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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

Pathfinder RPG (1st Edition) Pathfinder RPG (2nd Edition) Starfinder RPG

Rules Index | GM Screen | Player's Guide
Magic Items / Personal Staves / Creating a Personal Staff

Picking Your Spells

Source Secrets of Magic pg. 166 1.1
Once you've decided the trait, choose the spells to inscribe. They must share the trait you chose for the staff. For instance, your undine sorcerer might create a deep sea staff themed around the water trait, inscribing it with spells such as create water and hydraulic push. You can inscribe a number of common spells on the staff depending on its level, as shown on the table above. You can place the same spell into the staff at multiple levels to provide heightened versions, though doing so uses up one of your picks for that spell level. You can add a spell you can't cast to a staff by supplying a casting of it via another caster or by using Trick Magic Item; however, since you can cast a spell from a staff only if it's on your spell list, this option isn't useful for most characters.

Example

Source Secrets of Magic pg. 166 1.1
Lini, a 15th-level druid, wants to create a staff to interact with the plants she encounters. She chooses the plant trait to represent that theme. Next, she selects some common spells for the staff, starting with one cantrip and adding one or two spells at each level, up to the staff's maximum spell level. To build a 15th-level staff with 6th-level spells, she selects the following combination of spells:

Cantrip: tanglefoot
1st: protector tree, shillelagh
2nd: entangle, shape wood
3rd: tree shape, wall of thorns
4th: barkskin, speak with plants
5th: plant form, wall of thorns
6th: nature's reprisal, plant form

Note that some of these spells are duplicates of lower-level spells, which can be a great way to fill in levels if new spells don't appeal to you. It's usually best to choose a spell for one of these slots that has an extra benefit when heightened (such as plant form giving you better statistics), but even if you don't find a spell with such a benefit, it's worth filling every open slot.