I noticed while messing around, that staffs that can be used as magic quarterstaves for melee weapon attacks, and show up under attacks, can't be selected as Hex Weapon by the Hexblade Warlock.
Some staffs might, but specifically the Staff of the Magi doesn't.
Because Staffs aren't SPECIFICALLY quarterstaffs. Yes, mechanically, they can be used as such, but they are not designed to. they are a magical staff, not a magical weapon.
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Formerly Devan Avalon.
Trying to get your physical content on Beyond is like going to Microsoft and saying "I have a physical Playstation disk, give me a digital Xbox version!"
Because Staffs aren't SPECIFICALLY quarterstaffs. Yes, mechanically, they can be used as such, but they are not designed to. they are a magical staff, not a magical weapon.
What's a Staff of Striking then?
The only magical effect it has is being a magical quarterstaff that can trigger additional damage when it hits with a melee attack. And, if you drain it of charges it becomes a non-magical quarterstaff.
Because it is, in fact, a quarterstaff.
There is no reason dndbeyond shouldn't fix this issue it's been here for years?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
Because Staffs aren't SPECIFICALLY quarterstaffs. Yes, mechanically, they can be used as such, but they are not designed to. they are a magical staff, not a magical weapon.
What's a Staff of Striking then?
The only magical effect it has is being a magical quarterstaff that can trigger additional damage when it hits with a melee attack. And, if you drain it of charges it becomes a non-magical quarterstaff.
Because it is, in fact, a quarterstaff.
There is no reason dndbeyond shouldn't fix this issue it's been here for years?
It's been fixed. Try adding a Staff of Striking or Staff of the Magi to your Hexblade's inventory.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Helpful rewriter of Japanese->English translation and delver into software codebases (she/e/they)
Because Staffs aren't SPECIFICALLY quarterstaffs. Yes, mechanically, they can be used as such, but they are not designed to. they are a magical staff, not a magical weapon.
What's a Staff of Striking then?
The only magical effect it has is being a magical quarterstaff that can trigger additional damage when it hits with a melee attack. And, if you drain it of charges it becomes a non-magical quarterstaff.
Because it is, in fact, a quarterstaff.
There is no reason dndbeyond shouldn't fix this issue it's been here for years?
It's been fixed. Try adding a Staff of Striking or Staff of the Magi to your Hexblade's inventory.
It hasn't
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
Magic staves currently don't register in the system as quarterstaves for the purpose of weapon based customisation such as flagging as a hex weapon. The most efficient work around to this is to add a quarterstaff with the appropriate modifier to your inventory and set that as your hex weapon. For added precision, you can make the following changes
Use the customise option to rename the quarterstaff to match the magic staff it's representing
Set the quarterstaffs weight to 0
Select the magic staff, select customise, and disable 'display as attack'
You'll now have a single entry in actions for the weapon attack with the correct modifiers and hex weapon property, and your inventory won't be more encumbered than it should be.
This limitation is due to the fact that magic items can only currently occupy one category type, with magic staves set as Item > Staff rather than Weapon > Quarterstaff.
Edit: The above isn't needed if you take Pact of the Blade which causes the Hex Weapon option to appear.
You need to be level 3 and have Pact of the Blade in order to make a magical weapon your pact weapon, and also be able to make it your hex weapon.
If you add any of the magical "quarterstaff" items they can be made a hex weapon with no issues. The "staff" items, which RAW are also quarterstaff items aren't being flagged as such in dndbeyond. So none of them can be selected as a hex weapon. That is in error.
Magic staves currently don't register in the system as quarterstaves for the purpose of weapon based customisation such as flagging as a hex weapon. The most efficient work around to this is to add a quarterstaff with the appropriate modifier to your inventory and set that as your hex weapon. For added precision, you can make the following changes
Use the customise option to rename the quarterstaff to match the magic staff it's representing
Set the quarterstaffs weight to 0
Select the magic staff, select customise, and disable 'display as attack'
You'll now have a single entry in actions for the weapon attack with the correct modifiers and hex weapon property, and your inventory won't be more encumbered than it should be.
This limitation is due to the fact that magic items can only currently occupy one category type, with magic staves set as Item > Staff rather than Weapon > Quarterstaff.
Shouldn't they just be set to quarterstaff then? There functionally no difference except for that having it be a quarterstaff type means it works as intended, as a quarterstaff. I've been playing around with work-arounds, so thanks for this suggestion. It seems the easier work-around is to make a copy of the item and rename it Quarterstaff of Striking and then change the type to Weapon->Quarterstaff and then the custom item works as intended. Though I haven't done any major testing if all of everything is working right in the background yet.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
Shouldn't they just be set to quarterstaff then? There functionally no difference except for that having it be a quarterstaff type means it works as intended, as a quarterstaff.
These items are listed in the rules as staves, not quarterstaffs, so are setup as such to respect what WotC lists them as
I added a bunch of staffs/quarterstaff options to try and the staffs don't work unless I build out a Quarterstaff version of them.
You only have 2 Warlock levels. You need 3 and take Pact of the Blade in order to get the checkboxes for Pact and Hex Weapon on a magic weapon or staff. (At the least I had to do that.) I will say that technically a plain arcane focus Staff should be a legal Hex Weapon even at lower levels, but that would be the one case where it's not allowing it in my tests.
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Helpful rewriter of Japanese->English translation and delver into software codebases (she/e/they)
I added a bunch of staffs/quarterstaff options to try and the staffs don't work unless I build out a Quarterstaff version of them.
You only have 2 Warlock levels. You need 3 and take Pact of the Blade in order to get the checkboxes for Pact and Hex Weapon on a magic weapon or staff. (At the least I had to do that.) I will say that technically a plain arcane focus Staff should be a legal Hex Weapon even at lower levels, but that would be the one case where it's not allowing it in my tests.
Yeah there is no restriction on hex weapon for magic items(in the rules). Needing to get Pact Weapon for it to show up is the problem that we're discussing. It should be an option from level 1 hexblade onward without needing the pact at all.
Davyd's work around is actually pretty easy though I just tried it. Basically just add a 2nd item to inventory, just the Quarterstaff +3. Then remove the Staff of Striking from displaying as an attack, and then set the Quarterstaff's weight to 0. This isn't a super, super, super clean work around but it certainly is functional. The +3 Quarterstaff by default is selectable as a hex weapon.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
Ah, you're right. I was thrown off by the description of making a magic weapon your Pact weapon. I guess whoever coded the Hex Weapon feature made a similar mistake?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Helpful rewriter of Japanese->English translation and delver into software codebases (she/e/they)
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I noticed while messing around, that staffs that can be used as magic quarterstaves for melee weapon attacks, and show up under attacks, can't be selected as Hex Weapon by the Hexblade Warlock.
Some staffs might, but specifically the Staff of the Magi doesn't.
Is this a bug, or system working as intended?
Because Staffs aren't SPECIFICALLY quarterstaffs. Yes, mechanically, they can be used as such, but they are not designed to. they are a magical staff, not a magical weapon.
Formerly Devan Avalon.
Trying to get your physical content on Beyond is like going to Microsoft and saying "I have a physical Playstation disk, give me a digital Xbox version!"
Make a homebrew copy of the staff and change item type from staff to quarterstaff.
What's a Staff of Striking then?
The only magical effect it has is being a magical quarterstaff that can trigger additional damage when it hits with a melee attack. And, if you drain it of charges it becomes a non-magical quarterstaff.
Because it is, in fact, a quarterstaff.
There is no reason dndbeyond shouldn't fix this issue it's been here for years?
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
It's been fixed. Try adding a Staff of Striking or Staff of the Magi to your Hexblade's inventory.
Helpful rewriter of Japanese->English translation and delver into software codebases (she/e/they)
It hasn't
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
You need to be level 3 and have Pact of the Blade in order to make a magical weapon your pact weapon, and also be able to make it your hex weapon.
Helpful rewriter of Japanese->English translation and delver into software codebases (she/e/they)
Magic staves currently don't register in the system as quarterstaves for the purpose of weapon based customisation such as flagging as a hex weapon. The most efficient work around to this is to add a quarterstaff with the appropriate modifier to your inventory and set that as your hex weapon. For added precision, you can make the following changes
You'll now have a single entry in actions for the weapon attack with the correct modifiers and hex weapon property, and your inventory won't be more encumbered than it should be.
This limitation is due to the fact that magic items can only currently occupy one category type, with magic staves set as Item > Staff rather than Weapon > Quarterstaff.
Edit: The above isn't needed if you take Pact of the Blade which causes the Hex Weapon option to appear.
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
No seriously, Davyd, you can see it on this test character: https://www.dndbeyond.com/profile/naruhoodie/characters/51851795
Edit: Oh, wait, is this one of those features being beta-tested on subscribers?
Helpful rewriter of Japanese->English translation and delver into software codebases (she/e/they)
Weird, lemme check my character because I wasn't seeing that option. I don't think it's being alpha tested on subscribers.
Edit: it appears the option only appears if you've take the Pact of the Blade pact boon, which seems like a bug that I'll pass along
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
If you add any of the magical "quarterstaff" items they can be made a hex weapon with no issues. The "staff" items, which RAW are also quarterstaff items aren't being flagged as such in dndbeyond. So none of them can be selected as a hex weapon. That is in error.
Shouldn't they just be set to quarterstaff then? There functionally no difference except for that having it be a quarterstaff type means it works as intended, as a quarterstaff. I've been playing around with work-arounds, so thanks for this suggestion. It seems the easier work-around is to make a copy of the item and rename it Quarterstaff of Striking and then change the type to Weapon->Quarterstaff and then the custom item works as intended. Though I haven't done any major testing if all of everything is working right in the background yet.
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
I've got both a Staff of Striking and Staff of Birdcalls equipped as hex weapons on that character sheet.
Edit: And now I've added the non-magical arcane focus Staff. Hex weapon.
Helpful rewriter of Japanese->English translation and delver into software codebases (she/e/they)
Super weird. I've been toying with options on this test character: https://www.dndbeyond.com/profile/Ravnodaus/characters/61676324
I added a bunch of staffs/quarterstaff options to try and the staffs don't work unless I build out a Quarterstaff version of them.
Edit: Okay after reviewing your test character too it is probably because of the pact of the blade enabling all options to be selectable. I suspect.
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
These items are listed in the rules as staves, not quarterstaffs, so are setup as such to respect what WotC lists them as
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
You only have 2 Warlock levels. You need 3 and take Pact of the Blade in order to get the checkboxes for Pact and Hex Weapon on a magic weapon or staff. (At the least I had to do that.) I will say that technically a plain arcane focus Staff should be a legal Hex Weapon even at lower levels, but that would be the one case where it's not allowing it in my tests.
Helpful rewriter of Japanese->English translation and delver into software codebases (she/e/they)
Yeah there is no restriction on hex weapon for magic items(in the rules). Needing to get Pact Weapon for it to show up is the problem that we're discussing. It should be an option from level 1 hexblade onward without needing the pact at all.
Davyd's work around is actually pretty easy though I just tried it. Basically just add a 2nd item to inventory, just the Quarterstaff +3. Then remove the Staff of Striking from displaying as an attack, and then set the Quarterstaff's weight to 0. This isn't a super, super, super clean work around but it certainly is functional. The +3 Quarterstaff by default is selectable as a hex weapon.
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
Ah, you're right. I was thrown off by the description of making a magic weapon your Pact weapon. I guess whoever coded the Hex Weapon feature made a similar mistake?
Helpful rewriter of Japanese->English translation and delver into software codebases (she/e/they)