D&D General 5e Wands with finite charges?

[Distracted DM]

Has anyone tried swapping out wands of 5/7/etc regenerating charges for the old 50 charge wands?

I think in the DMG somewhere it does mention "hey do this if you want to." I'm wondering if anyone has, and if so how it's worked and if you've modified anything. Should they still be attunement if they're finite?

 

[pukunui]

Yes, the 2014 DMG has a “wands that don’t recharge” variant rule. I’ve used it before. It’s worked fine.

 

[zottel]

I like giving them out with few charges left, that allows me to sprinkle them more often and maybe a little earlier.
I feel like the limited amount of charges can lead to more interesting choices.
Most of the time I don't require attunement for them, except when they have additional properties.
So far that worked great in my games.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I suspect that it is the healing wands that are the reason things were switched from total charges to "certain number of charges per day" in order to avoid 3E's Cure Light Wounds wand issue. Healing is the main spell effect that a character would conceivably want to blow as many charges as possible as quickly as possible. Most tables won't need to cast more than 7 lightning bolts in a day... but if you own a 1st level Cure Wounds wand with 50 charges... players will happily ping-ping-ping small heals to top everybody off after every fight, thus rendering the Short Rest / hit die mechanic obsolete. 1 Hour short rest to spend hit dice versus 1d8+1 HP every 6 seconds via a wand? We know what most tables would ultimately do. That's what a lot of us did in 3E after all with their magical item crafting system for making cheap 750 GP Cure Light Wound wands (and is one of the reasons D&D evolved into overnight full healing in 4E/5E as that's what tables were already doing in 3E with those wands.)

 

[GrimCo]

I did. Even made magic shop that has wand with "pay per use" and prepaid options. You are dirt poor but need that Cure wounds wand? No problem, Wands Inc got you covered. I use old 3.5 prices for wands, so CW is 750/50 , so it's 15gp+3.75 gp vat + 1.25 lease fee, so nice round 20 gp per use and 10% of wand value as deposit.

It works ok, since it cost's them cash to use, they don't over use them.

 

[Matrix Sorcica]

I use the usage die from various rpg games. Fully charged wands etc. start out with a d20. Each time you use it, roll the usage die, one die per charge. On a 1-2, reduce the usage die by one type. If you roll 1-2 on a d4, the wand crumbles to dust.

 

[Shiroiken]

I generally prefer them that way. The only change is to limit the number of charges that can be spent per use. I typically limit it to the normal maximum charges, but sometimes I limit it to just 1.

 

[pukunui]

I should add that when I use this rule, I go with the suggested maximum of 25 charges for a new wand. Used wands have 1d20 + 5 charges remaining.

 

[Mistwell]

Has anyone tried swapping out wands of 5/7/etc regenerating charges for the old 50 charge wands?

I think in the DMG somewhere it does mention "hey do this if you want to." I'm wondering if anyone has, and if so how it's worked and if you've modified anything. Should they still be attunement if they're finite?

I have concerns about the new spell-charged make-your-own magic items in the 2024 DMG and was thinking a non-regenerating version might be the solution to those concerns.

 

[Distracted DM]

I use the usage die from various rpg games. Fully charged wands etc. start out with a d20. Each time you use it, roll the usage die, one die per charge. On a 1-2, reduce the usage die by one type. If you roll 1-2 on a d4, the wand crumbles to dust.

I like this as well, but it's not easy to pull off on Foundry afaik. Online's where all but one of my games are post-covid :')