More Tools for 5e: Wandmaker's Tools
Have you ever looked at the spellcasting focuses in the Player's Handbook and thought… just a wand? Harry Potter had a wand that was 11" long, had a holly shaft, and with a phoenix feather core! I want a special wand too!
Well, I’m here to help! I thought it’d be fun to create a set of tools for crafting your wand and adding a bit of flash for a wizard. What boring wizard is going to take over the world with just a simple wooden stick? Why not focus your power through a solid gold wand with the essence of a basilisk and the unrelenting force of a pearl?
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Wandmaker’s Tools
These tools were designed to allow for wandmakers to make special wands that better reflect their alignment and the area of focus of their spells. If they constantly cast fire spells, why not make a wand that augments that? Then again, if they are a lich of horrible power, why not make a statement when you turn all those do-gooders into zombies? Wands should reflect those who wield it, and because not everyone just likes flavor for flavor's sake, if you make one of these wands you can even get a few special abilities with them!
The Parts of a Wand
Looking around the internet, people have a variety of opinions on what makes a wand a wand. Some think you just need a stick, others want a stick with stuff inside, and others want a focusing crystal on the end of the stick and the stick needs some fancy carvings going along the side of it.
Reading over all of it, I decided these wands would have three components in them: the shaft of the wand, the core of the wand, and the focusing crystal. These three components seem like the most important, and two of them, the shaft and the core, are heavily loved by the Harry Potter community, so I had to absolutely include those. The focusing crystal had to be added as I saw a lot of posts from pagan, witch, and other websites explaining you need a crystal to channel your focus, so that felt like a neat thing to include in the wand as well.
The Shaft
The shaft of the wand is the main part that everyone will see and can make a true impact on the visuals. Instead of going into specific details about needing specific swoops or patterns, that will be decided by the crafter and what the individual wants to see. Instead, I provide example materials and their associated costs so that the crafter can determine what they want to use.
Alignment used to be a big thing in D&D, and now it is largely ignored, but I thought I could include a character’s choice in the type of wand they would wield. Inspiration came while I was thinking about the planes and dragons. Platinum and gold dragons are good, so if you wanted to make a wand out of those metals, you would need to be good-aligned. Then again, if you wanted something like adamantine or mithral, you needed to be neutral. For evil, you, of course, have to go with the morbid and obscene and take the bones from one of your victims and fashion it into a wand.
I’m pretty sure Voldemort would’ve been even more terrifying if he was wielding a wand made out of people he killed.
I also gave hit points and armor class to the wand shafts just for the DMs. Most probably won’t ever do anything with that information, but you can occasionally make interesting stories by destroying the equipment of player characters and non-player characters.
The Core
This is another important detail that was inspired by Harry Potter. Everyone knows the main character has a phoenix feather wand and is a major catalyst for the books against… well, spoilers. I also thought this would be a good way to provide a bit of a mechanical crunch for the player who wants a fancy wand but doesn’t see the point in spending a bunch of gold on flavor.
Cores are from magical creatures, and each has different elements that they affect. Taking the feather of a phoenix allows you to empower fire, while the fur of a yeti allows you to empower cold.
When you empower those elements, you can reroll a number of damage dice up to your proficiency modifier and use that second result. This is an ability you can use once a day, though legendary items like from a deity, a demon prince, or the Tarrasque itself might allow you to do it more often per the DM’s discretion.
The idea behind magical creatures providing a bonus to the wand is to allow characters to focus on an element they like and search the world for a suitable creature. DMs and players should work together to come up with suitable monsters for the core of their wands, though I provide a few examples.
The Focusing Crystal
People all around the world claim that crystals have a way of focusing your power and channeling it. Some people use this to help heal, to cast protective spells, and more. In a magical world, I think this idea has a lot of merits and is a great way to add another component to a wand to make it flash more. I also really like the idea of channeling your inner power and unleashing it on your enemies.
Again, we are going to tie the alignment of the characters into the wands they make and have certain gems work with certain alignments. I provide a few examples to help wandmakers get going and provide a price point for each gem based on what they are going to do in the wand.
Every gem has a way for a wielder to channel their raw power into the wand and help them be more effective in battle. As a bonus action, the wielder can expend a spell slot into their wand and gain a bonus to their attack rolls for the next minute. This power allows the wielder to be a terror on the battlefield, though it's limited to 1 or 2 times a day based on the quality and how much they spent on their focusing crystal.
Building the Wand
Because every wand has three components, I decided that you will have to succeed on three checks to build the wands. I couldn’t decide on a single ability score to use for the wand, as everyone uses different abilities to channel their magic, so I ended up using three different abilities based on the component being used.
Dexterity is used for the shaft of the wand, the ability to accurately and carefully carve a wand and its proper shape to channel your power is important.
Intelligence is used for the core of the wand, you must properly align and adjust the core inside of the wand so it can properly channel your power without damaging you or the wand.
Wisdom is used for the wand's crystal. You need to properly set it on the wand, rotating it to the right position so that your power can flow into the wand like it's an extension of your body.
Finishing the Wand
Once you spend the required amount of time for each component and succeed on your check, the wand is finished and is ready to be wielded! A wand can be used freely without attuning to it, though you do not gain the additional powers from its core or its focusing crystal unless you attune to the wand.
These wands are meant to be showcase pieces for wands and a reflection of the owner. In certain parts of the world, you might find a wandmaker willing to produce these wands for extravagant prices, but these are largely designed to be created by the wielder and to allow them to express themselves through their foci.
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