Staff of the Magi has a feature called "Retributive Strike". The text of the item says, "You can use an action to break the staff over your knee or against a solid surface, performing a retributive strike. The staff is destroyed and releases its remaining magic in an explosion that expands to fill a 30-foot-radius sphere centered on it." Could you use Bigby's Hand, or Telekinesis, or some other means of moving the staff far enough away from you (more than 30 feet) that you won't take any damage from the Retributive Strike? The text makes it sound like you have to be the force that breaks the staff, but I think "or against a solid surface" is the operative phrase. I think it's a fair interpretation to say that you could use Telekinesis to move the staff more than 30 feet away from you, then smash it over the BBEG's head and force them to potentially take 400 points of force damage. Anybody know if I'm totally missing something here?
Staff of the Magi has a feature called "Retributive Strike". The text of the item says, "You can use an action to break the staff over your knee or against a solid surface, performing a retributive strike. The staff is destroyed and releases its remaining magic in an explosion that expands to fill a 30-foot-radius sphere centered on it." Could you use Bigby's Hand, or Telekinesis, or some other means of moving the staff far enough away from you (more than 30 feet) that you won't take any damage from the Retributive Strike? The text makes it sound like you have to be the force that breaks the staff, but I think "or against a solid surface" is the operative phrase. I think it's a fair interpretation to say that you could use Telekinesis to move the staff more than 30 feet away from you, then smash it over the BBEG's head and force them to potentially take 400 points of force damage. Anybody know if I'm totally missing something here?
I think RAI, whatever is touching it takes the damage. RAW(Which a DM would most likely invoke), you must do it yourself.
Since it is an action it grants you, it can't be performed by anything that requires your action/bonus action/etc to do, so no telekinesis or hands. It also specifically has to be you (the one granted the action) that does it, so no familiars, unseen servants, or simulacrums.
If the BBEG is within 10ft, he still takes 400 force damage or half on save. Just have a clone ready.
It's not even RAI, it's RAW: ""You can use an action to break the staff over your knee or against a solid surface, performing a retributive strike." It has to be voluntary and always done by the owner. The "you" in there is the attuned owner. It's not "when the staff is broken", it's a specific power called retributive strike.
Well, having to take an action precludes the use of Telekinesis or Mage Hand or anything similar, but RAW there is no reason why throwing the staff at a "solid surface", using your action, wouldn't work. I think RAI is to break it while holding it, but it is not required by a strict RAW interpretation, and there is enough wiggle room in the rules to allow throwing it (the rules say you have a 50% chance to instantly travel somewhere, avoiding the explosion, and then say "if you fail to avoid the effect", and not "otherwise", which allows for a third outcome: you don't travel anywhere, but still avoid the effect, by, for example, not being within 30' of it when it explodes, or maybe by a Contingency).
It's not even RAI, it's RAW: ""You can use an action to break the staff over your knee or against a solid surface, performing a retributive strike." It has to be voluntary and always done by the owner. The "you" in there is the attuned owner. It's not "when the staff is broken", it's a specific power called retributive strike.
Well, having to take an action precludes the use of Telekinesis or Mage Hand or anything similar, but RAW there is no reason why throwing the staff at a "solid surface", using your action, wouldn't work. I think RAI is to break it while holding it, but it is not required by a strict RAW interpretation, and there is enough wiggle room in the rules to allow throwing it (the rules say you have a 50% chance to instantly travel somewhere, avoiding the explosion, and then say "if you fail to avoid the effect", and not "otherwise", which allows for a third outcome: you don't travel anywhere, but still avoid the effect, by, for example, not being within 30' of it when it explodes, or maybe by a Contingency).
given that the retributive strike is not activated whenever the staff strikes a solid surface (or it would do so if you used it to attack an enemy, or used it as a walking stick), I would say that throwing it would not activate the strike, you would just be throwing the staff (which doesn't have the thrown property BTW, so I doubt you could throw it hard enough to break it anyway). No DM worth their salt would allow you to escape the damage simply by throwing the thing away from you.
Also, contingency wouldn't work to avoid the damage...it happens after its trigger, not during, and there is no point between breaking the staff and taking the damage (unless you teleported out via the staff's effect). That said, contingency could be used to trigger a resurrection spell or similar to keep you from permanently dying, or a healing spell if you didn't die outright from the damage.
It's not even RAI, it's RAW: ""You can use an action to break the staff over your knee or against a solid surface, performing a retributive strike." It has to be voluntary and always done by the owner. The "you" in there is the attuned owner. It's not "when the staff is broken", it's a specific power called retributive strike.
Well, having to take an action precludes the use of Telekinesis or Mage Hand or anything similar, but RAW there is no reason why throwing the staff at a "solid surface", using your action, wouldn't work. I think RAI is to break it while holding it, but it is not required by a strict RAW interpretation, and there is enough wiggle room in the rules to allow throwing it (the rules say you have a 50% chance to instantly travel somewhere, avoiding the explosion, and then say "if you fail to avoid the effect", and not "otherwise", which allows for a third outcome: you don't travel anywhere, but still avoid the effect, by, for example, not being within 30' of it when it explodes, or maybe by a Contingency).
given that the retributive strike is not activated whenever the staff strikes a solid surface (or it would do so if you used it to attack an enemy, or used it as a walking stick), I would say that throwing it would not activate the strike, you would just be throwing the staff (which doesn't have the thrown property BTW, so I doubt you could throw it hard enough to break it anyway). No DM worth their salt would allow you to escape the damage simply by throwing the thing away from you.
Also, contingency wouldn't work to avoid the damage...it happens after its trigger, not during, and there is no point between breaking the staff and taking the damage (unless you teleported out via the staff's effect). That said, contingency could be used to trigger a resurrection spell or similar to keep you from permanently dying, or a healing spell if you didn't die outright from the damage.
The retributive strike is also not activated by any contact with the owner's knee, otherwise adventuring with it would be ridiculously dangerous. You need to "break the staff" in order for the retributive strike to go off. Striking a creature as part of an attack won't do it. Breaking it over your knee will, and so will breaking it against a solid surface. There is no written requirement that you must be holding the staff when that happens, so it is most certainly RAW-compliant to throw the staff and have it break against a surface some distance away. "No true Scotsman" and ad hominen fallacies aside, you can't fault a DM for running the game as it was written, and while, like I said, I don't think the intent is to be able to throw the staff and break it against a surface some distance away, I don't think it's particularly "broken" to allow it, since you're sacrificing a Legendary item in order to do an admittedly high amount of damage, targeting a commonly high save, with a relatively low (for the power level) DC for half damage. Meteor Swarm does less damage per target (well, assuming a fairly "full" staff), but does more damage overall.
Contingency can work: Invulnerability triggered by your aiming the staff towards a surface, or raising it above your knee as it to break it. Well, that'll avoid the damage, at least. :D
Staff of the Magi has a feature called "Retributive Strike". The text of the item says, "You can use an action to break the staff over your knee or against a solid surface, performing a retributive strike. The staff is destroyed and releases its remaining magic in an explosion that expands to fill a 30-foot-radius sphere centered on it." Could you use Bigby's Hand, or Telekinesis, or some other means of moving the staff far enough away from you (more than 30 feet) that you won't take any damage from the Retributive Strike? The text makes it sound like you have to be the force that breaks the staff, but I think "or against a solid surface" is the operative phrase. I think it's a fair interpretation to say that you could use Telekinesis to move the staff more than 30 feet away from you, then smash it over the BBEG's head and force them to potentially take 400 points of force damage. Anybody know if I'm totally missing something here?
I think RAI, whatever is touching it takes the damage. RAW(Which a DM would most likely invoke), you must do it yourself.
I have a weird sense of humor.
I also make maps.(That's a link)
Since it is an action it grants you, it can't be performed by anything that requires your action/bonus action/etc to do, so no telekinesis or hands. It also specifically has to be you (the one granted the action) that does it, so no familiars, unseen servants, or simulacrums.
If the BBEG is within 10ft, he still takes 400 force damage or half on save. Just have a clone ready.
Well, having to take an action precludes the use of Telekinesis or Mage Hand or anything similar, but RAW there is no reason why throwing the staff at a "solid surface", using your action, wouldn't work. I think RAI is to break it while holding it, but it is not required by a strict RAW interpretation, and there is enough wiggle room in the rules to allow throwing it (the rules say you have a 50% chance to instantly travel somewhere, avoiding the explosion, and then say "if you fail to avoid the effect", and not "otherwise", which allows for a third outcome: you don't travel anywhere, but still avoid the effect, by, for example, not being within 30' of it when it explodes, or maybe by a Contingency).
given that the retributive strike is not activated whenever the staff strikes a solid surface (or it would do so if you used it to attack an enemy, or used it as a walking stick), I would say that throwing it would not activate the strike, you would just be throwing the staff (which doesn't have the thrown property BTW, so I doubt you could throw it hard enough to break it anyway). No DM worth their salt would allow you to escape the damage simply by throwing the thing away from you.
Also, contingency wouldn't work to avoid the damage...it happens after its trigger, not during, and there is no point between breaking the staff and taking the damage (unless you teleported out via the staff's effect). That said, contingency could be used to trigger a resurrection spell or similar to keep you from permanently dying, or a healing spell if you didn't die outright from the damage.
The retributive strike is also not activated by any contact with the owner's knee, otherwise adventuring with it would be ridiculously dangerous. You need to "break the staff" in order for the retributive strike to go off. Striking a creature as part of an attack won't do it. Breaking it over your knee will, and so will breaking it against a solid surface. There is no written requirement that you must be holding the staff when that happens, so it is most certainly RAW-compliant to throw the staff and have it break against a surface some distance away. "No true Scotsman" and ad hominen fallacies aside, you can't fault a DM for running the game as it was written, and while, like I said, I don't think the intent is to be able to throw the staff and break it against a surface some distance away, I don't think it's particularly "broken" to allow it, since you're sacrificing a Legendary item in order to do an admittedly high amount of damage, targeting a commonly high save, with a relatively low (for the power level) DC for half damage. Meteor Swarm does less damage per target (well, assuming a fairly "full" staff), but does more damage overall.
Contingency can work: Invulnerability triggered by your aiming the staff towards a surface, or raising it above your knee as it to break it. Well, that'll avoid the damage, at least. :D
Contingency - requires the spell to be of 5th level or lower...
Which is why I'm insisting it won't work, sheesh!
(Oops!)