Staffs with Charges per Day

[NerdHut]

For my 3.5 campaigns, I'm trying to find rules for a category of magic item: Staffs with charges per day instead of 50 total charges.

I've read through the DMG's section on making staffs, and it only provides information on the standard form: it assumes multiple spells, with 50 total charges, then kaput.

In the tables for creating magic items there is an entry for giving an item a set amount of charges per day, taking the base price and dividing it by (5/# of daily charges). It seems like that can be applied to any use-activated item, but the idea of being able to cast 5 charges worth of a staff's spells every day in perpetuity at the same price as a 50-charge staff seems a little broken. And looking at the prices of Eternal Wands in Magic Item Compendium seems to support that hypothesis, as simply applying the price modifier above to a normal wand would actually make it cheaper (with only 2 charges per day), where the Eternal Wands are more expensive.

With that in mind, I was wondering if there is something from WotC about this very topic that I'm overlooking, or if I'll need to work something out with homebrew?

For low enough level spells, it probably makes more sense to use the Eternal Wand's stats and just refer to it as a staff for flavor reason. But I'd like a similar option for 4th-level spells and above.

[Thurbane]

I'm not aware of an existing item of this type (unless it's in a FR/Eberron splat-book, or Dragon mag): the best bet is probably just to use Eternal Wands as a guideline for a home-brewed item.

You could also take a look at Runestaves and Domain Staves, which use your own spells/slots to power the spells they contain.

[TIPOT]

Staffs from pathfinder might work? http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/staves/ They can be recharged each day.

[Zaq]

Have you looked at Minor Schemas? They’re in Magic of Eberron, and I think they’re slightly similar to what you want. Not dead-on, but they’re as close as I can think of from RAW printed material.

Also, if you’re only burning one charge per action, it’s harder than it seems to go through 50 charges of an in-combat spell in the kinds of campaigns I’m familiar with. You might run out if you use a charge truly every single round, but that’s frankly an unlikely battle plan. (This gets different if you blow through multiple charges per shot and it’s very different for spells that are primarily used out of combat, but still.)

The point is that I wouldn’t be overly concerned about abuse potential unless you play with people who would specifically try to abuse this sort of thing.

[Thurbane]

Have you looked at Minor Schemas? They’re in Magic of Eberron, and I think they’re slightly similar to what you want. Not dead-on, but they’re as close as I can think of from RAW printed material.

Hmm, just had a read over these. There's often interesting stuff tucked away in the campaign specific books...

[Venger]

you are describing runestaves, an item category in magic item compendium. they're fine balancewise.

[NerdHut]

you are describing runestaves

Runestaffs require you to expend an equivalent spell slot. They effectively add a spell to your spells known while held. What I'm describing is an item with its own charges of the spell that does not deplete the character's spells per day.

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Thurbane, upon plugging some numbers into a spreadsheet to help me keep track of things, I found that eternal wands are only marginally more expensive than normal wands with 50 charges, so using them as my basis for "Eternal Staffs" seems to be a good option.

TIPOT, I kind of like the pathfinder recharge system, but I'm not sure my current players would feel much like doing the small amount of extra work (I really need to find a way to get them to put in more effort)

Zaq, I just looked up the Schemas, and I like the concept. If I don't adapt the Eternal Wand mechanics, I may adapt these instead.

[Dragonexx]

I like this version.


Staffs/Wands:
Staffs and wands are magical spellcasting items that don't run out. A Lesser staff has 15 daily charges and can only hold up to 3rd level spells. A Medium staff has 30 daily charges and can only hold up to 6th level spells. A Greater staff has 60 daily charges and can hold any spell level up to 8th. Staffs cannot hold 9th level spells.

Wands are simply staffs that only have a single spell stored within them. They can be held in one hand. Staffs require 2 hands to wield in combat and may have multiple spells attuned in them, however each additional spell reduces the daily charges total by 2.

A Staff requires a standard action to activate the spell effect, and consumes a number of charges equal to the spell level of the spell used. You must also have a character level greater than double the spell level, minus one, and have the spell on your class list in order to activate that particular spell. A staff casts using your Caster level and casting stat bonuses, as if you were casting the spell.

Some spells are not suitable to staffs, such as spells with a permanent duration, or spells requiring long cast times. Spells with one full round or one standard action casting times, non permanent durations and no xp cost are always able to fit in staffs, whereas other spells must first be confirmed with the DM. Spells with xp requirements can never be placed in staffs.

[jmax]

I like this version.

What is the provenance of that?

[death390]

50 charges is = to 1/2 unlimited use base price.
charges per day = base price * # charges per day / 5

meaning taking a 50 charge item and turning it into use per day is.
standard price * 2 * # charge per day / 5

note that eternal wands DO NOT HAVE A ACTIVATION UMD they are not actually wands technically they are a command word item.

it is possible to make a actual eternal WAND (makes it cheaper too 300g * Spell level * Caster lvl)
spell level * caster level * 750 (50 charge spell trigger) * 2 (delimiter) = unlimited use spell trigger (wand) item.
* # charges per day / 5 for use per day version. hell a 1 charge /day version is only 300g 1st lvl spell caster lvl 1, or lvl1 CL 1 unlimited use for 1500.

[Fizban]

You could also cobble together prices in different ways, like Runestaff+ Pearl of Power= daily charge.

The multi-function non-simultaneous formula guideline applies to any type of charged item: highest price +1/2 second highest price +1/4 of all other prices that draw from the same pool. Take the daily price and increase for extra functions. This will get quite expensive, just like staves.

If you want an item that casts the spell the same as if you cast it yourself, standard DMG staves and runestaves are it. Note that staves have a minimum cl of 8 so you can't just cheap out on them.