Question about Staff and UMD

[bbkilla]

hi all
1) if i cast a divine spell from a staff can i use my own CL as a bard with UMD? how does it work?

2) i want to buy a staff with some 2nd level spells. can i choose what spells i want? what is the cost of it?

tnx

[Psyren]

1) Yes. All UMD does is let you treat the spell in the staff as if it it were on your list - all other properties of staffs apply normally, including the ability to use your CL (if it is higher than the staff's), your casting stat for the save DC, and even your feats (like Spell Focus or metamagic.)

2) Depends on how many spells you want on there, whether any of them have costly components etc. Getting a custom staff would require finding a spellcaster (or sufficient scrolls) who can help you make it.

[Karoht]

from pathfindersrd.com
"Using Staves: Staves use the wielder’s ability score and relevant feats to set the DC for saves against their spells. Unlike with other sorts of magic items, the wielder can use his caster level when activating the power of the staff if it’s higher than the caster level of the staff. This means that staves are far more potent in the hands of a powerful spellcaster. Because they use the wielder’s ability score to set the save DC for the spells, spells from a staff are often harder to resist than those from other magic items, which use the minimum ability score required to cast the spell. Not only are aspects of the spell dependent on caster level (range, duration, and so on) potentially higher, but spells from a staff are also harder to dispel and have a better chance of overcoming spell resistance."
http://www.pathfindersrd.com/magic-items/staves
Yes. Staves are awesome like that.


The materials cost is subsumed in the cost of creation: 400 gp × the level of the highest-level spell × the level of the caster, plus 75% of the value of the next most costly ability (300 gp × the level of the spell × the level of the caster), plus 1/2 the value of any other abilities (200 gp × the level of the spell × the level of the caster). Staves are always fully charged (10 charges) when created.

If desired, a spell can be placed into the staff at less than the normal cost, but then activating that particular spell drains additional charges from the staff. Divide the cost of the spell by the number of charges it consumes to determine its final price. Note that this does not change the order in which the spells are priced (the highest level spell is still priced first, even if it requires more than one charge to activate). The caster level of all spells in a staff must be the same, and no staff can have a caster level of less than 8th, even if all the spells in the staff are low-level spells.
http://www.pathfindersrd.com/magic-items#TOC-Magic-Item-Creation
(scroll WAAAAAY down)

Have fun.

[bbkilla]

1) ok cool!
2) this is a new character so i just need the money. is this formula for 3.5 as well? because i see it says that you have 10 charges, and on the 3.5 SRD it says that you have 50.

tnx

EDIT:
OK i found the SRD of 3.5:


The cost for the materials is subsumed in the cost for creating the staff—375 gp × the level of the highest-level spell × the level of the caster, plus 75% of the value of the next most costly ability (281.25 gp × the level of the spell × the level of the caster), plus one-half of the value of any other abilities (187.5 gp × the level of the spell × the level of the caster). Staffs are always fully charged (50 charges) when created.

If desired, a spell can be placed into the staff at only half the normal cost, but then activating that particular spell costs 2 charges from the staff. The caster level of all spells in a staff must be the same, and no staff can have a caster level of less than 8th, even if all the spells in the staff are low-level spells.


so, now i just need to know:
1)the price of it if i buy it from the market.
2)if i want to put 2 spells of 2nd level, its :375X2X8 and thats it, or its 375X2X8 + 281.25X2X8.
tnx!!

[tiercel]

If you are creating a custom staff of two different 2nd level spells, each of which burns one charge from the staff when used, and neither of them has a costly material component or XP component, then:

375gp * 2 (spell level) * 8 (caster level) + 281.25gp * 2 (spell level) * 8 (caster level) = 10500 gp (material cost), 21000 (base cost)

If you are doing this yourself using the Craft Staff feat, and have the spells that you want to put into the staff, you then pay 10500gp and 840 XP (1/25 the base cost), and three weeks later you have a shiny new magic staff.

If you want to purchase/order this staff in the marketplace, you instead pay 21000gp. (Find a spellcasting staff-craftsman who knows the spells you want, describe to him what you want, get your three-week job worked into his schedule, pay him and wait. You will probably be unlikely to buy any old custom staff you want "off the shelf" at Magi-Mart, so you'll presumably have to custom order a custom job like this one.)

If you are buying the staff rather than creating it, depending on your DM you may be able to find a "used" staff (with fewer than 50 charges) -- even if you do, though, you won't, in general, get to decide how many charges there are on a used staff. By the rules you can't create a staff that starts with less than 50 charges or have someone create one with less than 50 charges....

...sort of. You can create a staff which effectively has fewer charges by having each use consume more than one charge. For instance, if both spells in the example staff above consumed two charges per use, the total cost (to create or purchase) would be halved, and you'd have a fully-charged staff that you could use 25 times. [To clarify: you would pay 10500gp in the marketplace, it would take your craftsman 11 days to create, the staff would technically have 50 charges, but you would use two charges every time you activated one of its powers.]

[bbkilla]

great post, tnx man!