Staff of Chislev: Artifact Holy Item

AD&D (1e/2e) Rules

by David C. Richardson

Appearance: The Staff appears to be a living Redwood sapling. The staff is roughly two inches in diameter, and is six feet, two inches in height. It has several branches sprouting from the top eighteen inches, and each branch has several - obviously living - leaves. The bark is fairly smooth, but just below the branches there is four almost identical faces circumnavigating the staff. Each is the face of Chislev, Goddess of Nature. Each face represents a different aspect of her essence: The Creator, The Healer, The Defender, and The Destroyer. These faces, although clearly visible, appear to have grown naturally in the bark. The Staff has no root system, but instead is capped in Iron.

Charges: Holds 100 charges if full.

Powers: The Staff has multiple powers, and should rightly be considered on par with the Staff of Power, or the Staff of the Arch Magi.

Spell Powers:

Automatic:

Shape Wood (Alteration)
Sphere: Plant
Range: Touch
Components: V, S, M
Duration: Permanent
Casting Time: 1 round
Area of Effect: 9 cubic feet+1 cubic foot/level
Saving Throw: None

By means of shape wood, the caster can reform wood. For example, the character can cast it upon any appropriate-sized piece of wood to fashion a wooden weapon, make a rough door, or even create a crude figurine.

The spell also allows the caster to reshape an existing wooden door, perhaps to escape imprisonment. Again, the volume of the wooden object must be appropriate to the desired result and fit in the area of effect.

While a character might form a wooden coffer from a tree stump or a door from a wooden wall, the result does not bear high-quality detail. If a shaping has moving parts, there is a 30% chance they do not work.

Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Create Water ( up to 44 gallons per use), Detect Poison, Know Direction, Light Purify food & Drink, Read Magic, Animal Friendship, Detect Pits & Traps, Faerie Fire, Obscuring Mist, Pass without Trace, Speak with Animals, Cure Light Wounds.

Uses One Charge: Barkskin, Chill metal (iron tip), Flame Staff (Flame Sword), Delay Poison (as 22nd), Cure Serious Wounds, Contagion, Wood Shape, Stone Shape.

Uses Three Charges: Call Lightning, Cure Serious Wounds, Dominate Animal, Meld into stone, Neutralize Poison, Poison, Protection from elements, Remove Disease, Summon Nature's Ally III, Control Plants, Dispel Magic, Find the Path, Animal Growth.

Uses Five Charges: Cure Critical Wounds, Flame Strike, Commune with Nature, Death Ward, Hallow, Ice Storm, Insect Plague, Healing Circle, Summon Nature's Ally VII, True Seeing.

Other Powers:

3/Day: Creeping Doom, Heal, Harm, Summon Nature's Ally IX, Earthquake.

2/Day: Word of Recall, Shambler, Treant (Create 1d4 Treants of the Largest Size).

1/Day: Mass Heal, Elemental Swarm

If planted in the ground, the Staff will grow to Full Redwood height and size, and has a portal into it (See Wizard Spell Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion) Tree is immune to everything, and anything short of a Wish, or direct divine intervention.

Staff can be recharged, if planted in Hallowed ground. Recovers 1 charge per 15 minutes.

Talidaar Arbagon, Hierophant Druid of Chislev, currently bears this staff .

This item has been published here with permission from the author(s) and may not be reproduced without permission. This is a fan submission and its contents are completely unofficial. Some characters, places, likenesses and other names may be copyright Wizards of the Coast.