Staff implement one-handed?

[Torebo]

Well, I'm satisfied. I just wanted to know whether the Second Implement Mastery feat was going to even be an option for me should this game last long enough for my Dwarven staff wizard to make it paragon.

 

[Zurai]

Actually if the staves required two hands to use as an implement then that would in fact be a rule denying them the use of staves as an implement.

Incorrect. Small characters are only prevented from using two-handed or versatile weapons. Weapon has a very specific definition in 4E, and Implements are separate from Weapons.

 

[Seeker_of_Truth]

Incorrect. Small characters are only prevented from using two-handed or versatile weapons. Weapon has a very specific definition in 4E, and Implements are separate from Weapons.

He's aware of that. A staff is always a weapon though. As far as I can tell everyone is agreeing so what exactly is the point of arguing here?

 

[FadedC]

Incorrect. Small characters are only prevented from using two-handed or versatile weapons. Weapon has a very specific definition in 4E, and Implements are separate from Weapons.

Fair enough, so if a 2 handed implement is ever put in game, it's possible halflings will be able to use it. Though we won't know for sure until one is put in the game.

 

[toxicspirit]

Incorrect. Small characters are only prevented from using two-handed or versatile weapons. Weapon has a very specific definition in 4E, and Implements are separate from Weapons.

That was basically my point in a nutshell.

 

[icarusfallz]

Except:

If a player says to me "Can my dwarf have a sharpened battle-shovel?" I can say "Sure - treat it as a battleaxe." That doesn't mean it looks like a battleaxe 'on camera'; but as far as game mechanics are concerned, it behaves as a battleaxe. For interactions with feats, powers, attack rolls, etc, it's a battleaxe in all but name.

-Hyp.

I used to play a Duergar Fighter named Calloway The Gravedigger (the only job he could get in the surface world) who wielded an adamantine spade. (His style was fashioned after Mean Mark Calloway, AKA The Undertaker)

Give the darned Halfling a cane sized staff, and if he attacks, use club stats already. it's becoming an argument for the sake of disagreeing.

 

[On Puget Sound]

At my table, halfling wizards can "wield" a staff implement. If they choose to whack something with it, it does damage as a club, being shorter than a standard quarterstaff. Yes, I know that's a bit of return to 3.5 weapon sizing, but it seemed sensible. Making the quarterstaff versatile seems a stretch.

 

[Turtlejay]

I would have thought that if Halflings were barred from using the Staff as an Implement, it would have been stated somewhere. Being that it is not, and therefore Halflings can indeed wield the Staff as an Implement (even though it can also be used as a quarterstaff, but a quarterstaff itself cannot be wielded by a Halfling), then that would lead me to believe that wielding a Staff Implement is not quite the same as wielding a quarterstaff in the normal two-handed offensive manner.

Didn't anybody read this? This should have been the last post in this thread. Why is there still argument? Read it until you get it.

Staff != Quarterstaff, and while it may be cool to imagine it as such, it does not mean that a wizard has to hold it in 2 hands to cast spells through it. This does not make a lick of sense.

Jay

 

[Milambus]

You don't need to be armed to flank in 4e... but I will grant that an OA with a staff is slightly better than an unarmed OA (treated as an improvised weapon).

I know this response is late.. but who says you would have to make an unarmed attack even? I don't recall any rules saying you can't poke someone with a wand or bash them over the head with a magic orb. It would still just be an improvised weapon, but a wizard could be wielding an orb and wand and still be able to make OA.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

"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 also imbued with
arcane enchantments so that you can channel your
spells through it. Unlike other implements, a staff also
functions as a melee weapon (treat it as a quarterstaff ).
When used in melee, a staff applies its enhancement
bonus and critical damage dice just as a weapon does."
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Actually this suggests, that a staff fashioned for a halfling is a bit taller or smaller as said halfling and works perfectly fine as implement and Quarterstaff (d8 damage)
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