How many charges in a staff?

[onlyfro]

I know this sounds like a stupid question. In the Magic Item section, under "Staffs," it says that a staff contains 50 charges. In literally (not literally) the next sentence, it says that a staff of charming has 3 charges. Can someone explain this horribly overlooked discrepancy to me, please? Because the cost of that staff is 16,500 GP, which is way too much for an item with 3 charges and slightly too much for an item with 50 charges.

The only reasonable explanation that I can think of is that this expensive stick is actually a hand-held wizard who has been transformed into a piece of wood, and he can cast 3 low-level spells each day for 50 days. Did I say "reasonable"? I meant "ridiculous," and something that could definitely be described more clearly.

Thanks so much!

[Vaern]

The charges listed in the staff description are the cost of casting a spell from the staff. A freshly made staff of charming has 50 charges. It costs one charge to cast Charm Person and two charges to cast Charm Monster.
It makes a lot more sense after reading the crafting section regarding staffs, which mentions that you can make a spell on a staff cost multiple charges to reduce the crafting cost of adding that spell to the staff.

[onlyfro]

The charges listed in the staff description are the cost of casting a spell from the staff. A freshly made staff of charming has 50 charges. It costs one charge to cast Charm Person and two charges to cast Charm Monster.
It makes a lot more sense after reading the crafting section regarding staffs, which mentions that you can make a spell on a staff cost multiple charges to reduce the crafting cost of adding that spell to the staff.

oh gosh, that makes sense now. thanks! just adding the word "consumes" before "one charge" would have improved that chapter for me :smallsmile:

[Vaern]

You're not the only one to run into this issue. My group once picked up a staff of healing from a random loot pile and thought it looked really underwhelming until we figured it how it actually worked a session or two later :p