Spell staves

The spell staves are a group of magical quarterstaffs introduced in SporkHack that grant the wielder a spellcasting bonus. Wielding the staff appropriate to a particular school of magic gives you a large bonus to success when casting spells from that school. These staves can help non-casters attempt to cast certain spells that normally would have been either extremely difficult or impossible to cast otherwise.

All spell staves are magical two-handed weapons, that have slight differences depending on the variant. In SporkHack, they were all wooden and appeared as "staff" when unidentified. In EvilHack and Hack'EM, different materials and appearances were added as detailed below.

Types of spell staves

Staff of Divination

) File:Staff of divination.png
Name	staff of divination
Appearance	wormwood staff
Damage vs. small	1d6
Damage vs. large	1d6
To-hit bonus	+0
Weapon skill	quarterstaff
Size	two-handed
Base price	400 zm (+10/positive enchant)
Weight	40
Material	wood

A wormwood staff is a Staff of Divination and gives a 50% boost to casting any divination spell when wielded.

Staff of Healing

) File:Staff of healing.png
Name	staff of healing
Appearance	twisted staff
Damage vs. small	1d6
Damage vs. large	1d6
To-hit bonus	+0
Weapon skill	quarterstaff
Size	two-handed
Base price	400 zm (+10/positive enchant)
Weight	40
Material	wood

A twisted staff is a Staff of Healing and gives a 50% boost to casting any healing spell when wielded.

Staff of Holiness

) File:Staff of holiness.png
Name	staff of holiness
Appearance	bone-carved staff
Damage vs. small	1d6
Damage vs. large	1d6
To-hit bonus	+0
Weapon skill	quarterstaff
Size	two-handed
Base price	400 zm (+10/positive enchant)
Weight	40
Material	bone

A bone-carved staff is a Staff of Holiness and gives a 50% boost to casting any clerical spell when wielded. This staff does not appear in Hack'EM.

Staff of Matter

) File:Staff of matter.png
Name	staff of matter
Appearance	etched staff
Damage vs. small	1d6
Damage vs. large	1d6
To-hit bonus	+0
Weapon skill	quarterstaff
Size	two-handed
Base price	400 zm (+10/positive enchant)
Weight	40
Material	wood

An etched staff is a Staff of Matter and gives a 50% boost to casting any matter spell when wielded. It is also slightly lighter than its counterparts. In EvilHack, this staff is made of adamantine. In Hack'EM it's made of mithril.

Staff of Escape

) File:Staff of escape.png
Name	staff of escape
Appearance	darkwood staff
Damage vs. small	1d6
Damage vs. large	1d6
To-hit bonus	+0
Weapon skill	quarterstaff
Size	two-handed
Base price	400 zm (+10/positive enchant)
Weight	40
Material	wood

A darkwood staff is a Staff of Escape and gives a 50% boost to casting any escape spell when wielded.

Staff of War

) File:Staff of war.png
Name	staff of war
Appearance	ironshod staff
Damage vs. small	1d6
Damage vs. large	1d6
To-hit bonus	+2
Weapon skill	quarterstaff
Size	two-handed
Base price	425 zm (+10/positive enchant)
Weight	50
Material	bone

An ironshod staff is a Staff of War and gives a 50% boost to casting any attack spell when wielded. It is heavier than its counterparts, but also has an extra d2 to-hit bonus. In SporkHack this staff is known as a "staff of battle".

Staff of Necromancy

) File:Staff of necromancy.png
Name	staff of necromancy
Appearance	bone-carved staff
Damage vs. small	1d6
Damage vs. large	1d6
To-hit bonus	+0
Weapon skill	quarterstaff
Size	two-handed
Base price	400 zm (+10/positive enchant)
Weight	40
Material	bone

A bone-carved staff is a Staff of Necromancy and gives a 50% boost to casting any necromancy spell when wielded. This staff does not appear in SporkHack or Evilhack. In Hack'EM the Staff of Holiness was instead replaced with the Staff of Necromancy because the clerical school of magic was removed.

EvilHack

When sacrificing corpses at altars, spellcasters have a chance to get a spell staff as a sacrifice gift.

Hack'EM

Hack'EM has some artifact weapon that have been converted to spell staves.

• The Staff of Rot is a Staff of Necromancy that deals withering damage actively and passively.
• Firewall is a Staff of Divination that the Flame Mage gets as their first sacrifice gift. It grants fire resistance and deals fire damage.
• Circe's Witchstaff is a Staff of Matter that can turn enemies into pigs.
• Drowsing Rod is a Staff of Healing that the Healer gets as their first sacrifice gift that can put enemies to sleep with it's sleeping gas attack.
• Origin is a Staff of Escape that confers teleport control and spellcasting bonuses.

Upgrading/Tinkering: Any quarterstaff can be upgraded (or tinkered) up to a random spell staff. This upgrade only goes one-way, spell staves cannot be down-graded.