Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Redfist 02-13-07, 10:37 AM	I just checked the ARs for my 12th level wizard. I have access to PoP1 and PoP5. Nothing in between. :( I hope mods start giving more pearl access. hehe
Jay_Ibero_911 02-13-07, 11:59 AM	I just checked the ARs for my 12th level wizard. I have access to PoP1 and PoP5. Nothing in between. :( I hope mods start giving more pearl access. hehe Eh, I've got PoP1+2....nothing more with my druid...albeit those are really the most useful levels....
Timlagor 02-13-07, 03:52 PM	I've got 1&2 as well (on my Wiz11; only 1s on my lower characters). I did see PoP5&6 on an AR at higher APL with none at lower APLs. I crafted One PoP3 as well using the CL+2 rule and would like access so I could get some more.
Rerednaw 02-13-07, 05:03 PM	Be glad with what you have. My wizard, cleric, and bard have NO access. My barbarian however has access to POP1.
clannagh 02-14-07, 07:27 PM	Be glad with what you have. My wizard, cleric, and bard have NO access. My barbarian however has access to POP1. A couple of POP 1's can be actually handy for a Barbarian if the party arcanist only has one enlarge person memorised. In fact on the same note your barbarian should buy himself a now fully core access wand of enlarge to lend the party arcanist on occasions that he hasnt memorised enlarge :)
boolean 02-15-07, 11:51 AM	I've got access with my 8th level Ftr/Wiz/Spellsword to Pearl 1st, 3rd, and 4th, and to Memento Magicka 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. My 5th level Monk has had access to PoP 1st 3 times, one of which was core access.
Mommy was an Orc 02-19-07, 03:11 PM	A couple of POP 1's can be actually handy for a Barbarian if the party arcanist only has one enlarge person memorised. They're generally quite useful regardless - good way for the Barbarian to contribute to party healing without carrying around a consumable that disappears after 50 uses - go up to your Divine Caster, say, "Here's a Pearl of Power, could you memorize Lesser Vigor to use it with please?" Very gentle way to make sure your Divine Caster is using Lesser Vigor out of combat, while making him more powerful in combat(as he has more spells for things besides healing). Win-win.
Mattastrophic 02-19-07, 04:17 PM	Win-win. Agreed. I remember one table where, after totalling up all the Pearl Is (about 40 of them) at the table, we ended up putting Conviction on everyone all day every day. -Matt
Hariman 03-05-07, 11:13 AM	I've got a Rogue Wizard with "any" access to 2nd level pearls of power. And that's all. But, considering that glitterdust is second level...
bhale187 03-05-07, 12:25 PM	I have a Cleric 3 with access to PoP1 twice and PoP2 twice in only 6 ARs.
King Kashue 03-05-07, 12:26 PM	They're generally quite useful regardless - good way for the Barbarian to contribute to party healing without carrying around a consumable that disappears after 50 uses - go up to your Divine Caster, say, "Here's a Pearl of Power, could you memorize Lesser Vigor to use it with please?". Heh...My 11th level Barbarian mutt has 177 hit points and AC 11 (when furry) and 135 with an AC of 19 when Orc-y...I need way more than a pearl or two :D Anyhoo, he's got a ranger level, so the wand also = stabilize someone if no one else can get to them. I actually wonder on the math. Given enough time, the pearl will be less money/heal, since it never goes away, but it would require a lot of time, because it's only 15 or so points per day (right now I can't figure out a way to realistically spreadsheet this)...
Nutation 03-05-07, 01:15 PM	A wand of CLW is 15 gp per 5.5 hit points or 2.7 gp/hp. The PoP I costs 1000 and generates 15 hp per use without Augment Healing. That's 67 gp/hp if you only use it once, which you don't. So, to make the pearl more cost effective, you need to use it (1000/15)/(15/5.5) = 25 times, rounding up. Ignoring versatility and all other factors, of course.
King Kashue 03-05-07, 01:28 PM	Ignoring versatility and all other factors, of course. Yeah, these are the factors I couldn't figure out how to represent. Lower expense vs. insufficiency, etc...
Mattastrophic 03-05-07, 04:31 PM	Also consider this... that Pearl of Power can be much more than just a Lesser Vigor. A Wand of Lesser Vigor can only cast Lesser Vigor, while a Pearl of Power I can be a Lesser Vigor... or a Ray of Enfeeblement, or a Magic Missile, or a Conviction, or a Shield of Faith, etc etc etc. Also, to add to Wands VS Pearls: Have you ever actually needed fifty copies of a 1st-level spell in one day? Typically, you only need three or four if you need more than one. Pearls satisfy that. -Matt
King Kashue 03-05-07, 06:27 PM	Also, to add to Wands VS Pearls: Have you ever actually needed fifty copies of a 1st-level spell in one day? Typically, you only need three or four if you need more than one. Pearls satisfy that. -Matt See the note on my 177 hp/11 AC bear warrior :D I'd say an average fight requires at least 75 points of healing after the fight, just for him...Two fights for him is 10+ pearls, easily... I do know a 12th level cleric of Fharlanghn who got so tired of using his spells for healing, and not for cool stuff (Fharlanghnites get nice spells) that he just started crafting pearls and memorizing a single lesser vigor...I think he's got at least 24+ now, likely more, it's been a while since I played with him.
Timlagor 03-05-07, 09:47 PM	The more consistently you need after-combat healing the more the Pearls win. 25 days of Pearls is very easily reached (especially if you start early with your pearls) and then you still have the Pearl at the end of it. Remember that many modules have combats on multiple days. With the amound of healign your'e talking about it's most certainly worth carrying a 'happy stick' or four too because sometimes you don't want to wait that long. (75points = 7.5 minutes of lesser vigour which won't usually be an issue but will sometimes when you do have a minute for the CLWs) Pearls are way ahead on the versatility. Generally characters that take that much damage will also be dishing out enough damage to be comfortable expecting the rest of the party to contribute resources towards the healing as well: if everyone at the table has 5 PoPs (and the CWIers have more) then getting enough healing will not be a problem. The one area that the Wands do win on is 'time preference of money'. You can spend 750gp at 4th level and it will last you a little while, providing all your healing needs (after available spells). Spending 3000gp to cover needs all through your career is slightly harder when you also want to be buying equipment to make you better at your job.
clannagh 03-05-07, 11:39 PM	Also, to add to Wands VS Pearls: Have you ever actually needed fifty copies of a 1st-level spell in one day? Typically, you only need three or four if you need more than one. Pearls satisfy that. -Matt Actually I have used nearly 40 charges on a wand CLW in a single day .. over just two encounters on the same day in fact. But actually I agree with your main point .. that situation was an exceptionally hard combat and at a games day were you didnt have the luxury of choosing the optimal party and insisting on a cleric. Normally you do not need multiple copies of the same low level spell.
copper_wyrmling 03-06-07, 12:02 AM	Actually I have used nearly 40 charges on a wand CLW in a single day .. over just two encounters on the same day in fact. But actually I agree with your main point .. that situation was an exceptionally hard combat and at a games day were you didnt have the luxury of choosing the optimal party and insisting on a cleric. Normally you do not need multiple copies of the same low level spell. I still think a 750gp wand is worth buying for the cases where you DO need that much healing quickly, and/or for unbalanced tables without anyone who can actually cast Lesser Vigor. At the very end of last year, I ended up playing on a four-person APL 4 table with no spellcasting whatsoever, in order to play the final mod of the Year 5 regional story arc. My dervish's wand (combined with his level of ranger and another PC's paladin levels) were the only healing on the table. Pearls of power 1 would've been almost useless to us: we burned about 30 wand charges in the first combat (fighting three bearded devils with nobody who could reliably make a DC 16 Heal check). I was not impressed by the fact that none of the other PCs had bought wands, despite having access... it's very tense to realize that you're coming out of the first combat of the climactic finale to the regional plotline with a grand total of 10 CLW charges as your sole remaining healing. Fortunately, the remaining combats were much easier, and we dealt with them with virtually no damage to the party. I've also played on an APL 12 table where the only healing was multiple wands of Cure Light Wounds, and the only person who could use them was my sorcerer with +22 UMD. She healed about 200 damage with wands in that mod - again, pearls would not have helped. They're both good, but the wands are cheap, Open access, and can be far more useful in certain specific situations. The pearls are something you'd buy a bag of, though: I wouldn't normally buy more than 1-2 CLW wands over a PC's entire career, because they ARE mostly useful for emergencies or really weird tables.
Madfox11 03-06-07, 04:08 AM	Of course, you also need access to a wand of lesser vigor, and I have only seen those twice, while pearls of power are more common and access to wands of cure light wounds is any now. Note that I know a few players who really dislike the idea of buying stuff for the casters who are making all those profits on item crafting anyway... [Pearls of power btw are on their most powerful when used for long duration buffing spells. It is especially favorite when going on a desert or arctic journey. Preparing 6 or 7 endure elements can be a real pain on low to mid levels.]
bhale187 03-06-07, 07:36 AM	I was not impressed by the fact that none of the other PCs had bought wands, despite having access... At APL 4 with no casters at the table I'd say you were lucky to have 1 out of 4 PCs with a wand (good thing you came prepared). I can only recall one time I sat at an APL4 or lower with someone other than a caster holding a wand. There's been plenty of times someone will hand my cleric 2 or 3 CLW scrolls, but never a wand.
Rerednaw 03-06-07, 11:03 AM	At APL 4 with no casters at the table I'd say you were lucky to have 1 out of 4 PCs with a wand (good thing you came prepared). I can only recall one time I sat at an APL4 or lower with someone other than a caster holding a wand. There's been plenty of times someone will hand my cleric 2 or 3 CLW scrolls, but never a wand. Really? All my characters, casters or not by level 2 or 3 have a wand (if they had access). I'd rather have pearls of course but they cost and access issue is even worse.
Timlagor 03-06-07, 12:00 PM	You should discuss healing when you sit down (especially without a Cleric) and get people to buy wands there and then if they haven't got them and it looks like you might need them. Everyone should also have a Potion or two of course. My Wizard now has a favour granting Core Access to PoP3 but unfortnately that doens't allow crafting iiuc. I expect many many Clerics to be taking Craft Wand for one level (then retraining) so they can stock up on Lesser Vigour and Resurgence (and maybe others).
Anguus 03-07-07, 08:43 AM	At APL 4 with no casters at the table I'd say you were lucky to have 1 out of 4 PCs with a wand (good thing you came prepared). I can only recall one time I sat at an APL4 or lower with someone other than a caster holding a wand. There's been plenty of times someone will hand my cleric 2 or 3 CLW scrolls, but never a wand. That's because you are dealing with a FooFoo Flashy Swashbuckler that spends all his money on looking purty:confused: and the nasty walking wall that keeps handing you scrolls you never use :D But I digress, I think to a degree at higher APLs you have a better chance of running acrossed people that can do that at low level we are all scrambling for our basic gear be it arms/armor or wands and wearables. I think if you do have the extra though by far the Pearl can save you so much extra. In one event I went to in January the wizard actually saved the day when healing was needed by assisting with the Pearls it just made life so much easier on the cleric with all the melee we had in that group I could be wrong however.
Quntor 03-09-07, 01:07 AM	Be glad with what you have. My wizard, cleric, and bard have NO access. My barbarian however has access to POP1. Yeah, but your Wizard has access to Adamantine and Star metal