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Staffs

A staff is a long shaft of wood that stores several spells. Unlike wands, which can contain a wide variety of spells, each staff is of a certain kind and holds specific spells. A staff has 50 charges when created.

Physical Description: A typical staff is 4 feet to 7 feet long and 2 inches to 3 inches thick, weighing about 5 pounds. Most staffs are wood, but a rare few are bone, metal, or even glass. (These are extremely exotic.) Staffs often have a gem or some device at their tip or are shod in metal at one or both ends. Staffs are often decorated with carvings or runes. A typical staff is like a walking stick, quarterstaff, or cudgel. It has AC 7, 10 hit points, hardness 5, and a break DC of 24.

Activation: Staffs 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, however, has a longer casting time than 1 standard action, it takes that long 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).

Special Qualities: Roll d%. A 01–30 result indicates that something (a design, inscription, or the like) provides some clue to the staff ’s function, and 31–100 indicates no special qualities.

Table: Staffs

MediumMajorStaffMarket Price
01–1501–03Charming16,500 gp
16–3004–09Fire17,750 gp
31–4010–11Swarming insects24,750 gp
41–6012–17Healing27,750 gp
61–7518–19Size alteration29,000 gp
76–9020–24Illumination48,250 gp
91–9525–31Frost56,250 gp
96–10032–38Defense58,250 gp
—39–43Abjuration65,000 gp
—44–48Conjuration65,000 gp
—49–53Enchantment65,000 gp
—54–58Evocation65,000 gp
—59–63Illusion65,000 gp
—64–68Necromancy65,000 gp
—69–73Transmutation65,000 gp
—74–77Divination73,500 gp
—78–82Earth and stone80,500 gp
—83–87Woodlands101,250 gp
—88–92Life155,750 gp
—93–97Passage170,500 gp
—98–100Power211,000 gp