Staff of Power 5e: Spells, Charges and the Retributive Strike

The Staff of Power 5e is a very rare staff that requires attunement by a sorcerer, warlock or wizard. While you hold it you get +2 to Armor Class, saving throws and spell attack rolls, it hits as a +2 quarterstaff, and its 20 charges cast nine spells from Magic Missile to Wall of Force, regaining 2d8 + 4 charges each dawn. Break it and it explodes for up to 16 damage per remaining charge. The verdict: attune to it. The +2 to AC and every save is the reason, and the 2024 version only loses a melee rider and some of the blast's power.

Table of Contents

• •Staff of Power Rules Text
• •How the Staff of Power Works
• •Staff of Power: 2014 vs 2024
• •Is the Staff of Power Worth It?
• •Staff of Power for DMs
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Staff of Power Rules Text

How the Staff of Power Works

The passive bonuses: just hold it

You get +2 to AC, all saving throws and spell attack rolls while holding the staff, without casting from it or swinging it. An attacker at +7 needs an 8 to hit AC 15 (65 percent); with the staff that becomes a 10 against AC 17 (55 percent). Every save is 10 percentage points more likely to succeed.

Bonuses from different magic items stack, so the staff adds on top of a Cloak of Protection and a Ring of Protection: +4 AC and +4 to every save, using all three attunement slots.

The bonuses stop the moment the staff leaves your hand: stow it, drop it or have it taken and your AC falls by 2. In 2024 a staff can be used as an Arcane Focus unless its description says otherwise, so the staff in your hand can also be your focus.

The +2 quarterstaff (and the 2014 Power Strike)

As a weapon it is a +2 quarterstaff: 1d6 + 2 + Strength modifier one-handed, 1d8 + 2 + Strength two-handed. The 2014 staff adds Power Strike: when you hit with a melee attack using it, spend 1 charge for an extra 1d6 force damage (3.5 on average). A Magic Missile for the same charge averages 10.5 and never misses. The 2024 staff has no Power Strike.

Casting spells from the staff

Both editions use your spell save DC. Item spells use no spell slots and no components unless the item says otherwise, and keep their normal casting time, range and duration. Concentration still applies to Hold Monster, Wall of Force, Globe of Invulnerability, Levitate and Ray of Enfeeblement.

Fireball and Lightning Bolt are cast as level 5 versions because the item says so; every other spell comes out at its lowest level, the general rule for item spells. A level 5 Fireball is 10d6 (35 average), about the same as Cone of Cold's 8d8 (36 average), so pick by shape and save.

The 2014 text names your spell attack bonus because its Ray of Enfeeblement is a ranged spell attack; the 2024 Ray is a Constitution save, so nothing on the 2024 list needs one.

Charges: how far 20 goes

Twenty charges buys four 5-charge spells. The staff regains 2d8 + 4 at dawn (6 to 20, 13 on average). Spending the last charge forces a d20 roll. On a 1 (5 percent) the staff keeps only its +2 to attack and damage and loses everything else: the AC and save bonus, the spells and the Retributive Strike. On a 20 it regains 1d8 + 2 charges on the spot. The protection is the valuable part, so never spend the staff's last charge: keep one in reserve and the roll never happens.

The Retributive Strike

Breaking the staff (an action in 2014, a Magic action in 2024) destroys it in an explosion 30 feet out. You have a 50 percent chance to escape to a random plane; otherwise you take 16 force damage per remaining charge. Every other creature in the area makes a DC 17 Dexterity save, half damage on a success. With a full 20 charges:

320 damage kills any wielder with a hit point maximum of 160 or less outright (the damage left after 0 hit points meets the maximum), so for most characters it is a coin flip between death and a random plane. In 2024 the blast deals 80 to an enemy who fails; four level 5 Fireballs from the same 20 charges average 140, and the staff survives.

The 2014 text gives your damage as force but names no type for anyone else; the 2024 text makes all of it Force. Under 2014 rules the text is silent on the type others take. DM ruling: use force, the type the same explosion deals to the wielder.

Staff of Power: 2014 vs 2024

The defensive core, the reason to attune, is identical. The 2024 staff drops Power Strike, and its Retributive Strike is weaker up close: 80 on a failed save at any distance, where a creature next to a 2014 staff took 160.

Is the Staff of Power Worth It?

For a sorcerer, warlock or wizard, yes. Compare it with other SRD caster items:

It is the only item on that list that raises AC, every save and spell attacks together; a Ring of Protection gives half the defense for the same attunement slot. Warlocks benefit as much as wizards, since the +2 to spell attack rolls applies to every Eldritch Blast beam. A caster with a Staff of the Magi has to choose: each staff's bonuses work only while you hold it.

The trap is the Retributive Strike. It looks like a finishing move, and half the time it kills the character using it.

Staff of Power for DMs

Where it turns up. In high-level treasure: an archmage's or lich's hoard, or an NPC wizard's gear. An enemy carrying it gets the +2 AC and saves too, and may break it when cornered.

What it changes. The caster becomes harder to hit and harder to disable, and Hold Monster, Wall of Force and Globe of Invulnerability on demand answer problems you may have built for spell slots to solve. Plan encounters for up to four extra level 5 spells a day.

Pricing. SRD 5.2.1 values a very rare item at 40,000 GP and says rarer items might be sold only in wondrous locations, such as a city on another plane. The 2014 SRD has no prices. The magic item rarity calculator helps if you're comparing it with other rewards.

At the table. Decide the random plane before anyone breaks the staff; a character stranded there is the next adventure.

Hooks.

• •The party's patron owns the staff and lends it for one job. It has 3 charges, and they'll need to work out why someone drained it before handing it over.
• •A tower collapsed years ago and nobody survived. In the rubble lies a snapped staff, and the stone is scoured clean for exactly 30 feet around it.

Charges are easy to lose track of between sessions. Loreify records the session and keeps the recap, so "how many charges did we spend at the bridge?" has an answer.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the Staff of Power stack with a Ring of Protection or Cloak of Protection?

Yes. Bonuses from different magic items add together, so a Staff of Power, Ring of Protection and Cloak of Protection give +4 AC and +4 to saving throws. That uses all three attunement slots.

Who can attune to a Staff of Power?

Only a sorcerer, warlock or wizard, in both the 2014 and 2024 rules. The SRD requires the creature to be a member of the class, so a multiclass character with a level in one of them qualifies.

How much damage does the Retributive Strike do?

You take 16 force damage per remaining charge unless the 50 percent chance sends you to a random plane. Other creatures within 30 feet make a DC 17 Dexterity save: 8, 6 or 4 times the charges by distance in 2014, 4 times the charges as force damage in 2024, half on a success.

How much is a Staff of Power worth?

40,000 GP under the 2024 SRD, the value it gives every very rare magic item. The 2014 SRD lists no magic item prices.

Item text: System Reference Document 5.1 (2014) and 5.2.1 (2024), Wizards of the Coast, CC-BY-4.0. Analysis, rulings and ideas are Loreify's own.