Magic Staves got the shaft.

[Otterscrubber]

Anyone else felt that staves are a bit lame? They are nothing more than a big wand. Based from various novels I've read staves seem a bit more than a use and forget items for the wizards who own them, they seem to grant them powers or abilities they normally dont have. And they also seem to keep them for a long time, this is not in keeping with they way they are presented in the D&D game.

I think that staves should get rid of their charges and instead give the wizard who is using them the option to burn one of his/her own spell slots to cast whatever spell is in them. If he does not have a spell slot of sufficient level then he is not able to use that power of the staff. Goes in tune with having to achieve a certain level of power before using the more powerful staves. This keeps them flexible and desirable as a long term item. Thoughts?

 

[tleilaxu]

i agree. the solution is just to use the rules for rods and call them staves or to use some of the magical matrix rules scattered about

 

[haiiro]

And here I was thinking this was going to be a thread about quarterstaffs and their ilk, which are also much less interesting than their real-world counterparts (not that magical staves have real-world counterparts, but you know what I mean).

Another option might be to make them staff-shaped wondrous items with different properties, and make them growth items (whose power level increases with level, or by spending gp, XP, or both) to promote retention.

 

[Sanackranib]

staves

I too came here seeking quarterstaves.

 

[med stud]

IMC I made the staff add caster levels to the user, one caster level per ability on the staff. Staves are very hard to get and cant be created by the PCs.

 

[nikolai]

Anyone else felt that staves are a bit lame? They are nothing more than a big wand. Based from various novels I've read staves seem a bit more than a use and forget items for the wizards who own them, they seem to grant them powers or abilities they normally dont have?

Could I ask which novels? I'm just interested in which sorts of fantasy books feature them - I haven't come across them much. Just interesting in broadening my reading.

nikolai.

 

[poilbrun]

IMC I made the staff add caster levels to the user, one caster level per ability on the staff. Staves are very hard to get and cant be created by the PCs.

Just out of curiosity, why is that? As a DM, I do not like the idea of magic items being craftable by powerful wizards, but when a PC in my group reaches high-level to have to tell him that "No, you can't create it"...

I do agree that staves are a bit lame, being only higher-level wands... I like the idea of being able to burn one's spell slots to cast a spell present in the staff. Like you don't ever need to memorize that spell again, since you can simply forget one of the spell you prepared to cast it from the staff. It defeats the purpose of the sorcerer a bit, but then I never like sorcerers much, preferring the versatility of the wizard...

 

[Destil]

At some point I did some work trying to make a variant form of wizard that relied on their staff.

Archaic Mage- The archaic mage is a variant wizard; a Gandalf type figure who relies, at least in part, on power of his staff.

Familiar: The Archaic Mage does not gain a familiar.

Staff: The Archaic Mage begins play at 1st level with his staff. The staff replaces any normal material components. In order to cast a spell with a material component listed the mage must have his staff in hand.

The staff has half as many hit points as the mage, and gains a hardness bonus equal to the AC bonus a familar would receve. The staff can also be affected by the mage's mending spells, despite it being a magical object.

If seperated from his staff he always knows its exact reletive position if within one mile of it. This is a supernatural ability.

Touch: An Arcane Mage of 3rd level or higher can discharge a 'touch' range spell through a strike with their staff. This deals weapon damage as well as activating the spell. If the arcane mage misses, but the attack was good enugh for a touch attack the spell is still discharged.

Discren Location: At 13th level an arcane mage can Descren Location, as per the spell, on their staff once per day as a spell like ability.

Spellbook: The archaic mage replaces his spellbook with the staff, as well. The procedure for learning a new spell is the same in all reguards (gold cost, time), except instead of scribing the spell into a book the mage fuses the arcane pattren into his staff. To prepair his daily alotment of spells he must medidate with the staff in hand. Unlike a wizard, an Arcane Mage can not prepair read magic from memory, but rather mending.

Scribe Scroll: This feat is replaced with Imbue Spell. Imbue Spell allows a mage to infuse his staff with single spell to be released via spell completion. The time, gold and XP costs of the process are the same. There is no limit to the number of spells that can be imbued into a staff.

Focus: The archaic mage has a magical bond of focus with his staff to arcane energys. He gains a +2 bonus to concentration checks made dealing with arcane magic while the staff is in hand.

Spells: Mending is treated as being a universal spell for Arcane Mages, and read magic is treated as divination.

If the mage ever has his staff destroyed he must make a save or loose XP, as if his familiar had died. He can craft a new staff at a cost of 200 GP with a week of work. He must also pay 1/4th the original gold cost to of fusing his spells into his original staff in order to refuse them into his new staff. He can choose to re-fuse all, none or any specific selection of spells at this time. Re-fusing additinal spells later requires always requires exactily one day of work.

Staff - Simple Large Melee Weapon
1d8 Damage, x2 critical.

Special: You can wield a staff one-handed as a martial weapon (small PCs must use meidum staffs for this benifit).

 

[ValarX]

Spellbook: The archaic mage replaces his spellbook with the staff, as well. The procedure for learning a new spell is the same in all reguards (gold cost, time), except instead of scribing the spell into a book the mage fuses the arcane pattren into his staff. To prepair his daily alotment of spells he must medidate with the staff in hand. Unlike a wizard, an Arcane Mage can not prepair read magic from memory, but rather mending.

Does this mean that if I were palying an archaic mage and took another's staff that I gain all the spells contained by that staff, much like stealing another wizard's spellbook?

Scribe Scroll: This feat is replaced with Imbue Spell. Imbue Spell allows a mage to infuse his staff with single spell to be released via spell completion. The time, gold and XP costs of the process are the same. There is no limit to the number of spells that can be imbued into a staff.

Unlimited spell storage... I wonder how many spells a staff would have if it had been infused for 10 years by a high level mage.

This is a cool concept on the wizard. Had a thought about an archaic robe, would be neat to have a robe that you could infuse spells into much like a spell-book. Would be something like a status symbol to wear to wizard councils, with everyone counting the spell-symbols on the robes as a sense of wizard versatility. And for the streets you could just use illision magic to make it look normal or even turn it inside out.

 

[Arc]

Would be something like a status symbol to wear to wizard councils, with everyone counting the spell-symbols on the robes as a sense of wizard versatility. And for the streets you could just use illision magic to make it look normal or even turn it inside out.

The flavor text possiblities are nice as well. Rather than simply doing the whole 'You wave your hands and magical energy comes out,' it would be a bit more dramatic, 'As you speak the verbal components of the spell, a symbol on your staff begins to writhe and glow, moving up towards the tip, and finally flaring into a brilliant magical light'. Or not.

1 possibility is to make the archaic mage act as if all spells he casts are stilled, because the staff is the channel for them.