Wizard Staff

[phiwum]

Originally Posted by hcobb

I suggest that wizards sans staves take Unarmed Combat so that they don't block their own spellcasting.

That's a pretty expensive way to go.

I have several NPCs who don't use staffs. I have only seen one staff-less wizard PC. The cheap mana battery is just too tempting.

Staff I is just an investment, so that you can get Staff II and Staff III. Of course, Staff IV is a huge upgrade, but I've yet to see an IQ 15 PC. There have been a few Staff IV NPCs I've created, but I don't think any of them have seen a battle.

David's right that the new Staff spells are so useful that it would be foolish to forego their benefits in a PC. Fortunately, I have some foolish and headstrong players, so it's bound to happen from time to time.

There is, of course, a solution. The mana battery only matters to a character reaching 35 attribute points or so. Starting with Staff II is beneficial only later in the game, so it's really an investment (unless the player goes further and starts with Staff III). If you want to discourage long-term planning that makes all starting characters too similar, all you have to do is kill off a few wizard PCs long before they start storing Mana in a staff. The players will stop thinking about long-term development and you'll have a more diverse set of PCs.