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There's a Staff in Ultimate Equipment known as the Staff of the Master. The book says there are 8 different staves, one for each school of magic, but an example is only given for one of them(Necromancy). That particular staff allows the wielder to cast three Necromancy spells: Ray of Enfeeblement(1st), Spectral Hand(2nd), and Vampiric Touch(3rd).
It seems like for most games, Staves for the other 7 schools can be created simply by picking a 1st, 2nd and 3rd level spell from the school of the staff, which the staff can then cast. For PFS however, this seems to tread dangerously close to the custom magic items line.
So, how would this work in PFS? The Additional Resources states that all staves on pages 192–203, except the unholy staff, are legal for play. That means the Staff of the Master should be legal, but what spells to we use? Can we chose what spells we want the staff to cast? Will someone create a list of spells specifically for this staff we can use? Or is only the Necromancy staff available, because it's the only example given?
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Well, I asked James Jacobs if he could flesh out the 7 other staff's for us and he said he was way too busy.
Who's monkey tree to we have to shake to get these made up? I would dearly love to see them in PFS.
A scenario author's. This sounds like a great item for a Chronicle.
-Matt
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There's a Staff in Ultimate Equipment known as the Staff of the Master. The book says there are 8 different staves, one for each school of magic, but an example is only given for one of them(Necromancy). That particular staff allows the wielder to cast three Necromancy spells: Ray of Enfeeblement(1st), Spectral Hand(2nd), and Vampiric Touch(3rd).
Wait. I can cast spells off a Staff of the Master? That changes everything!
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Minor note on this, these will not be purely optimal spells, they will be good spells, that are useful, but nothing overly versatile.
short versions:
Abjuration;
Shield (1 Charge)
Protection from Arrows (1 charge)
Dispel Magic (2 charges)
Note: originally I had resist energy, but I felt it would be too strong a spell list for the staff, so I chose a slightly weaker, while still useful spell. resist energy and Magic circle are both too versatile for staves IMHO, as they are really 4+spells in one.
Conjuration;
Grease (1 charge)
Acid Arrow (1 charge)
Aqueous Orb (2 Charges)
Divination;
True Strike (1 charge)
Detect thoughts (1 charge)
Arcane sight (2 Charges)
Enchantment;
Charm Person (1 charge)
Hideous Laughter (1 charge)
Hold Person (2 Charges)
Evocation:
Magic Missile (1 charge)
Shatter (1 charge)
Wind Wall (2 charges)
Note: fireball always works, but I wanted a more utility evocation staff, I left magic missile because it works against ghosts, while still having an action
illusion
Disguise Self (1 charge)
Mirror Image (1 charge)
Major Image (2 charges)
Transmutation;
Enlarge person (1 charge)
Spider Climb (1 charge)
Gaseous Form (2 Charges)
Leaving the other wording alone on the staves.
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I discovered this staff recently. Too late after running my sorcerer through EotT, but it was the clear choice to buy with the gold from that series. I'll likely never use the actual spells from it, but the Metamagic access is well worth the cost. A couple of Quickened 5th level spells per scenario is huge, or even an Empowered Cold Ice Strike. I'd have bought this long ago if I'd known about it, and I'd probably have taken more metamagic feats. As is, I'll get plenty of use just with Intensify, Empower, and Quicken.
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Fun fact: the metamagic special property of the staff of the master is apparently worth 400gp.I was actually looking at this for a homegame. I came up with 1800g.
level 1 spell 1600
level 2 spell 4800
level 3 spell 4800 (2 charges)
staff +1 (double enchanted) 2300
+1800 = 15300It'd be interesting to see that ability statted out separately to know if it's meant to be a percentage of the total or a flat cost.
Here are my calculations:
Vampiric Touch(400*3*8)/2 4,400gp
Spectral Hand
300*2*8=4,800gp
Ray of Enfeeblement
200*1*8=1,600gp
+1/+1 Quarterstaff = 4,000gp (actually, I totally forgot the masterwork property here, so that would make it 4600gp)
=14,800gp (or 15,400gp)
Making the special property cost either 400gp or -800gp.
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I'm not very familiar with the crafting rules and calculating costs for custom items, but aren't you comparing the price of the enhancements to the crafting cost of the staff?
4,600 for the +1/+1 would be the price of the +1 enhancements. The price of the staff is 30,000 gold. The crafting cost is 15,300. It seems like at least the 4,600 should be halved in your calculation, shouldn't it? Or am I missing something?
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I'm not very familiar with the crafting rules and calculating costs for custom items, but aren't you comparing the price of the enhancements to the crafting cost of the staff?
4,600 for the +1/+1 would be the price of the +1 enhancements. The price of the staff is 30,000 gold. The crafting cost is 15,300. It seems like at least the 4,600 should be halved in your calculation, shouldn't it? Or am I missing something?
D'oh, you're right. Craft Magic Arms and Armor is actually a prereq for the Staff of the Master, so you'd be able to half the non-masterwork cost. So we'd be looking at 2600 for the physical staff, bringing the total crafting cost down to 13,400gp and making the special property worth 1900gp in crafting costs or 3,800gp in price. This was a good talk. I'm glad we had it.