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Can a small wizard use a staff? Per "Weapon Size" on PHB 220, small creatures can't use two-handed weapons. I'm inclined to allow it, just downgrade the weapon die size to 1d6.
I would say yes as an implement, but no as a weapon.
i mean if 10 foot pole was an implement, I wouldn't be able to use it as a weapon but I could cast spells through it.
Heck the small wizard could hold the staff erect on the ground, have the magic energy shoot up his arm, up the staff, and shoot out from the top of the staff at the bad guys. Swinging the staff like Robin Hood and Little John on the Bridge is not necessary.
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I would say yes as an implement, but no as a weapon.
i mean if 10 foot pole was an implement, I wouldn't be able to use it as a weapon but I could cast spells through it.
Heck the small wizard could hold the staff erect on the ground, have the magic energy shoot up his arm, up the staff, and shoot out from the top of the staff at the bad guys. Swinging the staff like Robin Hood and Little John on the Bridge is not necessary.
I agree; halflings lose out on swinging their staff as a weapon, but they can still channel magic through it.
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Customer service ruled that implements must be wielded.
Staves count as quarterstaves, and since they must be wielded, they require two hands.
There are no small quarterstaves.
Halflings cannot use staves.
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Just throw Small on the Staff and be done with it if you want to use it as a weapon.
As far as an implement goes, they do not follow the same rules a weapon. In fact under Staffs on pg 240 it defines a staff as:
Quote:
A staff is a shaft of wood as tall or slightly taller than you are, sometimes crowned with a decorative crystal or some other arcane fetish. Fashioned either as a quarterstaff or a walking staff, it is... Unlike other implements, a staff also functions as a melee weapon...
So a halfling can use a staff as an implement, just can't use it as a melee weapon.
Hey, it's not my ruling.
Take it up with customer service.
Really, some of their rulings may be tiresome (and IMO ridiculous and outright wrong), but until errata comes out, they're the most official we can get.
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The ruling does not contradict the RAW. A Staff which is an implement does not have to be wielded as a melee weapon. It can be wielded as just an implement. Staff the implement is not a two handed implement, the only qualifier for staffs is that you must be a member of a class that can use a staff as an implement.
As long as the halfling doesn't try to use the staff in melee, they can use it as an implement all day long, in fact RAW, regardless of size, a halfling could use a Colossus Staff as an implement without penalty (though I doubt they'll be moving around much), a halfling cannot use ANY staff as a weapon.
Implement != weapon, each have specific rules for use. A Holy Symbol doesn't even need to be wielded, just held or worn. What you can't do with any Wizard or Warlock implement is hold one in your offhand and utilize its powers, you must actually wield it, which basically means you only get the benefit of one implement at a time.
What you can't do with any Wizard or Warlock implement is hold one in your offhand and utilize its powers, you must actually wield it, which basically means you only get the benefit of one implement at a time.
Where does that off hand stuff come from?
A two weapon ranger can wield a weapon in each hand, including his off hand.
A two implement wizard can wield an implement in each hand, including her off hand.
__________________ 28 days... six hours... 42 minutes... 12 seconds. That... is when the world... will end.
You could always run the "walking staff" as an improvised one handed weapon; it does 1d4 damage but no proficiency. Now if you look at the size chart on page 220 in PG, and take a logical look at the damage, if a staff was made for a small creature and not a medium one and as the chart points to the idea that as size goes up so does damage. I would say that also works as size goes down it lowers by 1 die. So the staff would do 1d6 if used two-handed by a small race if and only if it had been made for a small race. Other then doing that your wizard is stuck without a staff as a weapon. If I was you I would also take a look at the “enchant magic item” ritual for resizing your staff. I know it says armor but it’s not a jump of logic to have it work on other items.
I think that RAW halfling wizards can't use staves. I also think that any DM who both enforces that and refuses to allow a work-around need two or three swift kicks to the cojones.
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If I had a halfling that wanted to play a wizard then I would just give them an eighthstaff which did 1d6 damage and call it good. Not letting them use staff of defence would just be mean.
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Hey Master Witch, just to let you know, the moderators tend to use red when disciplining us unruly children. You might want to consider another color to avoid confusion with that.
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We don't see things as they are. We see things as we are.
You could allow that the halfling wizard could use the ritual to resize the magical staff down to his size. Then use the table (I think it's in the weapon second of the PHB) that gives the progression chart for damage based on size. Scale down the damage of the quarterstaff by one step and there you go - the halfling can use the staff as an implement and weapon.
The only change that needs to be made is to give the quarterstaff the "Small" keyword. [Realized after posting this that Andur had already made the same suggestion. Oops.]
This doesn't make the quarterstaff an unbalanced weapon because it's a weapon that only wizards will use. Non-wizard Small simple weapon users can use a mace two-handed for the same damage. Small wizards gain a small advantage in melee…but in any serious combat, a wizard in melee is a dead wizard.
Last edited by David Sid; 2nd July 2008 at 08:56 PM..
Hey Master Witch, just to let you know, the moderators tend to use red when disciplining us unruly children. You might want to consider another color to avoid confusion with that.
Sorry about the red letters. My spelling blows so most often I run what I write trough spell check just to be safe. All try turning the letters back to white. No need to get in trouble for some thing little like that ...
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