Advice on creating a custom staff

[Fedorchik1536]

Hi! I'm playing blaster master wizard (evocation(admixture) school) and I've banned enchantment and conjuration (because I can!). I chose staff as my arcane bond.
My GM has allowed me to craft my custom staff right from level 1 and gradually upgrade it as I level up.

My first obvious choice is probably Mage Armor (roleplaying is one thing, but 11 AC is a cruel and painful thing ;P). My goal is to pick overall useful spells, that either too costly for a scroll (assuming I'll use them a lot, like mage armor) or benefit from higher caster level or intelligence score (like phantom steed).

What spells would you pick for me?

[Castilonium]

So, are you primarily looking for buff and utility spells from the enchantment and conjuration schools to put in your staff? I'd suggest things like glitterdust, fog spells, dimension door, teleport, and summon monster, but I'm not sure if those go against your theme or not. Mage Armor is a conjuration spell.

[Dave Justus]

Typically I would choose to have my general use spells, like Mage Armor, that I am going to cast every day, be ones that I memorize. I like a staff to be my emergency spells for when I'm running low on what I can cast.

With that, as an evoker I'd probably start with Magic Missile.

[Fedorchik1536]

Castilonium wrote:

So, are you primarily looking for buff and utility spells from the enchantment and conjuration schools to put in your staff? I'd suggest things like glitterdust, fog spells, dimension door, teleport, and summon monster [...]

Not exactly enchantment and conjuration - just overall useful spells.

I've banned myself from being a 'fog wizard' not to take fog spells through loopholes xD Same with glitterdust and summons.
But yeah - dimension door and teleport is a good idea .

Dave Justus wrote:

Typically I would choose to have my general use spells, like Mage Armor, that I am going to cast every day, be ones that I memorize. I like a staff to be my emergency spells for when I'm running low on what I can cast.

With that, as an evoker I'd probably start with Magic Missile.

Fair enough. Wasn't going to take magic missile as a backup, but now I probably will.

[Cevah]

You want spells that the CL helps when you are low level, but not stuff you need every day. You want something that you need to spam on occasion. Staffs recharge at 1 charge per day. If you always use a charge every day, it is no better than an open slot. Also, you need a spell slot with a spell on the staff at the highest SL the staff has. If the staff uses more than 1 charge to cast the spell (saving crafting money), then you can use it even less.

My recommendations:
Mount
Invisibility
Lesser Restoration*
Fly
Water Breathing

Each is likely needed in quantity when you need it.

/cevah

*Not a wizard spell, but the divine caster can borrow your staff. UMD can let you use it. Use another spell for the recharge.