Wand

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. Each wand weighs 10.0 aum.

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 is 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 Dwarf characters possess a racial ability that also lets them recharge wands, though at a permanent MP cost.

Zapping a wand will very often identify it, so long as the effect isn't resisted and it has unambiguously revealed its nature (zapping a wand of digging into empty space, for example, will not identify it).

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.

Monsters that can pick up items will often pick up wands and zap them at you. A few monsters may start with wands in their inventory. Monsters above 13 hit dice will not bother with them.

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

List of wands

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	Yes
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 other	Target reforms as a random creature	16 / 24	Yes, but monsters only use it about 1/5 of the time Note that monsters using this wand will cause the character to mutate (usually badly) instead of polymorph
Random effects	Randomly selects any other wand (except disintegration) 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

External links

E. Grasland's excellent spoiler on wands (now out of date)