Okay, so I have an idea for a new and probably better way to use staffs, making it more interesting.

First of all, visually, staffs come in lots of varieties, like other weapons did in Oblivion - glass, iron, steel etc.

Staffs work as melee weapons - hit with RMB, block with LMB. However, they are also used to channel spells. This works using a stone attached to the top of the staff. These stones could be crafted from stones like sapphires and pearls found in dungeons or bought, and they could either be bought already crafted or crafted by the player. Different types of stone (pearls etc.) aid different magic schools. The intensity depends oncrafting skill. Basically, when you cast a spell in the same school as the stone of the current staff, that spell is increased in intensity depending on the intensity of the stone.

I know its probably too late to implement a new idea like this. But does anyone think its good?

I think it's good idea:


Gem Effects:


Ruby: Destruction

Sapphire: Mysticism

Diamond: Restoration

Topaz: Conjuration

Emerald: Illusion

Amethyst: Alteration

I like this idea a lot. There could be multiple aspects of a staff that you could tailor to achieve a certain effect. The stone at the top could be enchanted or replaced with some sort of relic that would be given as a quest reward. The material that fuses the stone to the staff could be customized. The staff itself could have different effects. and finally you could have little inscriptions written on scrolls and trophies such as little strips of rare furs attached to the staff.

I'm unsure how I feel about this idea. Despite what you might see in movies, most big hunks of woods and the gnarled branches that wizards turn into staves, aren't the best melee weapons. In fact, the Wizarding Staff of a TESVI mage does not a Bo Staff make. A Bo Staff requires treatment and an art to creating it and is not what the Mages Guild uses to create a wizarding staff. Wizarding staves are made solely for the purpose of channeling spells, in fact.

Not sure how combat and magic can be intermixed in this sense.

I like the gem idea. The Mages Guild makes it seem like your wizard staff is an essential part of your wizard gear, so it'd be nice to have some versatility. I also agree with Presentdent. I like melee staves, but they should probably be kept separate from wizard staves if they bring them back. A staff-wielding fighter or monk would look silly swinging around a jewel-encrusted gnarly stick and a wizard isn't likely to rely much on block and blade so those buttons might be going to waste.

How about each wizard staff has three gem slots: A passive stone, which could be enchanted with any constant effect, including the spell-school enhancing ones you mentioned. Then an active one, which would launch its spell at the target when you press the attack button, and defensive gem which would cast its spell on the caster (or in an area around them) as long as the block button is held down. The quality of the gem would affect the potency of the spell it casts, and the staff itself would provide a separate mana pool that they're cast from, and casting from a staff would still train its magic school.

You could swap out gems whenever you're not in combat, and better staves could have more than three slots and a button (?) would switch which one is currently active. That'd allow a wizard to have three spells equipped at once, which would reduce the need for flipping through hotkeys. If you're a battlemage, you could leave out the attack gem and then you'd hold the staff in the off-hand only so you could use it with a weapon, or leave out the defense gem and then it'd just do a regular block.

I agree. Your staff melee could just count as a "blunt weapon" attack. However, I think staves shouldn't have their own reservoir of magic. I think instead they should amplify the magic your character already knows. Maybe you can throw a fireball without a staff, but it's wild and unfocused. The staff should amplify and concentrate the character's magic, not replace it. A non-wizard shouldn't be able to do the same thing with a staff as a wizard.

Staffs and wands. I think they should automatically amplify anything that is cast, and can come equipped with their own enchantment. morrowind. So the staff functions would go something like this: Melee (single press attack button) - Cast (double tap attack button)- Physicall Block (single press block button) - Magicka / spell block (double tap block button)

I agree that they should do something different from Oblivion in regard to the staff. I liked Morrowind when I could use a staff as a blunt weapon, but still have a "Cast When Used" option for magical effects.



I like the idea of a staff amplifying your magic. This seems the way that the use of staves by the wizards in Tolkien's world worked where a staff did not per se give or grant power to the wielder, but was more an extension of the wielder. That being said, we already have artifacts that come with their own magical powers (such as the Staff of Magnus).

I think that the way staves work should be twofold: A staff should grant power that may lie within the staff to the wielder, but the wielder's access to the staff's inherent power should depend, in a large part, on the capabilities of the wielder. So if I'm a beginner mage and I pick up the Staff of Magnus, there is no doubt that I should be able to use it's power; however, the extent to which I can access and control said power should be limited based on my knowledge of magic. My beginner mage has more power as a result of using the Staff of Magnus, but cannot wield it to the same extent that an Archmage could, for example.

Edit: This would go for wands too, I think, if they exist in-game and would be treated the same way as a staff. Contrast that from some wands in the DnD universe where they have either a limited number of uses, or a limited number of uses per day. Overall, I'm not a fan of magic wands. They just seem kind of...I don't know...wimpy? As opposed to a staff that I can use not only to increase my power, but to thwack someone over the head with.

Staves, dude. Staves.

It would be nice to see it USABLE as a melee weapon, but otherwise ineffective. I.e. Hit Borris over the head with your staff and incur damage to it so you need to repair it faster. It should not be used primarily as melee, but for blocking mainly when you are in close combat.

I do like the gems idea relating to a specific school, but remember - too much customisation can be just as bad as not enough. Leave it at the 1 gem idea and it sounds good.

I love it, absolutely love it

Sounds like a really good idea - could also be applied to other weapons, too.



It sounds pretty good, except the active attack spell stone, because I was thinking more that staves should amplify spells cast, instead of casting their own. The defensive stone sounds good though - maybe holding the cast spell + block casts the defensive spell channels it, draining magicka until the casting is stopped and, while it is being channeled, no other actions can be performed. It could work really well, especially with a companion system: A mage, instead of going offensive, could simply use their magic to shield their companions from enemy attacks whil they fight.




Just what I was thinking. But, the magic channeled through the staff would depend on the stone - if the staff has an alteration stone (Amethyst as Horseman suggested, and amethyst does actually seem to fit with alteration) then, when you cast an alteration spell with that staff equipped, instead of casting it from your hands, it goes through the staff and comes from the end. For cast on self spells, the animation would be the player opens his arms high to the sides and the staff does the normal thing - I think it would look pretty good, and definitely a reason to watch in 3rd person.




Sounds good, LotR was where I got the idea - it just seems that staves are actually meant to increase the power of the wielder, no have their own special spell - But there could be a completely different type of staff that has it's own spell. These would be unique and rare, and the idea of the player's power determining how well they wield it sounds good.


Melee Staves
I understand people thinking that a wizard wouldn't rely on blocking and attacking. However, if you're using a staff to channel your fireballs and then an NPC, with a sword, appears in front of you, you would have no choice but to switch to a melee weapon. Instead, you could block the attack with your staff - it would take significant damage (5-10%?) but would work as a last resort and make it more usable as a weapon.

The MAges' Guild makes them out to be symbolic, which is all they should be... They could be enchanted to increase skills, but they shouldn't affect your spells unless enchanted.

I've always hated the magic staff, being incredibly common and used everywhere for pretty much no reason than commonly-accepted cliche; wizards are "supposed" to have them, therefore they all do instead of doing something more interesting. It's like demanding they all have pointy hats because that's what everyone else does. They make no sense. A big stick has a high enchantment capacity and a bladed weapon made from the exact material doesn't have half that, because magic hates corners I guess? The reason it became prominent is the depiction of wizards as being very old, as demonstrated by the large beard, another factor of everything just copy-pasting from Tolkien. An old wizard might need a walking stick, and it's functional to combine some magic object they need with something else that they'll always have with them. In that context only does it make sense, but not all wizards are feeble old people, especially not in TES.

What I'd rather they do is bring back the enchanting skill, and make an item's capacity based on that instead of inherent item value. There could be specifically enchantment-prone materials, such as gems, that could be reasonably attached to an item, and in some cases reduce its combat effectiveness (such as by putting some magical creature's skull on the end of it). People who want these staves would not be prevented from having them, and since the cheapest/simplest object type is basically a stick, if they're not looking for other functionality they can stick with that and have their magic staff. That way it's a matter of practicality, instead of cliche. Someone else, though, might have an artifact-grade spear with daedric ebony for the staff portion and a sharpened diamond for the tip, for high enchantment power and high melee potential.

Bo (and also hambo) could be a unique version of swordsman based skills for mages.
Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanbō
"one who wishes to be a swordsman should first master hanbō techniques, since it can be held and utilized in a similar fashion to a Japanese sword (but without the cutting edge). When utilized properly (parrying by deflecting the sword by striking the flat parts of the blade), it was more than capable of defeating a katana."

So the bo becomes the staff, and the hanbo becomes the wand. Wand faster, staff with longer reach. But both for active fighting, and suiting the mages specialization the best. You may be at a disadvantage against armor, but you should have much greater success at keeping your attacker at a distance, throwing him back and to the ground, than when carrying a sword.

But I think there should be a difference between a bo (fighting stick) and a magic staff. Anywhere where a magic staff is portrayed, it's more than a broomstick with a crystal glued on. To make a magic staff, you'd need special materials to channelize the energies (or whatever). But for a bo, just about anything would do. But yes, I support being able to craft these if you have the materials. Not so much a fan of smithing your own swords though. Cheap arrows, yes.

I like the idea alot, I think the rarer the stone the more the effects should be.

I especially like the through of having to channel your magic through the item which effects it overall.

Switch Ameythist with Topaz.