Staves

So, are staves (like quarterstaff, bo-staff, etc) implemented yet? And if so, are they bludgeoning or polearm? Id very much like my character to RP a staff fighter (and not the magic kind!), and recall a few releases back that they werent craftable yet and werent sold by any NPCs.

Are they in the game, and which skill line would a 2-h melee staff be utilizing?

TIA

 

I am told in chat that there arent any staves in game...

 

They claim to be bludgeon, but don't use any bludgeon skills.
They do almost no damage when trying to hit things with it physically, so it is not a melee weapon, and there is no melee staff.
They do reduce fizzle, and reduce reagent usage.

These must be a work in progress, i hope.

FWIW, I like a wand and shield, over a staff, because a wand pretty much does the same thing as a staff, and a shield offers a lot more defense.

 

Right now the way skills are implemented, there's a problem with making them polearms, since polearms have skills like Puncture, Pull, Push, which wouldn't apply too things like quarterstaffs and bo-staffs.

But staves really should be implemented as polearms... they should just disable inapplicable skills in the tree when a player can't use them. Crossbows should also have Rapid Fire and Multi Shot disabled, but have other advantages to make up for that. Implementing a system like that where a weapon wouldn't use a full skill tree would allow them to be much more flexible and creative.

 

I agree that staves as pole arms would be great. But I think Redfish is onto the issue.

 

IMHO "combat" staves should be bludgeon, they should do slightly less damage then standard bludgeons, but they should have a slightly faster attack speed...

Even cooler would be that staves are a hybrid of both bludgeon and polearm and can use applicable skills from both trees, for example...

Polearm:
Push - yes
Puncture - no
Reach - yes
Pull - no
Spin Attack - yes
Defensive Positions - yes
Skewer - no

Bludgeon:
Crushing blow - yes
Break Weapon - no
Stunner - yes
Knockback - yes
Knockdown - yes
Break Armor - no
Crusher - yes
Breaker - no
Berserk - maybe
Ground Pound - yes

You get the idea...

 

I can puncture things with my quarterstaff and my tiger-tail staff IRL. The quarterstaff would certainly penetrate a rib cage, skull, collar area, etc. Its a rather basic/fundamental strike.

A wooden staff most certainly can puncture, pull, push, etc - its actually fundamental to staff weapons in most asian martial arts. It might damage in a more "crushy" way, but the weapons are wielded in a more "spear-like" or "ji-like." In fact, a student of polearms typically begins by learning the quarterstaff and moves on to more advanced staves before using a pole weapon augmented with a blade.

So thats why I asked - they are wielded like pole weapons though their damage is more bludgeon-like. I agree that "skewering" someone wearing armor with a quarterstaff is rather unlikely (compared to a pike), and that the bludgeon line of skills make more sense given the combat styles and their effects. But the range bonuses of polearms should be applied to staves.

So...

MAYBE STAVES GET THEIR OWN COMBAT LINE?! :-D

 

Only people I can think of are those kung foo guys, and they can bust weapons with a staff. In fact I can't think of anything a kungfu person can't do in the movies. Except for cutting people with the staff. Maybe they do lose the ability to break weapons and armor but what if those skills were replaced with a multistrike from swords skill tree and some of the benifit of the reach innate of polarms. Staffs are fast and long. They act like a bludgeon and probably should benifit bludgeons since stunns and knockdowns are exactly what kungfu guys do.

Who knows as things progress. they may add new weapons beyond the base weapons (and cosmetic variations on these base weapons) the next wave of weapons could be cross overs that lack some of the potency of the standard wrapon of its base type but has the benifit of doing similar but maybe not as potent stuff from other weapon types.

I can think of a few bladed weapons that might act like a sword but have some bludgeon-like characteristics, and some thin blades that have puncture but can still swing fast like a blade. Might make things interesting and make characters more diverse. Maybe some can just act as pure weapon type but lose damage for an increase in parry or what about exotic weapons like a glove with a blade and a shield attached to it??? It could be useful for piercing and use shield skills. (Example only I don't know if that would be a realistic weapon)

I would suspect the devs have already thought of these things and they are not adding anything but the basic weapons until they can implement these other weapons without breaking ballance.