What do you think of the new Imbued Staff Article in Dragon?

[frankthedm]

could someone briefly describe what kind of abilities that an imbued staff would grant? I assume it would not be the same as for an ordinary familiar, and I would like to know how a "staff familiar" is different from the core "animal familiar."

Give up option to call familiar
Take a nonmagical masterwork staff, add 500GP in fancy stuff to the staff, spend 24 hours with it.
Staff starts at hardness 5 & 10 HP and this goes up slowly with level. Table seems to have an error.
You lose 500 XP per level [fort DC 15 for ½] if the thing gets broken / year and day replacement delay, Repay all gold costs. This is the sort of balance the Deck of many things brings to the game.
3 /lights spells & 1 bonus cantrip [save DC always 10]set when staff is imbued, per day.
Attacks with staff can deliver touch spells [like unarmed striking with a touch spell]
You can enchant your own staff as a DMG staff at 20% mark up
Staff gets ‘effective’ enhancement bonuses when you wield it starting at third, slowly goes up.
You can see through the staff starting at 5th [seems to be setting up wizard to have their staff stolen for plot.]
Eventually you can repair it by giving it your “resting“ healing [1 per level per evening, heal skill no help]
Later on you will always know where your staff is. [really setting up for re-capture the staff scenarios]
Before you go epic you will be able to teleport your staff to hand from anywhere on the plane.


Sample Feats [each separate, costs are 1 time]

500 gp & 12 hours to prep staff. Add your WIS modifier when casting defensively[until your next action].[you also keep dex mod]

5th level char, 100 gp per spell level & 24 hours. Staff grants you a 1/day standard action, spell like ability[your normal DC], set when you take the feat. Spell must be one you “are capable of casting” and one level below you highest level spell slot. [a fixed "Extra slot" that is stilled, silenced & eshcewed]

12th level char, craft staff creation feat. Standard action: for each 5 ‘levels of spells’ you expend, restore a charge to your imbued staff you did the 20% markup with.

 

[Tetsubo]

I really like the idea. It's possibly the most useful article I've read in Dragon in months. I do think that it's a tad Feat intensive however. Having the Staff Feats be available as Bonus feats (as suggested above) is a good idea. I might even throw an extra in for flavor. I've always thought that a wizards staff should have personal power. I used athames in an old 2E campaign like that but didn't flesh them out as much.

 

[hbarsquared]

frankthedm - Thank you for your description of the article: it was very helpful last night, and I am glad to say that I have now recieved the magazine.

Love the article, love the possibilities. Finally, a non-prestige class mechanic granting spell-like abilities! Yeah!

For those of you who have looked at the article, what do you think of the following possible changes?

Mighty Weapon (Su): Any +1 ability, and a different ability can be added to different ends of the staff. For example, a +2 shocking/+2 flaming quarterstaff.

Enchant Staff/Invest Spell feats: They can stack, and you can select the same spell multiple times. If a sorcerer/wizard wants to spend another feat to gain one more use per day of the same spell, or sacrifice another spell slot as well for three more uses, why not?

7th-8th Level Ability: As a standard action, light as per the spell and the chosen cantrip both usable at will.

Epic Level: Gain an additional +1/+1 bonus every eight levels (at 27th, 35th, 43rd, etc...). Also, the sorcerer/wizard may select one Imbue Staff feat every ten levels (at 21st, 31st, 41st, etc...) The progression for hardness and hit points continues. (+5 hardness, +5 hit points every six levels.) (Note: based off the Epic Familiar progression, wherein Familiar Spell is granted every ten levels.)

 

[hbarsquared]

Does anyone like what I might do with the ability? Or have your own variants?

 

[Shadow145]

I guess I'll throw in my 2 cp.

I love the article. I agree staves are definitely a wizard thing, and this sort of reminds me of Magisters in AU.

I plan on introducing it into my campaign shortly in the form of a tome they'll find as treasure. However my reasoning is that it looks easier to use then a familiar.

The current wizard in the party had a pseudodragon familiar, but is having a hard time managing just her character. After about 12 sessions of never using it (as in, it never made an appearance in the campaigm at all) because she was having a hard enough time just keeping her wizard and all the spell/equipment options straight, she asked if she could lose the familiar and replace the feat with something else. I agreed. So now she has no familiar at all and I believe Imp. Init instead of Imp. Familiar. Actually, I may have made the suggestion, we run a pretty high-powered game and I hated to see her waste a feat when everyone else is twinking.

I hate to see what I consider a key feature of the class (others may see it as an option, I see it as a key class feature like an mount or an animal companion) go unused. I think this is an option of similar power that is a lot easier to manage.

As a wizard player myself, I don't know which one I'd use. I like the staff rules, but I see it as more of an easier option to play then a familiar. I think a well-played familiar is more versatile and useful.

Anyhow, I'll make the option available, it'll be up to her if she wants to use it.

Oh, and I have no comments on the above changes to the rules. I'll let more experienced DM's comment on it.

 

[Luthien Greyspear]

It looks those who can take the option are doing so without a lot of hesitation. Looks like the trade off fails the Balance Litmus Test. It is obviously much stronger than the familiar and thus not balanced. A familiar is a balanced option a character might take, that staff is one the character WILL take as soon as the 500 GP is available.

The Table is an error. The staff has few HP in the text, than is listed on the table. The table should Be 5hp lower at first level or every level.

In my game, the opposite is true. At least one of my players would feel cut off and incomplete without her familiar, who has in fact died once in the campaign (against a ghazneth, and they tend to kill EVERYBODY). The player was so distraught, she made it a point to take Improved Familiar at her next level, and summon a Celestial version of her old familiar: essentially, the ghost of her old familiar come back from Elysium in a new body. Familiars can become part of the party, much like intelligent swords and well-played NPC's.

Not to say the staff rules are bad. They're a great alternative, with a lot of potential. But they are still kind of static, and take away some great role-playing opportunities.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

I thought it was "Darmock and Jalad at Tenagra"?

There were actually two. One was, as you state, "Darmock and Jalad at Tenagra." They were enemies there, but become allies when faced with a common foe. The second is "Darmock and Jalad on the ocean" in which they went on a voyage together, representing the fast frendship that had developed. Just watch out for "Shakka, when the walls fell."

It makes me weep that I remember that.

I see no shame in remembering one of the best episodes of the entire series.

 

[Mistwell]

I really liked this article and the associated feats. The staff itself is weaker than a familar. The feats balances it back out.