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Staves

A staff is a long shaft that stores several spells. Staves usually hold spells grouped by a theme, and sometimes possess other abilities that they grant to the wielder. A staff has 10 charges when created, but can be recharged by a spellcaster with the appropriate spells.

Physical Description: A typical staff measures anywhere from 4 feet to 7 feet long and is 2 inches to 3 inches thick, weighing about 5 pounds. Most staves are wood, but an exotic few are bone, metal, or even glass. A staff often has a gem or some device at its tip or is shod in metal at one or both ends. Staves are often decorated with carvings or runes. A typical staff also functions as a walking stick, quarterstaff, or cudgel. It has AC 7, 10 hit points, hardness 5, and a break DC of 24.

Activation: Staves use the spell trigger activation method, so casting a spell from a staff is usually a standard action that doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity. If the spell being cast has a longer casting time than 1 standard action, however, it takes the full casting time to cast the spell from a staff. To activate a staff, a character must hold it forth in at least one hand (or whatever passes for a hand, for nonhumanoid creatures).

d% Result
01–30 Something (a design, inscription, or the like) provides a clue to its function.
31–100 No special qualities.

Using Staves: Staves use the wielder’s ability score and relevant feats to set the DC for saves against their spells. Unlike with other sorts of magic items, the wielder can use his caster level when activating the power of the staff if it’s higher than the caster level of the staff. This means that staves are far more potent in the hands of a powerful spellcaster. Because they use the wielder’s ability score to set the save DC for the spells, spells from a staff are often harder to resist than those from other magic items, which use the minimum ability score required to cast the spell. Not only are aspects of the spell dependent on caster level (range, duration, and so on) potentially higher, but spells from a staff are also harder to dispel and have a better chance of overcoming spell resistance.

Recharging Staves: Staves hold a maximum of 10 charges. Each spell cast from a staff consumes one or more charges. When a staff runs out of charges, it cannot be used until it is recharged. Each morning, when a spellcaster prepares spells or regains spell slots, he can also imbue one staff with a portion of his power so long as one or more of the spells cast by the staff is on his spell list and he is capable of casting at least one of the spells. Imbuing a staff with this power restores one charge to the staff, but the caster must forgo one prepared spell or spell slot of a level equal to the highest-level spell cast by the staff. For example, a 9th-level wizard with a staff of fire could imbue the staff with one charge per day by using up one of his 4th-level spells. A staff cannot gain more than one charge per day and a caster cannot imbue more than one staff per day.

A staff can hold spells of any level, and the minimum caster level of a staff is 8th.

Lesser Medium Staves
Greater Medium Staves
Lesser Major Staves
Greater Major Staves

Table: Staffs

Lesser Medium Staves
d% Lesser Medium Staff Price (gp) Source
01–10 Staff of blessed relief 7,200 UE
11–20 Staff of minor arcana 8,000 UE
21–30 Staff of tricks 8,800 UE
31–44 Staff of the scout 9,600 UE
45–54 Staff of eidolons 14,400 UE
55–67 Staff of accompaniment 14,800 UE
68–84 Staff of understanding 16,000 UE
85–100 Staff of charming 17,600 CRB

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Greater Medium Staves
d% Greater Medium Staff Price (gp) Source
01–11 Staff of fire 18,950 CRB
12–21 Staff of courage 19,200 UE
22–29 Staff of belittling 20,000 UE
30–38 Staff of feast and famine 20,800 UE
39–49 Staff of rigor 20,800 UE
50–60 Staff of swarming insects 22,800 UE
61–68 Staff of authority 23,000 UE
69–81 Staff of radiance 23,200 UE
82–92 Staff of size alteration 26,150 UE
93–100 Staff of journeys 27,200 UE

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Lesser Major Staves
d% Lesser Major Staff Price (gp) Source
01–04 Staff of acid 28,600 UE
05–08 Staff of shrieking 28,800 UE
09–11 Chaotic staff 29,600 UE
12–14 Holy staff 29,600 UE
15–17 Lawful staff 29,600 UE
18–21 Staff of healing 29,600 CRB
22–24 Unholy staff 29,600 UE
25–28 Staff of the master (necromancy) 30,000 UE
29–32 Staff of spiders 30,200 UE
33–36 Staff of electricity 31,900 UE
37–39 Heretic’s bane 32,000 UE
40–42 Musical staff 32,000 UE
43–46 Staff of souls 32,800 UE
47–50 Staff of toxins 34,200 UE
51–54 Staff of stealth 36,800 UE
55–58 Staff of the avenger 37,310 UE
59–62 Staff of aspects 37,600 UE
63–66 Staff of speaking 39,600 UE
67–70 Staff of frost 41,400 CRB
71–74 Staff of bolstering 41,600 UE
75–78 Staff of curses 43,500 UE
79–85 Staff of dark flame 47,000 UE
86–89 Staff of cackling wrath 47,200 UE
90–93 Staff of performance 48,800 UE
94–97 Animate staff 49,800 UE
98–100 Staff of revelations 51,008 UE

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Greater Magic Staves
d% Greater Major Staff Price (gp) Source
01–04 Staff of illumination 51,500 UE
05–07 Staff of obstacles 51,600 UE
08–10 Staff of heaven and earth 54,000 UE
11–13 Staff of travel 54,400 UE
14–16 Staff of hoarding 55,866 UE
17–19 Staff of traps 56,925 UE
20–22 Staff of many rays 57,200 UE
23–25 Staff of mithral might 58,000 UE
26–29 Staff of defense 62,000 UE
30–32 Staff of the planes 63,960 UE
33–35 Staff of hungry shadows 69,300 UE
36–38 Dragon staff 81,000 UE
39–41 Staff of slumber 81,766 UE
42–46 Staff of abjuration 82,000 UE
47–51 Staff of conjuration 82,000 CRB
52–56 Staff of divination 82,000 UE
57–61 Staff of enchantment 82,000 CRB
62–66 Staff of evocation 82,000 UE
67–71 Staff of illusion 82,000 UE
72–76 Staff of necromancy 82,000 UE
77–81 Staff of transmutation 82,000 UE
82–83 Staff of weather 84,066 UE
84–86 Staff of earth and stone 85,800 UE
87–88 Staff of vision 86,666 UE
89–91 Staff of the woodlands 100,400 UE
92–94 Staff of life 109,400 UE
95 Staff of one hundred hands 180,200 UE
96–98 Staff of passage 206,900 UE
99 Staff of the hierophant 220,000 UE
100 Staff of power 235,000 UE

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