Fully Staffed
A few weeks ago, I provided you with some feats designed to make fighting with a rapier feel different from fighting with other kinds of weapons. Naturally, this sets up the expectation that there will be more articles with more feats designed to make certain weapons stand out and feel different from other weapons, in a mechanical and flavorful way. Today, I’m going to take a moment to put the quarterstaff in the spotlight.
Disorienting Blow
A single blow from your staff leaves opponents unable to tell up from down.
Prerequisites: Stunning Blow, Stunning Fist, Weapon Focus (quarterstaff), base attack bonus +11.
Benefit: As a full-round action, you can make a single attack with your quarterstaff at your highest base attack bonus. If the attack hits, it deals damage as normal, and the opponent must succeed on a Fortitude save (DC 5 + damage dealt) or be confused for 1d8 rounds.
Leg Sweep
You have mastered the art of using your staff to knock your foes’ feet out from under them.
Prerequisites: Improved Trip, Weapon Focus (quarterstaff).
Benefit: When wielding the quarterstaff as a two-handed weapon (instead of a double weapon), you may treat it as a trip weapon, and make trip attempts with it. Further, when using a quarterstaff to trip your opponent in this way, you cannot be knocked prone, even if your combat maneuver check fails to meet the target’s CMD by 10 or more.
Staff Mage
You can channel your spells through your staff for greater accuracy.
Prerequisites: Weapon Focus (quarterstaff), ability to cast 2nd-level arcane spells.
Benefit: Whenever you cast a spell that requires a touch attack or a ranged touch attack as part of its effect, if you are wielding a quarterstaff, you may add that quarterstaff’s enhancement bonus, if any, to the attack roll.
Stunning Blow
You know how to use a quarterstaff to deliver a sharp, disorienting knock to the head.
Prerequisites: Stunning Fist, Weapon Focus (quarterstaff).
Benefit: You may make stunning fist attempts using your quarterstaff, instead of your unarmed strike. All other aspects of your stunning fist attack remain the same. Additionally, when fighting with a quarterstaff, you can choose to have it deal nonlethal damage without suffering a penalty on attack rolls.
Two-Length Fighting
You can quickly shift your grip with the quarterstaff to attack nearby foes, or far ones.
Prerequisites: Lunge, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Focus (quarterstaff).
Benefit: When you are two-weapon fighting or using the flurry of blows action with a quarterstaff, if you use the Lunge feat at the same time, you may choose to only increase your reach for some, rather than all, of your attacks, allowing you to attack adjacent creatures with some of your attacks and further creatures with others. Additionally, you may choose to suffer a -2 penalty on all attack rolls in the round, instead of the normal -2 penalty to AC when using the Lunge feat, when using it with a quarterstaff.