Wand Bracers

[Asmodeus451]

ok. so since no one really knew what these did, and it seems that the Devs removed them for fear they would be too powerful, i am posting this here as a suggestion.

The idea is a item that, once acquired, does absolutely nothing until you place a wand into it. this is done at the Stone of Change and works with any loot gen wand in the game. once slotted with a wand, the Bracers gain a clicky of the spell the wand had (i.e. a Wand of Shield would yield a Shield Clicky)

there are 4 versions: lvl5, lvl10, lvl15, and lvl20. each version is Exclusive, for obvious reasons. but you CAN have one of each level.

L5: min lvl5, sets caster level of spell to 5, and has 8/8 charges

L10: min lvl10, sets CL to 10, 5/5 charges

L15: min lvl15, sets CL to 15, 3/3 charges

L20: min lvl20, sets CL to 20, 1/1 charges


as you can see, CL scales up, and charges scale down. i feel this acts as a balancing factor for the item.


as an example: you acquire the L5 bracers, and a wand of Shield you take the Bracers and wand to the stone of Change and combine them. The wand is destroyed, and the Braceers gain 8, 5 minute casts of the Shiled spell.

This would still make them quite powerful, but not game-breakingly so.


Discuss

[Ravoc-DDO]

I'd just train & invest in UMD and use the wands directly.

[Asmodeus451]

I'd just train & invest in UMD and use the wands directly.

the problem with this is that some classes simply CANT achieve a meaningful UMD score

[jjflanigan]

Would you envision that you have to use a "Fresh" wand (i.e. one with max charges) or would you be able to use partial wands to "recharge" your wand bracers?

[sstaten]

I'd assume that, as a clicky, it'd recharge like all of the ones I've seen, Every time you rest.

[Asmodeus451]

I'd assume that, as a clicky, it'd recharge like all of the ones I've seen, Every time you rest.

this.

[Jaid314]

the problem with this is that some classes simply CANT achieve a meaningful UMD score

and those classes are known as "none of the ones that exist right now".

can't achieve a meaningful unbuffed UMD? ok, that i can believe. a fighter will have a very hard time getting respectable UMD when in standard DPS gear.

but buffed?

assume we start with cha 6, or a -2 penalty.

you can then add the following (assuming we don't get into extremely hard-to-obtain gear)

+6 cha (item)
+2 cha (tome)

so we're up to a 14 cha, or +2 modifier, so far (starting from absolute lowest starting cha possible)

add in:

+3 competence bonus (various items, including a fairly-easy cannith crafted persuasion item)
+1 enhancement bonus (the big top)
+3 greensteel (+1/+2 exceptional cha skills: small/mediums are not that hard to get)
+3 dragontouch (if you farm it at all, a +3 cha skills item is not hard).
+4 greater heroism

so no we're already up to a +16 modifier using *very* easy gear to get. now throw in 11 points from the skill, you're already at +27 using what is frankly almost zero investment. no, you won't be throwing reliable heal scrolls, but using a ML: 5 wand to buff is probably well within your reach. if we start to assume a more hefty investment...

+2 luck
+1 cha (from exceptional cha +2 item, obtainable as a trinket from lord of eyes chain)
+2 enhancement to UMD (replace +1 enhancement to UMD with +3)
+2 competence to UMD (replace +3 item with seven-fingered gloves)

and that's +34 to UMD, or enough to use raise dead scrolls fairly reliably and enough to use a very good selection of wands.

if we assume something like a rogue/bard/arti splash, a race with no penalty (or even a bonus) to charisma, a better starting charisma investment (or more gear/enhancement investment in charisma), artificer/rogue past lives, artificer dilletante, etc... it gets even easier to have meaningful UMD scores.

now, it can certainly be something that many people don't *want* to get for their characters. but out of reach? only if they have chosen to specifically not reach for it.

[varsh]

attainable..but feasible? I can't really see any dps focused fighter putting 11 ap into umd..let alone swapping out all gear to use a cure mod wand or something

[Doxmaster]

attainable..but feasible? I can't really see any dps focused fighter putting 11 ap into umd..let alone swapping out all gear to use a cure mod wand or something

It sure is a good thing there are no AP lines that enhance UMD except the generic "+points to skills for humans" one, eh? And that the guy posting above you didn't list any AP lines required for UMD, amirite?

[Jaid314]

attainable..but feasible? I can't really see any dps focused fighter putting 11 ap into umd..let alone swapping out all gear to use a cure mod wand or something

the first portion has already been addressed. the second part...

ummm... nobody is (or at least, nobody should be) planning on using a "turn scroll/wand into clicky" item on a freaking CMW.

it would be good for things like, say, master's touch (for use on two-handed weapons) or shield (if it gets a longer duration, for buffing AC and immunity to magic missile) or FoM or any number of things that would actually be useful in clicky form.

that being said, in between fights the fighter who can wand whip cure ____ wounds will be saving quite a bit of money compared to the one chugging CSW potions. and can even combine the two to recover quicker.