A proper magic staff is an essential tool for any sorcerer or sorceress. This powerful object is believed to channel and amplify a magician's magical abilities. Designed with intricate and unique details, a magic staff is much more than just a decorative item. The first element to consider when creating a proper magic staff is the material it is made from. The choice of material can significantly impact the staff's power and capabilities. Some common materials used in crafting magic staffs include sturdy wood such as oak, ash, or cherry.
The Imaginary Corpse by Tyler Hayes
Representation: PTSD + trauma, extremely minor M/M and F/F
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There are a few kinds of magic in the world Saffron finds herself in, but one is the jahudemet, which, among other things, allows those with a strong enough gift to make portals which can move you around your own world, or open to another world entirely. When representatives of the newly formed Spanish monarchy arrive to negotiate the sultan s surrender, Fatima befriends one of the women, not realizing that she will see Hassan s gift as sorcery and a threat to Christian Spanish rule.
Some common materials used in crafting magic staffs include sturdy wood such as oak, ash, or cherry. These woods are known for their strong energy-conducting properties. Alternatively, a staff may be made from metal, crystal, or even a combination of different materials.
100 Minor Powers
I'm trying to think of a list of minor powers that players could get through various means. Ones that, while neat, either can't short-circuit a story arc or would have to be selected with foreknowledge to affect gameplay negatively.
I admit, I'm having a really hard time with this since my mind seems oriented towards mechanics, and this is almost exactly the opposite direction I want it to go!
The best example I have is something I rolled once for an NPC on a random table of mutations long ago- the ability to predict the local weather one day in advance with perfect accuracy. Magical manipulation of the weather would foil it, but otherwise it worked well as a practical power to have.
What are some others people can think of?
Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber Parka wrote:I'm trying to think of a list of minor powers that players could get through various means. Ones that, while neat, either can't short-circuit a story arc or would have to be selected with foreknowledge to affect gameplay negatively.
I admit, I'm having a really hard time with this since my mind seems oriented towards mechanics, and this is almost exactly the opposite direction I want it to go!
The best example I have is something I rolled once for an NPC on a random table of mutations long ago- the ability to predict the local weather one day in advance with perfect accuracy. Magical manipulation of the weather would foil it, but otherwise it worked well as a practical power to have.
What are some others people can think of?
Prestidigitation at will. Say goodbye to potty breaks.
Wild empathy, but only for a specific species. A horse whisperer, for example.
Ability to automatically cure a specific disease (ex filth fever) or poison (ex greenblood oil).
+1 bonus on Diplomacy checks against a specific race. A dwarf whisperer, for example.
An NPC with a low Intelligence who can, once per day, take 20 on a single Knowledge check. An idiot savant, in other words.
Darkvision 5 ft.
Dimension door 1/day, but only when no one's at the origin point or destination point. You know those people in movies who show up unexpectadly at impossible places? Like Jason from the Friday the 13th movies? That.
Various sub-features of the prestidigitation spell could even be options. One person might always be clean, even after being dunked into a mud-puddle, he'll get up and his clothing will be clean and dry within moments. Another might have the ability to alter the color of their hair and eyes, or be able to animate tattoos on their skin (or, if they have some scripted text on their skin, say a religious aphorism or poem, rearrange the letters to form different messages).
Arduin Grimoire had charts of random powers or special traits that a character could have. The M&M adaptation of Wild Cards introduces 'deuce' powers, which are little 1 pt. powers that don't have much of a game effect, like the ability to play a snippet of music, or to point at a single (non-magical, non-monstrous) insect within 10 ft. mutter 'Zot' and strike it dead.
The 1000 Tiefling / Aasimar appearance quirks threads and the 1000 Resurrection effects thread might also have some useful notions.
You can flip through the Bestiary and find a bunch of monster abilities that might serve as inspiration. One grey-skinned character might have the ability to freeze in place and be easily mistaken for a statue, while another might have damp-looking skin and 'soft' bones, allowing them a bonus to escape artist checks and the ability to squeeze as if they were one size class smaller, as long as they have a minute to 'limber up.' The 'hold breath' ability of a crocodile is a pretty minor ability, as would be the ability to ignore spider webs (but not web spells!) and climb up spider webs as if they had a climb speed equal to half their ground move, or a green-skinned / flowering plant-haired lass with photosynthetic abilities allowing her to eat only one meal a day on sunny days, as long as she spends four hours / meal skipped out in the sunlight.
Perhaps someone is 'addicted' to positive energy, and regains only half (minimum 1) the normal hit points overnight through natural rest, but gain an additional hit point / die from positive energy curing spells or effects. Useful if they travel with a healer (as adventurers typically do. ), but when they are on their own, it takes them twice as long to recover from an injury.
Some elemental accident has resulted in your body being a strange receptacle / conduit for magical energy of a certain type (electricity or fire, perhaps). You take normal damage from that energy type, but when you take at least 10 points of that energy type in a round, your next melee attack within the next round inflicts +1d6 of that energy type, as the energy conducts from you to your next target. Perhaps this can even conduct through a spell, to a single target, so that if you naturally conduct electrical damage, and a blue dragon breaths on you, the next round, you can throw a spell that inflicts +1d6 electrical damage to a single target that it affects.
Assuming you play PFRPG, check out traits. A lot of traits are like 1/2 feats, and make for good "minor" benefits.
Those are nice, but I guess what I was hoping for was something that was useful, but couldn't readily be reflected through game mechanics (i. e. didn't involve dice rolls or numerical bonuses). My girlfriend suggested being able to identify each separate ingredient in something the character tastes (not necessarily knowing its name, but would know it again if they were exposed to it). This obviously applies to dishes, but would be a powerful asset to an alchemist. It would be amusing to apply to a crafter of magic items. picture a witch licking a magic sword. "Yup. That's Kusanagi's work all right, iron sands from the mystic river, scales from Cinderwind Salamanders. everything's in there."
The only problem with that is that it could potentially shortcut some mystery adventure types if used cleverly, though it would be difficult.
Maybe "Minor" powers was a misleading title. I'm less concerned about the apparent power of the ability and more concerned about the ability to shortcut an entire adventure through its usage (like divination spells do for mysteries and Paladin's Fear Immunity does for horror).
If it doesn't have game mechanics, it's pretty much a matter of roleplaying. Therefore, I'd look at the extraordinary things people can do in real life:
Memorize a huge sequence of objects/numbers and have perfect recall.
Subsonic hearing (ie, those who claim to hear weird stuff prior to earthquakes).
Ever watch "Stan Lee's Superhumans"? All of those folks.
Medium and Ghost Wisperer are like that.
Nobody else can see the ghosts and they can't control them at all.
They seldom get the ghost they want and the spirit can demand things before they will offer any help.
Here's all the suggestions so far.
01: the ability to predict the local weather one day in advance with perfect accuracy. Magical manipulation of the weather would foil it, but otherwise it worked well as a practical power to have.
02: Prestidigitation at will. Say goodbye to potty breaks.
03: Wild empathy, but only for a specific species. A horse whisperer, for example.
04: Ability to automatically cure a specific disease (ex filth fever) or poison (ex greenblood oil).
05: +1 bonus on Diplomacy checks against a specific race. A dwarf whisperer, for example.
06: An NPC with a low Intelligence who can, once per day, take 20 on a single Knowledge check. An idiot savant, in other words.
07: Darkvision 5 ft.
08: Dimension door 1/day, but only when no one's at the origin point or destination point. You know those people in movies who show up unexpectedly at impossible places? Like Jason from the Friday the 13th movies? That.
09: One person might always be clean, even after being dunked into a mud-puddle, he'll get up and his clothing will be clean and dry within moments
10: have the ability to alter the color of their hair and eyes
11: be able to animate tattoos on their skin (or, if they have some scripted text on their skin, say a religious aphorism or poem, rearrange the letters to form different messages).
12: like the ability to play a snippet of music.
13: to point at a single (non-magical, non-monstrous) insect within 10 ft. mutter 'Zot' and strike it dead.
14: One grey-skinned character might have the ability to freeze in place and be easily mistaken for a statue
15: damp-looking skin and 'soft' bones, allowing them a bonus to escape artist checks and the ability to squeeze as if they were one size class smaller, as long as they have a minute to 'limber up
16: The 'hold breath' ability of a crocodile
17: the ability to ignore spider webs (but not web spells!) and climb up spider webs as if they had a climb speed equal to half their ground move
18: a green-skinned / flowering plant-haired lass with photosynthetic abilities allowing her to eat only one meal a day on sunny days, as long as she spends four hours / meal skipped out in the sunlight.
19: Perhaps someone is 'addicted' to positive energy, and regains only half (minimum 1) the normal hit points overnight through natural rest, but gain an additional hit point / die from positive energy curing spells or effects. Useful if they travel with a healer (as adventurers typically do. ), but when they are on their own, it takes them twice as long to recover from an injury.
20: Some elemental accident has resulted in your body being a strange receptacle / conduit for magical energy of a certain type (electricity or fire, perhaps). You take normal damage from that energy type, but when you take at least 10 points of that energy type in a round, your next melee attack within the next round inflicts +1d6 of that energy type, as the energy conducts from you to your next target. Perhaps this can even conduct through a spell, to a single target, so that if you naturally conduct electrical damage, and a blue dragon breaths on you, the next round, you can throw a spell that inflicts +1d6 electrical damage to a single target that it affects.
21: able to identify each separate ingredient in something the character tastes (not necessarily knowing its name, but would know it again if they were exposed to it). This obviously applies to dishes, but would be a powerful asset to an alchemist. It would be amusing to apply to a crafter of magic items. picture a witch licking a magic sword. "Yup. That's Kusanagi's work all right, iron sands from the mystic river, scales from Cinderwind Salamanders. everything's in there."
22: Memorize a huge sequence of objects/numbers and have perfect recall.
23: Perfect pitch.
24: Subsonic hearing (ie, those who claim to hear weird stuff prior to earthquakes).
25: Lucid dreaming.
26: Photographic memory.
27: Medium and Ghost Whisperer are like that.
Nobody else can see the ghosts and they can't control them at all.
They seldom get the ghost they want and the spirit can demand things before they will offer any help.
28: Skin glows like a candle, noticeable only in the dark.
29: Melter who can turn into a puddle.
30: Can turn into a guinea pig, or something else cute like a squirrel.
31: Can turn invisible only when no living thing is looking at them.
32: Can eat garbage and anything else without harm. No special ability to bite through things.
"Things that are and are not, she thinks, and the dog is a snake." In this fantastic and fantastical debut, C.J. Lavigne concocts a wondrous realm overlaying a city that brims with civic workers and pigeons. Led by her synesthesia, Verity Richards discovers a hidden world inside an old Ottawa theatre. Within the timeworn walls live people who should not exist--people whose very survival is threatened by science, technology, and natural law. Verity must submerge herself in this impossible reality to help save the last traces of their broken community. Her guides: a magician, his shadow-dog, a dying angel, and a knife-edged woman who is more than half ghost. With great empathy and imagination, In Veritas explores the nature of truth and the complexities of human communication.
In addition to the material, the length of the staff is an important factor to consider. The length of a magic staff can vary depending on personal preference, but generally, it should be around the height of the magician for optimum control and balance. A staff that is too short or too long can hinder the magician's ability to properly channel their magical energies. Another vital aspect of a proper magic staff is the embellishments and carvings on its surface. These designs are not merely decorative but hold significant symbolism and power. Common symbols include runes, animals, magical sigils, or elements of nature. Each symbol represents a specific magical intent and helps the magician focus their energy towards a particular goal or spell. Furthermore, a magic staff often possesses a focal point at its end. This focal point, often referred to as the "crystalline tip," is believed to amplify and focus the magical energies being channeled through the staff. It is common for this tip to be made from a crystal, such as quartz or amethyst, known for their ability to enhance and clarify energy vibrations. Proper care and maintenance of a magic staff are essential to ensure its longevity and effectiveness. Cleansing rituals, such as smudging with sacred herbs or bathing in moonlight, are often performed to remove any negative energies or blockages that may have accumulated during spellcasting. In conclusion, a proper magic staff is a powerful tool that aids a magician in harnessing and directing their magical abilities. The choice of materials, design, and length all contribute to its effectiveness. When crafted with care and used with intention, a magic staff becomes an extension of the magician's will and facilitates the manifestation of their desires..
Reviews for "The Role of the Proper Magic Staff in Witchcraft and Wiccan Practices"
1. John - 2 stars
I was really excited to try out the Proper magic staff, but I was sorely disappointed with its performance. The staff was supposed to make magic spells easier to cast, but I found it to be more of a hindrance than a help. The design was clunky and uncomfortable to hold, making it difficult to perform the precise movements required for certain spells. Additionally, the staff's magical abilities were underwhelming, as it often failed to channel the appropriate amount of energy needed for powerful spells. Overall, I would not recommend the Proper magic staff to serious practitioners of magic.
2. Amanda - 3 stars
While the Proper magic staff had some potential, it fell short of my expectations. The staff did provide a slight increase in spell effectiveness, but it was not significant enough to justify its price. I also found it to be quite fragile, as it broke after only a few uses. The lack of durability was a major disappointment, considering the hefty price tag. Furthermore, the staff's design was not very ergonomic, and it became uncomfortable to hold during extended spellcasting sessions. Overall, I believe there are better alternatives available on the market for aspiring magic users.
3. Michael - 2 stars
My experience with the Proper magic staff was quite disappointing. First of all, the staff's construction was subpar, with weak joints that seemed ready to fall apart. It lacked sturdiness and I had to keep reassembling it during my practice sessions. Secondly, the staff's supposed ability to enhance spellcasting was barely noticeable. I hardly noticed any improvement in the power or accuracy of my spells. Lastly, the price of the staff was simply not justified considering its poor quality and lackluster performance. Save your money and invest in a more reliable and effective magic tool.