l love the spell "power word kill" and l want to make a magic wand that can cast it without useing a spell slot,(yes l know that haveing a item that can cast a 9th lv spell can be op,which is why l am making this,also lt would likely only become available super late game or in one shots) l was thinking about makeing it need recharge or something,or make it have charges (maybe 20) and once they are gone,they are GONE.
In a quick look at the DMG, wand of polymorph - a 4th level spell is the highest wands go, and it only had 7 charges. A 9th level spell, would be crazy powerful, at least doubling the number of 9th level spells a caster has in a day.
If you want to go for it, I’d suggest creating it as an artifact. Give it a limited number of casts, at which point it disappears. And give it some kind of drawback, so the caster needs to think hard about using it, just spitballing, maybe something like 2 levels of exhaustion or something else to show how taxing it is to use that kind of energy.
Given that it's a pretty powerful ability, regardless of the limitations... maybe something like this (feel free to balance the numbers as you see fit):
This wand grants the user it is attuned to the ability to cast "Power Word Kill" without the use of a spell slot. If a creature takes damage as a result of casting Power Word Kill using this feature, a Feedback Loop occurs.
Feedback Loop:This artifact has 800 hit points. When you hit with Power Word Kill and the target takes damage as a result of this spell, roll a D20. On an 8 or higher, reduce the hit points of the wand by the number of hit points the creature had remaining when this spell was cast. When the hit points of the Wand are reduced to 0, the wand is destroyed. This wand cannot regain hit points by any means. If the result of the D20 roll is between 1-7, the user takes this damage instead of the wand.
This will allow the user a bit of leeway and a bit of high risk high reward on its use. He can use it when the creature is at 99 health, but risks that much damage to himself, and the wand will not stay around long at that rate. However, the user can prolong the wands viability and minimize damage to himself if he waits until the creature is lower on life anyway, but reduces the effectiveness of the spell itself.
Given that it's a pretty powerful ability, regardless of the limitations... maybe something like this (feel free to balance the numbers as you see fit):
This wand grants the user it is attuned to the ability to cast "Power Word Kill" without the use of a spell slot. If a creature takes damage as a result of casting Power Word Kill using this feature, a Feedback Loop occurs.
Feedback Loop:This artifact has 800 hit points. When you hit with Power Word Kill and the target takes damage as a result of this spell, roll a D20. On an 8 or higher, reduce the hit points of the wand by the number of hit points the creature had remaining when this spell was cast. When the hit points of the Wand are reduced to 0, the wand is destroyed. This wand cannot regain hit points by any means. If the result of the D20 roll is between 1-7, the user takes this damage instead of the wand.
This will allow the user a bit of leeway and a bit of high risk high reward on its use. He can use it when the creature is at 99 health, but risks that much damage to himself, and the wand will not stay around long at that rate. However, the user can prolong the wands viability and minimize damage to himself if he waits until the creature is lower on life anyway, but reduces the effectiveness of the spell itself.
Every time the user casts Power Word Kill using the wand, they immediately age 1d20 years. The aging is not reversible by any means.
For every 10 years aged, Str, Dex and Con all permanently reduce by 2 as a result of the aging, whilst Wisdom increases by 1. If the character reaches the maximum age range for their race, they crumble to dust.
Are you wanting to encourage your players to use Power Word Kill since it's usually overlooked? If so, I wouldn't put any drawbacks on the item, though I would design the wand with charges like most wands. And give the wand the 'may crumble' clause too when the last charge is expended.
Whenever the wand is used to kill someone or something a person (NPC / PC / Animal) the user of the wand cares about dies. If the user does not care about anyone, the user himself dies.
I would start slowly (e.g. pets, NPCs) and if they continue to use it, the targets get more close to the PCs (Familiar, Animal Companion) and eventually the PCs themselves.
Reset this "closing in" when the wand is attuned by someone else.
Every time the user casts Power Word Kill using the wand, they immediately age 1d20 years. The aging is not reversible by any means.
For every 10 years aged, Str, Dex and Con all permanently reduce by 2 as a result of the aging, whilst Wisdom increases by 1. If the character reaches the maximum age range for their race, they crumble to dust.
This doesn’t work when you have races that age radically differently — 10 years to an elf is nothing, certainly not enough to change ability scores. Also, as a human in my mid 40’s, I can tell you I haven’t gotten weaker in the past 10 years, I don’t think I’ve really gotten any wiser either, for that matter. There used to be 1e rules for aging that do roughly what you’re suggesting, but they took race into account, and changes didn’t trigger until you were basically a senior citizen for your race.
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l love the spell "power word kill" and l want to make a magic wand that can cast it without useing a spell slot,(yes l know that haveing a item that can cast a 9th lv spell can be op,which is why l am making this,also lt would likely only become available super late game or in one shots) l was thinking about makeing it need recharge or something,or make it have charges (maybe 20) and once they are gone,they are GONE.
what are your thoughts?
In a quick look at the DMG, wand of polymorph - a 4th level spell is the highest wands go, and it only had 7 charges. A 9th level spell, would be crazy powerful, at least doubling the number of 9th level spells a caster has in a day.
If you want to go for it, I’d suggest creating it as an artifact. Give it a limited number of casts, at which point it disappears. And give it some kind of drawback, so the caster needs to think hard about using it, just spitballing, maybe something like 2 levels of exhaustion or something else to show how taxing it is to use that kind of energy.
Given that it's a pretty powerful ability, regardless of the limitations... maybe something like this (feel free to balance the numbers as you see fit):
______________________________________________________________
Artifact Wand (requires Attunement):
This wand grants the user it is attuned to the ability to cast "Power Word Kill" without the use of a spell slot. If a creature takes damage as a result of casting Power Word Kill using this feature, a Feedback Loop occurs.
Feedback Loop:This artifact has 800 hit points. When you hit with Power Word Kill and the target takes damage as a result of this spell, roll a D20. On an 8 or higher, reduce the hit points of the wand by the number of hit points the creature had remaining when this spell was cast. When the hit points of the Wand are reduced to 0, the wand is destroyed. This wand cannot regain hit points by any means. If the result of the D20 roll is between 1-7, the user takes this damage instead of the wand.
___________________________________________________________
This will allow the user a bit of leeway and a bit of high risk high reward on its use. He can use it when the creature is at 99 health, but risks that much damage to himself, and the wand will not stay around long at that rate. However, the user can prolong the wands viability and minimize damage to himself if he waits until the creature is lower on life anyway, but reduces the effectiveness of the spell itself.
l love it! thank you!
I'd set it up same as a ring of wishes. Maybe limit it to 1d4 charges ever, no recharge.
The wand casts power word kill on the user when the last charge is expended. There is no way to know the number of charges.
Every time the user casts Power Word Kill using the wand, they immediately age 1d20 years. The aging is not reversible by any means.
For every 10 years aged, Str, Dex and Con all permanently reduce by 2 as a result of the aging, whilst Wisdom increases by 1. If the character reaches the maximum age range for their race, they crumble to dust.
Are you wanting to encourage your players to use Power Word Kill since it's usually overlooked? If so, I wouldn't put any drawbacks on the item, though I would design the wand with charges like most wands. And give the wand the 'may crumble' clause too when the last charge is expended.
A little less mechanical, but...
A life for a life.
Whenever the wand is used to kill someone or something a person (NPC / PC / Animal) the user of the wand cares about dies. If the user does not care about anyone, the user himself dies.
I would start slowly (e.g. pets, NPCs) and if they continue to use it, the targets get more close to the PCs (Familiar, Animal Companion) and eventually the PCs themselves.
Reset this "closing in" when the wand is attuned by someone else.
This doesn’t work when you have races that age radically differently — 10 years to an elf is nothing, certainly not enough to change ability scores.
Also, as a human in my mid 40’s, I can tell you I haven’t gotten weaker in the past 10 years, I don’t think I’ve really gotten any wiser either, for that matter.
There used to be 1e rules for aging that do roughly what you’re suggesting, but they took race into account, and changes didn’t trigger until you were basically a senior citizen for your race.