Craft-able Staff Bands.

[TheCacklackian]

So, since swords are so well fleshed out, i had an idea for staves. There are already some banded staves, but they are only available in stores, I am suggesting giving artisans (or maybe general blacksmiths) the ability to craft bands of different kinds to attach to staves. Anyone can attach a band to a stave, however to do so they need, A staff of any kind that is not banded, 2 band types(differences between bands will give you a penalty for weapon balance and how many strikes you can get out of a weapon, this includes differences between band type, quality(Maybe?), and metal. This acts in part as a balancing tool, sure you can have two different kinds of bands for different situations, however, if you chose to do so, you will get less hits per round of combat, it also makes sense, if you have an iron band on one end, then a significantly heavier band on the other, your weapon will be less balanced, where as if you put two nearly identical bands on it, it will stay pretty well balanced. Another downside is it will add weight to a staff, and very likely make it unable to work with tactics dirty fighting, which I believe will help balance this out some.
The suggested band types are as follows:
Standard Band-Bludgeon damage (Slightly more than standard, and does alchemical damage depending on metal and target, eg iron band does alchemical damage to netherim.)-Forging Blunt
Spiked Band-Pierce damage(Does primarily pierce damage)-Forging Bladed
Bladed Band-(Some slash damage, some hack damage.)-Forging Bladed
Studded Band-Does mix of bludgeon and crush damage.)-Forging Blunt

These bands will overall make staves slightly more durable (As it helps keep staves from splitting I think) however, it will require both the stave and the bands to be maintained(I think druids can repair staves?) The bands can be removed from the staves, however doing so will damage the staff by varying amounts, this discourages trying to swap bands.
Note-A material like bloodglass will gain no bonus for the two blunt bands, however, will gain a damage bonus to spiked bands and bladed bands due to the rarity of bloodglass, and the more common durability. Even with bands staves should not have the same max damage as other specialized weapons.
I would say that if everyone can forge bands, artisans should be the only ones able to forge sunsteel, celestium, bloodglass and cobalt bands.
TLDR Pros and Cons
Pros:
More varied damage types.
Alchemical damage (Depending on material)
Higher durability and damage for staves.
(Shhhh...Nethrium stave bands)
Cons:
Possibly reduces amount of hits for staves
Removes the ability to use tactic dirty fighting due to weight.
Extra encumbrance (Minor)
Requires Maintenance from a blacksmith

I see staves getting a bit of attention, also, something to note, you would not be able to put these bands on elemancer staves, due to the interference dense objects have with magic.
These are just some ideas that may or may not be entirely realistic (But hey, it's low fantasy, so i think it could work). Any other ideas for something like this would be welcome!

[Math321]

A few things to put this in line with the rest of the crafting system:

Most metals weigh the same as each other. This means two different bands usually won't have significantly different weight. Also, most of the time, an item only has 2 parts. A haft and a head, a hilt and a blade, etc. Extending this to staves would require that you make "a pair of bands" as a single item and then vice them to the staff in question - this means you cannot have two different bands. Both bands would have to be the same type and metal, and functionally act as a single item for the purposes of the game.

No items have replaceable parts. The bands on a staff shouldn't be replaceable either, even if swapping WOULD damage the staff.

To my knowledge, if an item can be crafted by Artisans, it's either Artisan-only or anyone can make it. It doesn't make sense to limit certain metal-types to Artisans only - no other item works that way.

The staff and the bands can't be maintained separately - no item has two different durability counters. A way of maintaining the whole item would need to be decided on - in this case, the druid repair seems to fit more.

------

In all, I'm in favor of the idea, but those tweaks need to be made in order to make it line up with how the rest of the crafting system functions.

[TheCacklackian]

Those are fair enough points! If pair of bands counted as one item that'd be fine, in regards to not replacing the bands, unless the bands make the staves repairable, I would like to see the bands be removeable even if it destroys the staff in the process (Maybe damaging the bands making them need repair as well?)
Thank you for your feedback! I really do like this idea as a hole, it would help flesh staves out a bit I think

[Kent]

Weapons of all sorts wear out. No need to complicate a good idea. Forge a set of metal bands (seems simple enough an item, comparable to a barrel hoop, so I'd say any blacksmith could forge it.) one set of bands is forged at one forging, then viced onto the staff or quarterstaff. In keeping with the staves sold in Mistral Lake, the weapon is considered made mainly of the metal (in Mistral Lake's case, of iron)...on a side note, I played a different MUD years ago and the finished product was termed, An iron-shod staff.

[TheCacklackian]

I know weapons wear out but staves wear out very very quickly in my experience. The whole idea of band removal is just so it gives people a way to keep the same bands for longer due to how quickly staves wear out and are unable to be repaired without a druid(I think). If this changed where to bands allowed blacksmiths to repair the staves then there would be no need to remove said bands, I just don't want something such as cobalt bands to be throw away items because after 20 or 30 minutes of combat your staff is half broken and non repairable. If having these bands on the staff turned it into a metal weapon functionally, allowing blacksmiths to repair it then I have no issue with them being non removable.
Thanks for the feedback! I think this could be a good idea in practice.

[Kent]

You've missed the part where I mentioned the staff is now made "mainly of iron", or if you make the bands of cobalt, they are made "mainly of cobalt." They no longer are coded as made of wood with it's rapid deterioration rate.

For size, should be talking no more than 2 pounds, one pound for each end.

[TheCacklackian]

That would be fine then yeah, it keeps the negative of no more dirty fighting tactics with staves!