fantasy crafting

[(E)]

Heart timber most likely be what is required for a high quality staff. Timber selection would be a big thing as well. Just the right combination of density, durability, finish, flexibility and strength.

[The Colonel]

Originally Posted by simply Nathan

I heard it was because they used to be longer than 6 feet and held at the quarter.

I've heard various etymologies - and IIRC George Silver called it the "short staff" anyway. To be honest, I find it hard to imagine a staff much over six foot being a practical weapon for most of the traditional techniques.

The great fount of more or less reliable knowledge appears to go with the "quarter of a log" position and has the "held at the quarter" being a later artefact. That said, they also seem to go up to 9' long ... which still seems silly to me.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

The great fount of more or less reliable knowledge appears to go with the "quarter of a log" position and has the "held at the quarter" being a later artefact. That said, they also seem to go up to 9' long ... which still seems silly to me.

The OED calls it ambiguous, but one of the early citations is "quarter ashe staff" which certainly suggests a quantity rather than how you are holding it.

The other reasonable interpretation is that it's a quarter of a rod long, a rod being a medieval French and English unit of land measurement somewhere around 20 or 25 feet - yeah it's 16.5 now, but it was "standardized" by Henry VIII when he selling off all that church property, so it's perhaps not so amazing he set it a bit lower than traditionally understood to make the parcels sound larger.

[GodBeastX]

Balanced*: +1 to skill with any melee weapon, thrown
weapon, or projectile; +1 Acc for a missile weapon. All
weapons but sticks and improvised weapons: +4 CF.

You can balance staffs, not sticks.

[shawnhcorey]

Originally Posted by brianfb

In a fantasy setting a player wants the skill to create his own quarterstaff, with hopes of making a high quality balanced one. What is that? Blacksmith? Profession bowyer? Carpentry?

Combat: Quarterstaff

If you know how to use one, you know enough to judge its quality.