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I saw somebody working on a build that had a staff loaded up with an absurd amounts of charges of true strike which could be amusing for some really specific builds or magic missiles for days build.
Really the basic idea is you can guarantee some specific spells are always available on your staff and use the charge mechanic to potentially have a whole bunch of uses of that or other things loaded onto the staff.
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You can choose the spell in the staff on the spot when you cast instead of having to prepare each slot with a different spell. So you kinda have a more "spontaneous" casting.
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The real hilarity is with a staff of power or staff of the magi so you can use your crazy loaded charges to fuel breaking the staff and killing a bunch of things around you.
For a 20th level Wizard:
1. Put 39 charges into a staff.
2. Shave off a tiny speck of wood from the staff. Store this safely.
3. Cast Indestructibility (2 actions) and break staff (1 action).
4. Laugh as your staff does avg 39x11=429 damage, basic save, while you take no damage.
5. Later, prepare the Remake spell and recreate your staff.
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The real hilarity is with a staff of power or staff of the magi so you can use your crazy loaded charges to fuel breaking the staff and killing a bunch of things around you.
For a 20th level Wizard:
1. Put 39 charges into a staff.
2. Shave off a tiny speck of wood from the staff. Store this safely.
3. Cast Indestructibility (2 actions) and break staff (1 action).
4. Laugh as your staff does avg 39x11=429 damage, basic save, while you take no damage.
5. Later, prepare the Remake spell and recreate your staff.
Mark Seifter actually suggested the indestructibility/staff of the magi combo on the Know Direction stream going over the APG.
He also called out the staff of evocation and using two six level slots to just have a bunch of flexibility in bringing the right type of spell to the fight.
So, the Staff Nexus affords little benefit (a cantrip) during level 1 and 2 since the 1st level spell would have to be charged from your first level slots, which is the same as memorizing the spell in the first place. Then at 3rd level you can charge the staff with a 2nd level spell to get 2 charges. Does this sound particularly weaker than the other theses (at least at low levels)??
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It's a trade down mechanic. You spend your top level slots to get a pile of staff charges to spam the low level spells on your staff and you can back out by using the high level spell on your staff instead. Generally its a bad deal since the top spell levels are what matters and trading low to high off Spell Blending is better, but there are gems at the lower levels that are nice to be able to spam.
It can let you trade up too - potentially quite a ways, depending on how you do it. At 8th level, you can effectively turn two 2nd level slots into one 4th level, for example. You can only trade up as far as your staff goes, but upward mobility is definitely possible.
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So, the Staff Nexus affords little benefit (a cantrip) during level 1 and 2 since the 1st level spell would have to be charged from your first level slots, which is the same as memorizing the spell in the first place. Then at 3rd level you can charge the staff with a 2nd level spell to get 2 charges. Does this sound particularly weaker than the other theses (at least at low levels)??
You could also use Drain Bonded Item to recover the spell slot you spent to charge the staff. So even at level 1 it gives you increased versatility: instead of casting one spell 2x and another spell 1x, you can cast three spells 1x each.
Is there something that Staff Nexus does besides move where a couple spells are kept ? Is there something about charging a staff that is more effective this way ?
Staff Nexus is highly GM dependent.
If your GM promise you to give access to enough higher level staves so you will never have to go adventuring with a staff under your level then you can consider it.If your GM promise you to give staves with useful high level spells and not completely random staves, then it can be pretty good.
But in most standard games where you mostly drop items of your level there is not much point in Staff Nexus.
Why would the loot your GM drops matter? Staff Nexus' abilities are all tied to the makeshift staff the thesis gives you and you need to spend time upgrading.
Why would the loot your GM drops matter? Staff Nexus' abilities are all tied to the makeshift staff the thesis gives you and you need to spend time upgrading.
Nope. You can use them with any staff. The only difference is that you won't add the cantrip and the first level spell if you drop it instead of crafting it.
And you can't craft staves above your level. So it kind of eliminates the makeshift staff once you start dropping good staves.
Why would the loot your GM drops matter? Staff Nexus' abilities are all tied to the makeshift staff the thesis gives you and you need to spend time upgrading.Nope. You can use them with any staff. The only difference is that you won't add the cantrip and the first level spell if you drop it instead of crafting it.
And you can't craft staves above your level. So it kind of eliminates the makeshift staff once you start dropping good staves.
You just upgrade the makeshift staff into one of the at level staff options to keep the extra spell + cantrip.
You just upgrade the makeshift staff into one of the at level staff options to keep the extra spell + cantrip.Why would the loot your GM drops matter? Staff Nexus' abilities are all tied to the makeshift staff the thesis gives you and you need to spend time upgrading.Nope. You can use them with any staff. The only difference is that you won't add the cantrip and the first level spell if you drop it instead of crafting it.
And you can't craft staves above your level. So it kind of eliminates the makeshift staff once you start dropping good staves.
Crafting staves of your level is accessible to everybody. A cantrip is worthless and a first level spell close to worthless. Staves of your level or lower cast spells 2 levels under your highest level of spells, so mostly useless spells. So, no, sorry, I pass.
In my opinion, if your DM doesn't give you higher level staves, there's no point in Staff Nexus. Casting tons of spells with a lot of versatility doesn't make anything usefull out of useless spells.| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Nope. You can use them with any staff.
I suppose that's one way to read it.
From my first reading, the language "your staff" seems to specifically refer to the makeshift one (it's how it's referred to earlier in the thesis' description) as opposed to simply saying "a staff" if it's meant to work with anything.
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Nope. You can use them with any staff.I suppose that's one way to read it.
From my first reading, the language "your staff" seems to specifically refer to the makeshift one (it's how it's referred to earlier in the thesis' description) as opposed to simply saying "a staff" if it's meant to work with anything.
That's how I had read it too, but the first paragraph implies otherwise:
You've formed such a connection with a makeshift staff you built, and you are ready to infuse any staff you encounter with greater power.
Whether or not that's intended to be flavour text, it's pretty clear about the intent of the rest of the Thesis. Indeed, the part about crafting your staff into another makes sure to refer to "your makeshift staff", while the part about using more spell-slots only says "your staff".
That said, I absolutely do think that the extra spell versatility is cool and fun, and I don't think that lower-level slots are necessarily going to be useless. A Wizard doesn't really have to worry about having highest-level spells on-hand; isn't up-casting what Spell Blending is for? Staff Nexus, it seems to me, is for conjurers of useful tricks, especially the sort that likes solving problems with constructs or replacing combat prowess with liberal usage of the spell True Strike. Which doesn't need to be tied to other Divination spells if you're happy sticking to level-appropriate staves.
Then again, I've no actual experience with this yet, so I could be off-base. Soon, hopefully, because this is easily my favourite Thesis and actually makes me want to play a Wizard. Which is pretty rare for me, honestly.