06-03-2014, 09:06 PM
Note:
This is intended to be a guide on the use of wands in Roleplay, derived from the scant information on these items, combined with deductive reasoning and the broader nerd culture surrounding these magic pixie sticks. This is ultimately "fanon," but I do hope that this is agreeable enough to the CotH community to be used as a basis for wand enthusiasts ICly.
What is a wand?
According to the sorts of "wands" available in game, a wand can be any type of one-handed, small rodlike object enchanted to cast a specific spell upon use. Like many other WoW equips, these can occasionally have an on use or random proc ability beyond the individual spell, typically a magic projectile. But again, like other WoW equipment enchants, these should be taken with a grain of salt ICly. The type of magic that results from wands seems to be of almost any sort, from arcane to divine and even physical
Wands have a magic source all their own, as their use does not draw upon the user's mana pool, though it seems pretty normal ICly to accept that at least some wands can be used as a magical "focus," akin to staves, knives, etc. Clothie casters, like mages, warlocks and priests can use wands, and as Cappn' points out, this is likely due to cultural exposure- shammies and Druids, though also caster classes, are primarily modeled after non-arcane cultures and thus would likely not be exposed to it. Shaman could also be seen as having an alternative in their totems.
As for the material, like I said, it seems like pretty much anything rodlike can be a wand- branches, small knives, torches, crystals, elaborate skeletal fetishes, severed arms... Along with the more typical star-tipped devices or elaborate wooden sticks.
Warcraft lore never really goes into much detail on their creation, but I'd say it's safe to say that they would likely have a similar origin to other magical weapons and devices: Enchantments, runes, modified existing sources of power and divine blessings.
Enchantments and runes are your typical mage fare- one tapping into a typical arcane spell, the other using symbols that evoke the natural arcane present in the world. I'd say it would be pretty safe to assume that the former would work a lot like general enchanting based professions. The latter runes would Likely be a more eclectic form of wand use and possibly require an understanding of runes and/or general ley magic to activate.
The modification of existing sources of power is one I can more surmise from wow lore than can show many solid examples of. There are many artifacts of power in WC lore as a whole, most of which are used to augment people's existing power. A wand, however, would be the channeling of the magical power of, say, a magical severed drake head into a specific spell that is released upon the magical trigger. There are many sources of magic in WArcraft that if channeled in this manner, would be believable, not OP, and could make a pretty interesting character story. This would likely be the main explanation for when wands do nature or physical damage, save for the last supposed method of creation: divine blessings.
Divine magic is a broad topic, but encompasses shaman magic, priest magic, Druid magic, troll loa mysticism and other sorts of faith-based stuff. Some of the concepts of wand generation on this topic are pretty straightforward: some loa or elemental or other great source of power goes, "You're a cool dude, playername, here's a stick imbued with a bit of my power." This scenario applies to many magical items and weapons, but wands can be created in this manner. Other methods of divine magic can involve similar methods to non-entity powers "blessing" items to create wands, such as various ways many holy paladin stuff comes into being, through wishes, rites and miracles. (it's important to note that these are relatively rare in-game compared to arcane-based wands)
The last sort of divine-based "wand" is one that's actually pretty darn cool, and could be part of the justification behind priests getting wands at all- fetishes. (Not sexual kinks, mind you, though they can get a bit phallic at times) Think voodoo. A religious fetish or idol in real human cultures are items believed to possess or evoke their own magic power. In Warcraft, the creation of items of particular power through divine ritual and alchemy is a major feature in Troll magic in general. The Death Rattle, though it's details are mostly derived from the RPG, is an item explicitly created by a voodoo priest to evoke a specific spell, independently of the user's mana pool. This itself is a nice segue into my next topic:
What do wands do?
The short answer: cast a spell for a dude. The long answer depends on interpretation of what a wand is. It's established that a wand is a handheld item that can cast a spell independently of the user's own magic, though the wands we see in-game are exclusively magic weapons that go "pew." I, personally consider this ultimately a game mechanic- wands are used as a magical analogue to a basic ranged "shoot" ability, and making a wand anything other than such deprives a player from their backup weapon upon Ooming.
To me, just like any other enchanted item, a wand should be able to have more varied enchantments to them, even if we don't see them in-game. There's likely a wand of beard-trimming, or a wand of levitation, or a fishing wand with magic fishing line. One could potentially interpret certain swords as wands with a magical blade enchantment.
You know which ones I'm talking about.
This then leads me to a major point I'd like to make: Don't overdo it. there honestly isn't a ton of lore behind wands, and it's really tempting to get really creative with what's essentially an infinite-cast spell with no mana cost. However, the very fact that wands are so obscure in WoW lore, combined with its general ubiquity in a caster's arsenal strongly suggests that wands are humble. They are a chance for a varied magical toolset, yes, but not necessarily for an inherently powerful one.
This all being said, if we take the game's word for wands being the magical parallel to physical projectiles, then a wand-based Mage/warlock variant seems reasonable enough. All wand users can use all other wand-types; a Mage could wield a nature based wand, just as a warlock could technically use a blessed artifact one. It's also important to note that wands, like very few other weapon types in WoW, are small, one handed and easy to conceal. One could have a dozen wands in the space of a single quiver of arrows.
I hope this gives you some more ideas for enjoying your caster characters. If you have any amendments, ideas or other comments on the topic of wands in WoW RP or lore, feel free to speak up.
Also, thanks Rob.
This is intended to be a guide on the use of wands in Roleplay, derived from the scant information on these items, combined with deductive reasoning and the broader nerd culture surrounding these magic pixie sticks. This is ultimately "fanon," but I do hope that this is agreeable enough to the CotH community to be used as a basis for wand enthusiasts ICly.
What is a wand?
According to the sorts of "wands" available in game, a wand can be any type of one-handed, small rodlike object enchanted to cast a specific spell upon use. Like many other WoW equips, these can occasionally have an on use or random proc ability beyond the individual spell, typically a magic projectile. But again, like other WoW equipment enchants, these should be taken with a grain of salt ICly. The type of magic that results from wands seems to be of almost any sort, from arcane to divine and even physical
Wands have a magic source all their own, as their use does not draw upon the user's mana pool, though it seems pretty normal ICly to accept that at least some wands can be used as a magical "focus," akin to staves, knives, etc. Clothie casters, like mages, warlocks and priests can use wands, and as Cappn' points out, this is likely due to cultural exposure- shammies and Druids, though also caster classes, are primarily modeled after non-arcane cultures and thus would likely not be exposed to it. Shaman could also be seen as having an alternative in their totems.
As for the material, like I said, it seems like pretty much anything rodlike can be a wand- branches, small knives, torches, crystals, elaborate skeletal fetishes, severed arms... Along with the more typical star-tipped devices or elaborate wooden sticks.
Warcraft lore never really goes into much detail on their creation, but I'd say it's safe to say that they would likely have a similar origin to other magical weapons and devices: Enchantments, runes, modified existing sources of power and divine blessings.
Enchantments and runes are your typical mage fare- one tapping into a typical arcane spell, the other using symbols that evoke the natural arcane present in the world. I'd say it would be pretty safe to assume that the former would work a lot like general enchanting based professions. The latter runes would Likely be a more eclectic form of wand use and possibly require an understanding of runes and/or general ley magic to activate.
The modification of existing sources of power is one I can more surmise from wow lore than can show many solid examples of. There are many artifacts of power in WC lore as a whole, most of which are used to augment people's existing power. A wand, however, would be the channeling of the magical power of, say, a magical severed drake head into a specific spell that is released upon the magical trigger. There are many sources of magic in WArcraft that if channeled in this manner, would be believable, not OP, and could make a pretty interesting character story. This would likely be the main explanation for when wands do nature or physical damage, save for the last supposed method of creation: divine blessings.
Divine magic is a broad topic, but encompasses shaman magic, priest magic, Druid magic, troll loa mysticism and other sorts of faith-based stuff. Some of the concepts of wand generation on this topic are pretty straightforward: some loa or elemental or other great source of power goes, "You're a cool dude, playername, here's a stick imbued with a bit of my power." This scenario applies to many magical items and weapons, but wands can be created in this manner. Other methods of divine magic can involve similar methods to non-entity powers "blessing" items to create wands, such as various ways many holy paladin stuff comes into being, through wishes, rites and miracles. (it's important to note that these are relatively rare in-game compared to arcane-based wands)
The last sort of divine-based "wand" is one that's actually pretty darn cool, and could be part of the justification behind priests getting wands at all- fetishes. (Not sexual kinks, mind you, though they can get a bit phallic at times) Think voodoo. A religious fetish or idol in real human cultures are items believed to possess or evoke their own magic power. In Warcraft, the creation of items of particular power through divine ritual and alchemy is a major feature in Troll magic in general. The Death Rattle, though it's details are mostly derived from the RPG, is an item explicitly created by a voodoo priest to evoke a specific spell, independently of the user's mana pool. This itself is a nice segue into my next topic:
What do wands do?
The short answer: cast a spell for a dude. The long answer depends on interpretation of what a wand is. It's established that a wand is a handheld item that can cast a spell independently of the user's own magic, though the wands we see in-game are exclusively magic weapons that go "pew." I, personally consider this ultimately a game mechanic- wands are used as a magical analogue to a basic ranged "shoot" ability, and making a wand anything other than such deprives a player from their backup weapon upon Ooming.
To me, just like any other enchanted item, a wand should be able to have more varied enchantments to them, even if we don't see them in-game. There's likely a wand of beard-trimming, or a wand of levitation, or a fishing wand with magic fishing line. One could potentially interpret certain swords as wands with a magical blade enchantment.
You know which ones I'm talking about.
This then leads me to a major point I'd like to make: Don't overdo it. there honestly isn't a ton of lore behind wands, and it's really tempting to get really creative with what's essentially an infinite-cast spell with no mana cost. However, the very fact that wands are so obscure in WoW lore, combined with its general ubiquity in a caster's arsenal strongly suggests that wands are humble. They are a chance for a varied magical toolset, yes, but not necessarily for an inherently powerful one.
This all being said, if we take the game's word for wands being the magical parallel to physical projectiles, then a wand-based Mage/warlock variant seems reasonable enough. All wand users can use all other wand-types; a Mage could wield a nature based wand, just as a warlock could technically use a blessed artifact one. It's also important to note that wands, like very few other weapon types in WoW, are small, one handed and easy to conceal. One could have a dozen wands in the space of a single quiver of arrows.
I hope this gives you some more ideas for enjoying your caster characters. If you have any amendments, ideas or other comments on the topic of wands in WoW RP or lore, feel free to speak up.
Also, thanks Rob.
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