Phoenix (staves and wands)

[Sylverrs_ dragon]

My intent with staffs and wands vis-a-vis the casting thing was not that
they serve as a "science" based battery. They serve as a focus allowing the
caster to draw mana from the divine which is its greatest source. The base
rule is simplistic. An improvement would differentiate between a basic staff
that serves as a focus for any caster and staffs that are "tuned" to a given
type of mana and/or a given caster. In example, a truly potent staff would
be Nilgeranthrib's Staff of the Dead. It would be tuned to him and to the
powers stemming from Nergal and Murmur. Deadly.



>From: Albert Sales <drite_mi at YAHOO.COM>
>Reply-To: Powers and Perils Fantasy Roleplaying Game Mailing List
><POWERS-AND-PERILS at geo000.CITG.TUDELFT.NL>
>To: POWERS-AND-PERILS at geo000.CITG.TUDELFT.NL
>Subject: Re: Phoenix (staves and wands)
>Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2003 12:58:55 -0700
>
>In A, it states "The amount that is added to the user's Casting Ability
>equals Staff MEL x 8." This implies, to me, that the cast ability is
>increased. It also states, on both sides of that comment, that the amount
>of mana may excede the normal energy level limit. I have always percieved
>staves (and wands) as having some storage capacity. I gave the staff a mana
>regen of MEL/5 (RD) on days that it is used, and added the MEL on days it
>is not (just like a magic-user).
>    Requiring the cast ability to regenerate before use if an awesome idea.
>However, I now must wonder if they were intended to have a cast ability
>increase.?.
>
>Alex Koponen <akoponen at MOSQUITONET.COM> wrote:
>J Hooten writes:
>
>Staffs and Wands mana, how does it work?
>The description says a few things that dont quite work well together.
>1) allows mage to use more mana per day than Enl by some amount. --This is
>fine and self limiting. More than justifies the item.
>2) adds some amount to mana. --This is a problem as it opens up areas of
>confusion.
>What occurs if the item is lost, not carried etc?
>What if another mage gets the item?
>I think the simplest fix was the item raises the mages max mana limit
>while in his possession.
>Thus that extra mana needs to be recovered normally to use it.
>Loss of item can then trim mana to normal limit or just no longer allow it
>to be recover to that level.
>Passing it around doesnt give free mana etc, and likely wont be of much
>use unless they hold onto it for days, other than the targeting
>improvements etc.
>
>Alex's answer is:
>Huh? I've been playing mages, using staves, most of the time that I have
>been playing P&P. #1 we agree on, no problem. #2 you have me confused.
>Actually I think you are confused. Power B of staves and wands COSTS an
>extra mana or two in order to cast a spell through the item which slightly
>improves the odds of the spell working. Power C is for the case where the
>staff or wand has been ensorcelled (as in B2, p34) with the number of
>times/day limit replaced by a cost to cast (granted it could have been
>written more clearly). Nowhere does it add extra mana so far as I see and
>interpret the rules.
>
>Maybe you are thinking of mana batteries? btw What are the limits to the
>number of mana batteries?

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