Rod of Absorption (Mechanic)
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[Placeholder: to remind Bob to post discussion on mechanic behind Rod of Absorption, and its use against a annihilation rune]
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@halfgiant can edit his OP later, but posting while I have a minute.
The rod of absorption will fill cubes based on the level of the spell being absorbed. this is normal.
So if someone casts a fireball it is absorbed and adds a single 3rd level charge to an empty cube.
If the rod does not have any empty cubes, it will fill the highest level cube possible, that is lower than the spell level of the spell, with a single charge and the excess magic will be lost.
If there is no cube within 2 levels of the spell level being absorbed, the rod will not function and the spell effect will not be absorbed. Basically the rod cannot dissipate more than 2 levels.
If the rod had partially filled cubes of level 1, 4, 5, and 7, the absorbed fireball would add a single charge to the level 1 cube. Obviously, outside of combat this is pretty much never going to be an issue. You jack in an empty cube, or partially filled cube of the level you know you will be absorbing, and then absorb whatever you are trying to absorb to get a charge of whatever level.
There are advanced versions, created by ancients, that are capable of processing the inbound spell energy and converting it into charges of whatever level the wielder desires. Said fireball would be three 1st level charges, or a 1st and a 2nd level charge, or a single 3rd level charge.
There is rumor of an even more advanced version that was capable of storing the raw power for a few rounds letting the wielder create a higher level charge from multiple individual lower level spells.
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Ok my notes says the rune of annihilation was a CL30 Spell Level 15. That was absorbed by the rod at Spell Level 9, still CL30? Or now CL18? And the rest of the energy is now dissipated.
Lets look at a example.
Example - A Level 30 crafter (not a Ancient) makes a wand to cast a level 9 spell (lets say Sphere of Ultimate Destruction) at CL30, how would we cube that for the item? I realize the spell has a weird 40d6 maximum on it, but lets assume for purposes of this exercise there is no maximum on the spell and it scaled to level 30, for a 60d6 affect.For an Ancient its easy, he just cubes it for the spell level, and the magic item is going to work to his CL anyway.
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@halfgiant said in Rod of Absorption (Mechanic):
Example - A Level 30 crafter (not a Ancient) makes a wand to cast a level 9 spell (lets say Sphere of Ultimate Destruction) at CL30, how would we cube that for the item? I realize the spell has a weird 40d6 maximum on it, but lets assume for purposes of this exercise there is no maximum on the spell and it scaled to level 30, for a 60d6 affect.
Normally, he doesn’t because he can not access spell slot greater than 9th himself. He can make a wand with a 9th level slot, but not higher. And item creation normally creates items at the standard spell level. Thus this spell is a caster level 18 always.
Now, of course, we know there are feats to change this. But changing this affects the base spell level. So what feats are used to obtain caster level 30? Those add to the caster level. For sake of easy math right now, let’s assume it is a +4 level mod to make it a caster level 30. This means that the spell is now taking a level 13 spell slot. So you cannot do this without the epic level feats granting you access to 13th level spell slots. There are cubes that can store spell levels greater than 9th but those are of better quality than the 1-9 cubes.
I pretty much threw out the basic level restrictions for how many levels you can raise a spell that you are casting. So you don’t need access to super high spell slots to cast a spell. But I still feel for item creation that this type of requisite makes sense.
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@halfgiant said in Rod of Absorption (Mechanic):
Ok my notes says the rune of annihilation was a CL30 Spell Level 15. That was absorbed by the rod at Spell Level 9, still CL30? Or now CL18? And the rest of the energy is now dissipated.
And that was me winging it during the session. See my initital response to this thread now for a solid more thought out base discussion.
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@daermadm said in Rod of Absorption (Mechanic):
@halfgiant said in Rod of Absorption (Mechanic):
Example - A Level 30 crafter (not a Ancient) makes a wand to cast a level 9 spell (lets say Sphere of Ultimate Destruction) at CL30, how would we cube that for the item? I realize the spell has a weird 40d6 maximum on it, but lets assume for purposes of this exercise there is no maximum on the spell and it scaled to level 30, for a 60d6 affect.
Normally, he doesn’t because he can not access spell slot greater than 9th himself. He can make a wand with a 9th level slot, but not higher. And item creation normally creates items at the standard spell level. Thus this spell is a caster level 18 always.
Now, of course, we know there are feats to change this. But changing this affects the base spell level. So what feats are used to obtain caster level 30? Those add to the caster level. For sake of easy math right now, let’s assume it is a +4 level mod to make it a caster level 30. This means that the spell is now taking a level 13 spell slot. So you cannot do this without the epic level feats granting you access to 13th level spell slots. There are cubes that can store spell levels greater than 9th but those are of better quality than the 1-9 cubes.
I pretty much threw out the basic level restrictions for how many levels you can raise a spell that you are casting. So you don’t need access to super high spell slots to cast a spell. But I still feel for item creation that this type of requisite makes sense.
So the base example scenario assumes the character/crafter is already level 30, so no feat modification is needed to achieve caster level 30. The character making the wand is straight up 30th level. But wants to make a wand that casts a ninth level spell Sphere of Ultimate Destruction at affective caster level 30 (their level). So you have Caster Level 30, 9th level spell for a wand - how do you cube that?
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@halfgiant said in Rod of Absorption (Mechanic):
@daermadm said in Rod of Absorption (Mechanic):
@halfgiant said in Rod of Absorption (Mechanic):
Example - A Level 30 crafter (not a Ancient) makes a wand to cast a level 9 spell (lets say Sphere of Ultimate Destruction) at CL30, how would we cube that for the item? I realize the spell has a weird 40d6 maximum on it, but lets assume for purposes of this exercise there is no maximum on the spell and it scaled to level 30, for a 60d6 affect.
Normally, he doesn’t because he can not access spell slot greater than 9th himself. He can make a wand with a 9th level slot, but not higher. And item creation normally creates items at the standard spell level. Thus this spell is a caster level 18 always.
Now, of course, we know there are feats to change this. But changing this affects the base spell level. So what feats are used to obtain caster level 30? Those add to the caster level. For sake of easy math right now, let’s assume it is a +4 level mod to make it a caster level 30. This means that the spell is now taking a level 13 spell slot. So you cannot do this without the epic level feats granting you access to 13th level spell slots. There are cubes that can store spell levels greater than 9th but those are of better quality than the 1-9 cubes.
I pretty much threw out the basic level restrictions for how many levels you can raise a spell that you are casting. So you don’t need access to super high spell slots to cast a spell. But I still feel for item creation that this type of requisite makes sense.
So the base example scenario assumes the character/crafter is already level 30, so no feat modification is needed to achieve caster level 30. The character making the wand is straight up 30th level. But wants to make a wand that casts a ninth level spell Sphere of Ultimate Destruction at affective caster level 30 (their level). So you have Caster Level 30, 9th level spell for a wand - how do you cube that?
You don’t make a caster level device greater than base level without some ability to do so.
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@daermadm Not sure i follow, if i’m a straight up level 30 wizard, and i cast a ninth level spell sphere of ultimate destruction, its going to do 60d6 (with no small penis damage caps), and assuming a failed save.
Now i make a, Wand of Ultimate Destruction, CL30, 9th level spell Sphere of Ultimate Destruction, that does 60d6. Just as the same wizard cast it earlier, but now in wand form.
The 30th level caster doesn’t want a CL29/Spell level 15 affect, they want a CL30/Spell level 9 affect, the ‘why’ this caster would do that is really irrelevant, if for any other reason than to be difficult.
Which cube would i use from this table?
