Pseudo-wands
Unlike traditional charged wands (a.k.a. “true wands”), pseudo-wands do not have a definite number of charges. Instead, a pseudo-wand has a charge die.
Initially, when such a wand is created, the charge die is a d20. After each time that a power of the wand is used which uses one or more “charges” (a.k.a. pseudo-charges), the wand’s wielder must immediately roll the charge die one or more times, with the number of rolls being equal to the number of “charges” just used. (For example, if 1 “charge” is “spent”, the charge die is rolled once; if 2 “charges” are “spent”, the die is rolled twice; etc.)
If none of the rolls of the charge die come up “1”, nothing happens. If, however, at least one of the rolls comes up “1”, the wand’s charge die is immediately reduced in size, by one step (d20 → d12 → d8 → d6 → d4). If a “1” is rolled on a d4 charge die roll (i.e., when the charge die is as small as it can be), this means that the wand’s magic is finally expended; the wand is now nothing more than a non-magical stick.
Unlike a traditional (spell trigger) wand, a pseudo-wand is a command word item. (If the wand has multiple different powers, a separate command word is used to activate each power.)
Lesser fright wand
Caster level 6th
This pseudo-wand has the following powers:
Frighten (1 charge): One living creature within 60 feet must succeed at a DC 13 Will save or be frightened for 1d4 rounds; success means that the target is shaken for 1 round. Spending two charges instead of one increases the save DC to 15.
Scare (3 charges): Up to three living creatures within 120 feet (no two of which can be more than 30 feet apart) must succeed at a DC 14 Will save or be frightened for 1d4 rounds; success means that a target is shaken for 1 round. Spending five charges instead of three increases the save DC to 16.