Please Help Me Understand Staff of Nexus

[markrivett]

Am I interpreting Staff of Nexus rules to mean it is better than a normal spell staff in that it lets you cast a chosen cantrip and a chosen first-level spell infinite times per day? However, it is worse than a normal spell staff in that the first level spell and cantrip cannot be changed, nor can you get free imbued spell slots per day (1 at first and second level, 2 and 3rd and 4th level, etc)?

While the latter seems like a bit of a bummer, the former seems like it may be ripe for abuse.

Isn't a first-level character spamming 3d6 +5ft knockback every turn via Hydraulic Push a bit powerful?
Or, a first-level character just healing themself and party members 1d10+4 every turn (and in between combat encounters) make for a near-unkillable party (unless the DM over-clocks the encounter difficulty)?

Am I not understanding something important about Staff of Nexus?

[Squiggit]

You can cast the cantrip as much as you want, but the Makeshift Staff doesn't change normal spellcasting requirements for staffs. You still need to expend charges, which you can only put into the staff manually.

The Thesis' real advantages show up when you can upgrade your staff into a normal staff (that still gets that extra first level spell you picked) and at levels 8/16 when you can throw extra charges into your staff.

At level 1, basically all you get is an extra prepared cantrip.

[Unicore]

You don't get the 1st level spell infinite times per day. Basically you just start with a broken magical staff that only gets charges if you put spell levels into it, so at level 1 you end up with the same number of 1st level of spells as any other wizard. You do get one extra cantrip than a typical first level wizard.

When you craft your staff into a non-broken version, it gains an extra first level spell attached to it and a free extra cantrip. And at 8th level, you can put more charges into your staff than any other caster.

The appeal here is flexibility, and having a way to spell blend downwards into lots of extra lower level spells per day.

[Vlorax]

Unicore wrote:

You don't get the 1st level spell infinite times per day. Basically you just start with a broken magical staff that only gets charges if you put spell levels into it, so at level 1 you end up with the same number of 1st level of spells as any other wizard. You do get one extra cantrip than a typical first level wizard.

When you craft your staff into a non-broken version, it gains an extra first level spell attached to it and a free extra cantrip. And at 8th level, you can put more charges into your staff than any other caster.

The appeal here is flexibility, and having a way to spell blend downwards into lots of extra lower level spells per day.

Not just down, at 8th you could use 2 lvl 2 slots to add 4 charges which would then let you cast a 4th lvl spell from the staff.

[Old_Man_Robot]

You can’t have both Staff Nexus and Spell Blending Vlorax.

[Gisher]

Old_Man_Robot wrote:

You can’t have both Staff Nexus and Spell Blending Vlorax.

That's not Spell Blending. Staff Nexus eventually lets you use two (and then three) spell slots to charge up your staff. So if you have upgraded your staff to one that contains 4th level spells, you could use two 2nd level slots to charge it and use those four charges to cast a 4th level spell once.

[Vlorax]

Old_Man_Robot wrote:

You can’t have both Staff Nexus and Spell Blending Vlorax.

Nothing I said suggested you would have both?

Staff Nexus 8th lvl - Add 2 spells to convert to charges. Add 2 2nd level spells, it now has 4 charges. Use 4 charges to cast 4th level spell from staff.

Where does spell blending factor into this?

Due to how the math works you will always be able to trade 2(Max Spell lvl -2) spells for at least 1 (Max Spell Level) and eventually 3 for 2.

[Old_Man_Robot]

My apologies, I read your post wrong. I thought you were talking about blending your spell slots up, and then feeding those to the staff!