New Wizard Move (with inspiration from Backstab and Called Shot):
Use Arcane Device
When you activate an arcane device that you’ve identified, it just works for you. If the device has Charges, you may expend 1 Charge and roll +INT. On a 10+, the device works, and choose 2. On a 7-9, the device works, and choose 1.
* The device immediately regains the Charge you spent.
* The effects are maximized.
* It affects an additional target of your choice.
* You deal the device’s Arcane Power
* You avoid notice or retribution for the activation
A device would look something like this, where it has a standard effect and an additional Arcane Power effect, accessible only to Wizards who expend Charge:
Wand of Disintegrate
b[1d10] damage
2 Piercing, Far, Requires: Thief, Wizard
* Arcane Power: Reduce the target’s armor by 2 until they repair it.
Wand of Fireball
b[1d8] damage
Near, Area, Requires: Thief, Wizard
* Arcane Power: Set the ground ablaze
Your thoughts? This would definitely tend to push most devices towards having some kind of Charges.
It makes for dull magic items. No different from spells.
“Wand of Disintegrate. A thorny, twisted double spiral of black metals, warm to the touch. Point the wand at a thing. Poof! It’s gone. Better hope you don’t miss.”
Hmm, good point! I’m used to games where many wands do simply serve to recreate a spell without relying on the spellcast, but that’s not the OSR way for sure. I’ll have to think about more interesting items.
Adrian Brooks has a good point.
How about using them as a sort of specialized focus? Like using a specific wand changes the spell in some way, and indeed if you aren’t careful who’s to say were the arcana will flow.
I’d say there’s nothing wrong with wands being no different from spells. But I like Kasey Cranfill’s idea as well. Although I think it could be extended in such a way that the wand seems to have a will on its own, similar to the one ring in Lord of the Rings or Stormbringer in the Elric of Melniboné saga.
Maybe one could peek at how Fetishes work in Werewolf: The Forsaken: “Remember, fetishes are not simply “magic items”. They possess a spirit within them – and that spirit has its own goals, personality, and may affect how well the fetish performs.” (description shamelessly borrowed from one of the Camarilla manuals)
This could only affect the narrative side of the move (no maximized effect? -> spirit is unsure/upset about what you are doing, but will go along for now; 1-6 roll? -> spirit is unhappy about what you are doing and refuses to do anything; etc); though I could also see this encoded manually, but that would probably make more sense on an item-per-item basis. On the upside, the item-per-item basis would make it not just A wand of something, but THE wand that hosts the Mischievous Kindling Spirit of the Burning Forest [tm].
PS: I am sorry if I derailed the topic slightly by rambling on about Fetishes and Werewolf: The Forsaken.
PPS: I can, however, elaborate more on the subject of Fetishes and Spirits in the context of Werewolf and/or the World of Darkness, if that is of interest to someone who doesn’t have the books around.