Finding Good Wood

A man showing you that he is a wizard

I recently re-read Le Guin's Earthsea trilogy and it had me pondering how to add some of her unique wizard flavor to my magic-users, particularly her descriptions of a wizard's staff: staves of yew or oak shod with copper or bronze engraved with runes of silver that are unique for every mage.

I'm also somewhat smitten with the Mage class for Old-School Essentials from the inaugural issue of Carcass Crawler. One of its class features is the Mage's Staff:

My wheels now turning, I searched the OSR blogosphere for house rules involving staves for magic-users. I found a common modification that grants a magic-user a staff at 1st Level that can hold a spell. I also discovered more complicated variations, such as this neat take from a decade ago.

There are a lot of fun ways to use staves out there, but I didn't find much that focused on the type of wood used. So, here are some ideas the give your staves a little more flavor.

Magic-users can take any mundane staff and cast a spell into it (this spell can be loosed by the magic-user later). This action binds the staff to the magic-user and grants the magic-user benefits based upon the type of wood:

- Ash: Your staff hums when close to portals to other realms.

- Yew: You can spend a dungeon turn to speak with the dead.

- Oak: You regain 1 hp every wilderness turn spent walking outdoors.

- Pine: Your staff protects you from the ill effects of natural weather.

Additionally, when you camp beneath a large tree that matches your staff, the tree acts as a guardian throughout the night and will warn you if danger approaches. As a result, you cannot be surprised.

(To find a specific type of suitable tree in the wilderness, use foraging and hunting chances as a starting point).