Quote:
Originally Posted by TippetsTX
A wizard w/o a staff (or more specifically, the mana they provide) is at a distinct disadvantage under the Legacy rules.
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A wizard needs maybe a thousand experience points before it's worth even contemplating buying mana. (If power stones are available it might be a lot later than that.) A 32-point character generated without a staff could have a substantial career and die of unrelated causes long before needing to get the staff for mana purposes.
In combat the staff isn't that great. It's nice to know you can Defend if you must, and you might occasionally help to finish off a helpless victim by thwacking it. I don't find the occult zap very useful, there's just usually more useful things to do with a spare fatigue point.
One downside of a combat (i.e. club) staff is that you look like a wizard even before you cast, which simplifies enemy threat assessment and tactics and can turn you into a first turn missile magnet.
I normally take a staff, it's probably a good idea, but I wouldn't call it a must have.