Quartersatff Rethought

[Tetsubo]

I love the quarterstaff. I’ve always considered it one of the iconic weapons in the fantasy genre. The simplicity, clean design and availability make it attractive. So cheap to make it’s basically free. Used by commoners, holy men and fighting monks in both Eastern and Western traditions. But my favorite staff welding character would have to be the Monkey King. Chaos incarnate with a staff in his hands.

Sadly I haven’t ever really seen the staff used effectively in a fantasy role-playing game. I would like to change that. Here-in I offer my take on the quarterstaff. It will be presented firstly as a Simple weapon. I shall than build on its usefulness and martial might as both a Martial and Exotic weapon.

As it stands now a quarterstaff has the following 3.5 statistics:

Simple weapon. Quarterstaff: No cost, 1d4/1d4 (Small), 1d6/1d6 (Medium) ×2, No range increment, 4 lb., Bludgeoning damage. It is a double weapon.

My version:

Simple weapon. Quarterstaff: No cost, 1d6 (Small), 1d8 (Medium) ×2, No range increment, 4 lb., Bludgeoning damage. It is a two-handed weapon. It grants a +2 equipment bonus to Balance and Jump skill checks.

Martial weapon. Quarterstaff: No cost, 1d6 (Small), 1d8 (Medium) ×2, No range increment, 4 lb., Bludgeoning damage. It is a two-handed weapon.
In the hands of a character trained in all martial weapons, has the feat Martial Weapon (Quarterstaff) or is a Monk it receives the following changes: The +2 equipment bonus to Balance and Jump skill checks is increased to a +4 bonus. The quarterstaff has reach, so you can strike opponents 10 feet away with it. In addition, unlike most other weapons with reach, it can be used against an adjacent foe.

Exotic weapon. Quarterstaff: No cost, 1d6/1d6 (Small), 1d8/1d8 (Medium) ×2, No range increment, 4 lb., Bludgeoning damage. It is a two-handed weapon.
In the hands of a character with the feat Exotic Weapon (Quarterstaff) or is a Monk it receives the following changes: The +4 equipment bonus to Balance and Jump skill checks is increased to a +6 bonus. The quarterstaff has reach, so you can strike opponents 10 feet away with it. In addition, unlike most other weapons with reach, it can be used against an adjacent foe.
A quarterstaff is a double weapon. You can fight with it as if fighting with two weapons, but if you do; you incur all the normal attack penalties associated with fighting with two weapons, just as if you were using a one-handed weapon and a light weapon. A creature wielding a quarterstaff in one hand can’t use it as a double weapon—only one end of the weapon can be used in any given round.

Under all circumstances the quarterstaff is a special monk weapon. This designation gives a monk wielding a quarterstaff special options.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

I like it mostly, but I'm not sure if it's balanced to give it reach and adjacent as a martial weapon. The bonuses to jump and balance are useful depending on what books you allow.

I've also wanted to see new options for a staff fighter beyond the Quickstaff feat, perhaps even a prestige class devoted to it.

I have to say though, you hate the spiked chain yet you're basically giving the quarterstaff similar abilities. Strikes me as kind of odd, oh well.

 

[Tetsubo]

I like it mostly, but I'm not sure if it's balanced to give it reach and adjacent as a martial weapon. The bonuses to jump and balance are useful depending on what books you allow.

I've also wanted to see new options for a staff fighter beyond the Quickstaff feat, perhaps even a prestige class devoted to it.

I have to say though, you hate the spiked chain yet you're basically giving the quarterstaff similar abilities. Strikes me as kind of odd, oh well.

Mechanically the spiked chain also allows a trip attack and a bonus to disarm.

I still state that the spiked chain is a meta-weapon. Meant to game the rules rather than reflect a physical object that is used to hurt people.

I also still state that as depicted in every official published illustration the spiked chain is unusable. How you present an item matters.

With my quarterstaff rewrite I am attempting to reflect how the weapon has been actually used in combat.

I worked on a staff fighter variant at one point. But I was never really happy with it. If you could trade out the fighters virtual feats for other choices I think you could make a viable staff fighter class.

 

[Ashtagon]

For characters whose base class doesn't have any particular default expertise in the weapon, why would they pick the martial proficiency feat for this weapon instead of the exotic weapon proficiency. Under RAW, exotic weapon feats do not have a martial weapon feat as a preq., so that can't be it.

This is an issue that needs clarifying.

 

[Tetsubo]

For characters whose base class doesn't have any particular default expertise in the weapon, why would they pick the martial proficiency feat for this weapon instead of the exotic weapon proficiency. Under RAW, exotic weapon feats do not have a martial weapon feat as a preq., so that can't be it.

This is an issue that needs clarifying.

I realize that it would be an unusually situation. But some class features and feats grant a Martial Weapons skill, either directly or virtually. I was just covering my bases here.

Though I have heard it argued that the Exotic Weapons feat should require the Martial Weapons feat as a prerequisite. Or the feat Martial Weapon should simply grant access to all martial weapons.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

EDIT: Nevermind

 

[Ashtagon]

But then you have the issue that, for most weapons, there is a martial feat OR an exotic feat. With your house rule, the quarterstaff becomes the only weapon that would have both.

 

[Jack Simth]

But then you have the issue that, for most weapons, there is a martial feat OR an exotic feat. With your house rule, the quarterstaff becomes the only weapon that would have both.

Check the bastard sword. As a Marital weapon, it's two handed. As an Exotic weapon, it's one-handed.

 

[Ashtagon]

Good point on the bastard sword.

In practical terms though, no one is going to take a "bastard sword martial feat" though, since the exotic feat doesn't have martial as a prequisite. The bastard sword has the same issue that your quarterstaff has.

I suspect this is a flaw in the game design, but I'm not sure how it should be fixed.

 

[Jack Simth]

Good point on the bastard sword.

In practical terms though, no one is going to take a "bastard sword martial feat" though, since the exotic feat doesn't have martial as a prequisite. The bastard sword has the same issue that your quarterstaff has.

Not as a feat, no. But then, how often does anybody actually take a Martial weapon proficiency feat? In general, people will take it when it comes free as a domain power (War domain), or Class Feature (Favored Soul), or take a class that gets all martial weapon proficiencies (Fighter, Barbarian, Paladin, Ranger) instead of burning a feat on it. There will, however, be people that use it as a martial weapon if they find one that's better than their current weapon. Looking at it as a martial weapon, the only difference between the commonly used Greatsword and the slightly less commonly used Bastard Sword is two pounds of weight (6 lbs for the bastard sword, 8 for the greatsword), the damage die size (d10 for the medium Bastard vs. 2d6 for the medium Great; an average difference of 1.5 points of damage - which isn't all that much), and 15 gp (35 for the Bastard sword, 50 for the greatsword). If you're a first-level fighter, one might go with a Bastard Sword, using it as a martial weapon, just to save the 15 gp.

I suspect this is a flaw in the game design, but I'm not sure how it should be fixed.

It's only a flaw in that the current Martial Weapon Proficiency feat is about 90% redundant - but then, so is Toughness.