Has Anyone Homebrewed Magic Staves?

[Strill]

Pathfinder's staves are good for two things: Having a repository of spells once per downtime which you can use to go nova with, and having a selection of rarely-used utility spells at the ready so you don't have to prepare them.

The cost of adding utility spells to a staff is near-identical to the cost of making a 50-charge wand for each of them, so unfortunately there's really no reason not to just make the wands. If you actually run out of charges, then they weren't "rarely-used utility spells" in the first place.

The comparison then becomes: Nova once per downtime with a staff, or get more spells every day with a Pearl of Power. Staves are so expensive that the comparison is not favorable to staves. A Staff whose strongest spell requires 1 charge, will cost about the same as three equal-level pearls of power. That means you have the choice of either 10 spells per downtime, or 3 spells per day. I think most people would take 3 spells per day.

There's also the fact that the stock staves in the book don't take advantage of either of those primary benefits. Their strongest spells cost 3 charges to activate (in order to keep the cost down), which means they're bad at going nova. Usually they're also crammed with low-level spells that do the same things as high-level ones, which just inflates their price without adding any utility. The closest thing to a good book Staff is the Staff of Healing (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/staves/staff-of-healing). Each of those healing spells is nice to have ready, but it's still really really expensive for what it does, and you'd still almost certainly be better off making wands of each of those spells instead.

I think this is unfortunate because I honestly like the idea of Staves as spell batteries that you recharge with your own spell slots. I just think that the cost of purchasing them comes out really really unfavorably for them compared to the alternatives.

Has anyone ever tried homebrewing or houseruling magic staves? I've considered ideas like: "Staves can be charged with leftover spell slots at the end of the day", or "Charging a staff with higher-level spell slots than it requires restores additional charges", but I honestly don't know whether that would mess things up too badly.

[Twelve.Five]

I'm launcing an E6 campaign right now where all spellcasters will be spontaneous. The only "Consumable" items are staffs and potions. I've put a system in place that allow for easy access to spells outside the spells known for crafting purposes, cut the staff creation price in half, lowered the minimum CL to 6, and required that a spellcaster be attuned to the staff to use it, making it largely impractical to carry multiple.

I don't know if it's going to work or just get ignored.

A way to get people to at least use the low level staffs would be to remove the "At least CL 8" stipulation. That'd make a staff of 1st level spell cost 400 to create. It could even give rise to making staffs with the full intention of tossing them afterwards. CL 1 staffs with 1 lvl 1 spell for 10 charges, coming in at 40 gp which is a bit steep compared to a scroll, but it uses your caster level.

[Strill]

What does the minimum CL even accomplish at all? I don't see why it's necessary.

[Almarck]

From the perspective of a game designer, it's probably a matter of "theming". Allowing staves to have a minimum caster level helps put staves as an "elite" choice. Also, probably to imply that creating a staff is a difficult item to create and thus needs particular resources.

Regardless, I myself have never seen a staff employed, but that's only because I haven't been in a game with a spellcaster at the appropriate caster level and funds to buy or the luck to get them. I would think that adding "Least" staves might go a long way to allowing people to see them more.

I can totally see people making a staff of least healing with Cure Light Wounds, Remove Disease, and Cleanse Food and Drink. Assuming of course, the Caster Level was dropped entirely, or made more... managable. I think Caster level 3 is enough, since that's when Arms and Armor or was it Wonderous is unlocked.

[Strill]

From the perspective of a game designer, it's probably a matter of "theming". Allowing staves to have a minimum caster level helps put staves as an "elite" choice. Also, probably to imply that creating a staff is a difficult item to create and thus needs particular resources.
That makes sense, but I don't agree with it. Staves are too iconic to restrict to high-level play.

[Zale]

You may be interested in Runestaves from the Magic Item Compendium. As I recall, they had spells imbedded in them that could, a certain number of times per day(?), be cast by converting a spell slot of the same or higher level.

They basically were limited extra spells known to spontaneous casters and nice for panic buttons/emergency changers for prepared ones. You could adapt that to fit staffs in a more general sense.