technophile
First Post
My House rules on Wizard Staffs
I've adopted the wizard staff from the Dragon magazine article with the changes below. I took some of the ideas from Quintessential Wizard and mixed them in where needed, and also added a way to change the spell-like abilities that the staff can cast. I beefed up the combat bonuses of the staff a little so that the wizard's base attack + enhancement bonuses from the staff is equal to the cleric's attack progression. I made the recharge staff feat a little risky, since recharging the staff is a major boon to PCs since they can recharge a staff indefinately once they create one.
At 7th-8th level, the staff gains enhanced weapon +2, adjust the following enhanced weapon bonuses to take this additional ability into account. So at 11th level the total enhancement bonus is +3, and so on, up to a potential bonus of +5 at 19th level.
In addition to the choices listed in the ability Mighty weapon, it also has the ability to improve the enhancement bonus by +1, so the choices should read: +1 enhancement bonus, bane, defending, flaming, frost, merciful, shock or thundering.
In addition, several feats are changed as follows:
Enchant Staff [Item Creation]
After the ritual has been performed and the spell has been chosen, the wizard may choose to reinvest a different spell. The new spell must meet all the requirements as listed in the feat, and the wizard must re-perform the ritual to invest this power in the staff, requiring 24 hours and 100 gp per level of the spell to be invested. Afterwards the staff is no longer capable of casting the previous spell chosen, and now may cast the new spell selected instead.
Invest Spell [Item Creation]
This feat may be taken as written, or the following alternative may be chosen.
The imbued staff has the potential to serve as a repository for a wide range of magical energies. By holding, amplifying, and slowly releasing arcane energy, the staff can replicate the effects of arcane spells many times over the course of the day. Each morning, the staff's owner meditates over his staff, using the same process as preparing spells. However instead of preparing spells in certain slots, he can channel that energy into his staff to fuel an invested spell.
Prerequisites: Caster level 9th, ability to imbue a staff.
Benefit: You must choose a spell to invest in your staff. The spell must be one that you are able to cast, and can be of a level no higher than 2 levels below the highest-level spell you can cast. The spell being invested may be modified by metamagic feats, but the spell level is based off the adjusted level, and must meet the above requirement.
In order to power the spell like ability the wizard must expend a spell slot one level higher than the invested spell when he prepares spells that day. For 24 hours after expending the spell slot the wizard may use the invested spell as a spell-like ability three times. After 24 hours pass the spell energy invested fades away, and must be replentished before the invested spell may be used again.
Special: This feat may be taken multiple times. Its effects do not stack. Each time you take the feat, you must select a new spell to invest. The ritual for preparing the staff to receive this feat requires 24 hours, and expends 250 gp per level of the spell invested. As detailed above for the enchant staff feat, the chosen spell may be changed by performing the ritual again. However if spell that is already imbued is chosen to be imbued during the ritual, the ritual fails, and the spell does not change.
Recharge Staff[Item Creation]
The charges for a staff must be renewed by the casting of the same spell(s) that they hold. However a spell must be at minumum a 5th level spell in order to add a charge to a staff, and a staff may only regain one charge for each spell cast, no matter how many charges it costs to cast that spell using the staff. When the staff is recharged, it must make a saving throw to resist being recharged. The DC for this saving throw is equal to the saving throw DC for the spell cast. The staff's bonus is equal to 2 + one-half its caster level (round down). If the staff fails the saving throw it is recharged, if it makes the saving throw it has resisted being recharged, and burns off this excess energy with a random spell effect. You may make a Will save with a DC equal to the spell DC to control the magic energies so that they harmlessly dissipate.
Random effects may be similiar to the effects a rod of wonder, or may mimic a spell stored in the staff.
I've adopted the wizard staff from the Dragon magazine article with the changes below. I took some of the ideas from Quintessential Wizard and mixed them in where needed, and also added a way to change the spell-like abilities that the staff can cast. I beefed up the combat bonuses of the staff a little so that the wizard's base attack + enhancement bonuses from the staff is equal to the cleric's attack progression. I made the recharge staff feat a little risky, since recharging the staff is a major boon to PCs since they can recharge a staff indefinately once they create one.
At 7th-8th level, the staff gains enhanced weapon +2, adjust the following enhanced weapon bonuses to take this additional ability into account. So at 11th level the total enhancement bonus is +3, and so on, up to a potential bonus of +5 at 19th level.
In addition to the choices listed in the ability Mighty weapon, it also has the ability to improve the enhancement bonus by +1, so the choices should read: +1 enhancement bonus, bane, defending, flaming, frost, merciful, shock or thundering.
In addition, several feats are changed as follows:
Enchant Staff [Item Creation]
After the ritual has been performed and the spell has been chosen, the wizard may choose to reinvest a different spell. The new spell must meet all the requirements as listed in the feat, and the wizard must re-perform the ritual to invest this power in the staff, requiring 24 hours and 100 gp per level of the spell to be invested. Afterwards the staff is no longer capable of casting the previous spell chosen, and now may cast the new spell selected instead.
Invest Spell [Item Creation]
This feat may be taken as written, or the following alternative may be chosen.
The imbued staff has the potential to serve as a repository for a wide range of magical energies. By holding, amplifying, and slowly releasing arcane energy, the staff can replicate the effects of arcane spells many times over the course of the day. Each morning, the staff's owner meditates over his staff, using the same process as preparing spells. However instead of preparing spells in certain slots, he can channel that energy into his staff to fuel an invested spell.
Prerequisites: Caster level 9th, ability to imbue a staff.
Benefit: You must choose a spell to invest in your staff. The spell must be one that you are able to cast, and can be of a level no higher than 2 levels below the highest-level spell you can cast. The spell being invested may be modified by metamagic feats, but the spell level is based off the adjusted level, and must meet the above requirement.
In order to power the spell like ability the wizard must expend a spell slot one level higher than the invested spell when he prepares spells that day. For 24 hours after expending the spell slot the wizard may use the invested spell as a spell-like ability three times. After 24 hours pass the spell energy invested fades away, and must be replentished before the invested spell may be used again.
Special: This feat may be taken multiple times. Its effects do not stack. Each time you take the feat, you must select a new spell to invest. The ritual for preparing the staff to receive this feat requires 24 hours, and expends 250 gp per level of the spell invested. As detailed above for the enchant staff feat, the chosen spell may be changed by performing the ritual again. However if spell that is already imbued is chosen to be imbued during the ritual, the ritual fails, and the spell does not change.
Recharge Staff[Item Creation]
The charges for a staff must be renewed by the casting of the same spell(s) that they hold. However a spell must be at minumum a 5th level spell in order to add a charge to a staff, and a staff may only regain one charge for each spell cast, no matter how many charges it costs to cast that spell using the staff. When the staff is recharged, it must make a saving throw to resist being recharged. The DC for this saving throw is equal to the saving throw DC for the spell cast. The staff's bonus is equal to 2 + one-half its caster level (round down). If the staff fails the saving throw it is recharged, if it makes the saving throw it has resisted being recharged, and burns off this excess energy with a random spell effect. You may make a Will save with a DC equal to the spell DC to control the magic energies so that they harmlessly dissipate.
Random effects may be similiar to the effects a rod of wonder, or may mimic a spell stored in the staff.
