FR: Change the Staff of Death

[bcadren]

Weapons of Pain and Staves of Death both gives extra Negative energy damage based on your Necro Skill.

I think this should be changed to Staves of Death giving a weaker Dispel Undead effect on hit so that the two kinds of weapons are distinguished more.

I recommend this primarily because for the melee usage; a Quarterstaff of Pain and a Staff of Death give the same bonus damage at the same speed; though the staff of death requires the extra evocations training on top of the skill and has lower base damage; making it a weaker choice even for a staves character.

Giving the staff a similar amount of Dispel Undead-typed damage would make it more unique for the melee use and useful more in late game for the melee as well as the enhancer.

[Viashino_wizard]

Doesn't a Staff of Death actually outdamage the Pain brand with some evocations?

[TheDefiniteArticle]

Yes it does.

Staff of death provides an enhancer and rN and is 1handed, so you would be kind of crazy to choose a qstaff of pain. The better physical damage of the qstaff is offset by the lower pain damage, and if you're trying to melee a monster that has rN, you want something better than a qstaff with no brand anyway.

[TeshiAlair]

What if there was a cycle of "Super Staves" based on the staff of poison -> Staff of Olgreb concept. Then, Dispel or control undead on hit might be really nifty.

[Lyrick]

What if there was a cycle of "Super Staves" based on the staff of poison -> Staff of Olgreb concept. Then, Dispel or control undead on hit might be really nifty.

staff of olgreb is a *unique* staff, and the spell it has is thematically appropriate and doesn't really have much potential for abuse despite being free to cast.

[sgrunt]

Let's rework staves of fire; we already have flaming brands.

Let's rework staves of cold; we already have freezing brands.

Let's rework staves of air; we already have an electrocution brand.

What makes this specific case so special?

[Viashino_wizard]

Let's rework staves of fire; we already have flaming brands.

Let's rework staves of cold; we already have freezing brands.

Let's rework staves of air; we already have an electrocution brand.

What makes this specific case so special?

I guess the fact that Pain is based on Necromancy, while flaming/freezing/electrocution aren't tied to Fire/Ice/Air Magic?

[bcadren]

Let's rework staves of fire; we already have flaming brands.

Let's rework staves of cold; we already have freezing brands.

Let's rework staves of air; we already have an electrocution brand.

What makes this specific case so special?

I guess the fact that Pain is based on Necromancy, while flaming/freezing/electrocution aren't tied to Fire/Ice/Air Magic?

Yea that's why I raised the point.

[and into]

Switching staff to Dispel Undead on hit would be a very big nerf unless it was added to staff of death ("if undead, dispel undead on hit based on Necromancy [and I guess evocations?]; otherwise pain-like negative energy damage based on Necromancy and evocations").

There are a lot of necromancy spells that don't benefit a lot (or at all) from spell power boost, already, and a good number of enemies that can't be damaged by it, so if there is any enhancer staff that really doesn't need a nerf, it is staff of death.