Topic: Staves and wands

[jeff]

Never as a GM have I given out either for items and I'm wondering if a fighter obtains a staff of lightning bolts what is his OB with the attack. Do's he have to learn directed spells or does the staff have a set OB modifier.

[MidKnight]

I'd personally rule that unless it had some level of 'intelligence' that he would in-fact have to develop a Directed Spell OB.

If the item had intelligence you could provide a 'base' OB that he / she could use in place of developing a skill.

If he / she then did develop skill it would be a case of using which-ever is higher.

Just my thoughts.

[Mider]

If he even makes an attunement roll to be able to activate it, we have always given -25 until he takes a level of directed spells.  If the item has an intelligence, we usually give +10 per lvl of intelligence, so a supra genius item would impart a higher bonus.

[yammahoper]

Well, the base OB of the bolt attack is determined by the level of the item, whic is determined by the highest level of spell needed to create the item.

Lets see...an Imbed X is level 25 I believe, so it would be a level 25 item.  This is the number of ranks in directed spell skill the item is assumed to have, so a bonus of +55 + catagory bonus (of the fighter).

One thing I KNOW I am forgetting...Treasure Companion rules state a lower progression for the skill bonus in items, but I forget the specifics of it (mostly because I ignore the rule as unecessary and just figure normal rank bonus mostly because I am lazy )

If the catagory bonus is used instead, then the bonus would be +23, but that makes no sense to me and underpowers a very strong magic object.

The fighters problem will be attuneing to it and carring it around, unless he wants to fight with a quarterstaff.

lynn

[Dax]

I always thought direct spell with an item is like point the wand/staff at the target.
But with the cost of 20 for Arms User, it seems that there is more about it.

[markc]

 If I remember my RM2 and RMSS right they do it a different way in both so more info is needed. But I could be wrong. If you can give us some more info we can help you out more. I also think use a house rule to determine OB so I will have to check my books.

MDC

[yammahoper]

Just like with weapons, the skill ranks in directed spell indicate the ability to strike harder, faster and with skill.

Thus, the level determines the strength of the attack, with more powerful items providing more powerful attacks.  Or, for most daily items and charged items (unless charged staves are common in your games), these attacks via item are a nice powerboost at lower levels, but since wands are either level 3 or level 5 (depending on if they are imbedded with a level 1 or level 2 spell, like shock bolt, sleel V, Confusion, Limb Break, etc), the PC will soon surpass the power of his spell items (and as a neat culture predjudice amongst spell users, having, depending or using such items can be seen as weakness and be frowned upon or schoffed at).  That the wands and many daily items become a moot point after a while is a nice change of pace from other games, were more and more gear is needed to be successful.

lynn

[Temujin]

Lets see...an Imbed X is level 25 I believe, so it would be a level 25 item.  This is the number of ranks in directed spell skill the item is assumed to have, so a bonus of +55 + catagory bonus (of the fighter).

One thing I KNOW I am forgetting...Treasure Companion rules state a lower progression for the skill bonus in items, but I forget the specifics of it (mostly because I ignore the rule as unecessary and just figure normal rank bonus mostly because I am lazy )

You've got it right, Yamma.  Level of item = ranks in skill, modified by category.  What you think you're forgetting is in fact a badly worded parenthesis "using the category progression", which might confuse one into thinking the virtual ranks are in the category, when they're in fact in the skill, as stated, and as is logical.

[jeff]

Thanks guys