What's to stop someone...

[Bad Paper]

This begs the question of whether a staff can have only one spell in it. I have been wondering this for some time, and would like to know if anyone here allows it or has seen it...?

 

[Liquidsabre]

I would dig a cool force staff, that'd rock. Nothing wrong with a staff with but a single spell in it - creator's choice, though I'd prefer multiple spells myself.

 

[Jack Simth]

Let's see... what would go well in a force staff....

Perhaps:
Magic Missle (1)
Shield (1)
Mage Armor (1)
Interposing Hand (2)
Wall of Force (3)

?

All spells with the Force descriptor; you could, of course, make a completely different list, as there are lots of spells with the force descriptor.

 

[Len]

I don't allow staves that are not themed. Meaning, it contains multiple spells that are related somehow. Plus, it has to have a cool name.

How's this:

Staff of Calypso

• Ghost Sound (1 charge) (Sound of steel drums only)
• Magic Mouth (1 charge) (The message is sung rather than spoken)
• Ventriloquism (1 charge) (Your voice seems to sing rather than speak)
• Shout (2 charges) (Emits an ear-splitting burst of music)
• Song of Discord (2 charges) (It's a calypso song, of course)

 

[reanjr]

When I use the guidelines for magical item pricing (rare, but it happens), I usually set the price assuming the minimum caster level required to make the item. In this case, it's 12, so the item would cost 12x1xcost/charge rather than 1x1xcost/charge.

This is because you are buying the time of a much more powerful caster who has better things to do than make staffs of magic missile for people with a bit of chump change to throw around.

 

[calypso15]

How's this:

Staff of Calypso

• Ghost Sound (1 charge) (Sound of steel drums only)
• Magic Mouth (1 charge) (The message is sung rather than spoken)
• Ventriloquism (1 charge) (Your voice seems to sing rather than speak)
• Shout (2 charges) (Emits an ear-splitting burst of music)
• Song of Discord (2 charges) (It's a calypso song, of course)

It'd be a hit at parties!

 

[Saeviomagy]

Does anyone actually bother to create their own staves? I mean people do wands because it's a much better deal than a scroll or potion, but given the limitations on a staff, it almost seems to never be worthwhile.

 

[calypso15]

Does anyone actually bother to create their own staves? I mean people do wands because it's a much better deal than a scroll or potion, but given the limitations on a staff, it almost seems to never be worthwhile.

It depends how lenient your DM is. I created a level 14 sorcerer and put all his starting cash into a staff. I put in the ability to recharge the staff. During a full moon I can perform a ritual that deals me con damage in order to add charges. 1 point of con damage per charge, and I have to pay 1/50th of the original cost per charge in xp and moonstone dust.

So yes. I do have a staff, and I like it lots. I also have Craft Staff, which I'll get to use one of these days

Calypso

 

[Thanee]

This begs the question of whether a staff can have only one spell in it. I have been wondering this for some time, and would like to know if anyone here allows it or has seen it...?

Of course it can.

Bye
Thanee

 

[KarinsDad]

When I use the guidelines for magical item pricing (rare, but it happens), I usually set the price assuming the minimum caster level required to make the item. In this case, it's 12, so the item would cost 12x1xcost/charge rather than 1x1xcost/charge.

This is because you are buying the time of a much more powerful caster who has better things to do than make staffs of magic missile for people with a bit of chump change to throw around.

I tend to disagree somewhat with this statement unless the powerful NPC caster has a fairly steady stream of income (e.g. he is also an adventurer or a merchant or nobility or independently wealthy) and also really has other important things to do.

Sure, adventurers find wealth like it grows on trees, but high level NPC spell caster non-adventurers still have economic needs (and economic common sense). They cannot necessarily afford to up an item to some high caster level just in order to suck more money out of the PCs because the PCs might not pay. This sounds more like a DM coming up with a reason to make it more difficult for the players than the real motivating factor of an NPC.

Plus, the higher the NPC makes the caster level, the more XP he needs to craft the staff. The XP does not come from the PC buying the item.


As is, the base price of a 9th level 50 charge Staff of Magic Missiles (if allowed) is:

750 gp x the level of the highest-level spell x the level of the caster = 6750 GP

For his 3375 GP profit (which is a good sized profit btw, basically equivalent to $337,500), the high level caster has to shell out 270 XP and a week of work. A third of a million dollars for a week of work is good money.


But to me, the XP cost and not the time of the high level caster would be the limiting factor of any magic item creation transaction. A high level NPC caster might craft an item a few times to make the big bucks, but eventually unless that NPC was greedy (as part of his personality), there comes a time when the money isn't as necessary and the NPC really doesn't want to lose any more XP, just in order to gain more wealth.