Magical Staffs - How many CHARGES?

[Marc Radle]

Question: how many charges do staffs have??? Two different numbers are given in two different places in the Beta (can't recall where, since I'm at work)

Also, has it been clarified if staffs can be recharged by their owner?

Thanks!

[Jason Bulmahn]

Marc Radle 81 wrote:

Question: how many charges do staffs have??? Two different numbers are given in two different places in the Beta (can't recall where, since I'm at work)

Also, has it been clarified if staffs can be recharged by their owner?

Thanks!

Staffs can hold a maximum of 10 charges. If there is a discrepancy in the book, I would like to know where it is so it can be fixed.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

[Eric Tillemans]

Marc Radle 81 wrote:

Also, has it been clarified if staffs can be recharged by their owner?

Thanks!

Yes, see page 360 of the Beta.

[Fayries]

Jason Bulmahn wrote:

Staffs can hold a maximum of 10 charges. If there is a discrepancy in the book, I would like to know where it is so it can be fixed.

"Craft Staff" on page 83 says "A newly created staff has 10 charges." The Magic Item Addendum correctly says "10 charges" on page 22.

But at the top of page 360, the Beta text says "A staff has 50 charges when created."

[Jason Bulmahn]

Fayries wrote:

Jason Bulmahn wrote:

Staffs can hold a maximum of 10 charges. If there is a discrepancy in the book, I would like to know where it is so it can be fixed.

"Craft Staff" on page 83 says "A newly created staff has 10 charges."

The top of page 360 says "A staff has 50 charges when created."

Thank you.. this will be corrected.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

[flynnster]

Jason Bulmahn wrote:

Fayries wrote:

Jason Bulmahn wrote:

Staffs can hold a maximum of 10 charges. If there is a discrepancy in the book, I would like to know where it is so it can be fixed.

"Craft Staff" on page 83 says "A newly created staff has 10 charges."

The top of page 360 says "A staff has 50 charges when created."

Thank you.. this will be corrected.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

Jason, why the limitation of ten charges on a staff? It just seems like you are knee-capping staffs...and I don't understand why...

[Eric Tillemans]

flynnster wrote:

Jason, why the limitation of ten charges on a staff? It just seems like you are knee-capping staffs...and I don't understand why...

I'm not Jason of course, but I'd guess it's because they're so easy to recharge. Having a staff with 10 charges which you can recharge anytime the spellcaster has some downtime is pretty darn powerful.

[Jason Bulmahn]

Eric Tillemans wrote:

flynnster wrote:

Jason, why the limitation of ten charges on a staff? It just seems like you are knee-capping staffs...and I don't understand why...

I'm not Jason of course, but I'd guess it's because they're so easy to recharge. Having a staff with 10 charges which you can recharge anytime the spellcaster has some downtime is pretty darn powerful.

Exactly... 10 charges is plenty for a lengthy adventure, but not so many that you can use them like crazy, just because you are expecting some upcoming downtime.

Being able to recharge them means that 50 charges is just too much.

Jason Bulmahn
Lead Designer
Paizo Publishing

[Abraham spalding]

Personally I love the recharge mechanic on staves now. I don't feel like I'm wasting an (expensive) item now if I use a charge or two.

However I feel that 10 maybe a little low considering it takes a day to do one recharge. In downtime yeah the staff will be full quickly enough, but while an adventurer is on the go it's a little odd and frustrating to go "Do I take a spell of "X" level today, or get back 1 charge on my staff?"

That could just be me wanting the world though.

[primemover003]

Abraham spalding wrote:

Personally I love the recharge mechanic on staves now. I don't feel like I'm wasting an (expensive) item now if I use a charge or two.

However I feel that 10 maybe a little low considering it takes a day to do one recharge. In downtime yeah the staff will be full quickly enough, but while an adventurer is on the go it's a little odd and frustrating to go "Do I take a spell of "X" level today, or get back 1 charge on my staff?"

That could just be me wanting the world though.

That's easy, if you can live without your highest level spell then recharge it. If you absolutely need that slot though save it for the adventuring day.

--Vrocket Man!

[Max Money]

I have a few questions for this new wrinkle on magic staves....

1) Now that it can be recharged, what happens if you use all ten charges in a day? Will it be used up and useless or can it still be recharged the next day?

2) The 3.X staves couldn't be recharged and had fifty charges, but with the new charge limit, will the charges be changed? Specifically, the Staff of Life has one charge for a 6th level spell, heal, and five charges for a 5th level spell, raise dead. Some others have lower level spells using more charges than higher level spells, but this one is the worst.

3) Why only ten charges? This seems a little low to me even with the recharge mechanic. That brings the staff down to a four use item (less if you have a Staff of Life) the first day and a one use item every day after that. Was there a thought about making it twenty charges at all?

[Abraham spalding]

Well recharging isn't new, it was just left out of 3.x until now. In Advanced you could recharge a staff, the charges used where close to where they are now (I think a few where slightly different), and they had 25 charges max.

Generally when the staff ran out of charges it just sat there until someone recharged it.

[Ughbash]

Hmm how would this effect the Staff of the Magi?

It was the one staff that could be recharged and had 50 charges, granted it is also as of 3.0 a lesser artifact.

Is it now limited to 10 charges? (probalby should not be an artifact then).

Is it still 50 charges? (Likley should stay as an artifact).

[Majuba]

Ughbash wrote:

Hmm how would this effect the Staff of the Magi?

It was the one staff that could be recharged and had 50 charges, granted it is also as of 3.0 a lesser artifact.

Is it now limited to 10 charges? (probalby should not be an artifact then).

Is it still 50 charges? (Likley should stay as an artifact).

PFRPG Magic Item Enhancement wrote:

"Unlike a normal staff, a staff of the magi holds 50 charges and cannot be recharged normally. Some of its powers use charges, while others don’t. A staff of the magi does not lose its powers if it runs out of charges.

...
If the SR is willingly lowered, however, the staff can also be used to absorb arcane spell energy directed at its wielder, as a rod of absorption does. Unlike the rod, this staff converts spell levels into charges rather than retaining them as spell energy usable by a spellcaster.

So to answer your questions: Not at all, No, Yes.

[Hank Woon]

Jason Bulmahn wrote:

Staffs can hold a maximum of 10 charges. If there is a discrepancy in the book, I would like to know where it is so it can be fixed.

Ah, I see someone has yet to go through my editing notes. ;)