Baculus (3.5e Equipment)
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| Price: | 10,000 gp |
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| Caster Level: | 8th |
| Aura: | Moderate evocation |
| Activation: | Spell trigger |
| Weight: | 5 lb. |
A baculus is a focus used by certain castes of holymen to access divine magic. Most are the shape and size of a staff or quarterstaff with an elaborately shaped, many-pronged head that contains the effigy or symbol of the deity whose divine power it is meant to channel in its center. The baculus is especially prevalent in areas where clerical casting is rare, or even non-existent, and its emergence has been lauded as a great development in the inner and outer circles of many faiths. When used in battle, a standard baculus counts as a magical quarterstaff, both halves of which carry a +1 enhancement bonus. A baculus generally exists in the shape of a staff or another type of melee weapon, but it is not unheard of for baculuses to have the shape and function of hammers, maces, or even swords.
The true purpose of a baculus lies in the conversion of energies. It takes the raw life energy that you use to cast arcane spells, and converts it to pure divine power, which can then be used in order to cast certain spells. To an arcane spellcaster with no levels in a divine spellcasting class, a baculus allows the use of spontaneous cure or inflict spells (depending on alignment) like a cleric. The arcane spellcaster can emulate a cure or inflict spell of a particular level by expending an arcane spell slot of similar level.
Since using a baculus requires you to channel energy and then cast a spell through it using that energy, spells cast through a baculus have a casting time of one round. Spells that already take a round or longer to cast don't change in casting time.
If in addition to your arcane spellcasting class levels, you already have levels in a divine spellcasting class as well, you can use a baculus to cast any divine spell that you can spontaneously cast. For example, a druid with arcane spellcasting levels can use a baculus to cast summon nature's ally spells with their arcane spell slots.
Spells cast through the baculus use your arcane caster level plus your divine caster level, to a maximum of your full HD.
Using a Baculus: Baculuses are created as divine tools in the name of a particular deity. In order to be able to use a baculus, you must have that deity as a patron deity. In the hands of anyone that does not worship its deity, the baculus is just an ordinary +1/+1 quarterstaff. Fealty to a deity cannot be emulated with the Use Magic Device skill.
Baculuses are all fashioned by hand in a secret ritual of creation. It is said that the gods themselves have instructed their most faithful in how to create them. As such, each and every one of them is unique, and learning how to use a baculus requires a special touch. Attuning to a baculus requires 30 days of training and practice. Even when you and your baculus are attuned, every casting requires a Concentration check of a DC of 15 + the level of the arcane spell slot expended. This check may be replaced with a Use Magic Device check of similar DC, if the caster has ranks in the skill. No two people may be attuned to any one baculus at the same time.
Using a baculus does not run the risk of arcane spell failure.
Domain Attunement: A baculus can be used to cast spells from one domain that its deity grants. To do this, the wielder of the baculus must be properly attuned to it. Like with cure and inflict spells, only spells that the wielder's effective caster level would allow him to cast can be channeled through the baculus. The domain that the baculus channels is chosen at the moment of the baculus' creation.
It is possible to reattune the baculus to another domain its deity grants, but doing so requires an 8-hour ritual and an XP cost of 2,000.
Prereqs: Craft Wondrous Item, must have a particular deity as your patron deity. Caster level 8th.
Value: 10,000 gp.
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