Phenomenal Cosmic Power!

My favorite character class has always been the Magic-User/Wizard/Mage. This is a confession which should cause no surprise. The ability to warp space, time, and the very fabric of the universe, even if only in small ways, has always been way cooler than any sword swinger, back stabber, or prayer slinger.

Because of this I’m always on the lookout for things that can make a wizard, especially a low level one, a little more fantastic, and a little less squishy.

Bat of Ancient Vaults created the Staff of the Arcane.  It’s a fairly potent item, yet not wildly powerful. It’s just the sort of thing that you could drop into the hands of a 3rd level wizard.

If you’re worried that it’s too powerful, you could always limit the level of spells stored within it, or cause the use of the knockdown power to use up one of the spellslots (limiting it to 3/day)

In a similar vein as Shields Shall Be Splintered, Telecanter of Telecanter’s Receding Rules suggests the possibility of Wands Shall Be Broken. Now, wands and staffs (in most campaigns) are orders of magnitude rarer than shields, so this is a rule that would see little use, but it could be worth it if it’s an almost certain instant death sort of situation.

Depending on what rules you use to create magic items, the requirements can sometimes be silly. For example, creating a fully charged wand would require casting the same spell 99 times all at the same time. Grognardling had an idea that would address that issue, at least to a certain extent.

Personally I don’t see why item creation can’t take an extended period of time, rather than involving dozens of casters, but his rule idea isn’t a bad one.

Of course not every mage is a paragon of virtue. There is a certain temptation when you can hurl fireballs and raise walls of ice to ignore such trifling concerns as honor or ethics or social norms. It isn’t even entirely an internal temptation, as there are lots of beings (mortal and otherwise) that would be happy to see the spellslinger walk the dark side. The Grimoires of the Pact Insidious are a tool to aid a wizard down that dark path.