How does a character go about making
and recharging magic items in an AD&D®
game campaign? The DMG lays down some general guidelines
for characters to follow, but fails to go into
specifics on the topic -- a potential source
of problems for players and DMs alike.
A review of what the DMG offers is
important. A cleric meditates for fourteen
days, fasts for seven, then spends a day
praying over and purifying-the item to be
enchanted, The cleric then places the item
on an altar and invokes divine favor to
instill it with the requisite magic. The invocation
has a cumulative 1% chance per day
of succeeding. If the item needs charges, the
necessary spells are cast on the item. Finally,
the cleric sanctifies the item, and it is
ready for use.

A magic user casts enchant an item on
the properly prepared raw materials for the
item. This enchantment takes sixteen hours
(2 eight-hour days), at the end of which
time the magic-user pronounces a final
magical syllable. The item must make a
saving throw equal to that of the magicuser,
including all of the magic-user's bonuses
up to +3. If the item saves, the
magic has worked, and the item is ready to
have the necessary charges entered. During
this time, the item may never be placed
more than 1" away from the magic-user,
and it must be touched during all periods of
active enchantment.

For either clerical or magic-user items,
the raw materials must be of the highest
quality. No more than twenty-four hours
may elapse between any actions when enchanting
the item.

Obviously, this is a lot of work. A player
character cleric or magic-user cannot always
afford to spend days and weeks away from
adventuring just to make one staff. A
magic-user or clerical assistant or hireling
could make such items if a suitable arrangement
can be worked out. Creating a magical
item should not be made too easy, to
keep PCs from shovelling them out of their
laboratories by the dozens.

The above procedures leave many questions
unanswered. What basic materials are
needed to make each rod, staff, or wand?
How do you recharge the item ? do you
merely blast a wand of lightning with a
lightning bolt of your own? How does a
DM handle the recharging of an item like a
wand of metal and mineral detection, which
has no corresponding spell for recharging
it? Can the same magical spell be used to
create different magic items? Finally, how
can a DM ensure variety and individuality
among magic items in the campaign?
To answer these questions, it?s best to
start at the point when a character decides
to make a magic item of his own. If the
character is making an item that already
exists in your campaign, your job as DM is
simplified. All you need to do is feed bits
and pieces of information to the character as
his research on how to make the item proceeds.

A magical formula here, half an
ingredient list there -- some or all of the
information may be taken from this article.
After the character has learned the correct
ingredients and procedure, gathered all the
necessities, and gone into seclusion, the
procedure outlined above is followed. The
enchantment is laid, the charges are entered,
and presto! A new magic item is
born.

Nice, but it doesn't always happen that
way. DMs learn never to make anything too
easy and never to give out a lot of correct
information all at once. So, many characters
will begin the enchantments without
knowing the correct rituals or ingredients to
make the item. Some will experiment without
any preliminary research, trusting to
chance and the gods for success.

Most of these characters will fail in their
quests. Some will attain limited success, a
few will succeed, and a few may even end
up with magic items that do unexpected
things, like a wand of magic missiles that
doubles as a duck call. Not all variations on
procedures or ingredients should be disallowed
out of hand, although thoughtless
experimentation should usually lead to
failure or disastrous backfiring.

The use of imperfect rituals and variant
ingredients gives DMs the chance to introduce
unique magical items into the game.
Of course, no magic item should unbalance
the campaign. The power of a magic item
may be curbed by letting adversaries have
saving throws against its power, by limiting
the amount of damage per charge expended,
or by building a percentage chance
of failure into the magic item. Characters
who create unique magical items may risk a
greater chance of having the item turn out
imperfectly, adding considerable uncertainty
and excitement to the campaign. (Is my
wand going to blow up or just turn me into
a frog?)

If a player wishes to introduce a new
magical item into the game, the DM should
lay down some guidelines on how that
character does his initial research. One
interesting possibility is for the player of

that character to do some actual research by
going to the library and learning which type
of wood is said to attract lightning, which
gems cure disease, which metals provide
good luck, etc. A warning: Such research,
even today, is not easy. Aside from a few
histories of medieval England and several
books on herbal lore, information on such
folklore is scarce. Such research should be
entirely optional and, if it is performed, well
rewarded (do not let the player argue down
the cost of making the item as a result,
however). The benefits include a greater
sense of participation by the player, more
realism, and less work for the DM.

The information garnered by such research
can be used to complement or replace
the following material. More
conventional and less taxing methods of
research, such as consulting sages, oracles,
deities, or divine servants, will allow the
DM to use the following listings more or
less as written.

The base chance of finding the proper
procedure for creating a unique item depends
on the money spent. The minimum
cost of such research is 2,000 gp a week,
which produces a base 10% chance of success.
The chance of success increases by
10% every time the amount spent is hiked
by 2,000 gp, up to a maximum chance of
50%; when the cost is 10,000 gp per week.
This money is used to buy tomes, hire
sages, etc. The minimum time spent on
such research equals in weeks the minimum
level a character must be in order to successfully
make the item. A wand of magic
missiles has a preparatory time of twelve
weeks, a staff of the magi has a time of
eighteen weeks, and so forth.

To find the actual chance of success per
week of research, take the base chance, add
1% per level of the character, plus 1% per
intelligence point of the character (if a
magic-user; use wisdom for clerics), minus
twice the minimum required level to make
the rod, staff, or wand. Example: Mae, an
18th-level magic-user, decides to make a
staff of the magi. Her intelligence is 18, and
she spends 2,000 gp per week. Her chance
of success is 10% + 18% + 18% - 36% =
10% per week, non-cumulative, for discovering
the proper materials and procedures
for making the magic item. The usual procedure
would be to have Mae do her initial
research for eighteen weeks, and then roll
the percentile dice. Each time Mae fails to
roll 10% or lower, she must lay out another
2,000 gp and spend another week on research.
If she is successful, she receives the
procedural list, puts the raw materials together
in the prescribed fashion, then proceeds
with the enchantment.

The drawback to the above method is
that it does not allow for variety. An alternate
method would be to have the DM roll
for success each week throughout the initial
preparatory period. Each time the DM rolls
the given percentage or lower, he hands out
some correct information to the player.
Every time the roll of the dice is unsuccessful
by 40% or more, the DM hands out
some inaccurate information. This not only
allows for variety (because the player has no
way of knowing if the information is correct),
it also more accurately parallels a true
research situation, where truth and falsehood
can be easily confused and intermixed.
A kind DM may hand out true
information that contradicts falsehoods
learned earlier. The DM should be sure that
no success is possible before all necessary
facts have been gathered, although the
player should decide when his or her character
has sufficient and correct information.
If the character uses false information to
create a magic item, leading to the use of
the wrong enchantments or materials, then
the DM rolls on the following table to determine
the result of the enchantments.
 

Dice	Result
01-65	Outright failure
66-85	Limited success (the item will hold only five charges, there are harmful side effects with the item's use, or a unique and unwanted kind of magic item was created)
86-98	Success
99-00	Success, and the item has a unique and helpful feature

An indication of failure is just that; the
item will never work as was planned, and
the character must start over. A unique
feature might be an innate ego within the
item, the ability to detect evil 50% of the
time, and so forth. No such unique features
should unduly change the balance of power
in the campaign, and negative features
should be strongly considered. (See the
Malevolent Effects Tables for artifacts and
relics, DMG, pp. 162-163.) A new kind of <(Table III, Table IV)>
magic item could be a different rod, staff, or
wand from the DMG, an item derived from
a previous DRAGON® Magazine article, or
something the DM has prepared for the
occasion. This procedure should never
result in the creation of an artifact or
equally powerful item; the newly created
magic should be limited in its capabilities.
A 10% bonus should be added to rolls on
the above table if the player performed
library research on creating a particular
item. A 5% penalty should be subtracted
for every variation made in item creation
from the standards given below (or those
adopted in a particular campaign).

Methods of magical creation
The following are suggested procedures
for creating the various rods, staves, and

wands listed in the DMG. The DM may
easily craft similar procedures for creating
items introduced in the Unearthed Arcana
book, DRAGON Magazine articles, and
other such sources. The minimum levels
required for a character of a class that can
manufacture these items are given as well.
Dungeon Masters should feel free to alter,
amend, omit, or otherwise use this information
as desired, particularly in the sections
describing command words. In certain
places, the text refers to information that
will have been obtained during the initial
investigation on how to create the item.
Such information includes certain command
words, special spells
the like. It is assumed that
or scrolls, and
the magic-item
maker will have gained such materials
to successfully making an item.
prior
Note that the creation of certain items
may call for spells that are beyond the capabilities
of a spell caster to use at his current
level. The successful use of scrolls, rings of
spell storing, hired spell casters, and so
forth will overcome this handicap, though
the DM may add an increased chance for
the creation procedure to fail or produce a
variant item.
Also note
item cannot
that recharging of a particular
occur during combat, such
that, for example, an enemy magic-user
casting a magic missile at a wizard with a
partially depleted wand of magic missiles
could unintentionally recharge the wand.
The owner of the item must recharge such
items in a relatively stress-free situation,
unless specifically noted below (such as per
the wand of lightning?s recharging procedure,
which could prove hazardous).
Rod of absorption (12th-level cleric, 16thlevel
magic-user): Take a green shoot from
an apple at harvest time. Apple is a lucky
wood, able to store and release magic easily.
Bury it in a cedar crate with a topaz ? the
best stone for absorbing magic ? and the
strongest magic item the maker of the rod
had used in the last year. Clerics must also
include their holy symbol. A limited wish
must be cast now, to create a magical connection
between the items in the crate.
After one month, the topaz turns to dust
and the magic item is ruined, but the rod is
ready to be enchanted. If the rod takes the
enchantment (see above for the process),
then a second spell included in the instructions
is read. The vellum on which the
second spell was contained will burst into
flames. The rod is run through the flames,
and the command word appears on the rod.
It is now ready for use.
Rod of beguiling (10th-level cleric, 12thlevel
magic-user): The instructions for this
rod are divided between two different
scrolls, which the character will locate if all
instructions for making this item are found.
If the spell on the second scroll is cast too
soon, the maker is
humanoid seen for
beguiled so
one month
that every
will be considered
a ?best friend? to be given money,
aid, and much advice. The first scroll instructs
the maker to find an isolated ash

tree; ash is known for its charm potential.
Cut one branch from the morning side of
the tree and another branch from the evening
side. Thus, opposing energies are
symbolically joined so that the rod will join
opposing wills to the wielder?s own. Bind
the two branches together, then give them
to a nereid to hold underwater for one year.
Next, bake the rod in a mud oven built for
this sole purpose. Enchant the rod. Read
the second scroll, on which a beguile spell
and the command word are written. As long
as the beguile spell is used solely for the
purpose of charging the rod, the spell will
vanish from the scroll in the typical fashion
as it is cast, but will reappear whenever a
certain rare incense is burned underneath
it. The incense can be purchased for 1,000
gp. If the beguile spell is used in any other
fashion, it will rebound upon the caster in
the manner previously described. Note:
Beguile, if cast in combat, will function as a
mass charm spell with a one-turn duration.
Rod of cancellation (12th-level cleric,
16th-level magic-user): Take a thigh bone
from an enchanter who died of old age.
Shatter the bone so that one end reveals a
hollow marrow. Place a black sapphire,
known for its power to drink magic, into the
hollow, and bind it in place using wire that
once grounded a lightning rod. Take the rod
to a high place, and stand it upright with
the sapphire to the sky. Read aloud the spell
(included in the instructions) during a thunderstorm;
a lightning bolt will strike the
rod. The bone must save vs. lightning at -2
or shatter. If the bone saves, the rod is
empowered, and the command phrase
glows inside the sapphire.
Rod of lordly might: Legend claims these
items are made only by servants of a god of
weaponry in their spare time. If such a rod
is tracked down, however, it might have the
following variations: is missing one or more
aspects of a normal rod of lordly might; has
only the flaming sword as a weapon, but
with a fountain of cool water which can be
made to jet out the other end (as per the
decanter of endless water); has no weaponry,
but casts a hypnotic pattern when
twirled, acts as a shield +3 when raised,
and detects magic and enemies.
Rod of resurrection (16th-level cleric):
Take a 3? branch from a tree of goodness,
the rowan, under the care of a treant. Carve
the thicker end into the form of a humanoid,
adding jet eyes and ruby lips. Bind an
amethyst, the only true stone of resurrection,
over the slender end of the rod. Place
a mandrake root over the amethyst for
magical power, bind it with a cloth soaked
in the maker?s own blood, and wrap the
cloth with silver wire. The ceremony to
enchant the rod must use special robes and
incense, as well as a building erected for the
ceremony. The outlay must reach 100,000
gp. At the end of the ceremony, the command
word will issue forth once from the
mandrake, which shows the rod is activated
and fully charged.
Rod of rulership (10th-level cleric, 12thlevel
magic-user): Take the crown of a king,

and have it reworked into a cylindrical
shape. Give it to a succubus for one month,
then take it back, being careful not to hurt
the demon. This gives the rod the necessary
association with magics of fealty and charming.
Enchant the rod, then read the spell
that will be found in the instructions. The
rod is fully charged, and its command word
is the name of the kingdom the king ruled.
Optionally, the rod will affect 1/10 the number
of hit dice of creatures that the king
ruled over.
Rod of smiting (12th-level cleric): Trace
one?s clerical symbol on a tome for the
making of a golem, and place the rod
thereon. During the next month, petition
the deity twice a day that the rod be enchanted.
The rest of each day must be spent
fasting and meditating. (Nourishment may
be taken after the sun has set). Proceed with
the usual enchantment process, but at the
end, when the item is on the altar (still atop
the tome) and divine favor is visited upon
the rod, the tome must save as a book vs.
fireball. If it saves, the rod vanishes, then
pops out of the tome when it is opened. The
tome is undamaged. Otherwise, the tome
burns and the cleric must retrieve the rod
from the flames, bringing 3-30 points of
damage upon himself (no save). The command
word is the name of the first fighter
that the cleric ever met.
Staff of command (10th-level cleric):
Engrave the entire contents of the most
popular speech of a successful politician
around the trunk of an ash tree no more
than 6? in height, and no less than 5?.
When the tree dies, lop it down with one
blow (giant strength use permitted), then
boil it in an ointment made of chicory,
hound?s-tongue (the plant, not the animal),
and the hide of a spirit naga. All three
ingredients add to the ability of the staff to
command obedience. Enchant the staff.
Add charges by praying over the staff, one
charge per prayer The command phrase is
the first three words of the speech.
Staff of curing (16th-level cleric): Take a
branch from a rowan that stands in a holy
place (like the temple grounds). Carve a
holy symbol into a ginseng root that has
naturally grown in the shape of a man (this
is the greatest root of healing). Begin the
enchantment process. When it comes time
to place the staff on the altar, lay the ginseng
root at the tip of the staff. When divine
favor has been successfully invoked, the
root and staff will be seen to have joined
magically,
nal rowan
assuming the shape of the origibranch
(about 5? long) with the
texture of the ginseng root. The command
word is the name of the cleric?s deity. One
charge is added to the staff for each-week of
non-adventuring meditation the cleric performs.
This meditation must be done in a
secluded area, with precious incense burni
n g c o n s t a n t l y .
Staff of the magi (1 &h-level magic-user):
Take a 6? shaft of the wood of all great
magics, oak. At the thick end, place a butt
of applewood, the wood of gentleness. At
the other end, a splinter of blackthorn, the

wood of aggression. Join the pieces with a
limited wish. Rub the staff with a page from
the spell book of a living wizard, but not
one?s own book. Soak the staff in an ointment
of ground quartz and bloodstone, for
the abjurative and elemental energies of the
staff, and drip in the juices of mandrake
and henbane. These last two dangerous
herbs boost magical ability. Leave the staff
in the ointment for six months. In the
meantime, obtain small amounts of yeti fur
never touched by another humanoid and
metal heated by a hell hound?s flame. Place
the metal and fur next to the staff, wrap it
up with poplar bark (for the alteration
energies), and bind together with the web of
a giant spider. Wish into one unit. Enchant
the staff. Absorption is the only way this
staff can be charged or recharged; at least
one charge must be added in the first
twenty-four hours. The command word is
the name of the wizard from whom the spell
book page was taken.
Staff of power (18th-level magic-user):
Oak is used for the staves that shoot lightning
bolts; baywood, for the others. Oak is
associated with lightning and is a more
powerful wood, but bay is more adaptable.
Stone shape two pieces of obsidian, the
stone of the gods, into rings that fit around
the 5? length of wood at each end. Etch a
mace into the obsidian at one end, a shield
into the obsidian at the other. Place a protective
star sapphire into a jeweled band
around the center of the staff. Sprinkle
basil, an herb of light and darkness, over
the staff, then cover with the skin of a powerful
magic-using creature (such as a ki-rin
or red dragon) and enchant the staff. Wish
the staff and a scroll bearing the appropriate
spells (check the DMG) into one unit. One
side effect of the wish is that the staff will
take on a smooth, silvery appearance, as if
the staff were shod in metal. Add charges
by casting a friends spell on the staff, while
a helpmate slaps it against a subdued
dragon (one charge per spell). The command
word is the name of the creature
whose skin covers the staff.
Staff of the serpent (10th-level cleric):
Enter a swamp wherein lives a mist dragon.
Into a hummock of the swamp, away from
sight of solid ground, bury a swatch of
snakeweed with a sprig of clove as a catalyzing
agent. Call out a prayer. Within an
hour, snakes will leap from the spot. Some
will be red (adders) and some green (constrictors).
Catch one. (Note: The snake will
fight back.) Turn it into a staff with a snakes
to sticks spell. Enchant the staff in the normal
fashion. The command phrase will
come in a dream on the night after the staff
is sanctified.

Staff of striking (10th-level cleric): Take a
6' length of ironwood, the wood of fighters.
Bless the staff in a week-long ceremony. <ceremony: consecrate item might be used instead>
During this time, there is a 5% chance that
a malign spirit will enter the staff, which
will then cause the item to act as do bracers
of defenselessness when it is used, although
its normal functions will not be impaired.
After the blessing, bathe the staff in the
juice of the plant of courage, the marigold.
Enchant the staff. Charges are entered with
each day of fasting && meditation thereafter,
one charge per day; the command word
must be chanted continuously by acolytes
during this time. The command word is the
last half of the deity's name.

Staff of withering (16th-level cleric): Cut
a 5? shaft of elder-wood, the wood of evil,
from a place near the lair of an abhorrent
creature at midnight. Carve one?s holy
symbol into the handle, an act which has a
5% chance of calling a servant from the
ranks of one?s deity?s enemies to attack the
cleric. Bind a garland of betony, which
enhances withering, to the staff. Then
enchant the staff while it rests in a gold
coffer filled with (un)holy water. Add
charges by casting one wither spell per day
onto the betony garland for fifty successive
days. Each spell adds a charge. The command
phrase is the verbal component of the
wither spell.
Wand of conjuration (14th-level magicuser):
Smear brimstone over a 2? length of
the magical medlar wood. Light the brimstone,
then plunge it flaming into a vat
containing the blood of all the creatures the
wand will summon. Enchant the wand. Call
an unseen servant and magic jar it into the
wand. Using limited wish, enter two scrolls
into the wand ? one bearing all the
monster-summoning spells (I-VII), the
other continual darkness and prismatic
sphere. The command word will be found
in the instructions. Add charges by magic
jarring more unseen servants into the wand,
one charge per servant.
Wand of enemy detection (10th-level
cleric, 12th-level magic-user): Bind sard,
alexandrite, ruby, and sapphire stones
around a hazelwood shaft no more than 2?
in length. This gives a good variety of perceptive
abilities to the wand. Plunge the
wand into a vat of rakshasa blood. Pull it
out and dry over a cedarwood fire. Enchant
the wand. Add charges by reading friends
or know alignment spells from a scroll, one
charge per spell. The command word is the
name of the first person who ever beat up or
teased the maker of the wand as a child.
Wand of fear (10th-level cleric, 12th-level
magic-user): Using the same methods as to
enchant a rod, staff, or wand, the cleric or
magic-user enchants a fresh mandrake root.
Then, the root is planted near a manticore?s
lair. After five seasons, harvest the mandrake
patch that results. Take a branch
from an aspen in the exact middle of a large
forest ? aspens reveal their connection to
fear in their trembling voices. Slice the tip
of the wand, then enchant it as well. Over
the slice, set a mandrake. Cast a fear spell
?at the mandrake, which will save as a 5thlevel
fighter. Any mandrake that fails to
save oozes into the slit and gives the wand
one charge. The command words are the
verbal component of the fear spell.
Wand of fire (14th-level magic-user):
Take a branch from a hundred-year-old
oak. Pour the still-hot blood of a firebreathing
creature over the wand. Set a fire

opal in a red dragon?s claw (blood and claw
cannot come from the same creature) and
affix the claw to the slender end of the 1?
wand. Carve the command word ? the
personal name of the dragon whose claw
adorns the wand ? into the wood. Enscroll
the spells to be entered, enchant the wand,
and join scroll and wand with a limited
wish. Charge the wand by casting firerelated
spells of at least 3rd level on the
opal, one charge per spell. 1% of such spells
will backfire, possibly destroying the wand
and harming the spell caster.
Wand of frost (14th-level magic-user):
Gather the thigh bone of a yeti, and cover
with the esophagus of a white dragon. Bind
these together with rings of clear quartz.
Pour holy water over the wand, and freeze
with these successive spells: cone of cold,
wall of ice and ice storm. Enchant the
wand, and add charges by pronouncing the
personal name of the slain dragon while an
assistant casts cone of cold spells on the
wand. The command word must be found
with a limited wish.
Wand of illumination (10th-level cleric,
12th-level magic-user): Cut a 2? bough
from a living holly, and tip it with a cap of
sterling silver ? the wood and metal beloved
of creatures of light. Carve the symbol
of a god of light into the wand?s thick end.
Place a continual light spell on a scroll (as a
spell, not so it illuminates the scroll), enchant
the wand, then burn the scroll under
the wand. Add charges by casting continual
light spells, one per charge, onto the god?s
symbol (which will absorb them). The
command word is the god?s name.
Wand of illusion (12th-level magic-user):
Take the lowest branch of a poplar that
grows in the garden of an illusionist. Mash
jimson weed, plant of the illusory, and cake
it over the wand. Bind two of the stones of
dual aspect, alexandrite, to the wand (one
on each end). Cover with the hide of a
lesser devil. Enchant the wand. Add charges
by casting phantasmal force spells in such a
way that both alexandrites are affected by
the spell at once. The command word is the
maker?s own name spoken backwards.
Wand of lightning (12th-level magicuser):
During a thunderstorm, gather a
piece of wood splintered from an oak by
lightning. Before the rain stops, attach an
amber tip to one end of the splinter (amber
is associated with lightning in many old
texts). Fashion a handle for the other end,
using neutral laurel wood, attaching it with
copper wire. Enchant the wand. Go to a
swamp, corner a will-o-wisp, and throw the
wand through it (any hit passes through the
creature). The wand is then fully charged
and may be completely recharged in the
same manner. The command word is in the
instructions the maker originally found, but
is unintelligible until the wand is activated.
Wand of magic detection (10th-level
cleric, 12th-level magic-user): Hollow out
one end of a 2? length of myrtle, a wood
sympathetic to magic. Cover with a slip of
cedarwood that extends 3? beyond the
hollow end. This will dampen out all magical

magical
energies coming from directions other
than the direction pointed. Place a pearl in
the hollow, and seal it in place using pine
sap. Enchant the wand. Cast detect magic
spells upon the pearl, one charge per spell.
The command word is the first word of the
most holy text in the land that the maker
inhabits.
Wand of magic missiles (10th-level magicuser):
Take amber from a place with a
dismal, rainy climate, then a sprig of stinging
nettle from a place with a wonderful,
sunny climate. Carry them together in a
cedar casket on a journey of not less than
500 days. Carve a niche in a 2? length of
blackthorn, and place it in the nettle and
amber. Using magical means, warp the
blackthorn so that the nettle and amber are
trapped inside the wood, thus joining three
very aggressive ingredients. Enchant the
wand. Join a scroll bearing a magic missile
spell to the wand, using a limited wish.
Carve the command word listed in the
instructions into the handle of the wand.
Cast magic missile spells to charge, one
charge per spell. Each missile should spiral
around the wand and strike it on the engraved
command word.
Wand of metal and mineral detection
(10th-level cleric, 12th-level magic-user):
Cut the highest branch of a hazel tree on
the first night of harvest time. (Hazel is
good for any divinatory magic.) Let the
branch fall from the tree and be caught by a
fat thief before it hits the ground. Let the

thief take one end, the maker the other, and
the two bend the wood double. The maker
pinches the branch at the bend until it snaps
off, leaving at least a 2? section left. He or
she then takes that section underground,
near a pile of metals and minerals worth
50,000 gp. Enchant the wand. Cast the spell
of empowerment found in the instructions.
(This spell cannot be used for any other
purpose; it takes one turn to cast and has
verbal components only.) The pile of metal
will vanish, and the wand will be fully
charged. It can be recharged by casting the
same spell, at the rate of one charge gained
for every 1,000 gp of metal piled up. The
command word is the name of the thiefs
grandmother.
Wand of negation (12th-level cleric, 14thlevel
magic-user): Break off the last living
branch of a dying peach tree. (Anti-magical
agents are found in peach.) Preserve the
branch in a mixture of snake oil and a
potion of longevity Drink the mixture over
one week. (No anti-aging effects will be
felt). Cover the wand with a cloth woven
from the fur of any magic-resistant creature
and bind the cloth with gold bands that
have smoky quartz gems inset. Smoky
quartz is famed for its ability to capture
energies. Enchant the wand. Add charges
by casting dispel magic spells on the cloth,
which still retains some of its magic resistance
from the creature; charging may go a
bit slowly. The command word is found in
the instructions.

Wand of paralyzation (14th-level magicuser):
Find a magical mirror of any sort
which no longer has its magical properties.
Shatter it at a time of ill omen. Choose a
shard, and hammer it into one end of a
rotting branch of elderwood no longer than
2?. Disintegrate all other pieces of the mirror.
Pour essence of ghoul over the wand.
Enchant the wand. Charges are entered by
bathing the wand in an ointment made of
extract of Portuguese man-o-war. The wand
must soak in the ointment one week for
every charge entered. Due to evaporation, a
1 HD portuguese man-o-war will be sufficient
for only one bath (one charge).
Wand of polymorphing (12th-level magicuser):
Take a root from a beech tree, the
tree of multiple aspect. Bind a bit of amber
with an insect occluded inside it to the
slender end of the 2? wand. Carve the name
of the insect into the amber. Enchant the
wand, and charge with polymorph spells
cast on the beech tree from which the wand
came, one charge/spell. No illusory spell
will function within 10? of that beech until
the wand is ruined. The command word
must be a rhyme including the name of the
insect occluded in the amber and of the
creature to which the user intends the transformation.
For instance, ?Grasshopper to
Atlantis, make him a mantis!?
Wand of secret door and trap location
(10th-level cleric, 12th-level magic-user):
Take a 1? length of ivory. Scribe into it the
verbal component of a true seeing spell or a

limited wish specially worded so that secret
doors and traps will appear upon use of the
command word. The command word is in
the instructions. Enchant the wand.
Charges are added by holding aloft a lantern
which has a six-sided star etched into
its glass. Inside the lantern is placed a gemstone
worth 100 gp. The wand is held in the
other hand, and the spell read off the wand.
At the end of the spell, light blazes from the
lantern, the diamond vanishes, and a
charge is entered.

Wand of wonder: This wand is always
made unintentionally. There is a 10%
chance of a wand of wonder resulting if
either of the following fail to save against
enchant an item: a wand of conjuration or a
wand of illusion. 20% of such wands are
active only for their maker, being worthless
to anyone else. The reverse applies to the
other 80% of wands of this sort.

Final notes
Clerics cannot read instructions aimed for
magic-users, nor magic-users those aimed
for clerics. Tools used in making magic
items must be of the highest quality and
made solely for this task. Substitutions
should create the possibility of the rod, staff,
or wand malfunctioning, perhaps a 5% per
substitute. Generally, gold or silver wire
may be used to attach the separate parts of
these magic items ? unless, of course, in
your campaign only demon ichor is a
proper binding agent.
 

THE FORUM
Charging may not be cheap, but it is certainly 
a better alternative than trying to accomplish th e
involved rituals for the creation of a magickal item 
from scratch.  Besides, who has Time to WAIT for a 
lightning bolt to strike an oak tree and splinter 
the beginnings ov a wand of lightning?  Or who is 
willing to give, and then take back, an incomplete 
rod of rulership to a succubus?  My characters 
aren't.  They have all they can handle trying to 
run their petty governments, keep Food on the 
table, protect themselves, and still have Time for 
adventuring into what little unknown remains. 

Peter Johnson?s article, ?Charging isn?t
cheap,? does give some excellent and detailed
material concerning the ritual and procedure for
the creation of magical items, taking up where
the DMG left off. But it does not entirely address
the true subject of the article, namely the charging
and recharging of magical items.

Recharging of some magical items is, by definition,
straightforward ?I cite the staff of the magi
and the rod of absorption as examples. The
DMG lists the method of recharging these valuable
items. But for items of less renown, such as
the wand of secret door and trap detection and
the staff of command, what does one do to recharge
these items?

I suggest a simple means of handling this
problem. First, whenever a magical item is
manufactured, the creator instills in it a command
that allows magical energy to flow into it.
Then, whenever it becomes necessary for the user
to recharge the device, he can cast a special spell
over it that transfers a regulated amount of
magical energy into the item. The spell to which I
refer would have to be added to the lists of clerical
and magic-user spells: call it recharge an item.
Since it does not have the power of an enchant an
item spell, but is related to it, it would be a 5thlevel
magic-user or clerical spell.

The user of the device would construct a protective
circle, stand within it, and cast the spell
over the item. Just as with any other spell, a
small opening to the Positive Material Plane
opens, but instead of the energy continuing
through to the Negative Material Plane, guided
by the spell caster?s energy and mind, it is locked
into the magical device. Optionally, a DM may
allow more than one unit of energy to be stored
in the device, depending on the level of the spell
caster. Say that one ?charge? may be stored at
9th level, and an additional ?charge? per three or
four levels above that.

Thus, a solution to the problem of creating a
new item from scratch and the ambiguous reference
to the recharging of magical devices is
found. Although recharging may seem quite easy,
and therefore unattractive to DMs who like to
make their players work for their magic, recharging
is only slightly less difficult in actuality.
Unless the magical item was created by the user,
one must discover the secret word that will activate
the energy absorbing option, learn a highlevel
spell, create a magical circle of protection,
and then properly cast the spell. To further complicate
the result, one might include a base failure
factor in the spell recharge an item, so that the
spell caster will not be assured of charging the
item every time.

I believe that this a good option to include in a 
Game, since it is always easier to replenish an
item already in one's possession than to make one 
from scratch.  In a normal Game, if I may consider 
the games I participate in "normal," one 
has little chance to make an item, but has many 
opportunities to capture, TAKE, or find magickal 
items already working.  Doesn't it make more 
sense to spend one's Time researching to find the d
ENERGY recharging words and learning a recharging 
spell, than to waste one's Life creating 1 
magickal device? 
    Richard W. Emerich 
    New Canaan, Ct. 
    (Dragon #104)