Staff of the Magi 5e
Staff, legendary (requires attunement by a Sorcerer, Warlock, or Wizard)
This staff can be wielded as a magic quarterstaff that grants a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with it. While you hold it, you gain a +2 bonus to spell attack rolls.
The staff has 50 charges for the following properties. It regains 4d6 + 2 expended charges daily at dawn. If you expend the last charge, roll a d20. On a 20, the staff regains 1d12 + 1 charges.
Spell Absorption. While holding the staff, you have advantage on saving throws against spells. In addition, you can use your reaction when another creature casts a spell that targets only you. If you do, the staff absorbs the magic of the spell, canceling its effect and gaining a number of charges equal to the absorbed spell's level. However, if doing so brings the staff's total number of charges above 50, the staff explodes as if you activated its retributive strike (see below).
Spells. While holding the staff, you can use an action to expend some of its charges to cast one of the following spells from it, using your spell save DC and spellcasting ability: Conjure Elemental (7 charges), Dispel Magic (3 charges), Fireball (7th-level version, 7 charges), Flaming Sphere (2 charges) Ice Storm (4 charges), Invisibility (2 charges), Knock (2 charges), Lightning Bolt (7th-level version, 7 charges), Passwall (5 charges), Plane Shift (7 charges), Telekinesis (5 charges), Wall of Fire (4 charges), or Web (2 charges).
You can also use an action to cast one of the following spells from the staff without using any charges: Arcane Lock, Detect Magic, Enlarge/Reduce, Light, Mage Hand, or Protection from Evil and Good.
Retributive Strike. You can use an action to break the staff over your knee or against a solid surface, performing a retributive strike. The staff is destroyed and releases its remaining magic in an explosion that expands to fill a 30-foot-radius sphere centered on it.
You have a 50 percent chance to instantly travel to a random plane of existence, avoiding the explosion. If you fail to avoid the effect, you take force damage equal to 16 × the number of charges in the staff. Every other creature in the area must make a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes an amount of damage based on how far away it is from the point of origin, as shown in the following table. On a successful save, a creature takes half as much damage.
Staff of the Magi Damage by Distance Table
| Distance from Origin | Damage |
|---|---|
| 10 ft. away or closer | 8 x the number of charges in the staff |
| 11 to 20 ft. away | 6 x the number of charges in the staff |
| 21 to 30 ft. away | 4 x the number of charges in the staff |
Commentary by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold
Staff of the Magi not only gives you a Rod of Absorption, one of the most powerful items in the game, it empowers it further by giving you a massive swath of powerful options you can unleash from the staff to ruin your enemies' days!
Unlike the Rod of Absorption, the Staff stores spells as charges, which it can regain and expend infinitely.
There aren’t any limits to what spells you cast from the staff per day- if you can keep absorbing spells, you can keep casting with it.
Generally, you want to keep the rod under 50 charges, as usually you’re the first victim to fall when the staff overloads.
The staff only improves your spell attack rolls and attacks made with the staff physically by +2, and doesn’t bolster your spell save DC.
The staff suffers no penalties for dropping to 0 charges, with no risk of being destroyed or becoming mundane when empty, instead possibly regaining charges when all are expended.
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