Talent/Spell of the Week: Staff to Snake

[Shostak]

Spellcasters who want to learn this Thrown spell need an IQ of 10 or better. While the spell's description strongly implies that they would also need one of the Staff spells, this is not directly stated, so if you are planning a character who carries a mundane walking stick that you plan to be the subject of the spell, make sure your GM is going to approve. At the bargain cost of 1ST, the spell transforms the wizard's own staff to a snake for 12 turns, and it may be recast to make it last longer. The summoned snake is not a boss combatant by any means, having a low MA and only a modest ST, but DX is good enough that they hit five times out of six, and they can be used tactically to engage foes to keep them at a safer distance from the wizard. On top of that, snakes are difficult to hit, with attacks against them made at -3DX. If the wizard's staff that is turned into a snake holds mana, the wizard can still draw on it even though the snake is not in hand. For all practical purposes, the snake's bite delivers the staff's occult blast, and does so without an additional ST cost to the wizard.

Staff to Snake can, of course, be countered. Do this the Old Testament way by turning your own staff to a snake and letting the serpents fight each other--hopefully yours wins. Or, Remove Thrown Spell can turn your opponent's serpent back into a staff, now lying useless on the ground. Control Animal is also a possibility, but less certain. Or just smite the snake with an axe to kill it. Once dead, it reverts to a staff--but a broken one bereft of all magical energies.

With the TFT Bestiary soon to appear, one wonders about if different snakes might be possible. Could a wizard transform their staff to a constrictor? Could a higher level of Staff to Snake bring a venomous serpent? Or a giant snake? Or perhaps a somewhat modified spell could let sorcerers turn things like an opponent's staff (or spear, or axe handle) into a snake?

I like Staff to Snake a lot. One character in one of the campaigns I GM has Staff to Snake as pretty much her only directly offensive spell. She's a wizardly thief whose staff is a rosewood hair pin. When things get dicey, she whips it out of her sable tresses and hurls it at the feet of her enemies. I once played an assassin known professionally as "The Cobra" whose preferred method was to use Staff to Snake to create a self-propelled weapon with which to infiltrate the private chambers of his targets and deliver surprise attacks, or to create distractions that allowed him to close in on and eliminate his target.

Conversation starters:

• How often does Staff to Snake see use in your games?
• Have any questions come up?
• Do you have any alternate versions of the spell in your games?
• What combinations with other spells offer compelling synergies?