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Staves are the humblest of weapons, dating back to times when the long wooden shaft was often a farmer’s only martial defence against any herbivores attacking his crops. These simple weapons have played an essential role in weapons training for many monastic traditions and martial arts. A skilled user could use both the staff’s ends to trip enemies, knock weapons from an opponent’s grip, block-and-parry incoming attacks, all with astonishing finesse. Outside such austere training grounds, the practice of staff fighting has gained little acceptance in everyday society… and even the most proficient martial artist skilled with a staff’s use would understand that they’d pose little threat when lifted against a heavily-armoured or tremendously powerful opponent, such as angered Uralghan or crovalahn warriors.
Despite their use as weapons, staves are commonly used as farming implements and walking sticks, making as much an everyday utility as a weapon. The wizard’s practice of channelling enchantments into a physical chamber works best when being directed into an unsophisticated, elongated anchor (e.g., something that isn’t too complex in structure and composition). Therefore, staves are almost invariably favoured by spellcasters for holding supernatural energies indefinitely, and many seasoned Noble wizards are seen possessing a magical staff as their energy focus… which also serves as a walking stick for an elderly spellcaster. Amidst other trigrams, use of staves is less common, although nature wizards are known for carrying oakwood branches as a foci for naturalistic energy.
Use and techniques
While staves are frequently used in duals and weapons training, the weapon’s effectiveness against large, powerful adversaries is severely limited. A quarterstaff might effortlessly parry aside an enemy’s shaki, but attempting to use a similar technique to deflect the gnashing fangs of an angered uralghan would be useless. Nevertheless, staves can perform offensive techniques considerably well against most opponents, and many quarterstaves are reinforced with iron-shod ends to augment the weapon’s smashing force. Some are even suited for stabbing and thrusting motions, with hooked or spiked endings. The quarterstaff’s capability as a dual-weapon makes it particularly suited for one-on-one melee, where one end serves as to deflect incoming attacks, whilst the other performs the warrior’s offensive techniques.
Composition
Staves are commonly built from durable, rigid materials such as hardwood, stone, or iron. Wooden staves are commonly supplemented with iron-shod ends, which are also sometimes sheathed with sharp points for added damage. Some quarterstaves end in hooked or pointed formations, which permit users to perform more effective tripping, disarming and thrusting techniques, respectively. More utilitarian staves are usually built from sanded wood and lack any measure of real durability as a weapon… a farmer’s quarterstaff would likely break if smashed against a warrior’s armour plating. Most staves are balanced evenly on both ends, so as to allow warriors to execute both defensive and offensive techniques with either end.