Magic Staves: Difference between revisions

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[[Category:Epic Path]]
[[Category:Epic Path]]
[[Category:Magic Items]][[Image:Staff_02.png|500px|right|There is a reason they're so iconic — Magic staves are powerful!]]
[[Category:Magic Items]][[Image:Staff_02.png|300px|right|There is a reason they're so iconic — Magic staves are powerful!]]
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Magic staves are an unusual item, because they are really a combination of multiple items.
Magic staves are an unusual item, because they are really a combination of multiple items.

Revision as of 19:27, 5 September 2019

There is a reason they're so iconic — Magic staves are powerful!

Magic staves are an unusual item, because they are really a combination of multiple items.

As with any Quarterstaff, a magic staff must be wielded in both hands in order to be considered 'wielded'. Like any other wielded magic item, magic staves provide no benefits unless they are being wielded. You cannot buy a staff, keep it in your backpack, and expect it to give you bonuses.

Unlike a common quarterstaff, however, a magic staff provides a number of benefits to its wielder, even before taking into account the magical abilities it grants.

First, when wielded, a magic staff can be used to make normal melee attacks against a creature within reach (using the stats of a normal quarterstaff), or it can be used to perform Melee Touch Attacks against a creature in reach. If used to perform touch attacks, the magic staff's basic attributes are still the same as a quarterstaff, but the wielder may not apply their STR modifiers to their damage roll. This has a hidden benefit, though, if the wielder happens to have a negative STR modifier, it has no impact on the damage dealt.

Second, a magic staff counts as an implement, granting the wielder their Implement Bonus, if they get one, any time they must roll a to-hit roll when casting a spell or using a spell-like ability. As with other implements, magic staves can be used to perform a spell's somatic components, waving the staff around instead of the caster's bare hands. Furthermore, as long as the spell caster actually possesses the appropriate material component in a readily available location (like a Component Pouch), a magic staff eliminates any need to have a free hand to draw that component when casting the spell. The component is consumed as normal, but it is pulled from its storage space by the staff itself. If the component is stored in a location that would take longer than the "part of the same action as casting the spell" to draw, the staff cannot draw the component. Don't store your components in a portable hole, or back in town. It won't work.

Lastly, similar to a rod, a magic staff has charges that are consumed when spells are cast from the staff. Unlike a rod, all magic staves have a maximum of 10 charges available to them, and these charges cannot be recharged with the use of Manastones. Instead, the magic staff automatically refills back to 10 charges at the end of each full night's rest (or after 24 hours, whichever is sooner).

Building A Magic Staff

To build a magic staff, simply select three Magic Rods, and one Magic Wand, and add the cost of all four items together. The staff is able to make use of every affect granted by all four items, as long as it is being wielded in both hands, and as long as it has charges remaining. Effectively, while wielding the magic staff, you are treated as wielding all three of the selected rods and the chosen wand at the same time (while also gaining the benefits mentioned above).

Casting any of the spells from the chosen Magic Rods still requires a command word, uttered as a Standard Action, but instead of only using 1 charge per spell cast, the number of charges used is equal to the spell level of the spell. This means a 4th level spell (such as the Boneshatter spell from the Bonebreaker's Rod) uses up 4 of the staff's 10 charges for the day, but a 1st level spell (such as Magic Missile from the Rod of Darts) would use up only 1 charge. If a magic rod that casts a 0th level spell is chosen to be part of the magic staff's composition, it can be cast an unlimited number of times, since it costs 0 charges (though it still requires a standard action to cast).

The caster level of any spells cast from the magic staff are equal to the caster level of the rod or wand they are being pulled from. That is, while you can purchase the Bonebreaker's Rod as a caster level 7 rod, the damage dealt by its Boneshatter spell is stuck at 7d6+7, and will not increase unless the staff is upgraded to make use of a higher level version of the Bonebreaker's Rod. This means that a magic staff that is able to cast three maximum level spells will be quite expensive indeed.

The wand effect chosen for the staff does not use up any of the staff's charges, but it can only be used if the staff has at least 1 charge remaining.

Wand effects can be used to modify/alter the caster's own spells during their spellcasting, or they can be applied to the spells cast from the staff, but only if the caster meets the prerequisites normally required by the wand. (For example, to make use of the Wand of Quickening, the wielder must actually know the Quicken Spell feat. A staff imbued with the ability of a Wand of Quickening would have the same requirement of its wielder.)

Example Magic Staves

The magic staves listed below are simply a sampling of the possibilities. Any three rods, and any one wand can be combined to make a magic staff. As a result, there are millions of possible combinations — far too many to attempt to list them all.

Magic Item Name Description Cost
Staff of the Summoner Staff of the Summoner Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "[". gp