Staff of the Magi

[Thresher]

Was looking through my long running character's list of bits to try and improve the wizzies firepower and I used to use my staff of the magi quite a bit in 2E with the fireball and lightningbolt when everything else dried up.

Except, they kinda suck.
DC13 on both of them?
Most 5th level PC's or monsters would make that so Im wondering if its a missprint, 10D6 isnt worth as much in the 'make em cry' factor these days either but its better than standing around out of spells and being useless.

 

[Caliban]

Was looking through my long running character's list of bits to try and improve the wizzies firepower and I used to use my staff of the magi quite a bit in 2E with the fireball and lightningbolt when everything else dried up.

Except, they kinda suck.
DC13 on both of them?
Most 5th level PC's or monsters would make that so Im wondering if its a missprint, 10D6 isnt worth as much in the 'make em cry' factor these days either but its better than standing around out of spells and being useless.

Yes, the DC's appear to be wrong.

They should be DC 14.

 

[Thresher]

Thanks for the errata
Hmm, most things these days I throw a DC24 spell go 'bling' at anyway.

So much for an artifact that I had to go through hell for and nearly got me killed 3 times trying to keep.
Guess I'll keep it for the sentimentality, 'buffs' and utility spells just like my poor old wiz seems to spend its time doing rather than nuking.

 

[Taren Seeker]

Well you can't use it blow up stuff very well, but unlimited summoning 9, planeshift, knock, ice storm and passwall all have thier uses. If you want to blow things up, do it by proxy. MS 9 is a good start.

OK the SR sucks too.

But if you want to complain, look at the DC's on the Hammer of Thunderbolts! You'll stun some kobolds, but what kind of giant will fail a DC 16 fort save? This is the Hammer of Freaking Thunderbolts, the ultimate munchkin weapon of 1e and 2e!

I'm wondering if when the DC's for magic items were devised they forsaw just how easy it would be for players to get their saves up to respectable levels. It's really relegated wands and the like to utility roles. I'm not sure that's a good thing.

MoF tried to combat this somewhat, giving powerful items better DC's . The Fist has DC 22 for the stunning attack.

BTW, Caliban, master of the dry wit. Nice one

 

[Vaxalon]

If you use the rules from MoF, you can increase the DC for wands by including an expensive gem.

 

[bret]

If you take Heighten feat, you could raise the DC of wands to 16 by making the spell 4th level.

You could use the same sort of trick with Staves.

It does increase the cost to make the items.

 

[Christian]

Dryly witty it may have been, but Caliban (as usual) also gives the correct rule. A third-level spell requires a minimum spellcasting attribute of 13, which is a +1 bonus attribute level. Save DC is 10 + spell level + attribute bonus, =14 for a third level spell ...

 

[Sollir Furryfoot]

There's a feat in the ELH that allows you to use your own ability scores for the DCs of items you create, its not even an epic feat.

Hope that helps

 

[Hygric]

There are two spells in BOEM2 that may help, Invigorate item (+1 DC) and Coax Forth Power (+50% damage) the first one is a bit yeah, whatever, but the second one could make the old staff of the magi have a few more guts to it.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Although the Staff of the Magi is a "minor artifact", so you can't make one, ever... just have to find it.

And if you found one... would you ever want to recharge it by absorbing spell power? You'd never know whether it was going to go BOOM!!

(why the mega-beings that made this minor-artifact couldn't provide it with the ability that measly rods of absorbtion have to communicate the current number of charges I *don't* know! )



Cheers