Staff charges

[Monkeybox]

Staves come with 10 charges. Does this mean 10 charges that are divided between the spells of the staff or 10 charges for spells that have a certain charge cost?

For example:

Staff of Abjuration

Dispel magic (1 charge)
Resist energy (1 charge)
Shield (1 charge)
Dismissal (2 charges)
Lesser globe of invulnerability (2 charges)
Repulsion (3 charges)

Does this mean that Dispel Magic would drain one charge, leaving you with 9 charges to use or does it mean the staff has one Dispel Magic spell charge that has to be recharged when used due to there being only one charge?

[Havzak]

The first. You use Dispel magic, you have 9 charges left.

[blahpers]

Seconded. They all draw from the same pool of magical energy.

[Monkeybox]

Thanks, the general pool of charges does make more sense

[Symon_Mx]

So when creating a staff what determines how many charges per spell will the staff spend?

From the example in the original post, what determines that Dismissal will use 2 charges? You get my point?

I have a wizard and I am planning to create staves (given that I reach the proper level hehe), so this charges thing has me wondering and the CRB does not clarify this. Because if it was up to me, when I create my staves I'd say 1 charge per spell.

[Belafon]

Symon_Mx wrote:

So when creating a staff what determines how many charges per spell will the staff spend?

From the example in the original post, what determines that Dismissal will use 2 charges? You get my point?

I have a wizard and I am planning to create staves (given that I reach the proper level hehe), so this charges thing has me wondering and the CRB does not clarify this. Because if it was up to me, when I create my staves I'd say 1 charge per spell.

It is determined by the creator of the staff. You can lower the cost of your staff by increasing the number of charges a spell uses.

CRB page 552 wrote:

If desired, a spell can be placed into the staff at less than the normal cost, but then activating that particular spell drains additional charges from the staff. Divide the cost of the spell by the number of charges it consumes to determine its final price.

A staff of abjuration, to use your example, would cost 9,750 gp more in construction materials if dismissal only required one charge to use.

If everything was one charge:

Another 20,800 if repulsion only required one charge. And 10,400 for lesser globe of invulnerability. Total construction cost increase = 40,950. Essentially you've doubled the cost of the staff.

[Symon_Mx]

Belafon wrote:

Symon_Mx wrote:

So when creating a staff what determines how many charges per spell will the staff spend?

From the example in the original post, what determines that Dismissal will use 2 charges? You get my point?

I have a wizard and I am planning to create staves (given that I reach the proper level hehe), so this charges thing has me wondering and the CRB does not clarify this. Because if it was up to me, when I create my staves I'd say 1 charge per spell.

It is determined by the creator of the staff. You can lower the cost of your staff by increasing the number of charges a spell uses.

CRB page 552 wrote:

If desired, a spell can be placed into the staff at less than the normal cost, but then activating that particular spell drains additional charges from the staff. Divide the cost of the spell by the number of charges it consumes to determine its final price.

A staff of abjuration, to use your example, would cost 9,750 gp more in construction materials if dismissal only required one charge to use.

** spoiler omitted **

Got it!! Thanks for the clarification.