Magical Item Compendium II-Staffs

[RichGreen]

Yes, say the Staff is a blasting staff with Lightning Bolt, Scorching Ray, and Fireball. The attuned Sorceror could cast each spell 3 times (provided they have the spell slots to do so). This is a major aid to spontaneous casters with limited spells known, in effect the sorceror gains 2-5 spells known by owning the staff. Very valuable, even if a DM just wanted to throw in a weak one with a treasure hoard with maybe a 2nd level and a 1st level spell.

Cool, thanks!

 

[DreadArchon]

Ooh, that's hot, it's like Cleric Spontaneous Healing for wizards who want to blow stuff up.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

This is pretty awesome. I can definitely see my illusionist getting one of these with combat spells put into it, so he can always just prepare his more quirky spells. This is essentially a magic item that replicates clerics and druids turning prepared spells into heals and summonings. Very decent indeed.

 

[Slife]

These are just like knowstones, but they cost less and let you cast multiple spells.

 

[Mercule]

These are just like knowstones, but they cost less and let you cast multiple spells.

What's a knowstone?

Oh, and I love these runestaves.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Runestaff of Transportation
Price (Item Level): 19,000 gp (15th)
Body Slot: -- (held)
Caster Level: 12th
Aura: Strong; (DC 21) transmutation
Activation: As spell used
Weight: 4 lb.
A hollow coil of wire fashioned in the shape of a staff, it has a mottled brown gemstone at both ends.
A runestaff of transportation allows you to cast any of the following spells (each three times per day) by expending a prepared arcane spell or arcane spell slot of the same level or higher.
• blink
• dimension door
• teleport
Prerequisites: Craft Staff, blink, dimension door, teleport.
Cost to Create: 9,500 gp, 760 XP, 19 days.

The runestaff of transportation is an example of a runestaff likely to see more use by a wizard than a sorcerer. Sorcerers tend to know utility spells, so teleport is an extremely likely choice. Wizards, however, often prefer to prepare more esoteric spells. This runestaff allows a wizard to prepare a greater variety of spells, but still be able to default to the always useful blink, dimension door, and teleport.

I disagree with the comment here that the Runestaff of Transportation is more likely to be used by a Wizard than a Sorcerer since Sorcerers tend to know utility spells. What do you think?

Olaf the Stout

 

[Nyeshet]

A few oddities, but otherwise good . . .

The description states that such staves usually have 2-5 spells, but they give an example with 6 spells. This suggests to me, for instance, that a Cleric of a deity might have a Runestaff of ______ domain, holding all the spells of that domain, allowing them to trade out their own domain spell for the one in the staff - especially useful if they do not have that domain of their deity. But is this really possible (to put up to nine spells in the staff)? The fact that they use the term "Usually" and then go out of their way to show a runestaff that has more than the usual number suggests to me that there might not be an upper limit - the cost of the runestaff simply becoming more and more prohibitive as the number (and level) of the spells within it increase.

Also, the example with the sorcerer is . . . odd. It actually describes the sorcerer as preparing his spells in the morning, specifically speaking of the sorcerer trading out a prepared spell to use one of the spells in the runestaff. I think the writer of the article (and I hope this is paraphrased from the book, not an exact excert from the book) does not realize that sorcerers - as spontaneous casters - do not need to prepare the spells or fill their spell slots with specific spells in the morning.


Otherwise, I have to admit that I am becoming more interested in this book. Although I didn't buy Spell Compendium (as I tend to use EoM,R or EoM,ME or a variant thereof instead of the core magic system), I am now strongly considering buying this book - for magic item ideas, if nothing else. I will at the very least skim through one in the store a bit, to see what types of new ideas it has, and I may very likely buy it if - in addition to all the old items collected together - it also has a lot of new ideas such as these.

However, I suppose we should be glad it didn't add another crafting feat "Craft Runestaff" for this type of item . . . . I rather expected they would have required such for this, and I am surprised they did not.

 

[yipwyg42]

I'm wondering if they are going to provide how they came up with the costs for the new items.
I worked out the following one by the srd staff creation rules and came up with 15,000 gold pieces.

Runestaff of the Assassin
Price (Item Level): 10,000 gp (12th)
Body Slot: -- (held)
Caster Level: 12th
Aura: Strong; (DC 21) illusion
Activation: As spell used
Weight: 3 lb.
This simple, slim staff is only 4 feet long. It is fastened to a leather strap to make it easy to sling over your shoulder. It bears a small rune of a dagger on one end.
A runestaff of the assassin allows you to cast any of the following spells (each two times per day) by expending a prepared arcane spell or arcane spell slot of the same level or higher.
• greater invisibility
• obscuring mist
• pass without trace
• poison
Prerequisites: Craft Staff, greater invisibility, obscuring mist, pass without trace, poison.
Cost to Create: 5,000 gp, 400 XP, 10 days.

Anyone figure out the math involved in creating these items.

 

[Cabral]

I disagree with the comment here that the Runestaff of Transportation is more likely to be used by a Wizard than a Sorcerer since Sorcerers tend to know utility spells. What do you think?

I agree. Possessing this staff and not knowing the spells means your Sorcerer can diversify a little more and at worst, teleportation magic is a night's rest away.

A sorcerer would be glad have runestaff even if it just contained staple spells. Sure, relying completely on a staff for offensive power is a bad idea, but any little extra versatility you can muster via items is a good thing.

 

[Nellisir]

In fact, at first glance, I'm starting to wonder if these shouldn't be the default staves for future versions of the game. Much more interesting, IMO.

Ditto. I was go this way in my home game anyways. Staves would give extra spells, and wands would give extra spell slots of a particular spell school. Or vice versa. I think WotC just made up my mind for me.