Lix Lorn
2014-01-20, 09:40 AM
Staffs of Maj’Eyal
Staffs are based on Tales of Maj'Eyal and remain the property of the owner.
The powerful staffs wielded by mages and arcane adepts in the land of Maj’Eyal serve as powerful weapons. Rather than merely a wooden stick, they focus magical power, allowing the wielder to strike with magical force, even if they might otherwise be unskilled at combat
Staffs are used like normal weapons, requiring a melee attack using strength (staffs are valid targets for Weapon Finesse). They suffer a -4 penalty if their wielder is nonproficient, and can cause a critical strike for increased damage.
They are two handed weapons.
Staffs are most powerful in the hands of spellcasters. A proficient character with an arcane* caster level may treat any level that gives him an increase to his caster level as if it gave his BAB an equal increase. In addition, these characters deal bonus damage equal to their class ability modifier (Usually Charisma, Intelligence for Shadowblades) on every attack with a staff.
Channeling this energy is difficulty for those not trained in their use, so a character only receives the number of iterative attacks with Staffs that they would receive if their BAB was equal to the total caster level they have from classes which grant Staff proficiency. The Staff Mastery talent makes all Talent-using classes count as proficient with staffs for this rule.
Staffs are for Staff classes, not full casters. An Archmage 1/Wizard 19 only makes one attack. An Archmage 6/Wizard 14 would make two attacks. (But would be really, really suboptimal.)
Other wielders may still use full attacks to benefit from Haste, Speed, or similar effects.
However, they do have weaknesses. They do not function in an antimagic field, and are affected by spell resistance.
A staff can be enchanted as a normal weapon. Its wielder must be as free to act as someone wielding any other weapon.
Staffs are usually Evocation or Conjuration effects.
Crafting a Staff is a difficult task, and while some are ornate, gilded, or simply beautiful, this has no effect on their abilities. Staffs are always considered masterwork, but do not gain a bonus for this.
Proficiency Feat
Staff Proficiency
Prerequisites: Int, Wis, Or Cha 15, Knowledge (Arcana) OR Spellcraft 2 ranks
Benefit: You may use Mej’Eyal Staffs without a nonproficiency penalty. If a spellcaster, you may use your caster level in place of your BAB, and deal bonus damage equal to your casting modifier.
Normal: Mages never have to make attack rolls.
Staff Combat
Prerequisites: Proficient with Staffs, not entirely dead to magic.
Benefit: You may take the Channel Staff, Staff Mastery, Defensive Posture and Blunt Thrust talents whenever you may take a talent. If you already have access to these talents, you may choose one of them you do not possess but qualify for and take it now.
Channel Staff (Su)
Whenever you make an attack action with a staff, you may make the attack as a ranged touch attack, using your highest class ability modifier instead of your strength modifier. You must be able to speak and to cast spells, and the attack may be dispelled. If dispelled, you may not use this ability for one hour or until the end of the encounter, whichever is longer, and the attack is blocked. A staff's caster level is the higher of the one required to use it and the caster level of its wielder.
Staff Mastery (Ex)
You may use your highest class ability modifier instead of your Strength modifier on attacks with staffs. You increase your damage with staffs by one size. For the purposes of using staffs, all talent using classes you possess are considered to grant staff proficiency.
Defensive Posture (Su) Requires: Staff Mastery
You may add the tier of your staff, as well as any enhancement bonus, to your AC as a shield bonus.
Blunt Thrust (Ex) Requires: Staff Mastery
As a standard action, you make a melee attack. If it hits, the target must make a fortitude save, with a DC equal to 10+1/2 ECL+highest class ability modifier. If they fail, all damage they deal for the next 1d4 rounds is halved.
This ability may be used once every 13-(highest class ability modifier) rounds, minimum 2.
Normal: You fight with swords, axes, etc. Y’know. Weapons.
There are five basic ranks of staff. Basic staffs are by far the most common, and can be wielded by anyone who knows how. More advanced staffs require a certain caster level, or have the effects of the most basic staff of their type.
As a rule, staffs always weigh 5lb.
Their damage is unaffected by the size of the wielder. If an effect would increase a staff’s damage by one size, increase the die size by one. (d2>d3>d4>d6>d8>d10>d12.) If already at d12, add bonus damage equal to the number of dice instead.
The raw stats for each rank of staff are as follows.
Rank
Cost
Dmg
Crit
CL
Elmstaff
100gp
1dx
20x2
-
Ashstaff
300gp
2dx
20x2
5
Yewstaff
600gp
4dx
20x2
9
Elven-wood Staff
1000gp
6dx
20x3
13
Dragonbone Staff
2,000gp
9dx
19-20x3
17
The damage die for a staff is determined by its damage type.
A staff that deals Acid, Cold, Electric, Fire, or Physical damage has d8 damage dice.
A staff that deals Darkness or Light damage has a d6 damage dice, as would a Mind based staff.*
A staff that deals Arcane, Blight, Nature or Temporal damage has only a d4 damage dice.
Rare Staffs
Of course, some famous weapons have specific rules. These rules may be added to new purchased or crafted weapons at a price, but do not easily coexist. Each of these rules added after the first adds 10% of the total price to the final cost.
Penitence
A staff forged to aid in reparations after the spellblaze, the original Penitence was a +1 Nature Ashstaff. It also allowed the wielder to cast Remove Disease at their own caster level once an hour. Penitence has a CL requirement of 7, and costs 44,300gp to buy, not counting any sentimental or historical factors in the price.
A more powerful or different staff could exist with the same healing touch, adding 31,500gp to the price for a Nature staff, or 42,000gp for another.
Bolbum’s Big Knocker
A mighty, gnarled staff with great weight, Bolbum’s staff was hidden by his angry students after his death. The original Knocker was a +1 Collision Physical Yewstaff that increased its damage by one size, normally to d10. The Knocker has a CL requirement of 10, and costs 21,600gp to buy, not counting any sentimental or historical factors in the price.
A more powerful or different staff could exist with the same magical weight, adding 3000gp to the price for a Physical staff, or 4000gp for another.
Crafting Staffs
Crafting a staff requires a CL equal to that needed to wield it (1 for Elmstaffs or 13 for Elven-wood Staffs), and requires half their base cost in materials. It takes four hours, plus one hour for each level of the base staff. Abilities that enhance the crafting of magic items enhance this too. A staff's statistics, including name, power and damage type, are determined when the staff is crafted. If the staff is of a school other than evocation, this is also decided then. (Some Darkness staffs might be Necromancy, while many staffs could be Conjuration, and Mind staffs would be enchantment - as with all homebrew, use your judgement.)
*ToME Canonicity
In a game using the fluff of Maj’Eyal, divine energies do not exist. Natural energies are the closest equivalent, and are unequivocally opposed to magic. Thus, only arcane caster levels can fuel staffs. In a game using these rules as an add-on to a normal setting, there is no reason a divine caster couldn’t use staffs.
Similarly, Maj’Eyal does not contain staffs dealing Mind damage, as arcane energy cannot produce psionic effect.
For standard damage types, force would be a d4, sonic or desiccation a d6, and vile or untyped would be only a d3.
Changelog
Yes, this is mostly the same as my Fire Emblem Tomes. Yes, this means I’m working on a conversion for them too. Yes, this is useless until one of those classes exists. Oh well wheeeeee!
Staffs are based on Tales of Maj'Eyal and remain the property of the owner.
The powerful staffs wielded by mages and arcane adepts in the land of Maj’Eyal serve as powerful weapons. Rather than merely a wooden stick, they focus magical power, allowing the wielder to strike with magical force, even if they might otherwise be unskilled at combat
Staffs are used like normal weapons, requiring a melee attack using strength (staffs are valid targets for Weapon Finesse). They suffer a -4 penalty if their wielder is nonproficient, and can cause a critical strike for increased damage.
They are two handed weapons.
Staffs are most powerful in the hands of spellcasters. A proficient character with an arcane* caster level may treat any level that gives him an increase to his caster level as if it gave his BAB an equal increase. In addition, these characters deal bonus damage equal to their class ability modifier (Usually Charisma, Intelligence for Shadowblades) on every attack with a staff.
Channeling this energy is difficulty for those not trained in their use, so a character only receives the number of iterative attacks with Staffs that they would receive if their BAB was equal to the total caster level they have from classes which grant Staff proficiency. The Staff Mastery talent makes all Talent-using classes count as proficient with staffs for this rule.
Staffs are for Staff classes, not full casters. An Archmage 1/Wizard 19 only makes one attack. An Archmage 6/Wizard 14 would make two attacks. (But would be really, really suboptimal.)
Other wielders may still use full attacks to benefit from Haste, Speed, or similar effects.
However, they do have weaknesses. They do not function in an antimagic field, and are affected by spell resistance.
A staff can be enchanted as a normal weapon. Its wielder must be as free to act as someone wielding any other weapon.
Staffs are usually Evocation or Conjuration effects.
Crafting a Staff is a difficult task, and while some are ornate, gilded, or simply beautiful, this has no effect on their abilities. Staffs are always considered masterwork, but do not gain a bonus for this.
Proficiency Feat
Staff Proficiency
Prerequisites: Int, Wis, Or Cha 15, Knowledge (Arcana) OR Spellcraft 2 ranks
Benefit: You may use Mej’Eyal Staffs without a nonproficiency penalty. If a spellcaster, you may use your caster level in place of your BAB, and deal bonus damage equal to your casting modifier.
Normal: Mages never have to make attack rolls.
Staff Combat
Prerequisites: Proficient with Staffs, not entirely dead to magic.
Benefit: You may take the Channel Staff, Staff Mastery, Defensive Posture and Blunt Thrust talents whenever you may take a talent. If you already have access to these talents, you may choose one of them you do not possess but qualify for and take it now.
Channel Staff (Su)
Whenever you make an attack action with a staff, you may make the attack as a ranged touch attack, using your highest class ability modifier instead of your strength modifier. You must be able to speak and to cast spells, and the attack may be dispelled. If dispelled, you may not use this ability for one hour or until the end of the encounter, whichever is longer, and the attack is blocked. A staff's caster level is the higher of the one required to use it and the caster level of its wielder.
Staff Mastery (Ex)
You may use your highest class ability modifier instead of your Strength modifier on attacks with staffs. You increase your damage with staffs by one size. For the purposes of using staffs, all talent using classes you possess are considered to grant staff proficiency.
Defensive Posture (Su) Requires: Staff Mastery
You may add the tier of your staff, as well as any enhancement bonus, to your AC as a shield bonus.
Blunt Thrust (Ex) Requires: Staff Mastery
As a standard action, you make a melee attack. If it hits, the target must make a fortitude save, with a DC equal to 10+1/2 ECL+highest class ability modifier. If they fail, all damage they deal for the next 1d4 rounds is halved.
This ability may be used once every 13-(highest class ability modifier) rounds, minimum 2.
Normal: You fight with swords, axes, etc. Y’know. Weapons.
There are five basic ranks of staff. Basic staffs are by far the most common, and can be wielded by anyone who knows how. More advanced staffs require a certain caster level, or have the effects of the most basic staff of their type.
As a rule, staffs always weigh 5lb.
Their damage is unaffected by the size of the wielder. If an effect would increase a staff’s damage by one size, increase the die size by one. (d2>d3>d4>d6>d8>d10>d12.) If already at d12, add bonus damage equal to the number of dice instead.
The raw stats for each rank of staff are as follows.
Rank
Cost
Dmg
Crit
CL
Elmstaff
100gp
1dx
20x2
-
Ashstaff
300gp
2dx
20x2
5
Yewstaff
600gp
4dx
20x2
9
Elven-wood Staff
1000gp
6dx
20x3
13
Dragonbone Staff
2,000gp
9dx
19-20x3
17
The damage die for a staff is determined by its damage type.
A staff that deals Acid, Cold, Electric, Fire, or Physical damage has d8 damage dice.
A staff that deals Darkness or Light damage has a d6 damage dice, as would a Mind based staff.*
A staff that deals Arcane, Blight, Nature or Temporal damage has only a d4 damage dice.
Rare Staffs
Of course, some famous weapons have specific rules. These rules may be added to new purchased or crafted weapons at a price, but do not easily coexist. Each of these rules added after the first adds 10% of the total price to the final cost.
Penitence
A staff forged to aid in reparations after the spellblaze, the original Penitence was a +1 Nature Ashstaff. It also allowed the wielder to cast Remove Disease at their own caster level once an hour. Penitence has a CL requirement of 7, and costs 44,300gp to buy, not counting any sentimental or historical factors in the price.
A more powerful or different staff could exist with the same healing touch, adding 31,500gp to the price for a Nature staff, or 42,000gp for another.
Bolbum’s Big Knocker
A mighty, gnarled staff with great weight, Bolbum’s staff was hidden by his angry students after his death. The original Knocker was a +1 Collision Physical Yewstaff that increased its damage by one size, normally to d10. The Knocker has a CL requirement of 10, and costs 21,600gp to buy, not counting any sentimental or historical factors in the price.
A more powerful or different staff could exist with the same magical weight, adding 3000gp to the price for a Physical staff, or 4000gp for another.
Crafting Staffs
Crafting a staff requires a CL equal to that needed to wield it (1 for Elmstaffs or 13 for Elven-wood Staffs), and requires half their base cost in materials. It takes four hours, plus one hour for each level of the base staff. Abilities that enhance the crafting of magic items enhance this too. A staff's statistics, including name, power and damage type, are determined when the staff is crafted. If the staff is of a school other than evocation, this is also decided then. (Some Darkness staffs might be Necromancy, while many staffs could be Conjuration, and Mind staffs would be enchantment - as with all homebrew, use your judgement.)
*ToME Canonicity
In a game using the fluff of Maj’Eyal, divine energies do not exist. Natural energies are the closest equivalent, and are unequivocally opposed to magic. Thus, only arcane caster levels can fuel staffs. In a game using these rules as an add-on to a normal setting, there is no reason a divine caster couldn’t use staffs.
Similarly, Maj’Eyal does not contain staffs dealing Mind damage, as arcane energy cannot produce psionic effect.
For standard damage types, force would be a d4, sonic or desiccation a d6, and vile or untyped would be only a d3.
Changelog
Yes, this is mostly the same as my Fire Emblem Tomes. Yes, this means I’m working on a conversion for them too. Yes, this is useless until one of those classes exists. Oh well wheeeeee!