Some question regarding Staves...

[Midnight_Angel]

Let's assume Ixiolander the Great (Level 11 wizard) gets his hands on a Staff of Swarming Insects.

What can he do with this staff, and how can he recharge it?

The summon swarm ability is pretty much straightforward. Drain one charge, and *bam* one summon swarm spell coming up.

However, the insect plague ability is a tad unclear, as said spell is not on Ixi's class spell list.
Will he have to UMD it?
If so, what CL does he use in this case?
What spellcasting stat modifier? His own, or the corresponding modifier for the class he emulated?

While we're at it, what is the effective Spell Level for the insect plague effect? 4, or 5? After all, this also determines the spell level necessary to recharge the whole thing.

(IIRC, insect plague is Cle/Ora 5, Drd 5, Sum 4)

[Bart Vervaet]

Since the staff was published before the summoner class, i'd say insect plague counts as a lvl5 spell. I even seem to remember something that says when you need to determine something like this, you have to check the wiz/sor list first, then the cle/dru list, and then those of non-full casters (like bard, summ,...)

I can't really qoute a rule right now, but this would be how I'd rule it.

[BigNorseWolf]

Made of twisted darkwood covered with knots and nodules resembling crawling insects (which occasionally seem to move), this staff allows use of the following spells:

Summon swarm (1 charge)
Insect plague (3 charges)

Activation: Staves use the spell trigger activation method

Spell Trigger: Spell trigger activation is similar to spell completion, but it's even simpler. No gestures or spell finishing is needed, just a special knowledge of spellcasting that an appropriate character would know, and a single word that must be spoken. Spell trigger items can be used by anyone whose class can cast the corresponding spell. This is the case even for a character who can't actually cast spells, such as a 3rd-level paladin. The user must still determine what spell is stored in the item before she can activate it. Activating a spell trigger item is a standard action and does not provoke attacks of opportunity.

So it goes on a by spell basis. Ixi can use summon swarm no problem, but he needs to UMD Insect plague.

Quote:

and how can he recharge it?

Each morning, when a spellcaster prepares spells or regains spell slots, he can also imbue one staff with a portion of his power so long as one or more of the spells cast by the staff is on his spell list and he is capable of casting at least one of the spells. Imbuing a staff with this power restores one charge to the staff, but the caster must forgo one prepared spell or spell slot of a level equal to the highest-level spell cast by the staff.

I would probably treat the spell level as 5th unless the character actually was a druid. You cannot fake charging a staff with UMD.

I'm not sure how you get a caster level when you UMD something without a set caster level. I would go with 8th which is the minimum for a staff.