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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

Pathfinder RPG (1st Edition) Pathfinder RPG (2nd Edition) Starfinder RPG

Rules Index | GM Screen | Player's Guide
GM Core / Chapter 5: Treasure Trove

Trappings of Power

Source GM Core pg. 270 2.0
This section includes magic items that you wear. Most of the items have the invested trait, which means you can wear no more than 10 of the item. If the “worn” usage for an item is followed by another word, like “worn belt,” you’re limited to wearing only one item of that type. If nothing’s listed after “worn,” as in the case of rings, you can wear any number.

Apex Items

Source GM Core pg. 270 2.0
When you Invest an Item that has the apex trait, it improves one of your attributes, either increasing the attribute's modifier by 1 or to a total of +4, whichever would give you a higher score. This gives you all the benefits of the new attribute modifier until the investiture runs out: increasing Intelligence lets you become trained in an additional skill and learn a new language, increasing Constitution gives you more Hit Points, and so on.

An apex item grants this benefit only the first time it's invested within a 24-hour period, and you can benefit from only one apex item at a time. If you attempt to invest an apex item when you already have one invested, you don't gain the attribute modifier increase, though you do gain any other effects of Investing the Item.

Click here for the Apex Items category page.

Companion Items

Source GM Core pg. 272 2.0
You might want to acquire items that benefit a creature that assists you, such as an animal companion, familiar, or bonded animal. These items have the companion trait, meaning they function only for animal companions, familiars, and similar creatures. Normally, these are the only items a companion can use. Other items can qualify at the GM's discretion, but a companion can never Activate an Item.

Any worn companion item needs to be invested. However, your companion needs to invest it, rather than you doing so. This requires you to use the Invest an Item activity alongside your companion, helping them attune to the item and ensuring it is properly fit. A companion has an investiture limit of two items (instead of the 10-item limit a player character has).

Click here for the Companion Items category page.

Held Items

Source GM Core pg. 273 2.0
These items need to be held to use them. Weapons, wands, and staves follow special rules and have their own sections.

Click here for the Held Items category page.

The Structure Trait

An item with the structure trait creates a magical building or other structure when activated. The item must be activated on a plot of land free of other structures. The structure adapts to the natural terrain, adopting the structural requirements for being built there. The structure adjusts around small features such as ponds or spires of rock, but it can't be created on water or other nonsolid surfaces. If activated on snow, sand dunes, or other soft surfaces with a solid surface underneath, the structure's foundation (if any) reaches the solid ground. If an item with this trait is activated on a solid but unstable surface, such as a swamp or an area plagued by tremors, roll a DC 3 flat check each day; on a failure, the structure begins to sink or collapse.

The structure doesn't harm creatures within the area when it appears, and it can't be created within a crowd or in a densely populated area. Any creature inadvertently caught inside the structure when the item is activated ends up unharmed inside the complete structure and always has a clear path of escape. A creature inside the structure when the activation ends isn't harmed, and it lands harmlessly on the ground if it was on an upper level of the structure.

Staves

Source GM Core pg. 278 2.0
A magical staff is an indispensable accessory for a spellcaster. A staff is tied to a person during a preparation process, after which the preparer, and only the preparer, can use the staff to produce magic. The spells that can be cast from a staff are listed in bullet points organized by rank. Staves can be found in multiple types, with more powerful types containing more spells—such a staff always contains the spells of all lower-level types of the staff, in addition to the spells listed in its own entry. All magical staves have the staff trait.

Click here for the Staves category page.

Casting Spells from a Staff

Source GM Core pg. 278 2.0
A staff gains charges when someone prepares it for the day. The person who prepared a staff can expend the charges to cast spells from it. You can Cast a Spell from a staff only if you have that spell on your spell list, are able to cast spells of the appropriate rank or higher, and expend a number of charges from the staff equal to the spell's rank. Casting a Spell from a staff requires holding the staff (typically in one hand) and Activating the staff by Casting the Spell, which takes the spell's normal number of actions.

Use your spell attack modifier and spell DC when Casting a Spell from a staff. The spell gains the appropriate trait for your magical tradition and can be affected by any modifications you can normally make when casting spells, such as spellshape feats. You must provide any cost or locus required by the spell, or you fail to cast it.

Prepared spellcasters and spontaneous spellcasters each have a unique way of altering how their staves gain charges and the ways they can be used (see the Prepared Spellcasters and Spontaneous Spellcasters sections below).

Casting Cantrips from a Staff

Source GM Core pg. 278 2.0
You can cast a cantrip from a staff without expending any charges, heightened to the same rank as cantrips you cast.

Preparing a Staff

Source GM Core pg. 278 2.0
During your daily preparations, you can prepare a staff to add charges to it for free. When you do so, that staff gains a number of charges equal to the rank of your highest spell slot. You don’t need to expend any spells to add charges in this way. No one can prepare more than one staff per day, nor can a staff be prepared by more than one person per day. If the charges aren’t used within 24 hours, they’re lost, and preparing the staff anew removes any charges previously stored in it. You can prepare a staff only if you have at least one of the staff’s spells on your spell list.

Prepared Spellcasters

Source GM Core pg. 278 2.0
A prepared spellcaster—such as a cleric, druid, witch, or wizard—can place some of their own magic in a staff to increase its number of charges. When a prepared spellcaster prepares a staff, they can expend a spell slot to add a number of charges equal to the rank of the spell. They can’t expend more than one spell in this way each day. For example, if a wizard can cast 3rd-rank spells and prepared a staff, the staff would gain 3 charges, but wizard could increase this to 6 by expending one of their 3rd-rank spells, 5 by expending a 2nd-rank spell, or 4 by expending a 1st-rank spell.

Spontaneous Spellcasters

Source GM Core pg. 278 2.0
A spontaneous spellcaster—such as a bard, oracle, or sorcerer—can reduce the number of charges it takes to Activate a staff by supplementing it with their own energy. When a spontaneous spellcaster Activates a staff, they can expend 1 charge from the staff and one of their spell slots to cast a spell from the staff of the same rank (or lower) as the expended spell slot. This doesn’t change the number of actions it takes to cast the spell. For example, if a sorcerer can cast 3rd-rank spells and prepared a staff, the staff would gain 3 charges. They could expend 1 charge and one of their 3rd-rank spell slots to cast a 3rd-rank spell from the staff, or 1 charge and one of their 2nd-rank spell slots to cast a 2nd-rank spell from the staff. They could still expend 3 charges from the staff to cast a 3rd-rank spell from it without using any of their own slots, just like any other spellcaster.

Attacking with a Staff

Source GM Core pg. 278 2.0
Staves are also staff weapons. They can be etched with fundamental runes but not property runes.

Wands

Source GM Core pg. 282 2.0
Short, slender items typically made of wood, wands let you cast a specific spell without expending a spell slot. They can be used once per day, but can be overcharged to attempt to cast them again at great risk. Each wand holds a spell of a certain rank, determined when the wand is created. Cantrips, focus spells, and rituals can't be placed in wands.

If you find a wand, you can try to deduce what spell is in it. If the spell is a common spell from your spell list or is a spell you know, you can use a single Recall Knowledge action and automatically succeed. If it's not, you must Identify Magic.

Casting Spells from a Wand

Source GM Core pg. 282 2.0
A wand contains a spell that can be cast once per day. Casting a spell from a wand requires holding the wand in one hand and activating the item with a Cast a Spell activity using the normal number of actions for the spell.

To cast a spell from a wand, it must be on your spell list. Because you're the one casting the spell, use your spell attack modifier and spell DC. The spell is of your spellcasting tradition.

If a spell requires a locus, you must still have that locus to cast the spell from a wand, and if the spell has a cost, you must still pay that cost to cast the spell from a wand.

Overcharging a Wand

Source GM Core pg. 282 2.0
After the spell is cast from the wand for the day, you can attempt to cast it one more time—overcharging the wand at the risk of destroying it. Cast the Spell again, then roll a DC 10 flat check. On a success, the wand is broken. On a failure, the wand is destroyed. If anyone tries to overcharge a wand when it’s already been overcharged that day, the wand is automatically destroyed (even if it had been repaired) and no spell is cast.

Wand Statistics

Source GM Core pg. 282 2.0
A wand’s base statistics are the same unless noted otherwise in a special wand. It has light Bulk, and must be held in one hand to be activated. Each wand contains a specific rank of the spell, but you can craft a wand with a heightened version of a spell.

Varying Statistics

Source GM Core pg. 282 2.0
Each type of wand has a level and Price determined by the spell's rank. The wand's rarity matches the spell's rarity, and it has its spell's traits. A wand has the normal Hardness, BT, and HP of a thin item of its material (see Materials).

The traits for a wand vary based on the spell it contains. A wand always has the magical and wand traits, plus any traits that might be relevant to identifying the item, such as illusion or fire. The GM determines the extra traits.

Crafting a Wand

Source GM Core pg. 282 2.0
For the most part, the process to Craft a wand is like that to Craft any other magic item. When you begin the crafting process, choose a spell to put into the wand. You have to either cast that spell during the process, or someone else must do so in your presence. That spell doesn't have its normal effects; instead, the magic is captured inside the wand. The caster doesn't need to pay any cost of the spell.

The casting must come from a spellcaster expending a spell slot. You can't make a wand from a spell that comes from another magic item, for example. A wand's rarity is the same as that of the spell it contains.

Magic Wand

Source GM Core pg. 282 2.0
The simplest form of wand contains a spell, with Price and level based on that spell. The name of a magic wand with a spell in it is simply “wand of,” followed by the spell’s name.

Specialty Wands

Source GM Core pg. 282 2.0
Specialty wands can contain only certain kinds of spells, as noted in the stat block, and either alter the spell’s effects or affect how it can be cast. The Craft Requirements entry lists what kinds of spells the wand can hold.

Click here for the Specialty Wands category page.

Example Magic Wand

This example magic wand contains a 1st-rank heal spell.

Wand Of Heal Item 3

Magical Vitality Wand
Price 60 gp
Usage held in 1 hand; Bulk L
The golden caps on the ends of this white wooden wand are adorned with ruby cabochons.
Activate [one-action] to [three-actions] Frequency once per day, plus overcharge; Effect You cast a 1st-rank heal spell.
Craft Requirements Supply one casting of heal.

Worn Items

Source GM Core pg. 284 2.0
This section includes magic items you wear. Most have the invested trait, which means you can wear no more than 10. Armor appears in its own section here, high-level apex items that can increase ability modifiers are here, and worn items for pets appear here.

Click here for the Worn Items category page.