Staff bonuses without wielding it

[SuperBidi]

I just realized that the description of Staves only indicates the need to hold the Staff when casting spells. Some Staves also give bonuses. Sometimes it's clearly indicated that you need to wield the Staff to benefit from it (like for the Staff of Providence) and sometimes it's not (like for the Staff of Healing). Which makes me wonder if these bonuses could be gained without actually wielding the Staff...

[Baarogue]

Since the staff is a 1h weapon, how would one go about holding it w/o wielding it?

[yellowpete]

As in, carry it around in your backpack and still benefit from the bonus? I'd read the general rules about item usage to be preventing that. "An item’s stat block includes a Usage entry that indicates whether a character must be holding or wearing the item in order to use it, or whether she instead must have it etched or affixed onto another item.".

Staff of Healing has "Usage: held in 1 hand", and I think getting its healing bonus ought to count as using it, in the general sense.

[Finoan]

yellowpete wrote:

Staff of Healing has "Usage: held in 1 hand", and I think getting its healing bonus ought to count as using it, in the general sense.

Yeah, that is my thought too. The rule saying that you have to hold a staff in order to get its permanent benefits isn't in the staff rules because it is in the general item rules.

[SuperBidi]

Good call. I was finding that funny and thought there may be a hole in the rules, but you're right the usage entry prevents such shenanigan.

[Finoan]

A slow scan through held items, I am finding that many of them have in their description that the bonuses that they give only apply when held - such as the Battle Medic's Baton. Some items override the general rule and have a strange usage scenario - such as the Guiding Cajon Drum that you sit on to get its bonus. And some - like the Starless Scope simply list the bonuses that it provides and rely on the general rule implicitly to require being held.