Wand

Version 0.15: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

A stick. Maybe it's magical. "[The principle of selection] is the magician's wand, by means of which he may summon into life whatever form and mould he pleases." -William Youatt, _Sheep: their breeds, management, and diseases; to which is added the Mountain Shepherd's Manual_, ch. III. 1837.

A wand is a magical device that contains several charges of a specific spell or effect.

A player may zap a wand in the inventory with the V key (that is, evoking it). This releases its magical effect at a target of the player's choice, and one charge of the wand will be depleted. A wand does not normally show how many charges it has left; this information can be gathered either by identification or by using a wand with sufficient Evocations skill. However, the game will record wand usage, so that the player can see how many times a wand has been zapped. Unlike rods, a wand does not have to be wielded to be used, and can even be used while the player's wielded weapon and shield are cursed.

A wand with no charges left is empty, and will not function (but will still waste a turn as you discover this). Wands can be recharged using a scroll of recharging, even if not emptied. Deep dwarves possess a racial ability that also lets them recharge wands, though at a permanent MP cost.

Zapping an unidentified wand will always identify it, but due to the wide variety of effects wands can produce, doing so may have an undesirable outcome. Blasting dangerous enemies with a powerful attack wand isn't a bad idea, but accidentally hasting one or polymorphing it into something more dangerous is. If you have spare scrolls of identification, consider using them on your wands, especially when there are only a few rare wands left unidentified. Otherwise, fire into open air, and make sure not to line yourself up for an unfortunate multizap.

A wand's spell power equals 15+2.5×Evocations, though this is still limited by the spell power caps for the spell cast. For monsters zapping wands, the power is normally 30+hit dice, although this can vary greatly depending on the type of wand. Some monsters, particularly uniques, may start with wands in their inventory.

Xom is greatly entertained (200) when you: use an unidentified wand near a monster; or, use a wand of random effects on yourself or others.

List of wands

Image	Wand	Description	Max charges: initial / upon recharge	Usable by monster
	Cold	Shoots a bolt of cold	16 / 15	Yes
	Confusion	Confuses the target temporarily	16 / 24	Yes
	Digging	Creates a tunnel through the targeted wall tile	16 / 24	No
	Disintegration	Disintegrates the target or object	16 / 24	Yes, but damage is reduced to 2/3 of normal
	Draining	Shoots a bolt of negative energy, reducing target's HD (and XP)	16 / 12	Yes, reduces player's XP only
	Enslavement	Charms the target temporarily	16 / 24	No
	Fire	Shoots a bolt of fire at the target	16 / 15	Yes
	Fireball	Sends a ball of fire at the target, which explodes into a 3x3 region of fire when it hits something	16 / 9	No
	Flame	Shoots a puff of flame at the target	28 / 24	Yes
	Frost	Shoots a puff of frost at the target	28 / 24	Yes
	Hasting	Speeds up the target's movement and actions temporarily	8 / 9	Yes, on self
	Heal wounds	Significantly heals the target	8 / 9	Yes, on self
	Invisibility	Turns the target invisible temporarily	8 / 9	Yes, on self
	Lightning	Shoots a lightning bolt at the target	16 / 12	Yes
	Magic Darts	Shoots a magic dart at the target	28 / 24	Yes
	Paralysis	Paralyzes the target temporarily	16 / 24	Yes
	Polymorph	Target reforms as a random creature	16 / 24	Yes
	Random effects	Randomly selects any other wand and duplicates its effect	28 / 24	No
	Slowing	Slows the target temporarily	16 / 24	Yes
	Teleportation	Teleports the target after a few turns	16 / 9	Yes, on self and player

Images

High-tier wands

Some wands are considered too dangerous to be generated in the inventory of monsters with HD less than 5. Monsters with the No HT wand flag are also excluded. Ijyb is the exception to this rule.

• Wand of paralysis
• Wand of fire
• Wand of cold
• Wand of lightning
• Wand of draining
• Wand of disintegration

History

Prior to 0.15, wands weight 10.0 aum each.

In 0.16, evoking a wand may cost more than one charge per use. The chance of wasting charges decreases as your Evocations skill rises, as does the number of charges wasted. To make up for this, wands will identify once picked up, much like spell books.