Speaking Sticks
Speaking sticks can be made as wands but they are usually made as staves, albeit very small staves.
The difference between an arcane wand and an arcane staff is that wands can only be activated by a mage and staves can be activated by anyone who knows the command word, and since most speaking sticks are made for public figures or entertainers who are not mages, most are staves.
Mechanics & Inner Workings
Usually Speaking Sticks are small sticks that are activated when tapping the throat or mouth of the person holding it.
Sometimes Speaking Sticks are not actual sticks. They can be made into wearable jewelry as long the jewelry in question is near the chest or throat. This raises the manufacturing cost of the item slightly but it makes it more convenient and dignified to use in some cases.
Making a Speaking Stick in the form megaphone makes the manufacturing process much cheaper, but it makes the item bigger an clumsier because the megaphone only works when held near the mouth whereas a stick or piece of jewelry will let the bearer enjoy a magically amplified voice for up to three hours for a single activation and it will work as long as the stick or jewelry is still on their person regardless of its position relative to the bearers mouth.
Manufacturing process
To make a speaking stick, a mage needs to have the basic training in making charged magical items and be able to cast the Enchantment spell Amplify.
Usually, Folk magicians are more efficient at making these than other mages and enchanters of other traditions often end up burning through 10-20% more reagents on average.
A theurgist with Augmentation ●●● and Crafts ●●●● can make magical items that operate more or like Speaking Sticks but they cost 50% more reagents on average so theurgists normally opt to bargain with mages rather than try to make these items themselves.
History
Normally, if you ask any mage "Who created _____ first?", they usually answer "we did!", but it is generally accepted that at some point in the distant past, Folk Magicians mastered the creation of Speaking Sticks and later mages of other traditions copied them.
It is generally assumed that Folk Magicians made them first because they are generally more efficient at making them than other mages.
Significance
We live in a world where microphones and large speakers are readily available but this magic item is a huge game changer to people with a medieval level of technology.
It's not exactly cheap when you compare the cost of manufacturing a Speaking Stick against the average wages of a Scarterran day laborers but Speaking Sticks are pretty cheap as magical items go and they are hardly beyond the price rnage of a successful band of traveling performers or a low ranking nobleman.
Item type
Magical
Related Technologies
Rarity
No magic item is truly common, but Speaking Sticks are common enough that most Scarterran peasants have at least heard about them.
Raw materials & Components
Speaking Stick generaly hold between 10 and 50 charges. The bigger the stick or megaphone is, the more charges it can hold. In the case of jewelry, the fancier the jewelry, the more charges it can hold.
The base cost in reagents is 2 drams per charge for making a Speaking Stick that is an actual stick or a piece of jewelry, 1 dram of reagents per charge when making a Speaking Stick in the form of a megaphone. A dram of reagents normally sells for a silver piece]
The construction of a stick or megaphone generally has an upfront cost roughly equal to 20% of the base cost of the reagent cost of the item when fully charged though the cost needed be paid in reagents, it just needs somewhat rarified materials and exceptional craftsmanship. So a stick with 10 charges of the Amplify spell has an upfront cost of 4 silver pieces and a megaphone with 10 charges has an upfront cost of 2 silver pieces.
Jewelry increases the minimum upfront cost form 20% to 100% so a brooch with 10 charges has an upfront cost of 20 silver pieces.
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