i was playing oblivion today and i realized that the staffs are a bit rubbish after a certain level. get me thinking on how this could be improved in skyrim, so here is my idea...

instead of a staff having a specific power like fire of frost or whatever, they should have a spell multiplier.

an example of this would be if you have a staff in your hands and you cast a fire spell like you would normally, it comes out your staff instead but with a damage multiplier of 1.2 for example.

maybe the second you join the mages guild you get a scruffy old tree branch like in obivion that gives you a small multiplier like 1.1 and you can find, buy or earn better staffs that look more stylish, like saruman's one with a higher damage multiplier.

let me know what you think?

thats cool. altho I would still like to see a staff with their own spells so I don't have to train to get them

I think there should be the ability to use a staff as a melee weapon again. In Oblivion it was just magic you could do with staffs, in Morrowind they were mostly used for hitting an enemy or for witchery. Why not combine those two features and make a staff amore valuable weapon?

I hated that with the staff of the healer despite healing the target "useful for allies" people instantly assume you assault them that should be fixed period.

love this idea. but i would also like to be able to melee.

and balanced accordingly

Staffs should have been physical combat and magical weapons but I think you'll get the same in skyrim we have a screen of a guy with sword n staff and as far as I'm aware there's not two button assigned to each weapon so thus would not be possible.

pretty good idea, but some staves were still usefull like paralyze but that is a good idea

I always wanted my staff to animate like a walking stick when I was... well... Walking.

I'd love to use it as a melee weapon and any number of elaborations on how the magic works would be nice but mostly I want to rock the walk

plural for staff spelled "Staves" but this forum says that that is misspelled for some reason.

Well from the screens and concept art in the GI issue, staves seem to be one handed in Skyrim.



Well staffs is the plural form of staff like in a group of people which the forum recognizes. I'm not sure why it doesn't recognize staves.

I love the spell multiplier idea. Never thought of that.

Agreed.

They’re stupid for mages. Why would a mage wanna use a staff when they can usually do it themselves and gain experience for it? They’re only really useful to non-mages.

Staves should actually benefit magika based characters by boosting there magika, or amplifying/multiplying their spells, or something that would actually help a brother out.

There should be a reason why a mage would be better off with a saff then a sword.

Yeah, I made a mod where a sword increased my magic effectiveness, just like armor decreased it.
I've always thought that "magical weapons" like staves should be used in this manner.
And by "magical weapons" I just means weapons for mages, likes staves (and wands if they were included) not enchanted weapons.

Yeah that is a way better idea than a spell launcher. It becomes useless, it requires recharging, and you get no experience. Staves were for non-mages who wanted to cast a spell repeatedly without raising the skill.

And i don't mind them being used for physical combat either.

If they hadn't made that Harry Potter stuff, then 2-handed staves and 1-handed wands with lesser spells or fewer casts might be cool, You could even do the whole DnD thing :
Rods - 2-handed highest level spells.
Staves - 2-handed lesser powers, usable in combat.
Wands - 1-handed lesser powers
but it's a terrible idea because they did that Harry Potter stuff.

IMO it's gud for mages.
Your magic is drain by spells your staff has is own supply ergo double magic spam

Yeah, staves should be for non-magic users, which I believe is what it's for in Skyrim. From the screenshot of the man in the cave with armor on and a sword in one hand and a staff emanating a white light in the other hand. There is another picture that is concept art of a warrior in heavy armor with a weapon in one hand and a staff in the other that is glowing red.

I think that's a pretty good idea, and I'd also like to use it as a melee weapon like kaonashi suggested.

What about when you level up. You can now cast better spells, and the staff's spell stays the same. A staff is only usefull for about 4-5 levels. Sure you can upgrade to a better sword, but its usefullness still increases as your skill increases.

Fail soz

Maybe some staves could give a magic bonus only for certain spells, like a staff of fire witch increases fire damage/weakness to fire/fire shield with 50%

You also find better stuff as u level. Upgrade. I generally didn't recharge many staves just spam dump repeat, would be cool if you can cut some wood make a staff then enchant said staff. If your using a sword your not really pure maging it up anyways what does it matter, I could say just plow on with sword and have two or a sheild if your gunna bother getting close to hit them anyway.

Maybe a staff will give you the 2H-weapon equivalent of spells, firing one powerful spell you select - instead of 2 lesser ones.

Well to each thier own. The point is that it doesnt offer a mage anymore of (actually less of) an adventage then it does anyone else.

I was stoked to get my own stoff in the magd guild quest in Oblivion, but it just shot fire balls. I could already shoot fire balls AND gain experience for it, so who cares? Know what I mean?

this, but I still want to have the ability to fire a spell from it as well, I really liked that.

I don't necessarily agree with the OP on that, but I do want to see more stylish and cool looking staves. The tree branch staves actually looked okay, but I think a truly powerful mage should have something with a crystal attached or something akin to Gandalf's Staff.

and as I stated in another thread on light spells, I want to be able to light my staff. enchant it with a frost or fire ability and have the tip passively glow orange or blue when not shooting spells from it.

A mage staff with ornaments for magic wouldn't be a very good fighting staff. Heavy and unbalanced. A bo staff or quarter staff with no magic would be king of staffs as far as fighting goes. If magic staffs becomes usable for fighting, make them significantly weaker for that purpose compared to a dedicated fighting staff. Even a spear and naginata would have better staff fighting capabilities than a mages staff.