Besides weapons that deal stun damage (check the errata for how they changed that, BTW), if you are hit by an attack that will kill you, you can spend a Force Point to remain alive and unconscious.

I don't know if there are any rules for pulling punches and the like. Will have to check that.

I love it!

So far I'm just increasing the defense of the target by 5 if the attacker wants to pull their punches. But yeah, so far I haven't found any rules for it.

Is the entity summoned by "Guardian of Faith" able to gain attacks or attack/damage bonuses from warlord abilities like Brash Assault or Furious Smash?

No, Guardian of Faith is a conjuration, not a creature, and is not affected by most powers or effects that target creatures.

Furthermore although conjurations count as allies for the purposes of movement and possibly cover, they are not allies for the purpose of powers and effects.

Brash Assault specifically does not work because Guardian of Faith (as most conjurations) does not have any basic melee attacks. Conjuration attacks are not basic attacks by default, and so they cannot make opportunity attacks either for example.

Alright - Since I'm without any useful sources at the moment, I'll leave it with you guys.

In 4e, a quarterstaff (melee, two-handed weapon), cannot be used as an implement in place of an Implement staff (one-handed implement) when using an Implement power, right?

Now, since a magical Implement staff can be used as a quarterstaff; would they get the quarterstaff proficiency bonus if they felt like smacking someone upside the head with it?

Magentawolf,

My reading is that a staff is a staff. Like daggers for sorcerers, holy blades for paladins and light and heavy blades for swordmages it can either be an implement or a weapon depending on how you use it.

I'd actually been wondering if a staff when used as an implement was 1H or 2H. Do you see anything in the rules that addresses the handedness of staffs when used as an implement. Clearly when you wield a staff as a weapon it is 2H.

I would say that a quarterstaff _can_ be used as an implement in place of an implement staff .. though if it isn't a magical quarterstaff it wouldn't provide any enhancement bonus. (My understanding is that there are +0 wands, orbs, rods, and holy symbols just like there are +0 (quarter)staffs.)

Holding a non-enchanted quarterstaff is enough, in my reading, to allow a staff wizard to activate his or her con mod based encounter defensive bonus. Just like holding a non-enchanted wand will allow a wand wizard to get a bonus to a single attack roll equal to their dex mod.

A staff (with a bonus or not) that is an implement can certainly be used to resoundingly pound foes skulls, and if the wielder had staff or simple melee proficiency then they'd get the +2 proficiency bonus when doing so.

That's my reading of the rules, anyway.

-Orrin

I agree with Orrin on all counts. Staves are both implements and weapons. When used as an implement, its enhancement bonus applies to attack rolls and damage rolls. When used as a weapon, its enhancement bonus and its proficiency bonus both apply to attack rolls, and its enhancement bonus applies to damage rolls.

A mundane quarterstaff can be used as an implement for the purposes of Implement Mastery: Staff for example, adding to the defense of the mage wielding it.

A PC must have Implement Proficiency with staves to use a staff as an implement, and must have Weapon Proficiency with staves to gain the proficiency bonus when using it as a weapon. All classes that can use a staff as an implement also have proficiency with it as a weapon.

The handedness of staffs when used as an implement is undefined and left to the judgment of the DM. I would probably allow it to be used one-handed as an implement to keep it in line with other implements, despite how much better Staff Mastery is compared to other implement mastery features.

This does mean, however, that staff-wielders get twice as many possible enchantments on their implements as others do, then. Those that apply to quarterstaves, and those that apply to implements.

As for the handedness; the builder lists all of the quarterstaves as two-hands, and the implements as offhand.

Magentawolf,

I haven't counted them, so I don't know if it is twice. But I think the general answer is Yes. I think that if you have a plain, unenchanted, quarterstaff and you are high enough level to be able to use the enchant magic item ritual and you are looking at all the different rituals ... yes you could pick from among both those in the "weapon" category that apply to staff and those in the implement category that apply to staff.

But don't forget that you can enchant any encounter attack or encounter utility spell into your wand -- that's pretty flexible too.

-Orrin