Wand

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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 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
Wand of cold.png Cold Shoots a bolt of cold 16 / 15 Yes
Wand of confusion.png Confusion Confuses the target temporarily 16 / 24 Yes
Wand of digging.png Digging Creates a tunnel through the targeted wall tile 16 / 24 No
Wand of mindburst.png Disintegration Disintegrates the target or object 16 / 24 Yes, but damage is reduced to 2/3 of normal
Wand of draining.png Draining Shoots a bolt of negative energy, reducing target's HD (and XP) 16 / 12 Yes, reduces player's XP only
Wand of charming.png Enslavement Charms the target temporarily 16 / 24 No
Wand of fire.png Fire Shoots a bolt of fire at the target 16 / 15 Yes
Wand of fireball.png Fireball Sends a ball of fire at the target, which explodes into a 3x3 region of fire when it hits something 16 / 9 Yes
Wand of flame.png Flame Shoots a puff of flame at the target 28 / 24 Yes
Wand of frost.png Frost Shoots a puff of frost at the target 28 / 24 Yes
Wand of hasting.png Hasting Speeds up the target's movement and actions temporarily 8 / 9 Yes, on self
Wand of heal wounds.png Heal wounds Significantly heals the target 8 / 9 Yes, on self
Wand of invisibility.png Invisibility Turns the target invisible temporarily 8 / 9 Yes, on self
Wand of lightning.png Lightning Shoots a lightning bolt at the target 16 / 12 Yes
Wand of magic darts.png Magic Darts Shoots a magic dart at the target 28 / 24 Yes
Wand of paralysis.png Paralysis Paralyzes the target temporarily 16 / 24 Yes
Wand of polymorph other.png 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

Wand of random effects.png Random effects Randomly selects any other wand (except disintegration) and duplicates its effect 28 / 24 No
Wand of slowing.png Slowing Slows the target temporarily 16 / 24 Yes
Wand of teleportation.png Teleportation Teleports the target after a few turns 16 / 9 Yes, on self and player

Images

Wand bone.png Wand brass.png Wand bronze.png Wand copper.png
Wand glass.png Wand gold.png Wand iron.png Wand ivory.png
Wand lead.png Wand plastic.png Wand silver.png Wand wood.png

External links

E. Grasland's excellent spoiler on wands (now out of date)