The Staff Chick is a common archetype appearing in Fantasy Literature and Role Playing Games, acting as the party's resident healer, nurturer and source of feminine wisdom. While the other party members are slaughtering opponents, the Staff Chick is taking care of their wounds with gentleness and compassion, and congratulating them after the battle with her brilliant smile. Essentially, she's the Squishy Wizard infused with Incorruptible Pure Pureness.
There are three essential elements of the Staff Chick:
Always Female: The Staff Chick is always female and always feminine. Tomboys, Sweet Polly Olivers, and Bifauxnen need not apply. Their femininity will usually be emphasized in her character design with the use of long hair and overtly feminine clothing, such as dresses or robes.
Caring and compassionate: Staff Chicks have nurturing, motherly tendencies that tie-in with their feminine appearance and white magic. Very often they act as The Chick and The Heart of their party. Common personality types include being The Pollyana, The Ingenue, Proper Lady, Yamato Nadeshiko, or The Messiah. More rarely, they may be a Plucky Girl. Staff Chicks are almost never a straight Genki Girl, Tomboy, or Tsundere-types, although they may demonstrate mild traits from those archetypes.
Akira invokes the trope during the "Mars vs. Mages" battle, wearing a long white dress with a nurse's hat to go along with the staff she chose as her weapon.
Kaaya of The Tower of Druaga. While normally a naive and innocent Mysterious Waif, she occasionally shows a very devious and manipulative side.
Sylphiel in The Slayers. Notable that by the time of Slayers NEXT, her only offensive spell that she mastered was town-destroying Dragon Slave... and the only reason why she bothered to learn it was because she hoped to use it to compete for Gourry Gabriev's heart against LinaInverse.
While her powers of demon summoning are more in line with a Black Magician Girl, Mahoujin Guru Guru's Kukuri has a personality more in line with a Staff Chick.
Rave Master's Belnika is suited to the role of Staff Chick.
Literature
Goldmoon, from the Dragonlance series, was a prototypical example of this, although the main hero wasn't her love interest.
Ironically, she and Riverwind were supposed to be the main characters, but the writers realized that after their wedding in the first book there wasn't anywhere else to go with them. Thus, the focus was shifted to Tanis.
At the same time, the Sword and Sorceress books possibly gave rise to the phenomenon (as well as female duo Ho Yay) and even turned it into a cliche.
Wynn from the Saga Of The Noble Dead books is a scholar and minor magic-user who definitely fits this role (as well as that of The Smart Guy)- she's quiet, kindly, a sharp contrast to Magiere, the TsundereAction Girl heroine, and has next to no fighting skills, relying instead on her knowledge and ability to sense and identify magic to contribute to the adventures. In the second story arc, she even gets a literal staff, which can repell (though usually not totally destroy) the undead.
Live Action TV
Gabrielle, from the Xena TV series, is a bit of a staff chick. She's the sidekick, the love interest, the pacifist (sort of, how much so varied during the show), the healer (with magical powers in one episode, but otherwise only as a comforting nurse while Xena does any actual doctoring required.), and generally more interested in spiritual and traditionally feminine matters than Xena. On the other hand, she uses that staff to fight quite aggressively, she doesn't just stand back out of the way, and is eventually "upgraded" to another weapon as she becomes more willing to shed blood.
Cecelia from Wild ARMs, though arguably she is the main character, and eventually gets a full skillset.
The Princess of Moonbrooke in Dragon Quest II is probably the Ur Example. To wit, she is in fact the oldest form of this trope, debuting all the way back in '87. While she may have set a (possibly) unfortunate trend for RPG females, she's still a vast improvement over the Distressed Damsels that were so common at the time.
In Dragon Quest V, the protagonist and his daughter wield staves; fits this trope when you find out his son is the actual "hero."
Rosa from Final Fantasy IV (also a Distressed Damsel) was almost a prototype for the breed, except her non-magical archery was often a match for some melee characters. She could wield a staff as well, but her best weapons were bows and arrows.
Gets brought up in the game, too. Rosa became a white mage because her mother was one alongside her husband, although he was a dragoon, not a paladin like Cecil. Right before the party is about to go fight their final battle, Cecil tells her and Rydia, the resident Black Magician Girl, that they should stay behind, even though they had faced plenty of danger alongside him already.
Garnet/Dagger, Final Fantasy IX — uses magical "rackets" as well as staves, doubled as a Summoner — otherwise fit the trope to a T.
Yuna, Final Fantasy X. Averted in Final Fantasy X 2 where Yuna has as much access as Rikku and Paine to all manner of death-dealing hardware.
Final Fantasy XIII has Oerba Dia Vanille. Sort of. Her weapon is a rod and is one of the best candidates for the Medic role, but that rod is also outfitted with hooks and ropes, not unlike a fishing rod. At one point, she "goes fishing" and restrains a dragon with that rod. Also, she wears a short furShowgirl Skirt. The fur came from a bear. A bear that she killed by herself.
The same game has Hope Estheim, the other best candidate for Medic, who also specializes in Status Buffs and fights only with (mostly elemental) magic, as well as sticking with The Hero when the party splits, defrosting said hero quite a bit, and often being shipped with her. Of course, he's male.
Breath of Fire often subverts the trope. Only the first and fourth games really play the trope straight with Nina, and even then IV gave her some offensive magic to let her qualify more as The Red Mage.
In Shadow Hearts, the main female character - while fitting the standard of a healing-specialist Staff Chick - uses a book... as a bludgeoning weapon.
In From The New World, it's subverted - the girl using staves (actually magic wands) is a Black Magician Girl. The main character comes closer, although he uses knives; it's suicide to run him as anything but the party's healer.
Gets played fairly straight by the end, though - Hilda's second form becomes the most effective healer (while still being a bludgeoner with her wand-cum-club) of the party with a spell to revive and full-health one party member and another to full-health the entire party.
Raine Sage from Tales Of Symphonia is female, uses a staff, and is the team healer, but is a subversion in just about every other way. She's cold, not the main love interest, and inclined to swat her teammates when they behave in a manner that she disapproves of or when they get the wrong answer to a question. Her place in the story is as the teacher for The Hero, The Chick, and The Smart Guy.
Subverted again with Marta in Dawn of the New World. She's certainly the female love interest (and won't let you forget it), Will usually sling the healing spells (unless you assign that role to one of your Mons), but uses what is essentially a bladed pinwheel strapped to her arm.
Tear from Tales Of The Abyss is a similar subversion, except that she is the main love interest. She's cold, originally showed up as part of an assassination attempt, and constantly calls the main character on it when he's being an idiot. Also a highly trained soldier and deadly with the throwing knives she...wears on her garters.
Atoli and Shino in .hack//G.U. mostly fit the trope. Unlike the Wavemasters's of The World R:1 they're limited to healing spells only as the class was split between Harvest Clerics and Shadow Warlocks. (And Macabre dancers to some extent.)
Alfina in Grandia III. She and Yuki are the obligatory blatant knockoffs of Elena and Ryudo respectively from II.
Amy Sage in Phantasy Star II. Being a futuristic-themed game, Amy is actually classified as a Medical Doctor. While the actual use of staves in this game is limited to the Fire Staff, which is entirely optional in favour of certain other weapons, she's the only one who can actually equip it.
Male example in Phantasy Star IV: Raja. All of his plentiful skills and spells are healing/support based, with one exception in the form of a devastating holy flame attack, and— you guessed it— he uses a staff. Somewhat unique in that he's a wise-cracking, elderly, ordained and respected priest, rather than being young and idealistic as the archetype tends to require.
Possibly averted or played around with regarding Rika, who shows some Staff Chick traits, but is very adept in physical combat (she uses claws) and generally far more assertive than most examples. While all of her magic options are heals or buffs, her skills are all attack-based, she wears heavy-class armor, and her damage capabilities remain high throughout the entire game.
Mint in Tales of Phantasia is the page picture. Late in the game, her fairly potent arsenal of heals, cures, stunning hammers and status enhancers is capped off by the power to temporarily stop time. Given, it doesn't work on bosses, but it's freakingsweetto have around.
Furiae in Drakengard. When she's seen wielding anything, it is always a staff.
Manah, who was the psychotic antagonist in the first game, returns in the sequel as a playable character. She wields a staff and strong attack magicks. And yes, she is the love interest.
Subverted with Mist and Elincia in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (and Radiant Dawn). Both are typical staff-wielding healers, but are also dangerous swordswomen (especially Elincia with her sword Amiti, who can kill almost any non-boss in one round). In fact, in Radiant Dawn, they gain SS-rank mastery in swords and only S-rank in staffs.
Speaking of Fire Emblem... A fact present in several of these games is that one of your first allies will be a Cleric (on-foot Staff Chick) or a Priest (on-foot male healer), and some rounds later you'll be able to recruit a Troubadour (mounted Staff Chick), and sometimes a Valkyrie (mounted healer who is also a Black Magician Girl), a Sage (basically the same, but on foot and with either gender), or a Bishop (Light magic user * and* healer that promotes from Clerics and Priests (they can also promote from the all-male Monks, which use offensive magic instead of staves)).
Seisen no Keifu: Edin (Priest), Diadora (Shaman, but has a very effective Silence staff), Ethlin (Troubadour, even if in this game troubadours are more of Lady of War than staff chick), Lachesis (Princess, a foot-like troubadour, who is able to use practically anything when promoted) and Claude (High Priest). Though you get Ethlin first. In the second part of the game where you use the children of the first part charas or substitute, you have Rana or Mana (Priest), Nanna or Janne (Troubadour) and Corple or Sharlow (Priest). Yuria, even if a better attacking mage than her mother Diadora, can be stated.
Fuuin no Tsurugi: Ellen (Cleric), Saul (Priest), Cecilia (Valkyrie), Yodel (Bishop).
Rekka no Ken: Priscilla (Troubadour), Pent (Sage), Renault (Bishop).
Seima no Kouseki (The Sacred Stones): Natasha (Cleric), Moulder (Priest), Saleh (Sage).
Akatsuki no Megami (Radiant Dawn): Laura (Priest), Elincia (Queen), Mist (Valkyrie), as well as several Sages.
Carlie of Seiken Densetsu 3, except she used a mace as her weapon. The actual staff-user of the game, Angela, has the personality and skill set of a Black Magician Girl.
Completely reversed in Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana, where the main, male protagonist Klein is a staff-wielding magic item-chucking alchemist. Lita (The Chick) is a blade-claw wielding, super-fast melee heavy. In fact, she later gets a power to trade defense for offense, making her the most powerful melee character in the game (if your main character can keep her alive with his healing magics).
It's worth noting that the entire Atelier franchise prior to Atelier Iris features female protagonists. The protagonist in Atelier Iris is male in order to increase mainstream appeal, but his visual design, characterisation, NPC relationships, and combat role are virtually identical to those of his female predecessors, yielding a rare reverse genderflip.
Xehla of Baten Kaitos, although since attacks are dictated by cards she never actually whacks something with her staff. She does specialize in magic, however.
Estelle of Tales Of Vesperia is a slight variation in that she is a healer that uses a sword and shield. She even learns sword techniques.
Cleric-type units, too. While they come in both genders, the female cleric is far more used. They wield staves to enhance their healing magic (though they can also use bows).
Back to Disgaea 2, we have any generic Healer unit. While the mentor system can be used to get healing magic from one person to another, the Healers are all female, and can wield staves (bows are useful too).
Lost Odyssey has three of them. The first staff-wielding magic user you get in your party is male (and an inveterate womanizer to boot), though.
Marle from Chrono Trigger has all but the staff; rather, she uses a crossbow.
MOMO from Xenosaga, though in later games she gets upgraded to an energy bow.
Maya from Legaia 2: Duel Saga. She has some of the personality, and the Magic talents, but doesn't actually use a staff. Instead she casts attack magic.
Led from Septerra Core forgoes the traditional staff in favor of a giant wrench half her height. Works just as well, but also allows her to fix things.
Baldur's Gate has lots of girls with staffs, but the one that fits the archetype is Aerie: Mage/Cleric (so no armour, and restricted weapon usage, and a good healer).
Plus she's one of the three potential relationships for a male character (the programmers went into a lot of detail in this game).
Sypha Belnades from Castlevania III. Her attacks are weak and have short range (similar to Grant's knife), but she gets powerful magic to offset this weakness.
Kilik is a Rare Male Example from Soul Calibur. He's known for his healing abilities, empathy with those who are suffering, and his ability to lay out the beatdown with Kali-Yuga.
Wynne, the recruitable healer in Dragon Age: Origins, is a subversion: she is a pacifist with a staff, but her role is not that of a Love Interest and Co-Star but of a Team Mom, what with being a least twice as old as most of the human party members, and a Closer to Earth trusty adviser. You can even subvert the "staff" part late in the game, if you have her specialize in the Arcane WarriorPrestige Class and wield a sword (while wearing massive armor, to boot).
A female PC mage can fit perfectly if the player focuses on support spells, especially if she romances Alistair, a swordsman who comes closest to the "traditional CRPG hero" mold of all the characters.
And in Dragon Age: Origins: Awakening, another rare male example, Anders. He's an even better fit for this trope in Dragon Age 2, where his spell schools are even more focused on healing and support, and he's a potential Love Interest to boot.
Bastila Shan in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Comes wielding a Two-Bladed Lightsaber that looks suspiciously like a staff. While she is a capable fighter, most players tend to leave the buffs and healing to her. Is said to have risen to her status due to a rare ability to buff an entire army at once.
The Handmaiden in the sequel gets a staff, but she is a dedicated fighter rather than a healer.
Neverwinter Nights 2 has Elanee, who fits every element of this trope if you give her a staff. Mask of the Betrayer has Safiya, who fits none except being a love interest for a male PC and having a staff.
Meisia from Mystic Ark. Despite that the main hero and Miriene can learn the best single heal spells in the game, Meisia is the only character that learns any heal-all healing spells outside the basic one.
Kaidan Alenko, a Rare Male Example. True to the trope, he's your first party member and has all your "spells" early on, but soon proves to be a Master of None. Fortunately, the formulas for determining the effectiveness of individual talents leaves him with a niche in versatility. He is the only party member to get the medicine talent, which is about as close as anyone besides the PC can get to a healing spell.
Healing effects are all tied to Shepard in the second game, so s/he would be the only example (Mordin's status as a physician with a military background doesn't actually give him the power to heal anyone in-game).
Guild Wars has a distinct tendency towards this - with the exception of Mhenlo, all Monk Henchmen are female. Tahlkora is the most notable, a straight-up, squeamish staff chick who also turns out to be a Rebellious Princess.
Paula from EarthBound is a subversion. She has the personality of your average Staff Chick, but her PSI is offensive.
Elena of Grandia II is this. She wields a staff, does little in direct combat, has holy-themed magical powers, and is used mostly for healing spells. In fact, true to form, she shares a body with a Dark Magical Girl in the form of the Wings of Valmar.
Tatto, from Popful Mail, sort of plays this role; he has the character design and personality of a Staff Chick, but because Popful Mail is a Platform Game with RPG Elements, he uses attack magic rather than healing spells.
Nier's Emil, after a certain story event, takes up the role as a Staff Chick and becomes the primary magic caster and healer for the party. A bit of a subversion; as the name might imply, Emil is, indeed, male.
Demigod has Sedna, pretty much this trope from the ground up, save for two things. First, her staff is rather pointy, second, while her main focus is healing and improving her allies' longevity, she's excellent at harassment (being able to counter any non-instant skill or item) and her summoned yetis can do a lot of damage once they close in.
Alice from Brave Soul is almost made of this. If not for the fact that she's a total clutz.
Fall-From-Grace in Planescape: Torment has the femininity, the nurturing personality and is the only healer found in the game; she only has about one offensive spell and is firmly a support character. Her only deviation from norm is that she hasn't got a staff; she isn't trained in use of weaponry and can only harm people by touching them with her energy-draining skin.
