Wands

[cirerrek]

Just an idea that popped into my head. Some of this stuff may be hardcoded, but I'll go ahead and throw it out here anyway.

 

How about wands that cast spells at different levels. There is probably some minimum for item creation (say 10th level), but the occassional Archmage probably finds a need to turn out a Wand of Lightining that could cast spells at say 20th level.

 

I'm not exactly sure how the charges are handled, but it would be nice to see a random number of charges when the item is found and a random number when they are sold and then re-purchased (if it isn't already this way).

 

Maybe some merchants might be better at re-charging them than others or maybe the odds are random, just so there is no benefit in always traipsing back to one particular merchant.

 

Would you need a higher lore to identify a more powerful wand of lightning? Should more powerful wands cost more to re-charge?

 

Thanks,

[CamDawg]

Just an idea that popped into my head.  Some of this stuff may be hardcoded, but I'll go ahead and throw it out here anyway. 

 

How about wands that cast spells at different levels.  There is probably some minimum for item creation (say 10th level), but the occassional Archmage probably finds a need to turn out a Wand of Lightining that could cast spells at say 20th level.

This is doable, but complex. Unfortunatly wands typically emulate a spell's effects, rather than just casting a spell. This means that you'd need to clone the effects and intelligently patch durations, damage, bonuses, etc. on the fly. The complexity would probably limit it to just the original wands, and not mod ones.

 

I'm not exactly sure how the charges are handled, but it would be nice to see a random number of charges when the item is found and a random number when they are sold and then re-purchased (if it isn't already this way).

 

Maybe some merchants might be better at re-charging them than others or maybe the odds are random, just so there is no benefit in always traipsing back to one particular merchant.

Wands have a set (maximum) number of charges in their item files. However, the charges are overridden by the various item areas in creatures and areas--for example, a wand of fear has 100 charges maximum, but you generally only find it in the game with 4 or 5 charges. Tracking down wands in area and creature files and randomizing charges should be nice and easy, and may also give me a chance to try out the RANDOM commands that got added to WeiDU a few versions ago.

 

For the re-purchasing thing, I've seen this idea presented a few times. Merchants always sell items with max charges AFAIK, and I've not seen anything to suggest we can get around it. Which is a bummer, since it really is a good and logical idea.

 

Would you need a higher lore to identify a more powerful wand of lightning?  Should more powerful wands cost more to re-charge?

I'd say yeah, but I'm sure one of the resident rules lawyers will correct me.