It is very subjective, but that's exactly what I never liked about D&D: having to replace wands. It was a very WTF? moment to me when I first got into original D&D that wizards' staves and wizards' wands, instead of being definitive parts of the wizards' being, were essentially glass cannons: fire until they crack.
The AD&D novels treated them as the Big Deals they should have been... I'm thinking of Raistlin's staff, and Azure Bonds had a liche with a power staff, and Pool of Radiance had a Wand of Wonders that was genuinely a heirloom, and all these items were treated the way that a staff or wand would have been in classical high fantasy, but the mechanics... well, a Wand of Wonders might have been a genuine heirloom just because you only used it if you were desperate, but the others?
It kind of fit in with the whole stupid Vancian magic thing, but it never made a lick of sense to me as a fantasy fan. Usually if a wizard has to replace a wand or staff, it's because they fucked up and need a replacement or because they found a legendary one and they're upgrading.
So while I see your point about consequences, with the specific examples of wands it's running up against one of the main ways I like 4E over previous editions. I squeed like a little school girl when I got to Arcane Power and found the tome implement... wizards actually holding a book of arcane knowledge in front of them and casting spells from it? Whodathunkit?
Also... and this comes to personal experiences... but my experience in Basic and in 2E was that rather than thinking about cost and consequence, wands turned into a "don't use it at all because what if you use it now but you really need it later and then you burn it out in desperation when you realize you're really fucked" thing. I think 4E's system of resources that can be replenished with a short rest (HP, Second Wind, encounter powers) versus resources that require enough safety and security for an extended rest (healing surges, action points, daily powers, big items) is more conducive to actually thinking about that kind of planning of resource use than rare and valuable items with limited uses are.
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ninetydegrees
no subject
on 2009-07-20 12:18 am (UTC)The AD&D novels treated them as the Big Deals they should have been... I'm thinking of Raistlin's staff, and Azure Bonds had a liche with a power staff, and Pool of Radiance had a Wand of Wonders that was genuinely a heirloom, and all these items were treated the way that a staff or wand would have been in classical high fantasy, but the mechanics... well, a Wand of Wonders might have been a genuine heirloom just because you only used it if you were desperate, but the others?
It kind of fit in with the whole stupid Vancian magic thing, but it never made a lick of sense to me as a fantasy fan. Usually if a wizard has to replace a wand or staff, it's because they fucked up and need a replacement or because they found a legendary one and they're upgrading.
So while I see your point about consequences, with the specific examples of wands it's running up against one of the main ways I like 4E over previous editions. I squeed like a little school girl when I got to Arcane Power and found the tome implement... wizards actually holding a book of arcane knowledge in front of them and casting spells from it? Whodathunkit?
Also... and this comes to personal experiences... but my experience in Basic and in 2E was that rather than thinking about cost and consequence, wands turned into a "don't use it at all because what if you use it now but you really need it later and then you burn it out in desperation when you realize you're really fucked" thing. I think 4E's system of resources that can be replenished with a short rest (HP, Second Wind, encounter powers) versus resources that require enough safety and security for an extended rest (healing surges, action points, daily powers, big items) is more conducive to actually thinking about that kind of planning of resource use than rare and valuable items with limited uses are.