Wand

Version 0.18: 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. If the number of charges of a wand is unknown, zapping the wand will waste several charges. 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.

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 a wand of random effects on yourself or others.

List of wands

Image	Wand	Description	Max charges: upon recharge	Usable by monster
	Acid	Corrodes the target temporarily	15	No
	Confusion	Confuses the target temporarily	48	Yes
	Digging	Creates a tunnel through the targeted wall tile	24	Yes
	Disintegration	Disintegrates the target or object	24	Yes, but damage is reduced to 2/3 of normal
	Enslavement	Charms the target temporarily	24	Yes
	Flame	Shoots a puff of flame at the target	48	Yes
	Hasting	Speeds up the target's movement and actions temporarily	9	Yes, on self
	Heal wounds	Significantly heals the target	9	Yes, on self
	Iceblast	Casts a field explosion of cold	15	No
	Lightning	Shoots a lightning bolt at the target	15	Yes
	Paralysis	Paralyzes the target temporarily	24	Yes
	Polymorph	Target reforms as a random creature	24	Yes
	Random effects	Randomly selects any other wand and duplicates its effect	48	No
	Slowing	Slows the target temporarily	48	Yes
	Teleportation	Teleports the target after a few turns	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 acid
• Wand of iceblast
• Wand of lightning
• Wand of paralysis
• Wand of disintegration

History

Prior to 0.18, wands' charge differences were not easily visible even if identified.

0.18 removed the wand of cold, draining, fire, fireball, frost, invisibility, and magic darts, but introduced wands of acid and iceblast. Wands of fire, cold and draining were high-tier wands.

Prior to 0.16, wands were not automatically identified when picked up. However, zapping a wand with an unknown number of charges did not waste any charges.

Prior to 0.15, wands weighted 10.0 aum each.