Staff of the magi

The staff of the magi was a powerful magical artifact.

Description
Generally, a staff of the magi was a long wooden staff encased in iron and inscribed with magical sigils and runes.

Powers
The staff of the magi had a number of abilities that were permanent and a number of others that required charges. It bestowed spell resistance upon its bearer, although the bearer could willingly lower the spell resistance in order to absorb spell energy in order to add more charges. If the staff's charges ever exceeded 50, or if the bearer chose to do so, it broke and exploded in a powerful magical burst. When this happened, the bearer had a 50% chance of either being destroyed by the staff's energy or traveling to another plane of existence.

The staff allowed unlimited use of the following abilities: detect magic, enlarge person, hold portal, light, mage armor, and mage hand.

The staff was created with 50 charges. Each of the following abilities used one charge per use: dispel magic, fireball, ice storm, invisibility, knock, lightning bolt, passwall, pyrotechnics, wall of fire, and web. Each of the following abilities used two charges per use: summon monster IX, plane shift, telekinesis (up to 400 lbs.).

Notable owners

 * Anastra Syluné Silverhand: One of the Seven Sisters; died after breaking her staff of the magi to protect the Twisted Tower.
 * Hoch Miraz: A wizard from Calimshan, believed to have sunk to his doom off the coast of Gundarlun with a staff of the magi in his possession.
 * Larloch: Former Sorcerer-King of Jiksidur.
 * Prismal the Outrageous: A wizard in Raven's Bluff.
 * Rhangaun: A lich and senior member of the Twisted Rune.
 * Sammaster: Former Chosen of Mystra and founder of the Cult of the Dragon
 * Ulraunt: Keeper of the Tomes at Candlekeep; reputedly owned a staff with the same powers as a staff of the magi and more.
 * Catti-brie