Staffs usable by any character?

[Random Axe]

The way I read the DMG, any character class can wield a magic wand or staff, regardless of whether or not he is a spellcaster in the first place. There's nothing that specifically states that only a wizard or sorceror can use one and not another, etc.

Is this correct? A fighter can wield a wand? A cleric can wield a staff?

 

[Beckett]

Wands and staffs are spell trigger items. The relevant text from the srd:

Spell Trigger
Spell trigger activation is similar to spell completion, but it’s even simpler. No gestures or spell finishing is needed, just a special knowledge of spellcasting that an appropriate character would know, and a single word that must be spoken. Anyone with a spell on his or her spell list knows how to use a spell trigger item that stores that spell. (This is the case even for a character who can’t actually cast spells, such as a 3rd-level paladin.) The user must still determine what spell is stored in the item before she can activate it. Activating a spell trigger item is a standard action and does not provoke attacks of opportunity.

So, clerics can use staffs, as long as the spells they're using are on their list. Fighters cannot use any wands or staffs.

 

[hong]

Well, fighters can deal 1d6+1.5xStr with a staff, or 1d6/1d6 if using both ends....

 

[Ilium]

Well, fighters can deal 1d6+1.5xStr with a staff, or 1d6/1d6 if using both ends....

The way that other classes can use these items is the Use Magic Device skill. But if it's not a class skill for you, you are not going to be good enough at it to bother (barring house rules, of course).

 

[FireLance]

The way I read the DMG, any character class can wield a magic wand or staff, regardless of whether or not he is a spellcaster in the first place. There's nothing that specifically states that only a wizard or sorceror can use one and not another, etc.

Is this correct? A fighter can wield a wand? A cleric can wield a staff?

You might have read the part which says that unlike a scroll, a wand or a staff is neither arcane nor divine, so any character who has the spell on his spell list may activate the wand or staff.

This means that a cleric can use a wand of daylight that was crafted by a wizard, and a bard can use a wand of cure light wounds that was made by a cleric.