Curious Objects: Wand of Negation

The wand of negation is a fun one for a couple of reasons. 1) It doesn't show up very often (at least in my games), so unusual items can lend themselves to create unusual situations. 2) It is an item specifically designed to counter other items. Like a less powerful rod of cancellation, but more specific in nature (and with more charges). 3) It is one of the few examples of pre-declaring actions in initiative.

The item's description is fairly brief, so here it is from Cook (X50) in its entirety:

"A charge from this wand will cancel the effect of one other wand or staff for one round. The user chooses the wand or staff to be negated and the decision to use it must be announced before rolling initiative."

I suppose this could be read as negating an effect that has already taken place, but that doesn't really make sense. So many effects from wands and the like are instantaneous. How do you negate a fireball that has already gone off? It seems more sensible that the wand would suppress the use of the opposing item for that round, which ties nicely in with the initiative qualifier.

So it is, in effect, a highly specialized dispel magic. A MU or elf with one of these could be a very effective countermeasure to an enemy spellcaster. If you recall from my previously referenced post on initiative, the idea that a caster must pre-declare casting a spell before initiative is rolled. An enemy with higher initiative could attack the caster and "disrupt" the spell before it goes off. Mind you, there is nothing in the rules about pre-declaring using a wand or staff, though.

I wrote the example below as much to show a spellcasting type making themselves useful in a fight without actual casting as I did to show the item itself in action. I find it helps me to make up these sort of in-game situations to visualize how different spells or items might be utilized.

So imagine a scenario where a party which includes an MU who has this wand, but is out of spells for the day encounters a hostile bunch Orcus-worshippers including an chaotic priest wielding a staff of command. 

1st Round: The cleric tries to remove the enemy spellcaster from the board by using the staff on the MU. He makes his save, but can see that the cleric has some bad juju at his disposal and gets the wand ready.

2nd Round: The MU's player pre-declares he is targeting the staff and rolls well for initiative. When the cleric starts to point with the staff at the next foe. FZZT! Charge wasted. The cleric sees what is happening and does not want to waste his precious charges, so he puts up the staff and grabs his unholy symbol. The MU sees this and, since the wand only works vs other wands (or staves), he draws a dagger. Not really playing to his strengths, but it's better than nothing.

3rd Round: The cleric, being an NPC, doesn't "declare" he is casting a spell, but the DM tells the players that the priest is holding up his symbol and starting to chant. The MU beats him on the initiative again and flings his dagger at him. It hits, but only for 1 point of damage. That's enough to disrupt the light spell the cleric was trying in order to blind the MU. By the book, the cleric also loses the spell as if it were cast. By this time the other PCs have smacked down several of the minions and closed with the priest and he's got more on his mind than just the MU now.

Curious Objects: Wand of Metal Detection

This is one of those very simple magic items, but one that has such an atypical power that it makes me wonder what sorts of interesting uses one could put it to. Like most wands, it carries 2d10 charges and is usable only by MU/Elves. It has a very short description as well.

"This item will point towards any mass of metal weighing 1,000 coins or more if within 20'. The user can detect the type of metal."

 I find it a nice touch that this method of detection involves the wand physically pointing in the metal's direction. I suspect that it was originally imagined as tugging in the user's hand, but I like to picture setting on the floor and letting it spin like a compass needle.

Interestingly, the wand has a very limited range. How often is a hundred pounds of metal within half a dozen paces and you can't already see it? This is highly tailored to dungeon crawling, where the treasure may be behind a secret door or a wall or similar.

Lastly, the user knows the type of metal as well. A thousand coin worth of iron or copper? It might not be worth tracking down. Gold or platinum? That's a different story.

The description also describes the detected metals as "a mass." This could be interpreted to exempt things like a scattering of miscellaneous metal objects like rusted weapons lying about a room or even a man in a suit of plate armor with shield and weapons (and maybe 100 gp or so in a pouch to round it off).

It's a pity thieves can't use the wand, it would be a great tool for a cat burglar searching a room for the hidden loot.

Curious Objects: Wand of Enemy Detection

Like all Moldvay Basic wands, it's MU/Elf-only with 1d10 charges. At first glance it's pretty mild stuff but this little magic glow-stick is an odd one. It's not reading alignment, it's reading intentions (like Detect Evil). It will cause "all enemies within 60' (even those hidden or invisible) to glow, as if on fire."

I can think of four situations where this "wimpy" wand would be highly useful beyond "Who here wants to kill me?":

1. You need to quickly identify which combatants are hostile to you in a confusing or crowded situation. Maybe there are traitor soldiers and loyalists all wearing the same uniforms?
2. Invisible foe or foes are about.
3. The lights go out.
4. Prove a negative. "See? He's not glowing! He isn't the assassin!"

The spell doesn't exist in BX, but DMs might even consider a "Faerie Fire" style bonus to hit vs. such well-lit opponents.