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Old 04-11-2021, 03:18 PM   #11
tomc
 
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Default Re: Does remove curse fix a staff?

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If you use a lasso or whip to pick up a staff, does it explode, and if it does, where? (not only have I disarmed you, once I pulled it away from you it self-destructed).
I'd say it only explodes once "the fool who picked it up" does so. After all, wizards can set them down without them blowing up.
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Old 04-11-2021, 04:00 PM   #12
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Default Re: Does remove curse fix a staff?

Decades of Warner Brothers suggests that it explodes when one pulls it back near his face. It hangs in the air a half second before exploding, so that the character can make the appropriate look of dread at the camera, perhaps holding up a sign saying "Uh oh!"

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Old 04-11-2021, 04:30 PM   #13
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Default Re: Does remove curse fix a staff?

If anyone picks up your staff against your will, it explodes, doing the fool who touched it 3 dice damage. A dead wizard’s staff eventually becomes safe to touch. You don’t know when.

We've had this come up before, but what is the 'against your will' mean?
  • Does it mean anyone you designate OK to pick up?
  • Does it mean that if I OK my friend Sam to pick it up and later I get mad at Sam over a girl, is he Not OK'd now?
  • Does it mean that if I'm sleeping and the staff is laying next to me and a plate mailed unfriendly knight picks up my staff I get blasted along with the bad guy?

What if I invest in an expensive, ornate staff that I don't want blowing up, can I deactivate the explosive aspect? Does that mean that I set it to Never for 'against your will'?


As I mentioned in another posting: I bet that the Wizards Guild has indemnity pay out for these accidental explosions.

Headline - "Child picks up cane and dies in Staff Explosion. Wizard arrested."
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Old 04-11-2021, 04:34 PM   #14
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Default Re: Does remove curse fix a staff?

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I'd say it only explodes once "the fool who picked it up" does so. After all, wizards can set them down without them blowing up.
So you can use a pair of tongs to safely move around a staff?
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Old 04-11-2021, 07:32 PM   #15
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Default Re: Does remove curse fix a staff?

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So you can use a pair of tongs to safely move around a staff?
I would say you could, yes.
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Old 04-11-2021, 08:08 PM   #16
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Default Re: Does remove curse fix a staff?

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Originally Posted by Anthony View Post
If you use a lasso or whip to pick up a staff, does it explode, and if it does, where? (not only have I disarmed you, once I pulled it away from you it self-destructed).
If Xena uses her whip to yank a wizard's staff out of his hands, she hasn't really picked it up and it lands wherever. If later, Gabrielle picks the staff up to whack someone, unless the wizard and Gabrielle are on good terms, I think that is when it does its 3d6 damage thing.

While the RAW mention 'explosion', they also imply that only the fool picking it up gets damaged. Seems less an explosion and more a directed energy discharge.

A rather interesting use case: If a wizard has a 'staff' in the guise of a silver dagger and throws same and successfully sticks it into a foe, the foe and any person trying to do first aid have a problem assuming the wizard thinks that anyone pulling out the dagger staff is doing so against his will.

I am thinking that the staff and wizard have a link of sorts. If a barmaid accidentally bumps a staff leaned against a table and catches it to prevent it falling, the wizard can decide everything is OK and no zapped barmaid reparations are needed. OTOH, if a thief tries to pickpocket a dagger staff as the wizard walks down the street, the thief may have a problem if the wizard decides the theft is against her will.
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Old 04-11-2021, 08:14 PM   #17
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Default Re: Does remove curse fix a staff?

I reckon it's perfectly plausible that the limited to maker comment in the Limiting Spells section of Magic Items is distinct from the explosion/energy discharge mentioned in the Staff I spell description.

To say that the Staff is naturally limited to the maker means you can't lend it to another wizard who forgot his. This limitation could be removed with Remove Cursed Object.

The natural protection for the staff isn't a Limiting Spell at all, so Remove Cursed Object doesn't do a darned thing for it. Limiting Spells don't give extra powers like making an item go kablooie. They restrict usage.

But I don't reckon I would've realized all that without this discussion. I was conflating two different properties of the staff. Thanks, guys.

(NOTE: I'm not saying the discussion is thus closed, of course. It's moved on since my first post, as always seems to happen.)
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Old 07-04-2021, 12:54 PM   #18
Peter von Kleinsmid
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Default Re: Does remove curse fix a staff?

The Remove Curse[d Object] spell does not remove a Staff enchantment. At best, it might let you touch the staff very briefly without taking damage, but you'd need to let go of it very quickly.

The mention of the Remove Cursed Object in the Limiting Spells description is also a mistake. It was meant to refer to Dissolve Enchantment, which can be used to remove Staff enchantments. Of course, it not only requires a wizard with IQ 17 who knows the spell, is willing to help (i.e. doesn't think you're a wizard-murderer), and 50 ST to use on the spell, but it also requires a successful DX roll or else the wrong enchantment will be dissolved.

And yes, hacking up a staff will also remove its Staff enchantment... but it will destroy the staff, which you might not want to do if it has other enchantments.
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Old 07-04-2021, 05:05 PM   #19
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Default Re: Does remove curse fix a staff?

[Edited: Wizards in a published TFT adventure] have staffs that give them the ability to cast Iron Flesh and other spells just on themselves, the staff owner.

Is that a too restrictive limitation? Would [Edited: they] ever want to cast Iron Flesh on one of their [Edited: allies]?

What reason could a wizard want to have such a restrictive limitation?

I can see limiting so that only the staff owner can cast the spell,but limiting it so that a spell can only be cast on yourself seems a bit wasteful and selfish.

Last edited by Peter von Kleinsmid; 07-04-2021 at 05:54 PM.
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Old 07-04-2021, 05:20 PM   #20
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Default Re: Does remove curse fix a staff?

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[Edited: Wizards in a published TFT adventure] have staffs that give them the ability to cast Iron Flesh and other spells just on themselves, the staff owner.
There is no (widely known) enchantment that lets you cast Iron Flesh on another.

The text in [Edited: that adventure] is "grants" power X, which matches the enchantments. Wielding the staff grants the ability to the wielder.

So HTH those suckers.
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Last edited by Peter von Kleinsmid; 07-04-2021 at 05:56 PM.
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