The Staff of Power
Heindrich
Member, Moderator Posts: 2,959
Rather than bumbling around blindly as per normal, I decided to read up about the Mage Stronghold quests in BG2, and saw the Staff of Power. Am I missing something or is that one fine staff?! How come nobody ever mentions it in "best so and so" discussions? +2 AC and +2 saves is nice enough, but it also comes with two very nice charged abilities, though I am not sure how the lightning works exactly (i.e. party friendly? how many things are immune to it? etc). It's not quite Staff of the Magi, but it's not far off as far as I can tell.
Sadly I know it kills all the apprentices and I do need at least one of them alive to complete further stronghold quests, but man is that a tempting quarterstaff in a party with Neera, Aerie and (eventually) Imoen!
Sadly I know it kills all the apprentices and I do need at least one of them alive to complete further stronghold quests, but man is that a tempting quarterstaff in a party with Neera, Aerie and (eventually) Imoen!
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Comments
To be honest though I am tempted by all 3 of the final items they make... The robe has an amazing AC for a robe and the ring is, well, a Ring of Wizardry. If you want a Ring of Wizardry though you can also get one from Jaheira's quest.
I still think it's rather subjective and depends on how you play the game. The way I do, with limited rest, the ring is probably a bit better, but if you rest as often as you want, then you could just replenish all your spells inbetween all significant battles, and the ring would only provide a bit more convenience, whilst the staff is arguably the second best quarterstaff for a pure mage, as far as I can see.
And the GOI has no secondary type, so it shouldn't be possible for enemies to tear it down with Pierce Magic. That could be a nice bonus in SCS2.
Finally, you don't have to fight the Twisted Rune to get it. And even if the Staff of the Magi is better, a lot of parties (like mine) have more than one mage to use it.
It's a little hard to say if it's worth it. If you have only one mage, then he or she is likely going to be using the Staff of the Magi, and the Staff of Power's AC and save bonuses won't come into play. But if you have more than one mage, then you'll want more than one Ring of Wizardry (you can get one from the mage stronghold and another from Jaheira's questline), and therefore could pass up the Staff of Power in favor of the later prize.
I think people overlook it because it doesn't look as cool as the other big staffs.
The stun effect comes with no save, its big advantage, but it is blocked by a protection against spell lvl (from a creature item or a spell itself) or a direct immunity to the effect (not rare).
How many apprentices do you kill when requesting the staff ? ... I don't know but that is perhaps the reason why people do not want the staff (even powergamers have a heart).
If you are a high level mage or sorcerer, I am convinced you do not specifically need that trick to defeat your enemies. Probably better for a mid-level combo.
Obviously this remains an interesting item.
IIRC it is used against you in the black pits. (?)
From a metagaming perspective, it's 50k xp (for the whole party) or the robe or the ring. The staff also denies the last part of the mage stronghold quest because there's no apprenti left to graduate, so that's probably a big reason that people rarely use it.
Anyway I suspect that many people taking one of the two paths to get the ring also combine several rings using the item upgrade mod. Otherwise this is a nice item but it is certainly not the omega of the wizard's equipment.
Do one more lvl 5 and on more lvl 6 spells really matter in the mid or long term?
I really see the ring as giving that extra lvl 7 spell.
On the other hand the ring of acuity granting more lvl 2-4 spells (read damage or disabling spells) has a more substantial effect on my sorcerer/mage play style.
I hold in high regard this reaching ring for a mage combo.
In fact, any character could just take an apprentice to the temple and have him or her raised. No need to feel bad about killing your students with unsafe experiments.
It would actually be interesting if the game let you raise certain characters. That ability seems to be largely ignored for most non-joinable NPCs (other than Tazok and a few others)
Looks like you made your saving throw.
Wise in a thread created by a mod.
I do feel bad about letting them go to an announced fatal outcome.
Even your companions can permanently die and you always permanently die.
Poor students.