Spellstaff: The Magic User's Weapon (PFRPG) PDF

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The staff, be it topped with a skull, gemstone, or crystal ball, has long been a symbol of the magic user’s power in classic fantasy literature. In roleplaying games, however, a staff is often nothing more than a glorified walking stick. Even those staves with actual power hold only a limited amount of charges before they are depleted, and recharging them costs the magic user precious spells. The spellstaff changes all this, giving magic users a ranged weapon that uniquely suits their mystery and power.

Inside: Rules for the spellstaff. Also included are traits, feats, archetypes, and plot hooks for the spellstaff!

Archetypes: Serpentstaff Witch (Witch), Spellstaff Adept (Wizard), Spellstaff Channeler (Sorcerer), Spellstaff Dancer (Bard), Spellstaff Disciple (Fighter), Spellstaff Healer (Cleric), Spellstaff Scrapper (Brawler), and Spellstaff Shepherd (Priest)!

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An Endzeitgeist.com review

2/5

This supplement clocks in at 17 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial/ToC,2 pages of SRD, leaving us with 13 pages, so let's take a look!

This pdf throws you right into the subject matter, with the very first page already depicting the tables containing the respective spellstaves and the feats-table, while also explaining the terminology:

Charges denote the unit of ammunition utilized by a spellstaff; capacity the maximum number of charges a spellstaff can hold. Magic User would be any character capable of casting spells. Basic stat-wise, spellstaves sport a base damage of 1d8 for medium weapons, a critical threat range of 19-20 and a range of 10 ft. A regular spellstaff holds 10 charges, an attuned (or dual-attuned) spellstaff holds 8. It should be noted that, if you're like me and consider infinite ammo-weapons broken and immersion-breaking, the rules do provide an alternative that assumes a crystal-based ammunition, which costs 2 gp for 10 shots. Per default, 6 minutes of meditation can restore one charge to the weapon - which is conservative enough to make, presuming a certain rarity, the weapon still functional without breaking immediately any sense of in-campaign logic. Spellstaves attack versus the full AC, not versus touch attack, by the way.

In a very interesting and iconic turn, spellstaves are fragile weapons, but only apply this quality versus melee attacks - if you're like me, this immediately conjures forth some pretty awesome imagery of the battered barbarian reaching the caster, sundering his staff.

Spellstaves have a range of 60 ft. - not an absolute, mind you - they are, essentially, projectile weapons. Creation-wise, they can either be made via Craft Magic Arms and Armor or Craft Spellstaff - which is pretty vital. The feat-tax is here, yes - but the feat allows you to mend broken spellstaves at half the cost - something not *explicitly* allowed for the more general feat. While it is clear that the intention is for this option to be widely available, RAW it isn't. It should also be noted that the Exotic Weapon proficiency for spellstaves is different -unlike other weapons, non-proficiency means that you can't use the spellstaff - at all. This constitutes a pretty pronounced departure from regular weapon proficiency rules, and one I quite frankly am not too big a fan of - beyond the rules-aesthetic perspective, the basic issue is the thus imposed feat-tax, which hits full casters hardest - the central target demographic. We'll return to this later on.

I understand the notion behind this choice, but ultimately found myself wondering why UMD or simply, a nonproficiency penalty, wouldn't do the job (the former is explicitly forbidden by the FAQ on the last page) - the target classes already suffer from bad BABs, so a nonproficiency penalty will hit hard. Spellstaves, as such, are not masterwork weapons unless created as such - though the wording there could have been slightly more concise.

A pretty basic issue of spellstaves as a weapon would be the omission of the damage type they deal - as written, regular spellstaves deal neither piercing, slashing or bludgeoning damage, which means they do not bypass certain DRs. The problem ultimately arises when a DR /magic pops up -does the spellstaff's blasts bypass it or not? Attuned spellstaves, available for a paltry 70 gp, deal magical damage types chosen upon creation: Fire, lightning [sic!], cold...or force. Force. You know, arguably the best damage type out there, against which there is next to no resistance. The damage type that reliably damages the incorporeal. Force, as a damage-type, is inherently superior to the elemental types of damage and as such should have a higher cost.

If the [sic!]-note above wasn't ample clue - there is no such thing as "lightning" damage - the proper term is "electricity damage." Dual-attuned spellstaves blend two energy-types, dealing half of either. This becomes problematic pretty fast - mixed elemental damage is rare for a reason - what if a target creature if vulnerable to one element used, but is immune to the other? Different resistances? The section also shows an ignorance of how elemental damage and DR interact - elemental damage automatically bypasses DR and is only subject to elemental resistance. How this works in game, I have no idea - only interpretations This seriously needs tighter rules. Finally, the price-point of dual-attuned spellstaves contradicts itself - the write-up notes it as 100 gp, the table at the same price as a attuned spellstaff, at 70 gp.

Spellstaves may be enchanted to hold +10 charges via a +1-equivalent enchantment and 3 sample, magical staves are provided. Secret spellstaves allow the wielder to easily pass it off as harmless, Spellstaves of the Elements and get a descriptor aligned with the elemental plane it was crafted on. In a callback to older editions I personally liked, these spellstaves are treated as +1 weapons while on the material plane, as +3 when on their home-plane...or when used against creatures native to the opposite plane, against which they also deal +2d6 damage. Nice one, concept-wise...but do these staves need to be attuned to the element of their descriptor? The write-up never notes whether this is a +1 attuned spellstaff or a +1 spellstaff per default. The Spellstaff of the Mechanical Genius has double range, ignores concealment and partial cover and reduces the AC-bonus gained from cover and soft cover by 2. This one's pretty nice!

A total of 6 traits are provided to help you customize your character for spellstaff use: These generally are pretty solid and sport interesting rules - from providing a distraction for your rogue-buddy to once/day enhancing bloodline, domain, etc-spells to making your spellstaff glow like light for one charge - iconic. I am not a fan of thinning the herd - +1 to atk versus targets that are part of a group, but not adjacent to another member of the group. Why? Because it requires the GM to constantly determine what a "group" is - e.g., a mixed warband of goblins and orcs - a goblin is only adjacent to an orc and they hate each other: Does this constitute a group? Why not simply go for the usual "adjacent ally" rules-language? As a nitpick, two of the traits are depicted with a different font than the rest of the pdf.

The pdf also provides, as mentioned before, an array of different feats is contained herein, so let's return to them. There would be a feat herein that lets you utilize your Int-mod instead of your Dexterity modifier to execute a ranged attack, while the follow-up feat provides the option to execute a full-round action and also add Int-mod to damage with the attack. These feats, while generally okay, imho falls short of their potential. While they thankfully avoid being *too* useful for gish-classes, the limitation to Int-mod locks out all Cha-based casters, which is a pity. Another feat allows you to add +2 to atk and damage versus spellcasters. I assume this, as per the (somewhat obscure) default only applies to characters capable of casting spells, not creatures with SPs - but unlike the question of who qualifies for spellstaff use, the FAQ is silent on this matter.

Overcharge is very interesting - it lets you expend additional charges to modify atk, damage, range or "critical range[sic!]" - the proper term is "threat range." On a nitpick, threat-range expansion should be more expensive, since it is more powerful. The feat also fails to note whether the effects here stack with themselves - the benefits (apart from the threat range expansion) seem to imply it, while their bonus type contradicts this, as enhancement bonuses do not stack with themselves. It should also be noted that, obviously, the threat range expansion is not subject to this bonus-type based restriction, allowing for pretty nasty expansions here that should have a rewrite. And if you think I'm nitpicking - no, the feat notes you can spend up to 1/2 your CL in charges to enhance a single missile.

Spellstaff Sacrifice allows you to expend a spell slot as a move action to add the extended spell's level in charges. Excess points are lost - pretty cool reload...but shouldn't this provoke an AoO analogue to reloading, analogue to crossbows et al.? Spellstaff Defense is cool - total defense also nets you partial cover versus ranged attacks. Quick holstering of spellstaves, negation of the fragile quality while wielding it...there are some fun options here. But there also are a lot of issues here: Spellstaff retuning suddenly allows you to also use the sonic energy type in addition to force - while I like the flexibility, I can't help but question whether the inclusion of sonic was intentional or not.

Metamagic Empowerment deserves a very specific place in design-hell - per two charges expended when casting a spell, you can mitigate 1 level of spell slot increase, with prepared casters reducing the maximum capacity until the spell is cast. Spontaneous casters need to pay 3 charges instead. Do I have to do the math to prove why this is broken with both ammunition and ammo-less recharge options? Calling your spellstaff back to your hand, jedi-style, is pretty awesome, also froma design perspective - its wording is precise and the action required scales with distance. Wand Battery, alas, once again is broken - it allows you to use spellstaff charges to power your wands, thus breaking the WBL in the long run by either underpricing a charge (and making no distinction between the value of charges) or by providing infinite charges, depending on the option you use. While the spell-level of the wand may not exceed the enhancement bonus of your spellstaff, this does not account for CL-variation. If you like chaos, there's a feat that allows for a 10% chance of a primal magic effect occurring when using the spellstaff - not suitable for every group of player, but I know that some of you will love this!

The pdf also sports an array of archetypes, many of which exchange basic proficiencies for the option to be able to use the spellstaff from the get-go. The first of these would be the Serpentstaff Witch, who merges her snake familiar with her spellstaff (Does the spellstaff need to be bought from starting gold? If so, what if she does not roll high enough to afford one? And yes, this is a nitpick and will not influence my final verdict.), becoming a kind of amalgam - even when in familiar-form, the serpent can fire as if it were in its spellstaff-form, but, if I'm reading the somewhat convoluted ability right, the familiar uses his own action-economy to fire, using his mistresses atk. This may not look like too much, but in multiclassing, the familiar's ability to utilize his own actions to fire becomes slightly problematic. 4th level provides a problematic ability - perfectly accurate throws of the serpentstaff within 30 ft., whereupon the snake transforms into its mobile form. Does the witch automatically hit other creatures? Can the snake immediately attack the foe and e.g. constrict? Does the attack, if any, count as a ranged attack? What if a creature is usually extremely nimble? I don't object to the ability itself and it won't break the game, but auto-hits tend to be abused HARD. And you don't have to think long to come up with nasty combos - holding touches, for example... The other abilities are pretty solid, though.

The spellstaff adept wizard replaces the usual bonus feats and arcane bond with bonus feats at 1st level,3rd level and every three levels thereafter, with levels counting as fighter levels for the purpose of qualifying for ranged combat feats...which is VERY limited. Come on, name, from the top of your head 5 ranged combat feats requiring fighter levels as a prereq. Okay, now look online. I'll be waiting. All right, from the top of my head, I came up with Disruptive, Spellbreaker, etc. (though does this count as pertaining to ranged combat?) Disrupting Shot, Martial Versatility (does that pertain to ranged combat, though?), Martial Mastery, Penetrating Strike and, of course, the Weapon Focus/Specialization-trees. There will be more out there, but I'm pretty sure I remember most of them. This is a bit of a limited list in my book, especially considering you'll lose the option to take arcane discoveries. While the adept gets 2 spellstaff-related bonus-feats at first level, 4 opposing schools mean that this one is pretty weak and could use an upgrade.

The Spellstaff Channeler Sorceror has another issue: As a free action, these sorcerors can overcharge their staves with their bloodline's power - while this is active, a spellstaff deals +1d6 damage and gains the descriptor based on the bloodline - whether this also changes the damage type and how that interacts with attuned spellstaves - I don't have the slightest clue. I like this ability's intent, but it's horribly opaque. Similarly, whether or not the final attack of an otherwise, thematically cool ability that rewards subsequent attacks on the same target is a free action or whether it's just a free action to declare it as such is simply not covered. The wording also implies an infusion of a bloodline power - if this is the case, is it expended or is that just fluff? The pdf also fails to specify whether the splitting missiles of this ability must target the same opponent - and maximizing weapon damage is pretty nasty when properly multiclassed - the only way you'll use this archetype, anyways.

The Spellstaff Dancer bard would be a pretty solid one - essentially, we have a bard that gets minor defensive buffs when light armored and unencumbered and may use versatile performance for Acrobatics, Fly and Intimidate instead. Personally, I'm opposed to 1st level evasion, seeing that ability usually is gained at second level to avoid getting it via 1-level dips. Other than that, it is an okay archetype, with one ability overlapping with Fat Goblin Games' Pole Dancer-archetype - I'm not sure which was here first, but generally, this is pretty solid. The same can, alas, be not said about the Spellstaff Disciple fighter: Instead of a 1st level bonus feat, the class gets a single 1st level sorc/wizard spell - both means to offset arcane spell failure. Spellcasting is Int-based AND spontaneous, which is a violation of how that is usually handled - Cha for spontaneous, Int for prepared. This one will not influence my verdict, though. Instead of a bonus feat, a spellstaff disciple may learn a single spell. Alas, the issue here is that the class itself does not really have a spell slot, but rather uses 5 charges to power the spellcasting. What does this mean? INFINITE SPELLCASTING! Only up to 5th level and in combat, problematic - but I can see these guys stockpiling staves, charging them and then cast away. BROKEN as all hell. Next.

Spellstaff Healers may use charges to extend the reach of healing spells (use proper rules language - there is not such spell school...) up to long range by expending charges. Which is horribly broken and takes a crucial nerf from 3.X away and reintroduces ridiculously powerful healing...and that's before the +50% for one charge-enhancement to channel efficiency. 5th level provides 2-charge-based maximization of such spells AND channel energy. These can be combined. Broken!

Spellstaff Scrappers, a brawler archetype, uses the spellstaff as a melee weapon, which itself sports intriguing mechanics - you may switch between weapon-types emulated by the spellstaff, with each having a different ability and different bonus feats, later allowing for double weapon-like tricks and fluid changes between forms - this ability is interesting, creative and cool - and it is ruined for me by the class's downright epic failure of how spellstaves regain charges - level 1 nets the archetype the option to regain 1 charge whenever you crit, roll maximum damage or reduce a creature to 0 or fewer hit points. A level 1 dip nets you ridiculous easy regains of charges and fails the kitten test so hard, I can hear extraterrestrial cats meowing from the adjacent galaxy.

Part II of my review is in the product discussion. See you there!


What Dragon Age has that Pathfinder doesn't, it has now! Almost.


NOTE: Full review won't fit. See Product Discussion for second part.

Magic. Whether out in the traditional pseudo-medieval or hiding away in modern cities, it is the cornerstone of the fantasy genre. From the fireball flinging wizard to the humble healings hands of the cleric, fantasy just wouldn’t be fantasy without the ability to bend and break the laws of reality with nothing but your own will and/or a handful of tools. But even magic has limits, a finite reservoir of power or a few enchanted (often expensive) curios. And once they’re used up, what was once a human juggernaut of supernatural power is nothing but an old man or spectacled kid with a wooden stick, forced to sit on the side lines and watch as the rangers, thieves, and fighting men have all the fun. To fix this, most fantasy games nowadays give spellcasters the ability to fire energy blasts from their weapon of choice (usually staves). These blasts are weaker than most spells, but are strong enough to give the front line some much needed support. This works well in video games, but games like the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game have yet to fully embrace it due to the way magical damage works and for fear of rendering other ranged combatants useless. Fortunately, the folks at Flaming Crab have come to remedy that with “Spellstaff: The Magic User’s Weapon,” a short collection of weapons, feats, and archetypes dedicated to bringing the fun of being a staff-twirling, energy blasting sorcerer to tabletop gaming, and while it’s not a perfect attempt, it’s still a worthwhile addition to any GM’s library.

THE SPELLSTAFF

The eponymous spellstaff (plural “spellstaves”) is something of an oddity as it “[occupies] a middle ground between mundane weapon and magic item.” Like their regular counterparts, they fire magical energy “missiles”, are powered by 10 charges, and are affected by dispel magic and anti-magic fields (the wielder’s level is treated as their caster level). Unlike regular staves, they’re considered exotic, two-handed, projectile weapons, can be enhanced and given special properties, and their missiles, despite being magic in nature, inflict bludgeoning damage and target a creature’s full armor class instead of touch AC or spell resistance. They also can’t be modified by metamagic feats, or be affected by or used as counterspells. In terms of overall power, spellstaves are as powerful as a longbow, but have a shorter range and a 19-20/x2 critical rate. Additionally, spellstaves have the fragile quality, so attempting to use them as a melee weapon or tool breaks them like a twig, and have some special prerequisites beyond basic proficiency.

Spellstaves are powered by wielder’s innate magic, so only characters who gain spell slots can charge and wield them. This means that classes like bloodragers, paladins, and rangers need to wait a few levels to use them, while others can’t use them at all, barring a few archetypes introduced in this book (more on those later). To recharge a spellstaff, a caster must spend up to an hour meditating with their weapon in hand, but this can be incorporated into the time spent preparing or regaining their spells per day. For players not fond of this method or feel it limits the weapon’s capabilities, the book contains rules for an ammunition based system in the form of buyable recharging crystals. Because they use charges, reloading a spellstave is a full round action, but this alternate system was either added as an afterthought or wasn’t tested enough, as it has potential to break the game when combined with some of the other content (see “THE FEATS” and “THE ARCHETYPES” for more details).

Finally, the book contains two variant spellstaves, the “attuned” and “dual-attuned” spellstaves. These staves hold fewer charges, but inflict either acid, cold, electricity, fire, or force damage instead of the normal bludgeoning, with the dual-attuned version dividing the damage evenly between two of the listed types. Additionally, the two staves “may bypass or be affected by the damage reduction of some creatures.” Wait, what? I think what they mean is they’re treated as magical for the purposes of bypassing damage reduction, but I’m not entirely sure. And what about incorporeal creatures and protective magics? For all the attention to detail they put into the regular spellstaff’s mechanics, an oversight like this is just inexcusable.

Altogether, the spellstaff is a fairly strong weapon, but not outright overpowered, so archers and gunslingers needn’t worry. The attuned versions could use some more polish though, and hopefully, they’ll be fixed in a future update.

THE FEATS

Whenever a new ability or piece of equipment is released, you can guarantee at least a handful of (often redundant or useless) feats are going to be added to the Pathfinder Role-Playing Game’s increasingly overstuffed library (official or not), and the spellstaff is no exception. Fortunately, when the folks at Flaming Crab took a less is more approach, giving us a modest 14 feats, but made sure each one had something different to offer.

For the most part, the new feats are concisely written and properly balanced. Their benefits are fairly run of the mill though, removing a spellstaff’s fragile quality while wielding it, using your Intelligence modifier instead of Dexterity for damage rolls, sacrificing spells to regain charges, and spending additional charges to empower attacks. There are a few interesting ones: “Spellstaff Defense” grants partial cover against ranged attacks while using total defense as long you’re wielding a spellstaff, while “Spellstaff Summoning” lets you call your spellstaff back to you ala Star Wars.

As far as bad feats go, I could only find two in the whole product: “Wild Staff” grants spellstaff attacks a chance of triggering primal magic events instead of inflicting damage. This wouldn’t be so bad, except the feat’s wording suggests this happens automatically and every time you attack, making it seem more like a curse. Then there’s “Metamagic Empowerment,” which allows the wielder to use spellstaff charges to decrease the spell slot level increase of metamagic feats, to a minimum of +0. Okay, but when combined with the “ammunition-recharging” rule or even if you just own multiple spellstaves, it’s potential for abuse is terrifying.


Interesting but flawed.

3/5

The Good:
Thematic new weapon choice for casters.
Includes lots of support including traits, feats, enhancements, unique weapons and archetypes.
Good alternate weapon for spellcasters who want to extend their adventuring day.

The Bad:
No information on whether the weapon can be made masterwork or from special materials. Could you craft a Masterwork silver Spellstaff? No idea.
Inferior to the longbow, which is bad because they both require the same amount of investment to use, a proficiency feat.
Most casters wouldn't bother spending a feat to get longbow proficiency anyway.

The Ugly:
The Metamagic Empowerment feat is overwhelmingly powerful. In short: you could use a 2370gp Spellstaff to Quicken a 9th level spell once per day. Normally you must pay 170000gp to do the same three times per day, 56000gp per quickening.
No spellstaff related spells? No weird "Shrink spellstaff" or "Recharge spellstaff" or anything?
FaQ specifically states you cannot combine spellstaves and regular staves. WHY?

Potential modifications for your home game use:
Dont allow Metamagic Empowerment.
Spellstaff proficiency as a trait.

.

Final verdict:
Its definitely flawed, but this booklet is still worth the cost. It presents interesting ideas and enough rules to back it up in game. I will be inducting spellstaves in most of my home games, but with a few modifications. Think of this supplement as idea fodder rather then a source of groundbreaking new rules. Would reccomend for any staff fanatics out there.


I wish this would become part of the core rules

5/5

I am currently using this staff in my home game and it is a lot of fun. For me, it is what staves should be in rpgs. It frees up the spell slots of casters, as well as giving casters longevity in the adventuring day. For a wizard, ray of frost or acid orb is cool, but the dmg is lower than a cross bolt. Flavor is a major part, which make the product fun, but the function and price availability of the weapon at first level is what makes this product great because the caster can now carry a weapon that reflects their class. Also the weapon can be enhanced, and this permits the caster to invest in weapon properties that make it fun. That is why I am giving this product 5 stars. It is well edited, the flavor of the weapon and the use of it is fun and not overpowering, there are great archetypes, including a fighter type that receives spells from his devotion to a patron and can cast a very limited amount of spells via his spell staff. I highly recommend this product. It is a good price for the amount of content that you receive, which is a lot.


A new weapon, and enough support to make you giddy

5/5

Spellstaff: The Magic User's Weapon aims to provide a thematic weapon for magic users, such as wizards, allowing them to continue contributing in combat between spells or after expending their available slots. This is accomplished through the eponymous Spellstaff - at its base, a ranged weapon that uses charges as ammunition. Magic users recharge their own spellstaves without the need to expend spell slots, and a prepared caster can even do this as part of their preparation ritual.

A variety of spellstaves are then listed, from the basic attuned spellstaff (which changes the weapon's damage type) to the spellstaff of the mechanical genius, which can ignore cover and concealment! I also have to mention my favorite, the secret spellstaff, which can be disguised as an ordinary cane.

Next up, we get six new traits, including the flavorful Great and Powerful, which allows you to count as one size larger when making intimidate checks with your spellstaff in hand. Fifteen feats follow, allowing you to use your spellstaff to enhance spells with metamagic, recharge wands, or trigger primal magic events.

The product also contains several archetypes, the first of which is the Spellstaff Witch, who bonds her snake familiar with her spellstaff. The Spellstaff Adept wizard gains extra feats and utility with the spellstaff at the cost of magical versatility. The Spellstaff Channeler sorcerer can overcharge her spellstaff for extra damage, as well as string together a chain of missiles, while the Spellstaff Dancer bard can take 10 on Perform (dance) checks, gains a dodge bonus to AC similar to canny defense, and gains several new performances such as evasion dance and fire breath finish. The Spellstaff Disciple fighter sacrifices weapon and armour training for the ability to lower arcane failure chance, and cast a (very) small number of arcane spells, using charges from a spell staff to power them - a great way to represent a character who dabbles! 

The Spellstaff Healer cleric gains only one domain, which must be the Healing domain, but is she ever good at it! Expending charges to deliver healing spells at range, empowered healing spells, and an effective increase to caster level if she hasn't harmed an enemy during a given combat - very cool! The Spellstaff Scrapper brawler can recharge her Spellstaff by confirming critical hits or dropping an enemy below 0hp, as well as manifest solid energy weapons on the end of the weapon, each providing a different set of properties and bonus feats. Awesome! Fans of Flaming Crab Games' own base class, the Priest, will be glad to see the Spellstaff Shepherd archetype, who gains several neat and thematic abilities centred around locating and protecting their 'flock'.

Also provided to close out the product is a sidebar on incorporating Spellstaves into an existing world; several plot hooks revolving around the weapons; and even an FAQ!

All in all, this is a cool product, providing not only a new weapon but a truly staggering amount of support for it. If you want to play a magic-user with a more thematic weapon than a crossbow, or a nonmagical character able to enhance a staff in a new way, pick it up - you won't be disappointed!


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Reviewed. Thanks for the good product Flaming Crab. Ill have fun with it but that Metamagic empowerment thing sticks out like a thorn in my eye!


tsuruki wrote:
Reviewed. Thanks for the good product Flaming Crab. Ill have fun with it but that Metamagic empowerment thing sticks out like a thorn in my eye!

Thanks so much for your review! When we go back to update the product for errors, we'll be sure to look at the points you made! I agree that Metamagic empowerment is broken as is.


Luthorne, sorry for the lateness of my reply.

The attuned staves do not change the type of bolt the spellstaff produces but, instead, gives them a damage descriptor. So, you don't so much have a ball of fire as a magical missile that is on fire. The intent is to allow the spellstaff to bypass damage reduction and not bypass physical armor altogether.

As for the Serpentstaff Witch, I allowed for a constrictor style snake in there for those GMs that allow players to have, say, a ball python familiar instead of a viper familiar.


What Dragon Age has that Pathfinder doesn't, hit has now! Almost (Cont.)

THE ARCHETYPES

Spellstaves are a lot like firearms, they really change the game and open the door for a lot of interesting character concepts, some becoming class archetypes. For the final major part of the book, we get eight new spellstaff-centric archetypes, and like firearms, they come with a rather steep trade-off. Each archetype (save two) are heavily combat oriented, and sacrifice a large chunk of their classes’ weapon and armor proficiencies to be able to use spellstaves, often to the point where they can only use a few simple weapons and light armor (if they get it). This is to be expected, given the spellstaff’s a “magic-user’s weapon,” but they also have some...other issues. First, each archetype has at least one ability that requires spending spellstaff charges to activate (henceforth referred to as “spellstaff abilities” for simplicity). It sounds good on paper, but as mentioned previously, it has huge potential for abuse. The archetypes also tend to be vague in some areas, especially regarding range and damage (see below for more details). As for creativity, they’re not the most inspired, but some are rather flavorful and make for some fun characters. Let’s have a look:

For the casters we have the Serpentstaff Witch for the...witch class. The archetype gains a snake familiar fused with a single spellstaff, which can change shape as a move action. The familiar can fire missiles even animal form, be thrown and instantly shift anywhere in 30 feet at 4th level, add its ranged attack bonus to its master’s 3/day at 8th level, and at 10th level, it gains its spellstaff ability: “serpent bond strike,” where master and familiar perform a combined blast that not only deals damages, but poisons or constricts the target if it hits! Unfortunately, it’s unclear whether the ability uses the witch or the familiar’s BAB and ranged attack bonus, it automatically deals maximum damage if it hits, it doesn’t specify whether this maximum damage only applies to the base spellstaff damage or the enhancements as well, and while it takes a full round action, it doesn’t mention whether or not the ability consumes spellstaff charges, suggesting that it can be used repeatedly. So right out the gate we have a cool archetype, if a little glitchy.

Next up, the Spellstaff Adept. This wizard archetype is more balanced, but very specialized. At the cost of its regular bonus feats, the spellstaff adept gains the ability to select ranged combat feats and spellstaff feats at 1st level and every 3rd level after. They also lose their arcane bond and scribe scroll ability in exchange for weapon focus (spellstaff) and the ability to sacrifice spells to restore charges. To top it all off, they’re required to take a whopping four opposition schools, severely limiting their options. Again, not a bad archetype, but very specialized.

For the sorcerer, we get the unusually named Spellstaff Channeler. The archetype gets its name because it allows the sorcerer to “channel” the power of its mystical bloodline through their spellstaff, granting it additional energy damage (depending on the the bloodline) for a number of rounds equal to their Charisma modifier. This bonus damage increases as the channeler levels up, but the short duration keeps it from being too powerful. Additionally, the spellstaff channeler gains the ability to create a “bloodline chain,” which grants them a +1 bonus to attack rolls that increases every time they make a successful spellstaff attack (up to their level), so long as they can attack every turn they receive. But the best part? The spellstaff channeler can convert the chain into a massive attack, granting them a damage bonus equal to the attack bonus they built up! It’s a near, flavorful, and extremely satisfying ability if you can build up a big enough chain, and it’d be perfect if it wasn’t for two, little problems. At 7th level the final strike splits into two missiles that deal max damage. Like the serpent bond strike before it, it doesn’t mention whether only the base weapon damage is maximized, but it also doesn’t say whether the missiles can target different enemies. What’s worse, at 11th level the final strike will automatically count a critical. You still have to confirm it, but that’s just ridiculous.

Full casters aren’t the only ones getting spellstaff love though. The Spellstaff Dancer gives bards the ability to go from wandering minstrel, to flashy, staff-twirling dervish straight out of the circus. Spellstaff dancers add their Charisma bonus, plus a small, scaling bonus, to their Combat Maneuver Defense and AC. This bonus applies to touch attacks and even works if they’re flat-footed, but not if they’re immobilized, helpless, wearing medium or heavy armor, or carrying anything heavier than a light load. Their other abilities focus on dancing, letting them add half their level to their Perform (dance) skill and may use it in place of Acrobatics, Fly, and Intimidate, and take 10 or 20 regardless of circumstances (taking 20 has limited uses per day thankfully). Then there’s their new bardic performances, which replace some of their supporting songs with some dances and parlor tricks. These are mostly self-buffs, granting things like evasion, haste, and increasing their critical range. But they also gain a few attacks, such as turning a spellstaff missile into a 10 foot cone of fire, and the epic “death spiral dance,” which sacrifices all other attacks that turn in favor of making a single attack against every enemy in range as a full-attack action. Fortunately, the death spiral dance is the 20th level capstone, and requires a separate attack roll for each enemy, so those concerned about its power can breathe easy. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said about the Spellstaff Disciple

The Spellstaff Disciple is a fighter archetype, the first of two spellstaff archetypes designed for martial classes. Like other fighter archetypes dedicated to a specific weapon or style, the spellstaff disciple loses a bonus feat and weapon training for a new ability. No big deal, except the replacement ability lets them spend charges to cast spells! Not spell-like abilities, actual spells! They only get up to 5th level spells and only one per spell level, but they can use their bonus feats to gain more spells, and as long as they have spellstaff charges, they can cast them as much they want! What’s worse, they still suffer from the arcane spell failure while wearing armor, which can only be eliminated by using the armor training feature to reduce it by 5% INSTEAD of receiving the normal benefits. Overpowered, unbalanced, end of discussion.

For a better martially oriented archetype, Spellstaff Scrapper gives brawler characters the ability to perform a thirty minute ritual to make a single spellstaff a functional melee weapon. This removes its fragile quality and allows it to be treated as a monk weapon, but it loses its ability to fire missiles and can’t be charged normally. Instead, charges are gained by inflicting maximum damage (again failing to specify), confirming a critical hit, or reducing an enemy’s hit points to 0 or less, and are used to grant the spellstaff one of six, changeable energy weapon heads (Think Aqualad’s waterbearers from Young Justice). Each of these heads functions as a different type of weapon, each with its own properties and a temporary bonus feat gained at 1st, 6th, and 12th level. For example, the blade head is the main damage dealer, so it has the brace and reach properties, and grants Power Attack, Cleave, and Great Cleave. While the fork head focuses on disarming enemies, gaining Combat Expertise, and later Improved and Greater Disarm. Changing heads is a standard action, but gets faster as the Spellstaff Scrapper progresses in level, and can even grant their spellstaff a second head, turning it into a double weapon. Finally, spellstaves augmented by the ritual have their damage increase a step at 6th and 12th level, and bypass different forms of damage reduction every 5th, 9th, 12th, and 17th. As for issues, the only real problems with the archetype is that is doesn’t mention whether you have to qualify for these temporary feats, and the shield head. The shield head has the blocking property, granting the wielder a +1 shield bonus while fighting defensively, alright. However, it grants feats centered around shield bashing which, at least to my knowledge, you can’t do with blocking weapons. But despite the shield head’s problems, this is by far the most fun and balanced of the eight archetypes, and my personal favorite.

For those who play divine spellcasters, don’t worry, you haven’t been forgotten. The book contains an archetype for two divine classes: the cleric, and another Flaming Crab creation: the priest (a more spellcasting oriented cleric with an emphasis on knowledge, that gains domain-like abilities called dogmas.). Like the others, these archetypes are heavily specialized. Unlike the others, these two are strictly supporting roles, so if that isn’t your style, you’d best look elsewhere.

For the cleric, we have the Spellstaff Healer. As the name suggests, they only receive one domain, which has to be Healing, and may spend spellstaff charges to increase the range of healing touch spells, as well as treat their caster level higher when using healing or protection spells. There’s a catch though, healing spells with boosted range require a touch attack if they’re used to harm undead, and the caster level increase only works as long as they don’t harm enemies (though non-violent incapacitation and restraint is allowed). A staunch limit, but it definitely captures the essence of the wandering priest dedicated to aiding the sick and wounded. Then there’s the spellstaff ability, which uses charges to boost the variable numeric effects of their healing spells and channel energy ability by 50% or maximize them entirely, at 3rd and 5th level! Additionally these two boosts can stack with metamagic feats AND eachother, making it a little too powerful for my liking, even with the pacifism limit. Then there’s the aforementioned protection spells. What do they mean? Are they referring to shield spells? Abjuration spells? Protection from alignment or creature spells? What?

Then there’s the priest archetype, the Spellstaff Shepherd. Characters who take this archetype must be of good alignment, worship a good deity, and channel positive energy, and like its core class cousin, is limited to specific dogmas. Unlike the Spellstaff Healer, the Shepherd may choose the Animal, Community, Good, or Protection instead of Healing, and change their dogma each day, eventually gaining a second dogma (also changeable) at 20th level. They can also spend a spellstaff charge to track other members of their faith. Its spellstaff ability allows it to create a dome-shaped version of the wall of “force spell,” and it’s one of the more balanced examples. The dome has 10 hit points for every charge spent, but only covers a 5 foot radius around the shepherd (range increases 5 feet every 4 levels after 4, then to 30 at 20th level). Altogether, a good support archetype, but don’t expect to be doing much else.

Altogether, the archetypes are a mixed bag. They have some good ideas and abilities, but the lack of clarity, use of an easily replenishable resource, and a few stackable abilities keeps them from being great.

THE REST

The final section of the book provides a few ways to incorporate spellstaves into your game, a few plot hooks, FAQs, and obligatory OGL information. Helpful tips for GMs, but I felt more could’ve been done with it. Maybe add some more alternate rules like having full casters automatically receive spellstaff proficiency, or do what did with firearms and make some development tiers showing how accessible it would be for that world. Since many GMs would probably houserule this anyway, it’s not a huge missed opportunity, but a missed opportunity nonetheless.

CLOSING

Flaming Crab has attempted to bring the modern magical staff to tabletop gaming, and for the most part, I’d say they succeeded. The spellstaff is a unique weapon, and while it has a few glitches here and there, it definitely capture the essence of the new wizard’s walking stick. It has a solid set of feats backing it up, and while the archetypes could use some adjustments, they show promise, and I hope they’re rebalanced in a possible update. Unfortunately, as it is, I can only give the product a 3 out of 5. However, I’m confident that my players and I will be having a lot more interesting battles with our new magic-user’s weapons.


Disgaean: Thank you for the review. It was fair and brought up many points. I've made notes (some of which I was aware of, others you've brought to my attention) to fix Spellstaff up for a future update. Likely sometime next year.

Thank you.


I picked this up a few months ago for a game I am playing in. I wanted to wait a few levels to see if there would be any difference on game play as the spellcaster advanced. In my game, the only portion of the rule set being used is the basic spell staff itself and recharging. As a player this item sounds great on paper, but is rather worthless in game. There is a two pronged drawback to my character's use of this item. First and foremost is the feat tax. Arcane spellcasters are just not good at standard combat. For the most part, an arcane caster only resorts to physical combat if they run out of spells or spells are just not appropriate. While the spellstaff sounds cool, it is essentially no different from a crossbow that does not need to be cranked, but limited to only 10 shots without rest. Because arcane casters suck so much at physical combat, the return on my extremely limited feat choice is not as good as could be had I just gone with a crossbow. Secondly, this item is drawback because it attacks physical armor, not touch AC. I say this because, initially, I remembered the use of the spellstaff as targeting the touch AC because it uses "bolts of force" such as magic missiles, but with a different damage die (and of course limited to one die). Once I realized my mistake and changed the attack method in game, its usefulness plummeted, especially at the higher levels when all the bad guys became tougher to hit.
make no mistake, I was excited to use this item in the beginning because it does sound really cool, from a fluff standpoint, but the feat tax and the low chance of usefulness in combat have changed my mind. Because we are being offered an opportunity to retrain characters in the campaign (a one time offering I note) I am going to drop the spellstaff in favor of something that does not require a feat to use so that I can get more utility out of the feat slot. If the two major points I mentioned in this post were to change, I would strongly consider using this item again for a new character as it still sounds really cool.


@Thedmstrikes: In my own campaign, high level spellcasters automatically gain the Exotic Weapon Prof feat for spellstaff. I thought I had included that option as a sidebar in the book but, going through it, I see that I haven't. I'm making a note to include that in a revised edition.

So, my recommendation to your GM is to give high level spellcasters (especially wizards and sorcerer types) the feat for free. I don't believe this unbalances the game.

To deal with the 'doesn't do much at higher levels' problem, I would suggest the Spellstaff Savvy feat. It allows you to substitute your Int modifier for your Dex modifier when attacking with the spellstaff. Further down the chain, the Calculated Missile feat allows you to add your Int modifier to your spellstaff's damage as a full-round action.


I don't suppose there's a way to add damage to spellstaff attacks for more than one attack? I'm guessing Calculated Missile doesn't work with Vital Strike, after all, but I'm thinking of making a Spellstaff Disciple with the Dedicated Multiclass Wizard from Rogue Genius Games to make a very odd Fighter, and I'd like to keep up on damage as best I can.


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@JonGarret: Thank you for using spellstaff in your game. I'm curious to know how your experiment with spellstaff disciple and the dedicated multiclass wizard goes.

I've given your question some thought. If your GM allows, you might add the following feat to the chain of Spellstaff Savvy/Calculated Missile:

Calculated Barrage (Combat)
You've learned to do the calculations quickly, allowing you to maximize damage every time you strike.
Prerequisites: Exotic Weapon Proficiency - Spellstaff, Spellstaff Savvy, Calculated Missile.
Benefit: You can add your Intelligence modifier to your attack damage for each attack you make during a round.

I'm putting this together off the top of my head so I haven't had much of a chance to playtest it (and the designer makes the worst playtester anyway). I think the "feat tax" helps balance it and a couple of rounds of full out attacks will drain the spellstaff of charges anyway.

I hope this helps. If you use it, let me know. If it works for you we might include the feat in a revised edition of Spellstaff.


Thank you muchly. I'll try it when I get a GM that'll let me do odd things to characters and report back.


I've been running a campaign with a caster using a spellstaff. I don't mind the feat tax because I treat it as a magic attack. If it were free - then the attack should be treated no different than a crossbow which would be fine with me, but a magic attack that bypasses weapon/DR is worthy of a feat tax. It should not be free unless it is not treated as magic.


@BrotherFen: You can certainly look at it either way. In my own campaign I treat the staff as magical but the attack as mundane - when the campaign witch uses her spellstaff it doesn't bypass DR. As a result, I gave her proficiency with the staff for free.


Pathfinder Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Brother Fen wrote:
I've been running a campaign with a caster using a spellstaff. I don't mind the feat tax because I treat it as a magic attack. If it were free - then the attack should be treated no different than a crossbow which would be fine with me, but a magic attack that bypasses weapon/DR is worthy of a feat tax. It should not be free unless it is not treated as magic.

Hmm? It doesn't bypass weapon DR, presuming you mean bludgeoning/piercing/slashing. Actually, it doesn't even say it bypasses DR magic/X, though it would make sense for it to do so given the flavor involved...


Luthorne wrote:
Brother Fen wrote:
I've been running a campaign with a caster using a spellstaff. I don't mind the feat tax because I treat it as a magic attack. If it were free - then the attack should be treated no different than a crossbow which would be fine with me, but a magic attack that bypasses weapon/DR is worthy of a feat tax. It should not be free unless it is not treated as magic.
Hmm? It doesn't bypass weapon DR, presuming you mean bludgeoning/piercing/slashing. Actually, it doesn't even say it bypasses DR magic/X, though it would make sense for it to do so given the flavor involved...

You are correct. The spellstaff, as written, doesn't bypass DR. I understand there was some confusion on the attuned spellstaves. We're working to address that in a future revision. A spellstaff attuned to fire would bypass DR only in a case of DR X/fire.

That being said, just like anything in gaming, a GM should make spellstaff their own. If, in your world, it counts for bypassing DR magic/X? Awesome. That's your call.


Thanks for the clarification. I'll talk to my caster and see what he wants to do.


He decided to retrain out of spellstaff for now.


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Part II of my review:

The next archetype would be for Flaming Crab Games' Priest-class, which I do not own and thus cannot judge. It seems to be on d20pfsrd.com as well, but I do not review online content - it's too mutable. The pdf closes with some brief, basic pieces of advice regarding the integration of spellstaves into your campaign, the aforementioned FAQ and also provides a significant array of different plot-hooks - all of which are pretty nice!

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting on a formal level can be considered okay, but on a rules-language, this pdf, alas, is deeply flawed and is in dire need of a good developer and rules-editing. Layout adheres to a beautiful two-column full-color standard and is by far my favorite component of this book - it's elegant and the book also sports numerous beautiful pieces of full-color art I really enjoyed. The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience and with a very small (less than two MB!) version for mobile devices - kudos!

It is pretty obvious from the get-go that author J Gray has some absolutely glorious ideas - and indeed, I love the concept of the spellstaff to death. It is pretty much a gaping hole in the rules that should be filled. Alas, this pdf, and there's no two ways around it, fails pretty hard in almost all regards. Beyond the vast array of issues in the finer details of rules-language that render this pdf more opaque than it should be (and no, I have not listed all of them), the rules unfortunately pretty much result in a whole cornucopia of problems. For full casters, spellstaves remain a sub-par option due to the massive feat-tax they require - my playtest did show that with either option, casters are, after first level, pretty much better off when simply retraining. It's not like they'd hit much with their abysmal BAB. So, in my game, primarily gishes felt that these staves were useful - and for them, they may be a tad bit too good. The problem remains that the very basic rules of how spellstaves operate, are too opaque and leave holes at the very foundation of the concept, destabilizing everything built on it.

Now this focus on gishes could be intentional, granted - the issue remains that, once multiclassing comes into the fray, this pdf completely falls apart. There are several extremely ill-conceived archetype abilities that are horribly broken herein, running the whole gamut of problematic exploits and flawed wording, to the point where I honestly wouldn't allow anything in these pages near my main campaign without excessive fixes. And we're not talking about brief changes, but about massive design-changes, which would take me quite some time to do. Less experienced GMs will look at the task required with question marks over their heads.

While writing this review, I've been cursing quite a bit - because the system, make no mistake, CAN be salvaged. In fact, just about every chapter herein, with some SIGNIFICANT streamlining, could have been made awesome. In fact, that's what I hoped for. I re-dl'd the pdf right before posting this one to make sure it hadn't been, hoping that I might rewrite this review. Alas, the flaws remain - there is next to no component that does not sport one issue or another and I am, quite frankly, pretty frustrated with this book.

Author J Gray does show promise, but this pdf, and there are no two ways around it, is simply not functional. The rules-language is horribly flawed and does not manage to represent the complex concepts properly and there is a whole array of issues with even the base items. That being said, while not many, there are some functional pieces of crunch herein, some concepts that are awesome and show promise. Hence, my final verdict will clock in at 1.5 stars, rounded up to 2 due to the awesomeness of the concepts and these components. I sincerely hope I'll be able to write a review of a revised edition soon, one that eliminates these issues and lives up to the awesome premise.

Reviewed first on endzeitgeist.com, then submitted to Nerdtrek and GMS magazine and posted here and on d20pfsrd.com's shop.

Endzeitgeist out.


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Thanks a ton for the long and helpful review, Endzeitgeist! We appreciate the feedback. We'll have it on hand when we go back and hammer the Spellstaff into shape! And thank you for offering to review the to-be-released revised version.


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I really look forward to the re-release of this one! Also: Thank you for being professional and not taking this review personally. I hope my review did take some work-load off your team regarding the re-release. :)


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Endzeitgeist wrote:
I really look forward to the re-release of this one! Also: Thank you for being professional and not taking this review personally. I hope my review did take some work-load off your team regarding the re-release. :)

No problem. You put a ton of advice and helpful critiques in your reviews. Publishing/writing is nothing if not a learning experience!

Your review should make this revision process run smoothly, thank you!


I look forward to the update. The cool factor on this beats the stuffing out of using a lousy light crossbow...


Thedmstrikes wrote:
I look forward to the update. The cool factor on this beats the stuffing out of using a lousy light crossbow...

There's a couple books on my desk that have been there for a couple months... Once I got those published, we'll return to the Spellstaff, and your wizardliness won't have to use a lousy light crossbow anymore!

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