Opinion on Staves?
Mhamza
Member Posts: 228
I'm curious as to the general opinion of the quarterstaff as a weapon. Not for mages but for a fighter or a paladin. Is there anything about it that makes it more worthwhile than a greatsword or longsword?
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But beside those two weapons, not much that a fighter will get out of it.
They have longer range than a longsword or greatsword, so you can do more strategic placing for your fighters (tank in front, quarterstaff guy behind).
Plus, they make great walking sticks. :P
So to answer your question, yes they can indeed be more worthwhile for warriors than two-handed swords (although a Paladin will probably want to get their hands on Carsomyr), or long swords, although the latter have the advantage that they allow for dual-wielding.
As for staves, they are alright. Only 1d6 on a 2h is a bit of a downer, but they do come with a fairly high enchantment level fairly quickly. It's great in BG1, giving you access to a very fast +3 weapon, but in BG2 the lower damage and the 2h nature quickly become an issue.
The remedy, of course, is Staff of the Ram. It has a HUGE static modifier, and is one of the most damaging weapons in the game. It may very well be the best 2h weapon (with the exception of Carsomyr, which is pala/UAI-only). The downside is that you need to be in ToB to craft it, and by then half the game is over; there are staff options for SoA, but despite the quick +4 it's just not very good ones (for damage). As a fighter, investing 5 pips for a sub-par weapon just to eventually get something worthwile in ToB seems a bit of a chore. Sure, SoRam is strong, but not screw-SoA-completely strong. Of course, you could always start off with using something else, and build towards having 2 x 5 pips once ToB rolls around. I could see that, I suppose.
I should also mention that SoRam is the best backstabbing weapon in the game. People tend to overlook the option of backstabbing with staves, it really does work (staves that can be naturally used by thieves anyway; sorry, Staff of the Magi!).
Summoning staffs include: Staff of Air, Staff of Fire, Staff of Earth, and Staff of the Woodlands
Staffs for casting other spells: Staff of Power, Staff of Curing, Staff of the Magi and the Staff of Thunder and Lightning.
Than of course there is the Staff of Arundel (which grants additional level 5 and 6 druid spells among other things).
Of course some of these staffs do more than one thing. But the point is more that apart from the Staff of Striking and the Staff of the Ram staves tend to focus on doing things other than on-hit damage.
By the way, what early +3 staff are you guys referring to? The one in Ulgoth's Beard doesn't strike me as especially "early" in BG1. Is there another I'm not aware of?
Oh, and for the record, I despise Clay Golems with a passion, so anything that takes them out quickly gets an endorsement from me.
Silky drops a +1 staff, which you can get as a level 1 character and it's free!
I like to have a staff as a backup weapon for a warrior that uses a pointy two handed weapon most of the time.
It's rare that I'll make the staff the primary weapon for a warrior (probably because of the low 1d6 damage base), but I always aim to have a blunt option with all characters.
Carsomyr is about the only 2h melee weapon I ever use because it's just that good (and available very early in BG2).
That +3Quarterstaff and Greenstone Amulet, plus a certain ring which can be pilfered in the Ulgoth's Beard map, definitely make the place worth an early visit even if it requires some creative RP ideas. But the Staff would largely be an RP choice -imho- for BG1 since Ashideena and a certain awesome Mace are available very early in BGEE without the high GP expense.
But I don't think either of them works for Backstab. Whistling Sword and Dagger of Venom are another matter though. Choice Thief weapons.
Another early cash source if you need to keep "Evermemory" in play are 2 items which can be "liberated" in Beregost: A +1 Bastard Sword [fairly high degree of difficulty] and a Wand of Lightning [Piece-a-cake] . Both of these exploits however should be off-limits, imho, to any NPC of Good Alignment
One of those two locations is clearly an example of something Bioware developers originally imagined to be of a more substantial importance that was never fully developed. Just begging for a Mod quest of some sort...
As soon as speed weapons and improved haste become available 2 handed weapon style falls so far behind without considering a sub par weapon choice. Staves don't have on hit elemental damage to disrupt mages either as far as I'm aware.
I first completed bg2 with a fighter/Mage/thief with proficiency in 2 handed swords and staves. Great for backstabbing with staff and using carsomyr with Mage defences.
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Of course, some bold fighters could just go crazy and decide to grandmaster quarterstaves with 2 pips in two-handed weapon fighting, which (without mods), would be your only form of 2h crushing weapons.
Also want to point out that any specialization in BG1 regarding quarterstaves isn't a bad idea, since they are not only the cheapest basic weapon in the game, you do in fact start with a quarterstaff +0.