Wand vs. Staff - Properly equipping your characters.

[JustSnilloc]

Within the fantasy genre, several thousand (if not millions), of different worlds exist. Each world has its own laws and way of doing things, but magic is an almost omnipresent force in the genre as a whole, and it's often portrayed in different ways. Through this topic, I want to get a better understanding of a specific area of magic in fiction, how it is channeled.

Regardless of how the magic is activated, it will often be channeled through something, and that is typically one of three things; a wand, a staff, or a tome. I originally entitled this "Wand vs Staff", but when I started to go into detail, I realized that tomes were just as, if not more, common in fantasy tales. The main idea still stands however, and that is defining the use and connotations that come with utilizing the magical tools listed above.

Basically, I'm looking for insight from everyone's experiences with the genre and what you all think of each of these. Which you like best is arbitrary, but still nice to know.

[iamsuperguppy]

I'll take staff over wand and tome. But honestly I would prefer the hand, force style.

[Deleted]

When I was like, 12 years old and still a massive Harry Potter fangirl, I voraciously devoured Harry Potter fanfiction. I read one called the 7th Magus, or something like that. It was about Harry discovering that he was a Magus (basically a magical Super Man) and became super OP. He could do the magics without any wand and stuff like that. But what interested me more than Harry was Voldemort, and by extension Snape and Malfoy. They were linked through this strange Slytherin heritage thing, and there was some hidden fortress that Voldie found, and when he sat upon the throne of this place, he essentially became a self-made Magus in terms of power. It sounds kinda... eh when you write it out like that, but the way it was built up and the scene that finally made it happen, I still remember details from that plot line and just the sense of magic about it.

Now, you may be thinking, what does this have to do with the poll? These are two examples of magic that don't involve any of the poll options! But that's sort of my point, I think. It doesn't really matter what you give your character: a wand, a staff, a book, a deck of cards, a set of rings, a flute, a fish... okay, maybe not a fish, but then again that could be interesting... Anyway, point being, it's all in how you portray the magic. Give your character whatever you think fits well.

If I had to pick one of those three choices, though, I'd go tome. A magical book has a lot of possibilities.

[jacklamont]

To use the logic of the longest surviving headmaster of the Unseen University of Magic, if something survives being bashed over the head with six feet of solid oak, magic ain't going to do much either.

A staff makes a good melee weapon, in case your foe get's close. Plus, it can be a versatile tool and focus, basically like a wand but bigger.