Staffmaster
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Staffmaster Quasiclass on HG Forum
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Staffmaster (Wizard/Weapon Master)
Requirements
Must have 15 levels of Wizard and Weapon Focus: Quarterstaff before level 21, whilst it is not obligatory to take Weapon Master levels not doing so will negatively impact on the damage you can do.
Benefits
- Spell DCs for all spells are equal to 10 + spell level + (STR modifier x 9/10).
- For most spells, casterlevels and Spell Penetration are equal to Wizard level + (Weaponmaster level/3).
- For certain spells, casterlevel = Wizard level + Weaponmaster level.
Spells:
- Level 1: Mage Armor, Shield, True Strike
- Level 2: Bull's Strength, Cat's Grace, Flame Weapon, Shock Weapon
- Level 3: Greater Magic Weapon, Keen Edge, Protection from Elements
- Level 4: Stoneskin
- Level 5: Energy Buffer
- Level 6: Ethereal Visage, Greater Stoneskin, Tenser's Transformation
- Level 7: Mordenkainen's Sword
- Level 8: Blackstaff, Premonition
- Level 9: Black Blade of Disaster
Other Changes
The following bonuses apply only when the Staffmaster is wielding a quarterstaff:
- Staffmasters with at least 1 WM level get a 10% bonus to the concealment granted by the Ethereal Visage spell.
- This concealment bonus only applies when nothing is in the off-hand, this will also immediately change to base caster level (not Staffmaster) for the spell if you change weapons when the spell is active.
- Staffmasters get an extended duration on the Tenser's Transformation spell. It lasts for 1 turn per casterlevel instead of 1 round per casterlevel, the extended duration only activates if the Staffmaster has a Quarterstaff in hand when casting the spell.
- Staffmasters get a special, extended version of the Blackstaff spell. The spell duration is in hours instead of rounds. Instead of a dispel magic effect, the staffmaster gets access to bonus damage. Scaling for Staffmaster damage starts at 3d10 and increases by 1d10 for every 5 WM levels (including LLs), reaching 12d10 at WM45. The !damXX SIMTools commands can be used to switch between which damage type you use. The Staffmaster Ego item that increases the damage by a further 1d10 is not (currently at least) present in game but the xR subrace Half-Ogre Mage does increase the base damage by 1d10 (4d10 - 13d10 depending on WM levels).
Initially, the damage added is fire damage. As the character gains Weaponmaster levels, additional damage types become available:
| WM Levels | command | Damage Type |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | !damfi | Fire |
| 4 | !damco | Cold |
| 8 | !damel | Electric |
| 12 | !damac | Acid |
| 16 | !damso | Sonic |
| 20 | !damma | Magic |
| 25 | !dampo !damne | Positive Negative |
The Staffmaster may select any available damage type as the type to be added by the Blackstaff spell, by using the chat commands to change damage types, which are hotkeyable and have the advantage of being instantaneous.
NOTE: The properties created on the weapon will look a little strange, because some changes had to be made to allow all onhit damage effects to work together. The weapon effected will always say it has a level 1 flame weapon and 1 point of magic damage added, but the actual effects are as described above.
Notes
Tips for Building and Playing
Breach / Mord (also Dispel in some areas) protection is essential when these may hit you, since your buffs are very important to your survival, creatures that AoE Mord are the bane of Staffmasters as there is limited protection against this effect.
The best standard weapon to use is the Dustbone quarterstaff Wilbur's Walking Stick modified to remove electrical damage as this means you can beat stuff in Rona down without healing them and you can at the press of a hotkey add the electrical damage back in if there is something you need to use it on. If you decide to take your Staffmaster to Limbo it is worth noting that this area has large amounts of creatures that heal on Acid or Electric damage meaning that your best non-healing option is to make your weapon Cold, Fire and Sonic and change to Acid or Electric depending on what you are facing
Staffmasters are the best non-2h melee option for focused damage output and with the benefit of being Str based they also add a decent amount of physical damage to to their attacks.
However (and it is a fairly large however!) due to the (HG implemented) 2h damage bonus (+40%) being removed from Quarterstaves they are likely to lag behind in the damage output tables even with efficient swapping of damage types specific to the creatures being attacked.
NOTE: It is entirely possible to make a non-staff wielding Staffmaster to benefit from the buffing spells available to this quasiclass, whist not gaining the damage options available from the Blackstaff spell you can then use a two handed weapon that does get the HG 20% damage boost.
