Wand of armory

Wands of armory were magic wands that were charged with protective magics to aid their owners in time of trouble. These items were quite rare but were known to be in the royal treasuries of Cormyr and Aglarond.

Powers
Wands of armory allowed the wielder to cast shield and ghost armor spells. The wielder needer to touch the target with the wand. Once it's done, the target was enveloped in a field of invisible magical force. The protection typically lasted for six minutes. The protective field created by the wand absorbed magic missile and lightning damage.

Unlike spells such as mage armor the wands of armory was beneficial to creatures wearing physical armor. The only prerequisite for the wand to be effective was the target's size. It could only completely cover creatures of medium or smaller size, and the target needed to be willing to be protected by the wand's magic. Large creatures could only have their head, and torso defended with the wand's aid.

If disintegrate spell was cast on the creature protected by the wand's magic, the field was instantly shattered, but the target remained unharmed. Spells like wish and dispel magic nullified the defensive field without affecting the creature inside it.

The wand was simple to use and required only the knowledge of its command word. Creatures of any class or profession could tap into its magic. Each wand had a limited number of charges and could not be recharged before the Godswar.

History
Wands of armory were invented by a wizard named Hosta after years of tireless work and research. With Hosta's death, only a select few of his apprentices carried on making these wands armed with the knowledge from their master. Some apprentices could only replicate parts of the wand's design. Even though functional wands were rare, variations and imperfect replicas of wands of armory could be found in the North Faerûn as that's where Hosta dwelt. Many of them were scattered across tombs and dragon hoards of the region.

Sometime in the early-to-mid 14 century DR, one of the wands of armory appeared during a tavern brawl in Waterdeep. That wand was activated by the command word "Plessendar. During the same period of time, another wand was listed in the book High Magic of Mirabar as being part of the city's treasury. That wand was activated with the command word "Skulpin." The wand from Mirabar later went missing. Another wand was evidently owned by Azoun Obarskyr II or a cabinet member. Elminster Aumar theorized that a parchment with the command word'' "Ailun" was the evidence of that. The Azoun Obarskyr the Second's was gone and missing in the 14 century DR as well.

In 1281 DR, one of the wand of armory was stashed away many years prior inside the Black Wolf Temple in the Vale of Shadows of the Spine of the World. It appeared that the owner of that wand was trying to protect themselves from hungry trolls, but unfortunately for the wand owner, trolls were preexistent creatures.

Notable Owners

 * Kresselack the Black Wolf: had a wand of armory stashed among treasures of his tomb in the Vale of Shadows of Icewind Dale.
 * Myschanta: a sorceress from Arabel in the 14 century DR was known to possess one such wand.
 * Vangerdahast Aeiulvana: the royal wizard of Azoun Obarskyr IV could often be caught with a wand of armory tucked in his robes' sleeves in the 14 century DR.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Curse of the Azure Bonds
 * Video Games
 * Icewind Dale