On Malack's Staff

[RustyVenture]

Ok, so I have some questions about how this works, and I apologize if this stuff has been asked before. I'm not sure what the D&D mechanics are on this (and I know the rules frequently aren't important in this comic). Anyway, here goes.

1) How does Durkon use the staff? He knows that there is Protection from Daylight in the staff, so can he consistently cast that spell so long as there are charges left in the staff (I assume he does have UMD)?

2) What about the other spells in the staff? I believe Malack said there are other "obscure" spells in there as well (can't remember exactly what strip, a citation is appreciated). But can Durkon use those at all without knowing what exactly is in there? If he can, is it just a random type of deal? Use the staff and see what happens?

3) Does having a staff with the spell assist Durkon in researching the Protection from Daylight spell? I believe the fact that Durkon has already used Malack's personal library to get Mass Death Ward helps him in his research by D&D rules, but is there any usefulness in having a charged staff with that spell? And by that same token, what about having access to Malack's library if he were to get access to it back in Bleedingham?

4) Final question. The charges in the staff that are remaining, are they charges that are for all spells, or does each spell in there have it's own amount of charges? I think its the former but I just want to be sure.

Sorry for the long questions, but from those who are much more "in the know" than me explanations of this stuff would be much appreciated. Thanks Playgrounders!

[Obscure Blade]

2) What about the other spells in the staff? I believe Malack said there are other "obscure" spells in there as well (can't remember exactly what strip, a citation is appreciated).This (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0878.html) strip, the 5th panel.

[Tebryn]

1) How does Durkon use the staff? He knows that there is Protection from Daylight in the staff, so can he consistently cast that spell so long as there are charges left in the staff (I assume he does have UMD)?

He uses it because it's got cleric spells in it and presumably he knows the command word to use the staff. He does not have UMD but he doesn't need it.


2) What about the other spells in the staff? I believe Malack said there are other "obscure" spells in there as well (can't remember exactly what strip, a citation is appreciated). But can Durkon use those at all without knowing what exactly is in there? If he can, is it just a random type of deal? Use the staff and see what happens?

He probably knows what's in it. No way to tell if he does at the moment or not but a simple Identify will get him the knowledge and V can cast that.


3) Does having a staff with the spell assist Durkon in researching the Protection from Daylight spell? I believe the fact that Durkon has already used Malack's personal library to get Mass Death Ward helps him in his research by D&D rules, but is there any usefulness in having a charged staff with that spell? And by that same token, what about having access to Malack's library if he were to get access to it back in Bleedingham?

Probably? I don't know if there are rules for learning spells from items. He could just research it on his own regardless however.


4) Final question. The charges in the staff that are remaining, are they charges that are for all spells, or does each spell in there have it's own amount of charges? I think its the former but I just want to be sure.

They're for all the spells, you get a set number and different spells use different amount of charges. It's possible some spells cost more than one charge.

[b_jonas]

Probably? I don't know if there are rules for learning spells from items. He could just research it on his own regardless however.


I have asked this in the forum thread Side effects of Durkon's condition (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=310584). There are rules for learning from a scroll, but I don't know about the staff.

My opinion is that the Order can probably find a solution independently of the staff, or possibly already have a solution, the problem is only that they're a bit short in time.

[rodneyAnonymous]

(and I know the rules frequently aren't important in this comic

That isn't true. 99.9% of the time, D&D 3.5 rules are followed exactly. What Rich actually said was that he wishes he could decouple this strip from D&D but it's too late, and that he reserves the right to bend or break them whenever they get in the way of his storytelling (which is only 0.1% of the time).

Technically there are no game rules in the OotS universe, practically it follows D&D 3.5 rules.