Staffs, and who can use them II

[Forever Man]

Darn . . . I placed this in the wrong directory. Sorry. ;^(

Back to my staff / magic item question:

Et al,

I'm a little confused about who can use a given staff from the DMG. A Staff of Defense, for example, has both Clerical *and* Arcane spells. Does that mean a cleric can use the divine spells therein, and while only a sorceror or wizard can use said staff to cast its shield spell?

Just want to a clarification,

Thanks!

- FM

[Sexi Golem]

The staff casts spells through arcane magic obviously if it has arcane only spells. So the cleric shouldn't be able to use it at all. Just like a scroll of hold person, only the cleric or wizard will be able to cast it depending on wethr it's an arcane or divine spell.

Hope it helps.

[superpriest]

The OP is correct: You can use whichever spells in the staff are on your spell list. Staves are not arcane or divine like scrolls; they hold spells like wands and follow the same rules (for each individual spell). These are called "spell trigger" items, and their activation is described under that heading in the DMG.

[Kosivo0121]

when i read the rule about spell trigger activation items like wands and staves it sounded like this.

if your an arcane caster then you can use a staff to cast the spells in it that appear on your spell list, even if you cant cast it yet.

likewise if your a divine caster then you could cast the spells on it that appear in your spell list.

for example the staff of defense has both sheild(arcane) and sheild of faith(divine) the arcane caster could cast the sheild spell from it but not the sheild of faith spell, and vice-versa for the cleric or other divine caster.

also a character who can cast divine spells but not until a certain level (like a ranger or a paladin) could use a staff even before he knew how to cast any spells.

[llaletin]

Kosivo0121 wrote:

also a character who can cast divine spells but not until a certain level (like a ranger or a paladin) could use a staff even before he knew how to cast any spells.

I might have to disagree with you on this one. Until 4th level, a Ranger/Paladin has no caster level (the last sentence under the spell class feature for both classes). Only upon reaching Lv4 and beyond would they be able to use an appropriate staff or wand.

[superpriest]

You don't have to be any particular level to use a wand or staff. All that matters is that the spell is on your class list. Even if you're a ranger who can't cast spells, if the spell is on the ranger list, you can use a wand.

[Kosivo0121]

I agree with superpreist. in fact the rules for spell trigger activation items acually uses a third level paladin as an example of this rule. but good luck getting a staff of defense at third level.