Staff Master feat

[Ilium]

In Complete Arcane there's an Epic feat called (I believe) Staff Master. The prereqs are Craft Staff and some high skill. I think it's 30 ranks in Spellcraft, but I'm not sure.

Anyway, what this feat does is let you burn your own spell slots to power a staff. So you can cast the spell(s) the staff provides using your own slots of the same or higher level.

I looked at this and thought: Not only does that seem pretty lame for an epic feat, I think that's how a staff should work anyway. With the RAW, a staff isn't much better than a wand, really. It can store higher-level spells and might have other abilities on it, but if the PC is crafting it, it's basically like having several wands duct-taped together. I've always thought a staff should be better than that, and that it should (at least potentially) not run out of charges. You don't see Gandalf chasing away the nazgul and then shrugging and tossing his staff in the trash because it's out of charges.

So I ask: just how bad would it be to let any caster who can use a staff power it with their own spell slots?

 

[Crothian]

It then becomes an item allowing a wizard to spontaniously swap out his memorized spells for a few specific spells (whatever is in the staff). For a feat with some good requirements like Craft Staff and Spellcraft 12 ranks it should be fine.

 

[Quartz]

When I suggested something similar for a magic item, there were howls that it would benefit sorcerors too much.

 

[Ilium]

When I suggested something similar for a magic item, there were howls that it would benefit sorcerors too much.

I suppose it would allow a sorcerer to effectively expand his Spells Known list. But if I have it as a non-epic feat (as Crothian suggests) then I think the cost of a feat plus a pretty pricey magic item is reasonable. Especially since the cost scales with the spell level. I do like the idea of keeping Craft Staff as a prerequisite. It leads to the idea of a wizard or sorcerer crafting his "own" staff. Of course if the caster is required to craft the staff to make this work, then he'll have to have access to the spells in the first place, making it useless to sorcerers, unless they collaborate with another caster on it.

Hmmm.

Thanks for the feedback so far. Anybody else?

 

[Li Shenron]

I think it's a cool idea, it's very potent (both Wiz and Sor have a huge benefit, in different terms) for 12th level but it could be considered.

Craft Staff is indeed usually a very poor feat for Sorcerers, unless you have a partner spellcaster with you for the whole time, who knows the spell and expends it once per day... so I really don't think you should be concerned about Sorcerers getting too much benefit.

 

[Rhun]

I like the idea. I think it sounds perfectly acceptable.

 

[ChimericDream]

I love the idea. In fact, I think I'll steal it and tweak it a bit to fit it into my world.

Damn, I love ENWorld! So many good ideas.

 

[Ilium]

Just revisiting the thread to post what I've decided to do. Here's the version I'm going to use in my game.

Improved Craft Staff [Item Creation]
Your understanding of magic staves allows you to channel your own arcane power through them.
Prerequisite: Arcane Caster level 12th, Craft Staff feat
Benefit: You can use any staff you have created by expending your own spell slots rather than staff charges. The prepared spell or available slot you expend must be at least equal to the level of the spell you are casting from the staff. You may not expend spell slots to power staff abilities that do not correspond exactly to a spell.

I'm limiting it to arcane casters in my game mostly for flavor reasons.

 

[SkidAce]

Sounds like a focus item from an old Dragon mag.

If you found a focus item you could cast the spell "thru" it with your own power, if it was on your list basically, and you had the slot available.

Been using them (mainly for staves) for years, along with a few other items. The players had a glove that could focus one of the Bigby's fist spells, a rope that focused rope trick, etc.

 

[Ilium]

Yep, that's basically it, but rather than it being a special type of magic item, you can do it with any staff you craft yourself (if you have the new feat). This way you can choose to use the staff the normal way (burning charges) or power it yourself. Aside from anything else, it gives real casters an advantage over UMD users, if they're willing to invest in the feat.