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sphing
2006-11-05, 11:24 PM
I have always hated the D&D rules for staffs, it seems to me that a wizards or sourcer's staff should be a personal item that has slowly taken on some of his personality,a nd become an integral part of him, not a consumable item. I have come up with the following rule for staffs, i havn'r had much time to work on it, its ggod in concept but some of the numbers are wrong.

Bind Staff
The bind staff ability is an ability gained by wizards and sorcerers at 5th level. It gives them the capability to create a special magical staff out of a masterwork quarterstaff and various other magical materials requiring 4,500 gp. A magical staff takes 1 week to bind and increases hardness and hit-points by the caster level of the, wizard or sorcerers. A character can only have one staff, wizard and sorcerer levels stack for the purpose of determining level dependant properties. The caster level of the staff is always considered to be the caster level of the binder as of the last time the binder had it in his possession during his daily preparation of spells, or 15 minuet meditation for sorcerers.
A staff has maximum charges equal to 2 times the caster level of the binder of the staff as of the last time the binder prepared spell's with the staff in his possession. If a wizards or sorcerers staff is destroyed he looses XP as if he had lost a familiar of the appropriate level.
Staffs gain powers through runes, scribing a rune to a staff takes 1 day for every 1,000 GP in the cost of the rune to a minimum of one day and to a maximum of two weeks. A staff may have a number of runes equal to 1/2 the binders caster level (rounded down) There are two types of runes, activated runes and passive runes.

Activated runes
Activated runes are keyed to a specific spell which the caster knows, they consume charges just as a spell cast from a normal staff does, the number of charges are dependant on the level of the spell and any costly material or XP components involved. The base cost for an activated rune is, 1,000 times the spell level. The number of charges used are as follows for spell without costly material or XP components. 1st: 1 charge, 2nd: 1 charge, 3rd: 1 charge, 4th: 2 charges, 5th: 2 charges, 6th: 3 charges, 7th: 4 charges, 8th: 5 charges, 9th: 6 charges. Costly material components add 1 charge for every full 1000 in the cost of the material component, one copy of the component must be used in the scribing of the rune. Spells that use xp add two chrges for every 100 XP in the cost of the spell, and the XP cost must be paid once when scribing the rune. note: While this may seem to be a low number for the charge requirement of a spell it actually works out quite nicely. The rule as is allows limited wish to be cast for 10 charges, which is a days worth of charges for a 20th level caster, so once a day. Gate (calling) can be cast at the expense of the very limiting 29 charges, once every three days for 20th level caster. Wish could be cast for a woping 106 charges, just within reach of a 50th level caster with a voltaic rune once every four days.

Passive runes
Instead of draining charges every time a spell is cast using them passive runes decrease the number of charges of a staff permanently, but provide a constant benefit or the ability to use a spell at will. A spell caster may research a new passive rune just like they would research a new spell. All passive runes and their consummate costs and charge reductions are at the discretion of the DM. Passive runes can be removed to open up the charges which they have permanently drained, removing a rune takes 1 day.

Some examples of appropriate passive runes include.
Rune of illumination: Cost 1,000 GP: 2 charges: Light at will, staff as target only. Rune of retribution: 5,000 GP: 3 charges: Staff has retributive strike ability as staff of power. Rune of Replenishing: (see recharging staffs) Cost: 10,000 GP: 5 charges: Staff regenerates 3 charges per day instead of 1.
Special passive rune: Voltaic rune: Cost: 15,000 Gp: instead of taking up charges a voltaic rune counts as 3 runes for the purpose of determining maximum runes: Increases maximum charges of staff by 10.

Recharging:
Though staffs have charges they are not considered consumables. A staff automatically recharges 1 charge per day, increasing the number of charges in the staff by one, up to the staffs maximum charges. This is an extraordinary ability which cannot be suppressed in any way. Also a staffs binder may recharge it by casting spells "into" this recharges the staff for a number of charges equal to the number of charges it would cost to cast the spell from the staff from an activated rune, the spell does not have to have an activated rune keyed to the spell for the spell to be cast into it. A staff can only be recharged for a number of charges equal to half of its binders caster level divided by 2 (rounded down) each day, regardless of method. This restriction is intentionally very stringent as it is the only real control on staffs, this way a caster can't butn every charge from his staff and know that he can fully recharge it enxt morning, this allows a staff to b recahrged in 4 days with effort. Becuase i tend to run high powered campains where the players need ever resorce they can get. Depending on your gaming stly and how much rest period you players get yuo may want to lower theis to as low as 1/5 caster level. A staff is recharged during this binders daily preparation of spells, thus it is not recharged if the binder does not have it in his possession.

Using Another spell casters staff
A DC 20 + CL of Binder spellcraft check is required to use another persons staff. A staff can only be recharges by its binder.

Customizing your staff
A staff can conceivably be made of any material, because of the saturation of magical energy a staff slowly transforms to reflect the binders desires. Even though ever staff starts as a piece of wood they could be made of any material if the caster gets to a high enough level. The player determines what his staff looks like but it is up to the DM to place reasonable restrictions on this. The coolness of the staff is arbitrarily based on the caster level of the binder.
Because a staff is still a masterwork quarterstaff, properties can be added to it just like any other magical weapon. The magical weapon properties of a staff are completely separate from the staff functions, except that the binders consent must be given for any magical properties to be added to it. A staff can also conceivably be integrated with other magical items, ex: a staff with a crystal ball on one end is completely acceptable. The prices of the other magic items must be paid in full, if the binder must give consent for them to be integrated into the staff. Just like normal magic items, other casters may contribute spells to the staff, if the caster doesn't know them. As long as the caster does all of the enchanting and the other caster is only casting the spells to fulfil the requirements for properties. Activated Runes of spells the caster doesn't know take 2 extra charges per use by the staff. Passive runes permanently drain 2 extra charges if they directly involve a spell the binder cannot cast.

Staffs made of special material
A staff could be made of something as exotic as adamantium if the binder so desired. For a staff to be made out of a material which gives it special properties the binder must provide enough of the substance to make a whole new staff. The ritual to transfuse a staff in this way takes 1 week, the cost of the materials the staff will be made out and an additional 1,000 gp worth of magical materials. The transfusion ritual transfers the properties of the exotic material into the staff so the exotic materials are consumed in the process. Because it is a quarterstaff enough must be provided to remake both ends of the quarterstaff, or the binder could elect to only transfuse one end.

Intelligent Staffs
A staff may be made an intelligent item this requires all of the normal prerequisites (CL: 15 ect). and a special Mindrune (2,000 gp). Unlike normal intelligent items, it may gain powers/intelligent/dedicated purposes over time. Its alignment even changes to match that of the binder if the binders alignment changes. Just like other functions of the staff, other casters can contribute the properties of the staff with the usual requirements of adding abilities to a magic item.

Scepters
All current staffs are reclassified as scepters and the craft staff feat is replaced by the craft scepter feat.


Ther you have it. It is rather complicated i know but i think it brings more of that merlin feel to staffs. I also know that i need to ajsut some of the numbers to keep it balanced, but i think all of the rules, before my numerical errors are added, are a serious improvement on existing staff rules.

Kamakazee_Gnome
2006-11-06, 01:15 AM
I like the idea of bound items -- items bound to their creator, as a fragment thereof... but this seems needlessly complex. Maybe some sort of "magic item familiar" instead?

Gyrfalcon
2006-11-06, 03:38 AM
Hm... it's a fun idea, even if wizards don't need the power boost a permenant, rechargable, customizable mage staff gives them. :)

Bind Staff section - It might just be easier to state that the hardness and HP, number of charges and such increases by the caster level of the character, but you also need a table stating how the hardness and HP increase, as it isn't currently defined. Caster level just doesn't change that often for it to matter each and every morning what their current level is. :)

Activated Runes - is there any mechanical difference as to charges used between casting Magic Missile at CL1 (1 missile) or CL9 (5 missiles)? What about Fireball at CL5 (5d10) and CL10? (10d10). Could you also stick a Rune of Empowered Fireball on the staff for the appropriately increased number of charges?

You might want to include a few more sample passive runes, but the ones you have there are pretty good, though I'd personally avoid the Rune of Retribution. The choice between stranding yourself somewhere in the cosmos or blowing yourself away to try to take an enemy with you isn't the best one usually. *grins*

Overall, I think you did good work with this, and it does make wizards and sorcerers even more fun to play. :)

sphing
2006-11-06, 05:33 PM
A couple explenations. Yes metamagic enhanced spells simply count as a spell of the new level, for purpose of determining charges. Becuase the thing with majic missle is the same for current staffs I am assuming it remains relativly balanced. I stated the caster level of the staff is that of teh binder as of the last time he used it becuase of a bizarre technicality which came up in one of my campains.
The party was captured at 7th level, all of their possesions were taken. Unfortuantly for them they found a rather unothodax means of escape, which left them without any of thier possessions. By the time the wizard was able to track down his staff he was 12th level, again bizarre technicality.

Mewtarthio
2006-11-07, 12:05 AM
I like the idea of bound items -- items bound to their creator, as a fragment thereof... but this seems needlessly complex. Maybe some sort of "magic item familiar" instead?

You mean like this (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/magic/itemFamiliars.htm)? Interesting concept, but I keep on seeing a flashing neon sign that says "DISJOIN ME!"

sigurd
2006-11-08, 01:17 AM
Mongoose's Quintessential Wizard has very interesting rules for alternate wizard staffs.

I recommend them if you can dig up a copy.

S