Draft:Wands
Wands are charged items used for magical attacks, control, healing and other effects. Their individual names include staff, wand, rod and stick, but all seventeen ordinary types use the same activation command and brown / symbol. The Staff of Enchantment is a separate artifact; a quarterstaff is a weapon.[1]
Types
All ordinary types weigh 80 and have no initial enchantment under normal random construction. Value is the base value in Au, not a guaranteed shop price. The item level affects random generation, not a minimum player level for use.[2]
| Type | Item level | Value | Main effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walking stick | 0 | 10 | No magical effect |
| Staff of missiles | 1 | 50 | Single physical projectile |
| Rod of hiding | 1 | 100 | Conceals a map square as secret terrain |
| Snowball stick | 2 | 100 | Cold explosion |
| Staff of sleep | 1 | 100 | Targeted sleep; blessed form affects the whole level |
| Rod of apportation | 2 | 200 | Retrieves ground objects; cursed form causes item loss |
| Rod of summoning | 2 | 500 | Unrestricted hostile summon |
| Staff of firebolts | 3 | 500 | Single fire projectile |
| Staff of healing | 3 | 500 | Heals the user and clears blindness; cursed form harms |
| Staff of lightning bolts | 3 | 500 | Single electrical projectile |
| Wand of ball lightning | 4 | 500 | Electrical explosion |
| Wand of fear | 2 | 500 | Frightens a creature; cursed form targets the user |
| Wand of fireballs | 5 | 500 | Fire explosion |
| Staff of dispelling | 6 | 750 | Removes qualifying curses, monster powers or magical terrain effects |
| Staff of disruption | 6 | 1000 | Direct physical damage |
| Wand of polymorph | 3 | 1000 | Changes a creature's form; targeting yourself is fatal |
| Rod of disintegration | 7 | 2000 | Direct unstoppable damage or terrain destruction |
Generation
Normal construction gives 1–20 charges, zero enchantment, and a 60% chance of no blessing, 20% chance of blessing +1 through +10, or 20% chance of curse -1 through -10. The type is chosen before the generic object's item-level acceptance check. Wands occupy ten of the 135 initial category slots; that is not their final fraction of accepted objects.[3]
For a candidate of item level L and generation level D, the acceptance weights are approximately as follows. The extra 1% chance prevents higher-level types from being completely excluded. Within the wand category, a type's final weight is its acceptance weight divided by the sum of those weights for all seventeen types; there is no flat 1/17 chance after filtering.[4]
| Candidate level | Nominal acceptance |
|---|---|
| L below D | 100% |
| L equals D | 67% |
| L equals D + 1 | 34% |
| L at least D + 2 | 1% |
Knight's Pawn Shop can stock identified random wands. Acquirement can select the wand category; a positive-strength acquirement also offers a specific type, but still uses ordinary random wand construction. Random monster possessions are another route to ordinary items, rather than evidence that a creature always carries its alchemical product.[5]
Alchemy supplies seven types from specific remains: snowball stick, missiles, ball lightning, summoning, fireballs, healing and dispelling. These copies have 20 charges, blessing +1 and enchantment equal to the source species' level. That enchantment affects some powers but does not raise the fixed damage of most attack wands. A recipe is not a fixed carried wand, and obtaining ordinary remains is not guaranteed on each kill.[6]
Appearance and identification
Each new game shuffles twenty appearance names and assigns seventeen of them to the types. The same type has the same appearance within that game; an oaken staff does not consistently identify a particular power between games. Even polymorph's initial definition is replaced by this shuffle.[7]
| Possible appearance | Possible appearance |
|---|---|
| Oaken staff | Chromed sequinned staff |
| Heavy metal rod | Old peeling stick |
| Shaft of congealed light | Jointed metal rod |
| Slender ceramic wand | Wand with lead ferrules |
| Rune-inscribed bone wand | Forked wooden stick |
| Knurly staff | Cane with gold eagle handle |
| Steel knobbed rod | Crystalline wand |
| Lucite wand | Metal stick with trigger |
| Sturdy alpenstock | Leather-handled stone rod |
| Gem-studded ebony staff | Tiny mithril wand |
Most activated powers reveal the type even when the selected effect achieves nothing. There are exceptions: walking stick does not identify itself by use, dispelling does not set identification, and healing reveals its type only in the noncursed branch. An empty wand never reaches its effect's identification step. Knowing the type is not full identification: full knowledge is needed to display blessing or curse and the charge count. The normal charge display omits enchantment even though healing and recharging can depend on it.[8]
Using wands
On a local map, press a and choose a wand from accessible inventory. It need not be wielded in the weapon hand; a wand still inside the pack must first be moved to an accessible slot. The countryside command list has no wand activation command. Activation spends charges, not mana, and has a normal action delay of floor(8 × player speed / 5), compared with ordinary movement's floor(4 × speed / 5). It is not an instantaneous reaction.[9]
Fear blocks activation before item selection. Blindness and immobilization add no separate restriction in this command, though aiming and the particular effect still matter. Ordinary local sleep prevents choosing commands at all.[10]
| Point in the action | Result |
|---|---|
| Cancel before choosing a wand | No charge spent; returns to command selection without advancing monsters |
| Choose an empty wand | No effect; does not reveal its type, and the attempt still costs an action |
| Choose a charged wand | Deducts one charge before any effect or target selection |
| Effect has no target, is resisted, or fails to place a summon | No automatic refund |
| Press Escape while aiming | Already spent the charge; several powers do not safely handle the cancelled coordinates |
Cancel at the item-selection prompt when possible. The targeting prompt advertises Escape, but its callers do not consistently check the result; it must not be treated as a universal safe cancellation. Hiding and disintegration reject invalid coordinates, while several direct-target powers lack that check. Cursed attack and fear wands force the target back to the user after aiming.[11]
Enchantment and recharging
| Method | Result and limitation |
|---|---|
| Noncursed scroll of charging, blessing B | Adds (B + 1) × a random 1–10 charges, then caps the total at 99; does not increase enchantment |
| Cursed charging scroll | Sets charges to zero |
| Successful nonnegative enchantment of strength E | Adds E + 1 enchantment and, if the old charge count is nonnegative, (E + 1) × a random 1–10 charges; no 99-charge cap here |
| Adverse disenchantment | Can set charges to -1 and remove the power; recharging that object does not restore its lost power |
| A beneficial chaos-storm result | Adds ten charges to accessible wands, as part of broader item and character changes; not a dependable service |
An enchantment attempt can instead explode the selected item when its existing enchantment exceeds a random 1–20. At +0 or +1 that check cannot fail; at +2 it has a 5% explosion chance, rising to certainty at +21. The explosion is a manastorm centered on the player, and the item is lost. A normal +0 noncursed enchantment scroll supplies strength 1, so a successful use adds +2 and 2–20 charges. Dedicated charging avoids this enchantment-increase risk.[12]
Blessing is a separate operation. Its usefulness depends on the power: it changes sleep's scope, leaves summoning hostile, and does not increase a firebolt's damage. Strongly cursed objects may resist a blessing or be destroyed by it rather than simply becoming blessed; see the blessing scroll for the thresholds.[13]
Strategy
Keep a useful wand accessible before a dangerous encounter. It can continue working when mana is exhausted, but fear still disables it and charging takes resources. Identify an unknown wand before relying on its target or blessing: healing acts on the user, summoning is hostile, and polymorphing yourself ends the game.
Use dedicated charging when you mainly need more uses. Enchanting most attack wands does not improve their fixed damage, while repeated enchantment raises the explosion risk; healing is a significant exception. Do not tunnel with a valuable charged wand in the weapon hand: a breakage attempt can release a manastorm with strength proportional to charges × item level × 10.[14]
References
- ↑ defs.h in Omega 0.90.4, line 681; defs.h in Omega 0.90.4, line 749; iinit.h in Omega 0.90.4, lines 354–386; command2.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 459–488.
- ↑ iinit.h in Omega 0.90.4, lines 354–386; item.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 7–41; item.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 254–262; aux2.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 503–535.
- ↑ item.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 7–41; item.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 254–262; item.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 517–533.
- ↑ item.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 29–33; util.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 26–31.
- ↑ site1.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 1022–1052; effect1.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 647–705; lev.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 373–394.
- ↑ minit.h in Omega 0.90.4, line 101; minit.h in Omega 0.90.4, line 127; minit.h in Omega 0.90.4, lines 165–171; minit.h in Omega 0.90.4, lines 191–195; minit.h in Omega 0.90.4, line 289; site1.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 845–869; mon.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 134–203.
- ↑ omega.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 436–457; item.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 393–418.
- ↑ itemf3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 94–107; itemf3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 573–748; itemf1.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 16–19; itemf1.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 181–189; inv.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 221–277; inv.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 335–360; command2.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 459–488.
- ↑ command1.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 54–56; command1.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 230–243; command1.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 255–329; command2.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 459–488; inv.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 548–607; time.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 28–38.
- ↑ command2.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 459–488; time.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 28–38.
- ↑ aux1.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 532–558; itemf3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 94–107; itemf3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 593–740; effect3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 177–237; effect3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 375–394; effect3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 547–570; effect3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 827–984.
- ↑ itemf1.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 78–85; itemf1.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 544–565; effect1.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 8–115; aux3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 226–243.
- ↑ effect1.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 118–199; itemf3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 593–605; itemf3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 713–740.
- ↑ command3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 865–897; aux1.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 435–452; effect1.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 358–362.