Staff of Power 5e
Staff, very rare (requires attunement by a Sorcerer, Warlock, or Wizard)
This staff can be wielded as a magic quarterstaff that grants a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with it. While holding it, you gain a +2 bonus to Armor Class, saving throws, and spell attack rolls.
The staff has 20 charges for the following properties. The staff regains 2d8 + 4 expended charges daily at dawn. If you expend the last charge, roll a d20. On a 1, the staff retains its +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls but loses all other properties. On a 20, the staff regains 1d8 + 2 charges.
Power Strike. When you hit with a melee attack using the staff, you can expend 1 charge to deal an extra 1d6 force damage to the target.
Spells. While holding this staff, you can use an action to expend 1 or more of its charges to cast one of the following spells from it, using your spell save DC and spell attack bonus: Cone of Cold (5 charges), Fireball (5th-level version, 5 charges), Globe of Invulnerability (6 charges), Hold Monster (5 charges), Levitate (2 charges), Lightning Bolt (5th-level version, 5 charges), Magic Missile (1 charge), Ray of Enfeeblement (1 charge), or Wall of Force (5 charges).
Retributive Strike. You can use an action to break the staff over your knee or against a solid surface, performing a retributive strike. The staff is destroyed and releases its remaining magic in an explosion that expands to fill a 30-foot-radius sphere centered on it.
You have a 50 percent chance to instantly travel to a random plane of existence, avoiding the explosion. If you fail to avoid the effect, you take force damage equal to 16 × the number of charges in the staff. Every other creature in the area must make a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes an amount of damage based on how far away it is from the point of origin, as shown in the following table. On a successful save, a creature takes half as much damage.
Retrubitive Strike Damage Table
| Distance from Origin | Damage |
|---|---|
| 10 ft. away or closer | 8 x the number of charges in the staff |
| 11 to 20 ft. away | 6 x the number of charges in the staff |
| 21 to 30 ft. away | 4 x the number of charges in the staff |
Commentary by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold
The ultimate spellcaster probably can’t take that title without a Staff of Power. It's the upper-tier spellcaster item you want, providing you with an insane amount of abilities. I’m truly baffled that this thing isn’t legendary given how outrageously powerful it is!
The staff increases all saving throws you roll by +2; it doesn’t increase your spell save DC at all.
You choose what spell save DC, spellcasting ability modifier, and spell attack roll you use when casting spells with this staff from among classes you have levels in; this can include the attributes from classes that can’t attune to this like Cleric or Paladin so long as you otherwise meet its attunement requirement.
If you’ve attuned to this having circumnavigated the attunement prerequisite and lack a spell save DC, such as with Thief Rogue’s Use Magic Device, use 8+ your proficiency bonus for your save DC.
The spells are always cast at their lowest level unless otherwise specified, and can’t be upcast by expending additional charges.
Generally, I’d avoid dropping the staff to zero charges, as any chance to lose the item isn’t going to be worth it when it provides so much bonus power to your character sheet.
I don’t know how bad of a position I’d need to be in to use Retributive Strike, but if you have to, it can deal massive damage to you and everything around you; with a full 20 charges, creatures within 10 feet take 160 damage on a failed save, and you take 320 damage should you lose the coin flip to teleport elsewhere.
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