Wand of random effects
| Type | Wand |
|---|---|
| Name | Wand of random effects |
| Icon | 
|
| A magical device which can produce a variety of effects.
“[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. |
| Wand effect | Probability |
|---|---|
| throw flame | |
| fireball | |
| throw frost | |
| iceblast | |
| bolt of draining | |
| venom bolt | |
| Total damaging effects | 6/13 |
| paralyze | |
| confuse | |
| slow | |
| malmutate | |
| Total harmful effects | 4/13 |
| haste | |
| invisibility | |
| Total buff effects | 2/13 |
| teleportation | |
| Total neutral | 1/13 |
A wand of random effects creates an unpredictable effect when zapped. There is a high probability of yielding a damaging or at least harmful effect, but its use in combat is risky. Although you might wind up blasting an enemy for heavy damage, you must decide if it's worth the risk of rendering your opponent invisible or hasted instead. Each of the effects has an equal chance of being selected.
Using a wand of random effects may risk penance, depending on your god's restrictions: all of the good gods punish draining, Zin punishes mutating, Cheibriados punishes haste.
Tips & Tricks
- Train Evocations to boost the power of your wand.
- Be strategic when using the wand. Plan the encounter so that you can use the wand at the farthest possible distance, giving you multiple shots on target; even if one shot is beneficial to the target, the next 3 might be sufficient to finish it off. If the monster is susceptible and you have a net or the ability to paralyze, petrify, confuse, or slow, use that first to give you even more opportunities for a kill shot.
- Have an escape route planned in case the target does become invisible or hasted. Keep in mind that the invisibility/haste effect is temporary: retreating and returning after the buff wears off is always an option.
- Using the wand against an adjacent monster is almost never a good idea, given that the fireball and iceblast effects will greatly harm you as well. For the same reason, always be aware of any potentially adjacent invisible creatures (eg, a newly invisible orc wizard).
- If you are playing conservatively and have charges to burn, aim at an unoccupied square adjacent to the monster, and not the monster itself. You will have a 15% chance of (only) fireball or iceblast, and an 85% chance of no effect.
History
- In 0.21, malmutate was added to the random effects to discourage using the wand as a source of haste and invisibility in the late game.
- It was completely reworked in 0.20 to the present list of effects, minus malmutate.
- Some wands were removed in 0.18, though the wand of random effects kept a few of the removed ones. As a result the chance to deal direct damage with a wand of random effects dropped by about 11%. Digging was also removed at this time.
- Prior to 0.14, gods would forgive the player for disliked effects produced by evoking an already identified wand of random effects.
| Wands |
|---|
| Acid / Light / Quicksilver • Iceblast / Roots / Warping • Charming / Paralysis Digging • Flame • Mindburst • Polymorph |
