[JLV]

Keep in mind that a Staff (or wand, or whatever a Staff is described as in the spell) is ALSO a melee weapon, capable of doing 1D damage to an opponent.

I like the idea of being able to charge other things, but it ought to be at least as hard to do as making and charging a staff.

On Strength Batteries (and yes, I too prefer the "power stones" terminology -- more on that in a second), I always felt they were too hard and too expensive in the game. I would like to see them changed in some way to either justify that expense (maybe they DO "self-recharge"), or their cost lowered.

On the Power Stones terminology -- I really just prefer the cooler name. It seems more evocative of how a pseudo-medieval society would think of them than "Strength Batteries" does. I know that Cidri is actually a post-Apocalyptic society (minus the actual apocalypse; the Mnoren simply left -- they didn't destroy the world), but I figure the term "battery" must have fallen into disuse by a society that reverted to medieval agriculture and trade levels. Sages might know the term, but not too many other people, and "power stones" is probably how they would think of even a conventional battery.