[DF] Spellcasting in Heavy Gear

[Pragmatic]

Originally Posted by Rupert

I've always assumed that a wand or staff, as long as it's enchanted with the Staff spell, can be used to gesture with. How else do you channel spells through a staff for that sweet range extension, after all?

IIRC, the Staff spell simply extends your "touch" reach the length of the Staff.

So you're just poking them with the wand or staff or rod. That's all.

If I'm correct, that is.

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by Say, it isn't that bad!

What that tells me is that a sufficiently-strong half-ogre mage could have access to all of the magic items in a pack mule's packs, and I think that image is worth noting.

Hah! Of course, "power item" and "magic item" play by different rules. You generally have to use magic items, whereas you can get away with merely carrying power items.

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by Pragmatic

IIRC, the Staff spell simply extends your "touch" reach the length of the Staff.

So you're just poking them with the wand or staff or rod. That's all.

If I'm correct, that is.

No, the spell effectively starts that the end of the 'staff'. See B240, "Magic Staffs", and M13, "Magic Staffs" (an extension of the box in Characters).

[Hide]

Originally Posted by Kromm

[B] (...) As a bonus answer: If your weapon counts as a Staff, you can use it not only to gesture, but also to reduce distance to your subject. With Regular spells, this is like a free (in terms of points) +1 or +2 to skill. That's the single biggest reason to carry such an item. And no, it doesn't matter if your Staff item is your power item.

Amazing! Out of curiosity, can I employ a quarterstaff for this? (taking LOTR Saruman's staff as an example). That would mean I could discard akimbo for the gestures.

[ericthered]

I suppose there is one more concern for a spellcaster in heavy gear, and that's FP lost to encumbrance. That's a minor concern, but its one to be aware of if you're trekking around carrying what amounts to a small palisade. Casters do need their FP available, after all...

[Polkageist]

Yeah but then you get swole

[Plane]

Originally Posted by Kromm

As a bonus answer: If your weapon counts as a Staff, you can use it not only to gesture, but also to reduce distance to your subject. With Regular spells, this is like a free (in terms of points) +1 or +2 to skill.

Originally Posted by Pragmatic

IIRC, the Staff spell simply extends your "touch" reach the length of the Staff.
So you're just poking them with the wand or staff or rod. That's all. If I'm correct, that is.

Originally Posted by Rupert

No, the spell effectively starts that the end of the 'staff'.
See B240, "Magic Staffs", and M13, "Magic Staffs"
(an extension of the box in Characters).

Given that they are separate bullets, the "counts as touch" and "reduces range" could be separate ideas, even though it's tempting to think of them as a single idea.

If "pointing a 2y staff reduces range by 2y" only worked because "the tip of my staff functions like my finger for spell purposes" (ie bullet 2 derives from bullet 1) then we should also expect to see staffless mages with 3-yard-long arms able to cast Regular spells at targets 5y from them at merely a -2 penalty instead of the usual -5.

Long-armed mages wielding staffs is also an interesting concept...

"reduces the range to a distant subject by the length of the staff" is -2y for a 2y staff... but what if you have something which increases the functional Reach of your weapon?

B53 Long enhancement for Extra Arm for example "increases your effective SM for the purpose of calculating reach with that arm" which references B402, and "does affect the reach of melee weapons wielded in that hand."

Increasing the Reach of a staff doesn't literally increase it's LENGTH of course... yes you can get the tip of your staff closer to something but that's because the hand at the tip of your long arm is holding the proximal handle further from your torso/head.

The most basic question is what SM+2 (overall or just arms) does, since that imparts +1 to Reach universally.

I guess also SM+1 for touch spells, since that reduces C-range touches to Reach 1.

If you're normally -1 to skill with a Regular Spell to cast at something in an adjacent yard, you can avoid the -1 by reaching out your arm to touch it?