Wand Special Abilities

Almost all wands do nothing but hold 50 charges of a single spell. Dalrendus Spellfizzle, the gnomish craftsman known for adding amusing quirks to his magic items, referred to wands as "fifty scrolls crammed into a stick." He was fond of creating wands with additional abilities, just to surprise those who expected to see nothing more than another glorified spell-stick. The practice has since spread to other craftsmen. The list below presents new powers that can be added to wands. A given wand can include no more than one such power. The craftsman makes the wand in the usual way, but must also meet the prerequisites listed for the additional ability, and must pay the added cost. Contingent: Wands of this type can be set to cast a spell whenever some condition affects their owner, exactly as if a contingency spell was used. The wand's owner only needs to have the item on his person for the contingency to function. For example, a wand of contingent water breathing could be set to activate whenever the owner became immersed in liquid. When the contingent effect activates, 1 additional charge is drained from the wand, in addition to the charge used by the spell itself. A wand may have only one contingency setting at a time, but this can be changed at will as a standard action simply by giving the wand new commands. Once the contingent spell is cast, the wand's contingency setting is cleared, so that further occurrences of the same conditions don't expend additional charges. The wand's contingency does not preclude the use of a personal contingency spell cast by the owner.