My D&D - The Medium's Staff

 

The Medium's Staff

An Attempt To Help Out The Poor 1st Level Magic-User

Here's an idea I've been playing with that I may or may not actually use.  I want to write it down to see if anyone else thinks it's kind of cool.

The idea behind The Medium's Staff is that it improves the utility of the low-level Magic-User, but does not provide such utility as to change game balance past the low levels.

So, the Medium's Staff is a magic item often crafted by an apprentice and their mentor as the apprentice nears the end of their long training period.  It is a sign of the esteem of their mentor to be coached through and assisted with the enchantment of one of these staves, and it is intended to see the apprentice through the early years of adventuring on their own.  Any Magic-User who apprenticed in a civilized land like Karameikos, or especially Glantri, has a good chance of having one of these upon reaching 1st Level.

The staff is permanently enchanted, and will radiate magic to a Detect Magic spell, but in order to have an actual effect the Magic-User must empower the staff daily by expending their highest-level spell slot available.  Doing so empowers the staff to use the following powers:

• The staff becomes a weapon in which the Magic-User is considered to be proficient, doing 1d4+INT Bonus damage, but striking as a silver, not magic, weapon with no To-Hit bonus.
• The staff can cast a number of 1st Level spells per day equal to the Magic-User's INT bonus.
• The staff can be "programmed" with a number of 1st Level spells equal to the Magic-User's INT bonus that may be cast as long as the staff or Magic-User has any spell slots remaining for the day.  These spells may be ones the Magic-User knows, or ones programmed into the staff by their mentor.

So, obviously the staff isn't very useful to Magic-Users of average Intelligence.  But for those with an INT of 16 or higher, it's a great trade- sacrifice the single spell slot of a starting Magic-User for 2 or 3 spells cast through the staff.  But upon reaching 3rd Level, the Magic-User would have to sacrifice their 2nd Level slot for 1st Level spells.  Upon reaching 5th Level, they must sacrifice a 3rd Level slot, and so forth.  Thus, the staff is GREAT at low levels, but less and less effective at higher levels.

This might be exactly what a starting Magic-User needs to get through those first couple of levels.