Hydra Staff [Arcanomechanikal Tool]
Cost: 960 gc (accumulator cost not included)
Skill: Great Weapon
Attack Modifier: +0
POW: 4
Description: This rather elegant staff with its multi-pronged emitter array can be used by a spellcaster to turn area-of-effect spells into saturation blasts that inflict tremendous damage even when a target is not at the spell’s epicenter, at the cost of making the spell more draining to cast. The hydra staff is powered by an alchemical capacitor set into its base, which also serves as a counterweight to the emitter array.
Rune Points: 3
Special Rules: While the hydra staff is powered, a spellcaster wielding the staff in one hand who casts an AOE spell that deals blast damage can spend a point of focus or fury, or gain a point of fatigue, to give a blast damage roll against a character the spell’s full POW instead of half the spell’s POW. If more than one character suffers blast damage from the spell, this cost must be paid separately for each character, though the spellcaster can also decide not to increase the blast damage roll’s POW against any individual character.
Blast damage enhanced by a hydra staff is still blast damage, so any abilities and effects that reduce or negate blast damage take full effect, as usual.
A hydra staff cannot be used to alter spells that are being channelled, and it has no effect on rune shots.
Hydra staves are Reach weapons and must be wielded two-handed when they are used as melee weapons, but can be wielded one-handed during spellcasting.
A character wielding a hydra staff can spend 1 feat point to make a trip attack instead of a normal attack. If the attack hits, the target is knocked down instead of suffering damage.
On a critical hit, a living target has a chance of being knocked out by the attack. If the target suffers damage from the attack, they must make a Willpower roll against a target number equal to the attacking character’s STR+9. If the target succeeds, the character hit stays conscious. If they fail, they are knocked out.
Fabrication: The material cost of the hydra staff’s parts is 50 gc. It takes three weeks to construct the device. The pertinent Craft skill for construction is Craft (metalworking).
The hydra staff’s runeplate takes three weeks to inscribe and requires a successful INT+Mechanikal Engineering roll against a target number of 15.
Comments welcome, as usual.