>It has been said that it will use the greater of your two-handed weapon training or magic training when determining your DS when holding one, my DS is lower with a runestaff then using other two-handed weapons so I am guessing it is using what little magic ranks I possess. Can someone look into this? - Trouble13

Whoever said that is incorrect. Runestaves have never used THW ranks for parry DS. Defensively, only magic ranks per level are used when calculating DS. But it's an easy mistake to make; offensively, runestaves are classified as THW weapons.

Defense: Magic ranks
Offense: THW ranks

Mark

I have a sorceress who uses THWs, but also has a runestaff for Defence vs magical bolts. Interestingly enough, her physical DS is within 2 points using her 4x runestaff vs her 4x flamberge. I presume that's because she doesn't have all that much magical skills, having pumped a bunch of TPs into THW and CMans.

My empath and warmage also switch back and forth between runestaff and THW in OTF, ever since I found out that some of those beggers can hurl fireballs. Ouch!

While it is true that runestaves us magical skills to determine DS of the wielder, the base was designed to give you the same parry DS as if you were in fact trained in THWs and using one. I think this was at 8 or 9 ranks of magical skills per level? Grrr, I am trying to think back to when runestaves were first released, and I can't quite recall, but I remember reading that somewhere.

The bells of Hell
go ting-a-ling-a-ling
for you but not for me

>I have a sorceress who uses THWs, but also has a runestaff for Defence vs magical bolts. Interestingly enough, her physical DS is within 2 points using her 4x runestaff vs her 4x flamberge. I presume that's because she doesn't have all that much magical skills, having pumped a bunch of TPs into THW and CMans.

8 ranks magic provides the same contribution to parry DS as 1x training. Runestaves get several bonuses on top of this that THWs don't, so even at 8 magic ranks the runestaff DS will be higher. One of these had a recent change, so if you check now you will probably find the runestaff about 15 better than the THW in offensive than it used to be (and a point worse than it used to be in defensive).

At cap its about 7 magic ranks per level to have the same defensive DS with a 1x trained 4x THW as with a 4x runestaff. With more offensive stances and at lower level the magic ranks that give equal DS get lower. A warrior will have a better offensive DS with a 4x runestaff than a 4x THW until about level 30.

>OK, I knew it was around 8 ranks of magical skills to give an equal parry DS with THW training. Interesting about a change to make runestaves better; I must have missed that update somewhere along the line. This gal is really a tertiary character, just basically created to complete my set of "pure" characters who use THWs. Sorcerers sort of suck with weapons :)

With exactly 8 magic ranks per level you gain phantom THW ranks equal to your level. But, runestaff users also receive an additional 10 phantom rank bonus. With 8 magic ranks per level, a level 20 sorcerer would receive 30 phantom THW ranks which is equal to 1.5x training. Also, runestaff users now receive the full runestaff enchant bonus in all stances. This is not the case for THW users. In offensive stance a sorcerer with a 4x runestaff receives a +20 DS bonus. A warrior, in offensive stance, with a 4x maul only gains +6 DS from the enchant bonus.

Mark

I was considering having my wizard train in THW post cap to use his runestaff as a weapon (more for RP than anything) and had a coupla questions...

First off, what kind of damage do they do? Haven't found any tables for them yet...I'll proally find one after I write this...I'm guessing it's weak for a two hander, but it's still a two hander, right?

Secondly, if you have a flaring runestaff (like acid or plasma, not acuity) and you train in THW, will it flare offensively and defensively? -BRANTMANJ

Yes, it's classified as a THW when used offensively. It deals crush only damage and has DFs and AvDs that rival a dagger, literally. Defensively, it is always a runestaff, regardless of THW training.

You should still see flares when used offensively with attack commands.

http://www.krakiipedia.org/wiki/Runestaff
http://www.krakiipedia.org/wiki/Dagger

Mark

Wow, what's up with the horrible damage?! Maybe I'll be training in edged weapons after all...I'd love to swing a runestaff, but it'd still take an hour to kill anything with a 1 sec. rt, lol! At least with a dagger I could aim for an eye, I can't believe a two-hander does that little damage, yet another let down.

Thanks for the info tho, trip was another big reason I liked the idea of swinging a staff...I guess I could always put the staff in the left hand and swing a blade...Gandalf style, lol!

This is just not fitting any kind of RP option I had in mind...so from a mechanical standpoint, I'm now considering training polearms and swinging a lance...gonna look stupid, sounds ridiculous...but should be pretty devastating...

I may be missing something. There are staves that have tremendous critical weighting -- that help a bit.

But -- what RP option are we talking about here? The wizard who whips out his staff and splits the enemy down the middle?

Doug

And yet, they work for the purpose described, no?

And it doesn't really pertain to the question.

Doug