History Main / MagicStaff

** Staves appear elsewhere in the books as well; Luccio and Ramirez favor much shorter staves, usually under five feet in length, while the Merlin himself goes for a tall, polished white staff. Also, [[spoiler: Eldest Gruff]] uses a staff, though more for walking. Its not universal however, as Elaine Mallory uses an enchanted chain, as it can be hidden more effectively. Ebenezar [=McCoy=] uses a staff very similar to Harry's normally, but when he needs to ''really'' kick ass, he breaks out [[spoiler: the Blackstaff, which is described as a wooden staff covered in pure darkness, and is capable of killing hundreds of men instantly by simply extinguishing their vital functions.]]

* Many spellcasters in the ''YuGiOhCardGame'' are staff-users, including the [[SeriesMascot iconic]] [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Dark_Magician Dark Magician]].

* In ''DungeonsOfDredmor'', the Staff Mastery skill tree gives bonuses to magic and [[ManaMeter mana regeneration]] when wielding staves (in addition to the bonuses in [[SimpleStaff bashing monsters on the head]]).

* Slaynn, a powerful wizard from ''RecordOfLodssWar'', utilizes a simple hooked wooden staff.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[{{Warhammer}} A high elf]] [[http://www.giantbomb.com/magic-staff/93-535/all-images/52-306120/conquest_2009_05_02_10_10_47_97/51-1121616/ wielding a magic staff.]]]]

[[quoteright:350:[[http://www.giantbomb.com/magic-staff/93-535/all-images/52-306120/conquest_2009_05_02_10_10_47_97/51-1121616/ http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1121616-conquest_2009_05_02_10_10_47_97_copy_22.jpg]]]]

* Laenan Kite of the ''Mirror Dreams / Mirror Wakes'' books (CatherineWebb) uses a staff, partly to store power but mainly because it's big and heavy and [[CombatPragmatist good for hitting people with.]]

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1121616-conquest_2009_05_02_10_10_47_97_copy_22.jpg]]

* Elie eventually picks one up in ''RaveMaster''

* In ''{{Discworld}}'', the staff is the preferred tool of wizards, and a major plot point in ''Discworld/EqualRites'' and ''Discworld/{{Sourcery}}''. In ''Discworld/SoulMusic'', Archancellor Ridcully recommends a staff because even if you run out of magic, you've still got six foot of solid bog-oak at your disposal. Works nine times out of ten.

* In L. Jagi Lamplighter's ProsperosDaughter trilogy, Prospero made all his children magical staffs.

* In the CircleOfMagic universe, every Trader carries a six foot staff capped at both ends with engraved brass caps. Daja uses hers as a weapon, a walking stick and a magic wand, as needed.
** However, once she becomes an [[UnPerson outcast Trader]], she's not allowed to have engraved caps or carvings along the staff showing her life story (until she gets re-adopted by the caravan in ''Daja's Book''). And in ''Cold Fire'', when she gets mage-students of her own, there's an amusing exchange when they ask when ''they'' get to have cool staffs and if they can bling them out with jewels and ribbons, whereupon Daja points out that outside of plays they've probably never seen another mage who carries a staff, as they have no magical properties; she just uses hers for magic because she carries it anyway.
* In ''Literature/TheBible'', God tells Moses to raise his staff (or tells Moses to tell his brother Aaron to raise ''his'' staff) to cause the ten plagues on Egypt. Then, when the Israelites are fleeing Pharaoh's army, God tells Moses to raise his staff to divide the sea so they can cross safely on dry land.
** Soon after, in a battle with the Amalekites, the Isrealites would trounce their foes as long as Moses held his staff high. They started losing when his arm got weak and droopy, so some folks got a rock for him to sit on, while his brother and another fellow helped him hold the staff up the rest of the day.

* Just about every RPG, be it tabletop or online, have staffs as one of the most common weapons carrid by spellcasters. In some games they count as {{Magic Wand}}s, while in others they just give stat and damage boosts. Either way, staffs aren't usually very good melee weapons, although exceptions do exist.

* More often than not, the various Mage classes in the ''FinalFantasy'' games can equip rods and staves. It's the traditional weaponry of magic-using jobs in the ''FinalFantasy'' games. The games that have weaponry dependent on the character will generally also give this to characters with high magic stats.
** In fact, in both ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsA2'' (which are much more closely related than most of the Ivalice Alliance games), we get not only poles, but also staves and rods, which are even more suited for magic-wielding characters since they boost magical power and, in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' at least, rods' attack damage are calculated from a character's magic power as well as their strength. In most of the games where they appear, staves and rods have fairly low attack power as well, making them much better for casting with than hitting with. Also, contrary to the difference in names, staves and rods are more or less the same length. A staff will generally go to [[StaffChick White Mages]] and the like, while rods tend to be used by [[BlackMagicianGirl Black Mages]] and their relatives.
* Both [[{{Kanon}} Sayuri Kurata]] and [[{{AIR}} Kano Kirishima]] use a magic wand or staff in the 2D fighting game ''EternalFighterZero''. Sayuri's wand is more of a MagicalGirl type wand, with [[MorphWeapon transforming powers]]. Kano's is modeled after the staffs used in fantasy role-playing games, fitting alongside her various tiers of elemental magic and her unique [[{{Mana}}MP gauge]].

* In HeroesOfMightAndMagic II and III the liches use staves. In II and III the Magi also use staves, which kind of fits, as liches are undead wizards.

* In DungeonsAndDragonsOnline, one-handed scepters generally fulfill this role, commonly being enchanted with spell enhancements. It's quite normal to see wizards and sorcerers (and perhaps the occasional cleric or favored soul) ''dual-wield'' scepters, dooming their physical damage potential to minuscule levels, but providing substantial bonuses for magic.
* {{Diablo}} loves these. The first game had elaborate staves with some of them even having [[BladeOnStick blades on either end]]. Almost all of them had some powerful spells, and high melee damage. The second game, had simpler staves that provided bonuses to sorceress' skills. They also had high melee damage, but are not likely to be used in an actual fight.
* Staves in WorldOfWarcraft tend to be caster weapons, and are generally not used to melee but merely as stat boosters. Melee-oriented staves tend to be druid weapons, and again druids don't fight with their weapons, but their [[VoluntaryShapeshifting claws.]] However, there are a few rare staves designed for warriors and other melee classes.
** Of note: staves in WoW are quite diversified and often far from simple. Forms vary from mere gnarled wooden sticks and straight wooden staves, to crystal-tipped staves with more crystals orbiting the tip, to staves tipped with flames, and the most powerful endgame staves tend to be incredibly overcomplicated contraptions, and [[http://www.wowhead.com/item=32374# one particular staff obtained from Illidan]] is essentially a superstretched LIVING [[StarCraft Zergling]]/Felhunter hybrid made into a staff.
* DragonAgeII turns combat with a Mage's Staff into an veritable art-form of destruction, as in addition to the spells they rapidly fling across the battlefield from both ends of the staff, the Mages seem to now favour Wushu-esque moves that rapidly spin and twirl the staff around their whole bodies. A common finishing move is to slam the Staff on the ground that sends the spell across the ground towards their enemy. It should also be noted that in close-quarter melee, the Mage also now has huge blades attached to the base of their Staff to slam into their opponents.

* Gandalf, Saruman and other wizards wield these in ''LordOfTheRings''.

* More often than not, the various Mage classes in the ''FinalFantasy'' games can equip rods and staves.

* The traditional weaponry of magic-using jobs in the ''FinalFantasy'' games. The games that have weaponry dependent on the character will generally also give this to characters with high magic stats.

[[Folder:Live Action TV]]

* Nami's Clima Tact from ''OnePiece'' is MagicFromTechnology, but functions within the story like a MagicStaff. Sort of interesting in that it started out life as a regular Bo Staff.

* Negi Springfield in ''MahouSenseiNegima'' caries a staff most of the time when doing magic. It serves as a focus for his spells and he also uses it to fly in a manner resembling a FlyingBroomstick. However, as the story progresses and his skills in magic increase, he tends to use the staff less and less.

* Various Mage characters in ''{{DotHackSign}}'' use magic staves including Helba and BT.

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The SimpleStaff is quite the versatile melee weapon and coincidentally happens to resemble a really big MagicWand, so it's no surprise that WizardsAndWitches who want to add that extra kick to their spells, or who decide they're tired of being a SquishyWizard and want to increase their melee deadliness and upgrade to KungFuWizard, often pick up a MagicStaff.

A MagicStaff is a MagicWand which is large and substantial enough to be a viable melee weapon. In that sense, it is a MagicWand first and a melee-weapon second. The magical SimpleStaff version is probably the most common and most deadly in physical combat, but [[CarryABigStick canes, clubs and mace-like rods]] are also viable versions of a MagicStaff, should their shapes be taken advantage of. Sometimes [[MagicItems the staff itself is magic]], though other times it's just a MagicFocusObject with little inherent ability of its own. Often a MagicStaff acts as a weapon to be used when a character's BlackMagic is exhausted or otherwise not working. For a MagicStaff which is often used in melee combat or FullContactMagic, the staff is usually much more modestly-sized and decorated than the staff of a mage that isn't taking advantage of the MagicStaff's melee-abilities.

While almost no carrier of this weapon will hesitate to wield their MagicStaff as best they can in physical combat should the need arise, for some the point isn't a Magic Staff's melee attributes but that a Magic Staff is a MagicWand [[TheSameButMore but better]]. They are generally considered more powerful than their FunSize version, the traditional MagicWand, and can be elaborate to the point of AwesomeButImpractical. It's not uncommon to see staves with [[PowerCrystal huge gems]], floating rings and just plain unlikely hugeness, and since BiggerIsBetter, and [[RuleOfCool Cooler Is Also Better]] a large, decorative staff is usually the sign of a powerful mage.

Wizards of all kinds are known for carrying Magic Staves, which often go hand in hand with RobeAndWizardHat. In fact, sometimes the MagicStaff functions almost purely as StockCostumeTraits for magic-users. The MagicStaff is also the signature weapon of the StaffChick.

* Sailor Pluto from ''SailorMoon'' wields the stylish Garnet Rod which looks much like a key fitting her role as the Guardian of the Door of Space-Time. The staff is in turn topped by the Garnet Orb, a magical object in itself and one of 3 Magical Talismans that create the holy grail or Awaken Sailor Saturn depending the Media.

** Rod/Staff type weapons were strictly AwesomeButImpractical, due to the speed at which they would drain your Rune Points (and your inability to replenish them in battle), up until RuneFactory3. There, your RP gage increased drastically, making spells a practical weapon (and a must-have vs. the higher-level BonusBosses). Not to mention upgrading a staff with ItemDrops from bosses let you [[MegaManning use their spells yourself.]]

* Gandalf wields one in ''LordOfTheRings''.

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[[AC:Tabletop Games]]

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reply:
Literature
* Gandalf wields one in ''LordOfTheRings''.
* In ''{{Discworld}}'', the staff is the preferred tool of wizards, and a major plot point in ''Discworld/EqualRites'' and ''Discworld/{{Sourcery}}''.

Tabletop Games
* ''MagicTheGathering'' has a variety of equippable magic staves like [[http://magiccards.info/mt/en/145.html Thornbite Staff]] in addition to its many, many staff-wielding sorcerers, which include [[http://magiccards.info/m11/en/8.html Blinding Mage]], [[http://magiccards.info/cmd/en/224.html Selesnya Guildmage]], [[http://magiccards.info/le/en/40.html Glintwing Invoker]], and too many others to list.
* Many spellcasters in the ''YuGiOhCardGame'' are staff-users, including the [[SeriesMascot iconic]] [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Dark_Magician Dark Magician]].

Video Games
* Staves are the standard magical weapons in ''RuneScape'', increasing magical attack power and providing ammunition for elemental spells. A few spells can only be cast while wielding the appropriate staff.
* Spellcasters in ''ShiningForce'', both {{Black Mage}}s and {{White Mage}}s, wield staves as their WeaponOfChoice.

!![[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1318739729056016600&page=1#6 This]] TRS discussion determined that SimpleStaff should be split between magic examples and purely melee examples. Hence, this YKTTW. Feel free to raid SimpleStaff for examples.
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