Charging Staves in PFS

[olePigeon]

My understanding is that magic items that require charging start off with zero at the beginning of a scenario, and that you have to charge them during a scenario.

Does this also apply to staves?

[godsDMit]

Not sure about them starting with 0 charges (I would think they would start with full), but as long as you can recharge the staff, you will effectively get to start the beginning of every scenario with a fully charged staff, since there is an indefinite amount of time between scenarios.

[Benrislove]

olePigeon wrote:

My understanding is that magic items that require charging start off with zero at the beginning of a scenario, and that you have to charge them during a scenario.

Does this also apply to staves?

Luckily, you're understanding is wrong on this one.

Staves start with 10 charges, if you are able to recharge your staff, it will charge to full between scenarios.

[Victor Zajic]

I think you are only allowed to put one charge into a staff between scenarios.

[godsDMit]

Victor Zajic wrote:

I think you are only allowed to put one charge into a staff between scenarios.

Got a link? I would love to be wrong.

[Jeffrey Fox]

http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2ocw3?Staves-in-PFS-play#10

Mark Moreland wrote:

Otherwise, folks have it right in this thread that you can't use UMD to recharge a staff, it recharges fully between scenarios if you have one of the requisite spells, and if you don't (either because you aren't a caster or because you're a wizard with a staff of healing) then you need to pay the cost of spellcasting services for the highest-level spell in the staff for each charge you want regained between scenarios.

Hope that helps.

[olePigeon]

The reason I'm asking is that another player had a Blood Reservoir of Physical Prowess. He would charge it between scenarios. Two different GMs stated that chargable items start the scenario with zero charges, and that you must charge it during a scenario.

I don't know where that ruling comes from, but if it's true, then it would also apply to staves, which would render them to near uselessness after the initial 10 charges are used up.

[Benrislove]

olePigeon wrote:

The reason I'm asking is that another player had a Blood Reservoir of Physical Prowess. He would charge it between scenarios. Two different GMs stated that chargable items start the scenario with zero charges, and that you must charge it during a scenario.

I don't know where that ruling comes from, but if it's true, then it would also apply to staves, which would render them to near uselessness after the initial 10 charges are used up.

It's because staves are created with 10 charges, the chalice is created with 0.

A gm should be able to mark that filled, but didn't use, the reservoir. Similar to spell storing weapons keeping stored spells.

[Kyrie Ebonblade]

I'm surprised the questions come up given how expensive a staff is to buy

[lastblacknight]

From memory; You get a week off between each scenario (or in some cases months if specified - in a couple you can be travelling weeks to a destination).

But mechanically a week; look into the threads and rulings or the FAQ. A lot of people have asked about the time due to needing to train animal companions tricks.

If it is the week (and I am unable to find the reference for you now_ then it would stand to reason that (if you had the ability to charge it yourself) the stave could be recharged over that time. Quite possibly the cup as well.

[Jiggy]

The time between scenarios is undefined.

[CRobledo]

Items with charges starting at zero is obviously wrong, otherwise wands would be useless.

Staves work the same as wands. They start with as many charges as they ended the last scenario at.

Between scenarios, you may recharge your staff as much as you want. If you can recharge it yourself, then you can do it to full between scenarios. Otherwise, you may pay a NPC spellcaster to do it at cost of highest spell level per charge.

Quote:

Two different GMs stated that chargable items start the scenario with zero charges, and that you must charge it during a scenario.

For a brief period of a few weeks, the rule was that some items like spellstoring weapons and armor and rings of spellstoring would begin the scenario with nothing inserted in the item. This ruling was reversed eventually, and you are allowed to keep items with a spell stored in them.

[olePigeon]

I don't suppose you have a link to that ruling and/or where it was reversed? My Google-Fu is not very good.

[GreySector]

olePigeon wrote:

I don't suppose you have a link to that ruling and/or where it was reversed? My Google-Fu is not very good.

Here.

Note that if a fellow PC cast a spell into a spell-storing item then that spell disappears between scenarios.

[The Fourth Horseman]

So staves are a receptacle for expanding your spell slots per scenario, so long as you know the spells? Huh, and I thought they were just one time consumables, and therefore overpriced and not worth it. Good to know.

[LazarX]

The Fourth Horseman wrote:

So staves are a receptacle for expanding your spell slots per scenario, so long as you know the spells? Huh, and I thought they were just one time consumables, and therefore overpriced and not worth it. Good to know.

Staves as one time consumables was an aberration of 3.x.

[lastblacknight]

Has anyone found the reference for time between scenarios? It was some time ago but I thought the time issue came up when people were looking to retrain tricks for animal companions when they have to be replaced.

[Todd Morgan]

The time between scenarios is undefined, so long as you have a GM willing to wait after the slot to mark down retrain attempts, you are good to go!

[Nefreet]

My Magus just bought a Ring of Arcane Mastery, which stores up to 4 points from his Arcane Pool for later use.

Should it likewise be assumed that I can charge it to full between scenarios?

[Benrislove]

Nefreet wrote:

My Magus just bought a Ring of Arcane Mastery, which stores up to 4 points from his Arcane Pool for later use.

Should it likewise be assumed that I can charge it to full between scenarios?

I would say yes.

[Caderyn]

Todd Morgan wrote:

The time between scenarios is undefined, so long as you have a GM willing to wait after the slot to mark down retrain attempts, you are good to go!

This is not entirely accurate the PFS FAQ has very specific rules about the number of handle animal attempts that may be made between scenarios the answer is 1 per rank you have in the Handle Animal Skill

http://paizo.com/paizo/faq/v5748nruor1fq#v5748eaic9osb

How can I teach tricks to an animal using Handle Animal?

"You can teach any animal a trick so long as you follow the rules for Handle Animal on pages 97–98 of the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook. A GM must observe your Handle Animal check, and must initial what tricks the animal gained in the "Conditions Gained" section of the scenario's Chronicle sheet. The first time a character with levels in druid, ranger, or any other class that grants an animal companion gains an animal companion, the animal enters play knowing its maximum number of tricks as dictated by the animal companion's Intelligence and the character's effective druid level. If the character replaces the animal companion for any reason, the new animal starts with no tricks known, save for bonus tricks granted based on the PC's effective druid level. Once per scenario, you may attempt to train the animal companion a number of times equal to the number of ranks you have in the Handle Animal skill. Each success allows you to teach the animal a single trick; a failed attempt counts against the total number of training attempts allowed per scenario, and you may not attempt to teach the same trick until the next scenario. Alternatively, you may train one animal for a single purpose as long as you have enough ranks in Handle Animal to train the animal in each trick learned as part of that purpose. You may take 10 on Handle Animal checks to teach an animal companion tricks."