Sorcerer’s Staff

This spell turns any mundane object into a Sorcerer’s Staff. A sorcerer’s staff allows the sorcerer to extend his touch when casting other spells or can just be used as a club.

Description

The Sorcerer’s Staff spell is an ancient sorcerous crafting spell that transforms any staff- or wand-shaped object into a sorcerer’s Staff. When someone besides the sorcerer touches his staff without his permission, they will receive 1d6 damage.

The process for creating a Staff is a very personal one, requiring intimate parts of the sorcerer to properly attune the staff to him alone. The ritual involves shaping the object that is to become the staff, inscribing it with arcane runes and symbols, and meditating over the object for a period of time. At the end of this time, the sorcerer takes 1d3 lifeblood damage as he sacrifices his blood to transfer some of his life force into the new Staff.

Stats

Magnitude: First.
Cost: 3 AP, plus 1d3 lifeblood.
Difficulty: Hard (-1).
Range: Touch.
Duration: Permanent.
Damage: 1d6+2 when struck.
Grimoire: Almost any sorcerer will have this spell. It is passed down from master to apprentice.

Casting Requirements & Process

The casting requirements focus on time and something personal:

Casting Time. The spell will take at least 1d6 × 30 minutes of meditation, chanting or singing to correctly execute. (5 AP cost)
Intimate Materials. A personal item of the sorcerer is required. This must be a part of the sorcerer’s body—hair, blood, fingernails, etc. (4 AP cost)
Wounds. The magician suffers 1d3 lifeblood of damage when the spell is cast. (3 AP cost)

Variations

Variations could include adding the capability to store AP for future castings. That may increase it to a Second Magnitude spell. Others are to add other capabilities, like scrying or a Staff to Snake spell. Maybe add crystal to it and use it as a focus for improved concentration?

Design Notes

This is a spell to create a very basic Staff. I wanted it to be a bit more complex to cast than in TFT: Wizard. I included a few more requirements than was needed, from a ritual requirement (which seemed reasonable), to the need for some part of the sorcerer to imbue his essence in the Staff, and finally the sacrifice of some damage—blood—in the final culmination of the spell. I increased the difficulty to Hard just to make the task roll have a bit more tension over whether all of the preparations were done right.

All of this makes the spell something that a player could not really do in a dungeon, but could easily do with some planning and time.

Classic OSR games like D&D do not have an explicit spell to create a Staff. I’ve always wondered why. This spell is like a permanent version of the Shillelagh spell from AD&D.

One question is this: does a Sorcerer’s Staff qualify as a magical weapon? Can it hit creatures that are only affected by magic weapons?

The cost of the spell is calculated as follows:

• The base cost for a First Magnitude spell is 5 AP, with a minimum of 2.
• I really wasn’t going for the lowest cost possible, but rather something that was very personal. This reflects the need to do this when the sorcerer is not adventuring.
• The spell has a long casting time—base requirement, with no reduction.
• The spell requires blood from the sorcerer—his own. That is a personal item, and reduces the cost by 1, for 4 AP.
• The spell causes actual damage to the caster, in the form of his blood. -1 AP, for a final cost of 3 AP.

Marc