Staffs and Quarterstaff talent.

Skarg · 06-13-2018, 06:05 PM

The rules:

A staff can be a wand. It still does 1d damage.

A staff can be a quarterstaff. If the wizard has the Quarterstaff talent, it does 1d+2 damage.

A staff of power does 2d damage.

The last inside page of the (non-Steve-Jackson) Codex also says a Staff can be cast on a quarterstaff and it should do 2d damage (presumably only if the wizard uses it with the Quarterstaff talent). They didn't consider Staff of Power on a quarterstaff.

Personally, I think it makes sense that a quarterstaff could be used on staff to do more damage than a staff does. Clearly the staff does magical damage since even a wand staff does 1d. I also quite like Rick's logic of having them each do separate damage. What I don't like is how powerful it becomes against unarmored opponents - ST 11, Staff and Quarterstaff (1x2 talent points for a wizard) gives 1d + (1d +2), which against an unarmored foe is like 2d+2, the damage of a ST 14 great hammer. I prefer the Codex's 2d for balance reasons, but Rick's version for logic reasons.

Taken further, the Staff spell says it works on any piece of wood. I could see it being used on a wood spear, or a wooden maul... again I think either way would be fine to me, either adding a separate 1d that armor subtracts from too, or giving a +1 damage or +1 position-shift up the usual damage sequence.

06-13-2018, 06:05 PM	#7
Skarg Join Date: May 2015	Re: Staffs and Quarterstaff talent. The rules: A staff can be a wand. It still does 1d damage. A staff can be a quarterstaff. If the wizard has the Quarterstaff talent, it does 1d+2 damage. A staff of power does 2d damage. The last inside page of the (non-Steve-Jackson) Codex also says a Staff can be cast on a quarterstaff and it should do 2d damage (presumably only if the wizard uses it with the Quarterstaff talent). They didn't consider Staff of Power on a quarterstaff. Personally, I think it makes sense that a quarterstaff could be used on staff to do more damage than a staff does. Clearly the staff does magical damage since even a wand staff does 1d. I also quite like Rick's logic of having them each do separate damage. What I don't like is how powerful it becomes against unarmored opponents - ST 11, Staff and Quarterstaff (1x2 talent points for a wizard) gives 1d + (1d +2), which against an unarmored foe is like 2d+2, the damage of a ST 14 great hammer. I prefer the Codex's 2d for balance reasons, but Rick's version for logic reasons. Taken further, the Staff spell says it works on any piece of wood. I could see it being used on a wood spear, or a wooden maul... again I think either way would be fine to me, either adding a separate 1d that armor subtracts from too, or giving a +1 damage or +1 position-shift up the usual damage sequence.