Magus of Staves (3.5e Prestige Class)

Magus of Staves
"I told you to take the wizard's staff!"

Ever wonder why Gandalf always carried around a staff and used it in battle?

Becoming a Magus of Staves
Magi of Staves are wizards almost without exception. The reason for this being that this brand of magic is most suited to arcane casters who prepare spells through intellect. Wizards who favor staves as magical implements are especially inclined towards this avenue of magical prowess.

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the Magus of Staves.



He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained except for an increased effective level of spellcasting.

 (Ex): When not wearing armor or using a shield, a magus of staves adds 1 point of Intelligence bonus (if any) per magus of staves class level to his Dexterity bonus to modify Armor Class while wielding a quarterstaff. If a magus of staves is caught flat-footed or otherwise denied his Dexterity bonus, he also loses this bonus.

 (Su): As a standard action, while wielding a quarterstaff you may sacrifice a prepared spell to deal 1d6 per magus of staves level + 1d6 per level of the spell slot sacrificed as a melee touch attack (0 level spells are treated as 0 instead of 1/2 for this purpose).

 (Su): At 2nd level, a magus of staves can substitute spell slots instead of using a charge when using a staff. The spell slot must be one he has not used for the day, though he may lose a prepared spell to emulate a staff charge. The spell slots lost must be cumulatively at least twice as much in level as the specific spell stored in the staff, including any level-increasing metamagic enhancements. A magus of staves cannot emulate a charge for a staff function that does not match a specific spell. Spells that have a material or focus component cost 10 times the GP cost of the component in XP in addition to sacrificing the spell slots. If the spell from the staff is not on his spell list all costs are doubled (4 times as many slots and 20 times as much XP).

 (Su): At 3rd level, once per day, a magus of staves can draw charges from a staff he is wielding to apply a single metamagic feat to a spell he has prepared without increasing it's casting time or spell slot requirement (the modified level of the spell must not exceed the highest level of spell the magus of staves can cast). He must expend as many charges as the slot adjustment of the metamagic feat. At 6th level and every 3 levels thereafter a magus of staves may use this ability an additional time per day.

 (Su): At 4th level, a magus of staves can draw charges from a staff he is wielding to cast a spell he has prepared without losing the prepared spell. He must sacrifice a number of charges equal to the spell level to do so.

 (Su): At 5th level and every 5 levels thereafter the effective caster level of the magus of staves is improved by 1 when casting spells from a staff.

 (Su): At 7th level, while preparing spells a magus of staves may choose to prepare 1 spell contained in a staff he wields in one or more level appropriate slots. If that spell is not normally on his spell list it takes up a slot 1 level higher than normal.

 (Su): At 8th level, once per turn as an immediate action, a magus of staves may sacrifice a number of prepared spells while wielding a staff to potentially counter a spell that would affect him. The spells need not be of the same school as the spell being countered but must be at least cumulatively equal in level to the level of the spell being countered. The magus of staves must then make an opposed caster level check against a DC of 11 + the spell’s caster level.



The epic magus of staves gains a bonus feat (selected from the list of epic magus of staves feats) every 3 levels after 10th.

Epic Magus of Staves Bonus Feat List: Great Intelligence, Improved Spell Capacity, Master Staff.