spell for flavor, but the details beyond rarity are not considered by default for the system. Some examples are provided at the end of this section.

Purchasing Wooden Branches

Like with many materials, one popular method of acquisition is to simply spend gold. A piece of wood here is typically a branch about 2–3 feet long and moderately narrow, suitable for a wand with some whittling.

Rare Branch Table Table

Rarity	Material	Price
Common	Branch	1 SP
Uncommon	Branch	25 GP
Rare	Branch	80 GP
Very Rare	Branch	800 GP
Legendary	Branch	2,000 GP

Crafting Roll

When you would like to make a wand, it relies on your woodcarver’s tools, and Dexterity to use them.

• Wand Whittling Crafting Modifier = your Woodcarver’s Tools proficiency bonus + your Dexterity modifier.

Success and Failure

For Wand Whittling, after you make the crafting roll and succeed, mark your progress on a crafting project. If you succeed, you make 2 hours of progress toward the total crafting time (and have completed one of the required checks for making an item). Checks for Wand Whittling do not need to be immediately consecutive. Failure means that no progress is made during that time. As usual, failing three times in a row results in the crafting project being a failure, and all materials are lost.

Wand Whittling Saving Throw

Some wands require a saving throw, the following is the formula for calculating the saving throw. The saving throw is calculated at the time of creation based on the creator's attributes and proficiency, and doesn’t change once it is created. A saving throw doesn’t include any expertise or other bonuses a crafter has to the crafting roll.

• Wand DC = 8 + your related tool proficiency bonus + your Intelligence or Wisdom modifier.

Greater Wands and Custom Wands

Many adventurers are most familiar with greater wands, forged with such skill and power that their power regenerates each day at dawn, providing nearly unlimited ability to wield magic. These are, however, the more rare exception: Greater Wands. Most wands function differently, and are more custom-tailored; custom wands do not naturally recharge, and must be recharged to be used again.

Greater wands can be found in the Wandwhittling section of the Kibbles Compendium of Craft and Creation.

Custom Wands

Custom wands, as you can imagine, are extremely customizable. This means they are more complex to make, and require additional resources to shape the way you want.

All Custom Wands require attunement, can store a single spell, and start out with 2 charges. A charge can be used to cast any spell currently imbued in the wand at its lowest level.

Recipes

With proficiency in woodworking tools and the Arcana skill, you know the recipes for all wand bases, and you learn the recipes for the Additional Spell Storage modifier, the Additional Charge modifier, and 1 other custom wand modifier.

Wand Base

To create a custom wand, you must first create a Wand Base. This determines the spells that can be added to the wand. Once a wand has been created, the wand base can be modified using wood from a higher quality branch. There are tables for creating and modifying a Wand Base below.

Depending on the base of the wand, a wand can store up to a certain level of spells:

• Ramshackle Wand Base: Cantrips only.
• Basic Wand Base: Up to 2nd level spells.
• Intermediate Wand Base: Up to 6th level spells.
• Expert Wand Base: Up to 8th level spells.
• Masterwork Wand Base: Up to 9th level spells.

Wand Imbuement

In order to add a spell to a wand, it must be imbued with that spell. This process requires a scroll of the spell you wish to imbue, knowledge of the magical formula of that spell, the ability to cast that level of spell, and an essence corresponding to the class list that the spell comes from. When you begin to imbue a spell into a wand, the scroll and essence are consumed immediately.

Essences of each type are attributed to the following class spell lists:

• Arcane Essences: Artificer, Bard, Occultist, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard.
• Divine Essences: Cleric, Occultist, Paladin.
• Primal Essences: Druid, Occultist, Ranger.

Imbuing spells takes time and effort based on the level of the spell. You can stop and start imbuing a spell at any time. Higher spell levels also require better essences:

• Cantrip: 1 Hour, common essence
• 1st - 2nd level: 2 Hours, uncommon essence
• 3rd - 4th level: 3 Hours, rare essence
• 5th - 6th level: 4 Hours, rare essence
• 7th - 8th level: 6 Hours, very rare essence
• 9th level: 8 Hours, legendary essence

An imbued spell can be imbued at any level, provided the spell scroll is created at that level and you meet all other requirements for that spell and spell level. You cannot imbue a spell into a wand that has met its capacity for spells. You can remove a spell from a wand by spending 2 hours and 1 poisonous reagent (of a rarity equal to the spell’s level above).

Magical Formula

For Greater Wands, they have known formulas that can be deduced as part of crafting (as with Enchanting), and you do not need to know the spell or effect before crafting the Wand, though they are typically harder to craft. As per the Recipe rules, you must learn the recipe to craft such a wand normally.

To craft a Custom Wand, you must know the Magic Formula of the spell you want to add to a Custom Wand. The easiest way to do this is to be able to cast the spell. You always know the Magic Formula of a spell you know how to cast. Otherwise, you need to have deep knowledge of the spell to be able to add it to a Custom Wand. The following are some ways you can gain that knowledge:

• Have it in your spellbook as a Wizard.
• Have it in your spellmanual as an Infusionsmith Inventor.
• Have it in your ritual book as a ritual caster.
• Have a spell scroll of it (DC +2).
• Study the recipe for the spellscroll of that spell.

Custom Wand Modifiers

It is possible to gain additional spell storage, additional charges, and other modifiers for a custom wand. Modifying a wand costs time and materials, as described on the Custom Wand Modifier table below.

Wands can only sustain so many modifiers before they cease to function. Better wand bases can accommodate more modifiers:

• Ramshackle Wand Base: 2 Modifiers
• Basic Wand Base: 3 Modifiers
• Intermediate Wand Base: 5 Modifiers
• Expert Wand Base: 12 Modifiers
• Masterwork Wand Base: 20 Modifiers

Recharging Custom Wands

Recharging custom wands is fairly simple:

• you can expend one essence of the wand's base rarity (see the craft table below) and perform a ritual that takes 2 hours, expending the essence and restoring two charges; you can repeat this ritual to recharge the wand multiple times, up to its maximum charges.
• you can expend 2 spell slots equal to the highest level spell the wand can cast (1st level for cantrip) and perform a ritual that takes 2 hours, restoring a single charge; you can repeat this ritual to recharge the wand multiple times, up to its maximum charges.

Custom Wand Table 1: Wand Bases

Name	Materials	Crafting Time	Crafting Checks	Difficulty	Rarity	Modifier Capacity	Maximum Spell Level	Value
Ramshackle Wand Base	1 common branch, 1 common reactive reagent	2 Hours	1	DC 10	Common	2 Modifiers	Cantrip	15 GP
Basic Wand Base	1 uncommon branch, 1 uncommon reactive reagent	4 Hours	2	DC 13	Uncommon	3 Modifiers	2nd	60 GP
Intermediate Wand Base	1 rare branch, 1 rare reactive reagent	6 Hours	3	DC 16	Rare	5 Modifiers	6th	500 GP
Expert Wand Base	1 very rare branch, 1 very rare reactive reagent	8 Hours	4	DC 18	Very Rare	12 Modifiers	8th	4,000 GP
Mastercraft Wand Base	1 legendary branch, 1 legendary reactive reagent	12 Hours	6	DC 20	Legendary	20 Modifiers	9th	10,000 GP

Custom Wand Table 2: Modifying Wand Bases

Name	Materials	Crafting Time	Crafting Checks	Difficulty	Rarity Upgrade	Work Value
Basic Wand Upgrade	1 custom wand (ramshackle base), 1 uncommon branch, 1 uncommon reactive reagent	2 Hours	1	DC 13	Uncommon	50 GP
Intermediate Wand Upgrade	1 custom wand (basic base), 1 rare branch, 1 rare reactive reagent	3 Hours	1	DC 16	Rare	400 GP
Expert Wand Upgrade	1 custom wand (intermediate base), 1 very rare branch, 1 very rare reactive reagent	4 Hours	2	DC 18	Very Rare	1,000 GP
Mastercraft Wand Upgrade	1 custom wand (expert base), 1 legendary branch, 1 legendary reactive reagent	8 Hours	4	DC 20	Legendary	5,000 GP

Custom Wand Table 3: Wand Modifiers

Name	Materials	Crafting Time	Crafting Checks	Difficulty	Special Requirements	Description
Additional Spell Storage	1 uncommon essence (any)	2 Hours	1	DC 12	None	Allows the wand to store an additional imbued spell.
Additional Charge	1 uncommon essence (any)	2 Hours	1	DC 12	None	Expands the wand’s charge pool by 1.
Elemental Flexibility	1 uncommon arcane essence	2 Hours	1	DC 14	Cannot be taken more than once	Allows any spell imbued on the wand to deal any of the following damage types instead of its normal damage type: acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder.
Subtle Wand	1 rare arcane essence, 1 uncommon primal essence	4 Hours	2	DC 16	Cannot be taken more than once	Allows any spell imbued on the wand to ignore verbal and somatic components.
Eldritch Wand	1 rare arcane essence, 1 uncommon divine essence	6 Hours	3	DC 17	None	Once per dawn, a spell of 4th level or lower imbued in the wand is cast at the highest level the user can cast, up to 5th level, instead of the lowest level of the spell.
Elegant Inlay	1 rare arcane essence, 1 rare divine essence, 1 rare primal essence	6 Hours	3	DC 18	None	Reduces the price of any material components cast using this wand by an amount equal to 10 times the crafters Arcana proficiency modifier (expertise included)

Custom Wand Template

Please use this to document your wand and keep track of what your wand has! I will add a template to Foundry as well.

Custom Wand

Any description of the wand’s appearance.

Wand Base:

• Maximum Modifiers:
• Highest Level Spell:

Modifiers:

• List modifiers here

Current / Maximum Charges: X / X

Spell Imbuement Capacity:

Imbued Spells:

• List spells here

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