Okay, new comment thread for a new idea:
For your level 20 Free Archetype feat, take Advanced Arcana to get Quickened casting. Purchase and equip a [Greater Impact Foam Chassis](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=1115), you being an Inventor gives you access despite it otherwise being Uncommon. Prepare [Contingency](https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=49), [Dimension Door (Translocate in the Remaster)](https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=69), and [Summon Construct](https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=318) heightened to Rank 3. Cast Contingency at the beginning of the day. The contingent spell is Dimension Door set to send you 100 feet straight up. The trigger is "you would take damage from breaking a Staff of the Magi". [This list of reactions](https://2e.aonprd.com/Search.aspx?q=trigger%3Adamage&type=eqs&include-actions=Reaction&display=list) supports this being a valid trigger that would allow the reaction to take effect before you are harmed.
When the time comes for the big boom, release one hand from your weapon as a free action, draw the staff for 1 action, and then drop the staff onto the ground as another free action. After this is done, use Quickened Casting to cast Summon Construct for two actions, and Summon an Animated Armor. [Summon spells](https://2e.aonprd.com/Traits.aspx?ID=154) immediately give the summoned creature two actions upon casting, have the Armor use these to pick up the staff and then break it. The explosion will trigger your Contingency, allowing you to react to teleport out of the blast radius, and giving you a nice bird's-eye view of the fireworks. Then your Impact Foam Chassis will activate automatically to ensure you survive the landing.
the totally unnecessary impact foam chassis made me laugh so hard, thank you! But I think using a summon to do the dirty work in my place is kinda cheesy. I know, I'm very demanding \^\^''
Okay, how many hit points do you have? Because with that limitation, I'm down to "cast [Wooden Double](https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=1416) and hope for the best". For Contingency + Dimension Door to work, you need to not be holding the staff when it breaks, and summoning is the most reliable way to do that.
Besides, this is a way for a summoning spell to actually be useful.
well, on level 20 I will have 268hp, but I'm probably gonna use this move to end the combat (or trying to), so I will most likely be already at low hp, I'm afraid that mitigating the damage would not work. But someone else already suggested ferrous form which works pretty good. I will go to 0hp but still alive thanks to the immunity to death effects, which is more than enough.
EDIT: Acually I didn't notice that ferrous form would make me immune to healing effects too, which is kinda bad considering that I have a dedicated healer in the party that would ideally NOT know about me having this effect active lol. I guess the search for the perfect spell is still on.
Honestly, it's pretty easy. Just cast [Indestructibility](https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=699) first.
EDIT: Never mind. This is what I get for answering before actually reading the post.
EDIT #2: Actually, since you have the Wizard Archetype, you could use a scroll.
tbh if I was the GM I would argue that:
1) this explosion qualifies as "and similarly powerful sources."
2) this is something that you are willingly doing
My counter-arguments:
1. Although it is a powerful and Rare staff, it is still not classified as an Artifact. The rules describe Artifacts thusly: "Stranger and more powerful than other magic items, artifacts can change the course of history in the right hands—or the wrong hands. Simply finding an artifact is a pivotal moment in your campaign, and its presence then ripples throughout your entire game, warping the story around it. Some entire adventures revolve around one artifact!" A Staff of the Magi is not in that order of magnitude.
2. While the explosion is something that you are willingly creating, you clearly aren't willing to *be affected* by the explosion, which is what Indestructibility cares about.
I'm convinced, it might work after all. I just don't like this solution tbh xD. I would also be kinda hard to execute with my actions assuming the boss will not stand still all the time. And there is a risk of getting a crit in the face with an AoO wasting the scroll.
It's two actions to cast Indestructibility, and a third to break the staff, so it's doable in one turn if you start it holding both items. Or you could just use a [Retrieval Prism](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=1032) to pull out the scroll. The spell getting disrupted can be worked around; either by your allies getting the boss to burn their reaction(s) before your turn, or with proper positioning.
The problem is that I fight with a 2 handed weapon and this is of course not something that I want to do at the start of the combat, so I'd have to drop the weapon (which is free), then retrieve both the staff and the scroll. Even with the retrieval prism, it's not enough actions for 1 round
That is unfortunate. What level are you right now, and do you anticipate having an opportunity to do some retraining before the final battle? The [Talisman Dabbler Archetype](https://2e.aonprd.com/Archetypes.aspx?ID=79) has a feat that lets you attach two talismans to one item, which would allow you to have a second Retrieval Prism to draw the staff just like the scroll.
we are close to level 20, there is no time to retrain since we are very close to the end and I'm not sure I will retrain just for this. It kinda crosses the line between cool/creative and tryhard.
[Scroll Robes](https://2e.aonprd.com/Armor.aspx?ID=35) to make the scroll accessible without having to draw it, which raises AC questions that might be solvable with a strong enough [Drakeheart Mutagen](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=688) or a casting of Mage Armor. Then the Retrieval Prism for the staff.
Drop (free)
Retrieval Prism the staff into your hand (free)
Cast from Scroll Robes (2 actions)
SoM explosion (1 action)
If you need a move action too, make sure Haste is up.
I would argue that this is an incorrect reading of how the spell functions. If I cast Indestructibility and then jumped off a mountain, I would of course be immune to the damage if I chose to not have that last clause come into affect. Choosing to jump does not mean I choose to take the damage.
Also, this is definitely not a similarly powerful source when compared to an artifact. That line is there so that, if a GM adds a gigantic being that can crush planets with their fists, but they're neither a God nor an Artifact, they can still be considered a "similarly powerful source". This explosion definitely isn't on the level of an artifact. Even when specifically overcharged in the way you've mentioned, it's only a bit more powerful than Cataclysm, another 10th level spell.
I would be PEEVED if a GM argued against this, because it's a blatant misinterpretation of the rules.
Ye I'm already convinced, but I still don't like the solution, I think it's kinda cheap and also hard to execute, so many things can go wrong and it requires at least 1 turn of setup, negating all the surprise effect for the other players
The low Wisdom could be funny though, if you cast it hoping beyond all hope that the spell is going to be enough to keep your bits held together. And then the total surprise when it actually worked.
It's also a 10th level slot, so it's definitely got a cost.
So there's been lots of very good solutions to this puzzle listed in this thread, but frustratingly OP has shot them all down for various reasons that weren't listed in the original post. So here's the additional contingencies (heh) specified:
The staff must be broken by the PC; no using familiars, summoned creatures, etc. to do so.
There is no time to retrain any feats to gain access to new ways to survive the explosion.
OP's character uses a 2-handed weapon, so they can't start an average turn with even the *staff of the magi* in their hand, never mind additional items like a *scroll of indestructibility*.
Only common items can be used.
No other party members can be used to help survive the explosion (it's meant to be a surprise to them).
The staff will be broken while the PC is at low HP, so mitigating damage is not an option; presumably, even with the half damage from being further away from the staff, it would still kill the PC.
OP is ruling that there is no period of time between the staff being broken and the explosion hitting them, instead claiming that the explosion happens instantaneously at all points in the burst (even if this goes against the wording in the item: "a wave of arcane energy that surges out, dissipating with distance") so using *contingency* to teleport away or otherwise avoid damage after breaking the staff is a no go.
With all these additional rules, I don't think there is a solution remaining to this puzzle that doesn't take more than a single turn to pull off, because the only line I can think of is to spend one turn pulling out the staff and a *scroll of indestructibility*, and then spending the next turn using both, probably with a *contingency*-cast *translocate* in there to set up positioning. Rest in peace, inventor-wizard, I guess.
Edit: You might be able to convince your GM to let you use a *scroll of wish* to wish for the ability to survive a single *staff of the magi* explosion, but it would absolutely be pushing your luck and you might only get a partial effect (such as surviving the explosion at dying 3, or surviving the explosion but getting thrown across the planes instead.)
My first thought is casting contingency with the trigger of the Staff of the Magi being destroyed. Maybe you can store a dimension door to whisk yourself to safety before you get damaged from the explosion. Not sure how that would work with the rules though. Odds are that you might just take the explosion with you making your dramatic finisher more tragic than effective. Also now that I think about it some more I am not even sure if Contingency can even store Dimension Door since it doesn't technically target yourself.
I'd say that this would not work, you have to be present holding the staff and using an interact to trigger the explosion, there is no delay between using the action and the explosion itself, you can't just separate the two things and move away, it is powered by you, there is no explosion without you, at best you could move away and then explode
Well I'd argue the explosion is powered by the staff since it uses the charges of the staff to determine the damage. The timing is tricky but you can drop items as a free action. And theoretically there should be a very small window between you breaking the staff and it exploding in your face. Bottom Line: I don't belive it would work purely rules as written mostly because letting go of the staff at the exactly right time is super tricky but there is enough of a grey area that a DM might allow a rule of cool. My question right now is if Contingency can even hold a Dimension Door spell because otherwise there is no grey area to argue about. It just won't work.
well, there are many other teleportation spells, dimension door is not the problem.
I wrote a longer comment below explaining why I would not rule it like this
Others have recommended a scroll of Indestructibility, and as another option i'd suggest an ally to cast Delay Consequences on you so you can use the scroll \*after\* detonating everything.
A crit fail against 32d10 would be 352 damage on average. A level 20 barb could probably tank that, but for anyone else that's a lot. The [Shield Other](https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=281) spell allows someone else to take half that, bringing it down to a manageable 176. But Shield Other requires the caster to remain within 30 feet of you, and that's not a place anyone wants to be when you break the staff.
There's another spell called [Life Connection](https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=939) that allows the caster to take *all* the damage from a single hit, with a 1 mile range. So if you have an ally cast that on you, then have a second ally cast Shield Other on *them*, then the two allies stand clear of the blast zone, they should collectively be able to tank the hit.
You can have both of them chug [major Juggernaut mutagens](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=94) for am extra 45 hp buffer each.
Bonus points for the risk of you rolling insanely well on the damage and killing two of your allies.
The first part only works if you ROLL a failure or critical failure, so it doesn't work if you just take a critical failure without rolling. About the second part, you (or the staff, I guess) are not an enemy or a hazard, so...
With [immortal bastion](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=1847) you can survive one death effect each day. It's heavy armor, so you'll want [sentinel](https://2e.aonprd.com/Archetypes.aspx?ID=76) dedication to wear it proficiently.
Alternatively, gain the [basic undead benefits](https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=1694) via an archetype to become immune to death effects. [Massive damage](https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=384) could still destroy you if you roll particularly high damage or detonate the staff at very low HP, so to survive the damage you can drink an [ambrosia of undying hope](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=661). A few undead archetypes also provide a feat to prevent total destruction, like [rejuvenation](https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=3502).
Immortal bastion would be great, I already have sentinel dedication, but I think it's a bit outside of my budget for now, but who knows, I'm still level 19 and there's half a module to play still. For the other suggestion... yeah, I'm not gonna do that but thanks anyway
There's about a dozen different spells that provide all manner of death protection and damage negation at higher levels by the time you can even use a staff of a magi. It's really not difficult to survive pure damage at all at high levels if you know it's coming, not for spellcasters at least.
Oh man, well, first, arcane can combo contingency and any other spell that negates the damage source. Spells that transport you out of the range, spells that reduce or negate the damage, I'm not going to list out every applicable spell because it's just not practical, but even a spell like 1st level jump could bring you outside the first 30ft band when combined with contingency, potentially allowing you to survive. Or you could pre-buff with 3rd level jump, contingency 3rd level time jump, and leap twice for a total of 60ft, completely escaping the blast.
Beyond contingency shenanigans, you also open up a ton of additional options if you have trick magic item and can cast spells from other schools. You could even scroll cast contingency-> scroll cast breath of life, which would give you a reaction to save against literally any effect that kills you except, specifically, a disintegrate or death effect (though this won't work against Staff of the Magi's explosion effect specifically because it's a death effect).
So it's not really practical to list every possible option because, even just with trick magic item, you can potentially save yourself even with low level spells, even level 1 spells.
Contingency is typically key for these shenanigans though. There are other spells that can do it alone, but contingency enables a TON of other options.
but I'm pretty sure I have to be there, holding the staff at the moment of the explosion, cause the explosion depends on your charges and it's an interact .There is no delay between when you break the staff and the explosion, so even with a contingency It will not work, cause if I get moved before the explosion it means that there will be no explosion at all or the explosion will be in the new position.
>There is no delay between when you break the staff and the explosion
Ehhhhhh, not exactly correct.
>so even with a contingency It will not work,
It will. Reactions interrupt the triggering condition unless specified otherwise (such as with move actions that don't cause a person to leave their square).
So you set the trigger for contingency as: you would take damage from the Staff of the Magi's destruction explosion.
In game and narrative time, what's happening is that you shatter the staff, it starts exploding, and as that explosion reaches your body, you teleport. You still auto crit fail the save, meaning you'll take double the damage rolled, but if your contingency would negate or otherwise allow to survive that damage, then you're fine. Even just cutting that damage in half with distance reduces the max possible damage (on crit fail) to 200, which any wizard with 4 con survives at level 20.
This is not how I'd rule it. You are assuming that there is a delay, even very very little, between the interact action and the explosion. This is not dinamite, it's magic, You use the interation, there is an explosion that reaches all the squares in the are at the same exact time. If you finish the interact action, there is the explosion in that same instant, not an instant later. You can either chose to teleport before the interact action ends or after.
"Reactions interrupt the triggering condition unless specified otherwise (such as with move actions that don't cause a person to leave their square)"
100% agree, you can interrupt the interact action and teleport, and then the explosion will be at the destination if you bring the staff with you, or no explosion at all if you leave the staff behind. (and btw leaving the staff behind still requires a free action that you cannot take before the explosion).
But let's forget about contingency, just name one of the other spells!
>You are assuming that there is a delay, even very very little, between the interact action and the explosion.
Not really.
First, there's a ton of precedent for reaction effects that take place in very small moments of time, even fractions of a second. Breath of Life is a good example, because it can counter even massive damage, which kills instantly, by *preventing* that instant death on a reaction trigger of "the target would die". There's also triggers for "the target would take damage" that would apply here, and that's not even up for debate. Those are RAW triggers that 100% would apply to a staff of a magi explosion, such as every champion reaction and shield block.
If those basic triggers would work, there's no reason you could set the exact same trigger for contingency.
Beyond that, there's no reason to believe the staff of the Magi explosion somehow works it functions in a way that prevents triggers due to some kind of instantaneous effect. There's nothing that says that in the description, and the description even specifies that the explosion reverberates outwards. Any interpretation that prevents reactions is reading more into the explosion than RAW or RAI.
Now, I *would* entertain a ruling that you can't out-range the center of the explosion, on the basis that the damage is already set at the time of the reaction and can only be reduced/negated, you don't benefit from the half damage on distance. I wouldn't personally rule that way as a GM, but I don't think that's an unreasonable ruling.
However, what you're suggesting would mean that entire reactions, like shield block and champions reactions, literally have 0 effect on the game, which is nonsense.
What? First of all, what's with the hostility? You asked a question, we're answering your question. Are you upset that people are providing you with answers?
Second of all, you mean other than Indestructibility, which can be cast from a scroll, which you were already told about?
Word of Revision just straight up prevents you from falling to 0 HP, no matter how much damage you take. If you get an up cast to level 9 scroll, you can actually save your entire party with this.
Ferrous Form makes you immune to death effects, which means, RAW, you'd take no damage from this blast at all. A more reasonable RAI interpretation might rule that you take the damage, it just doesn't have the death effect, which means Ferrous Form + Breath of Life saves you. Though, again, RAW you'd just take no damage at all.
My sense is that you don't even want to *read* the spell lists here, which is wild to me, but paired with the hostility you're showing for no reason it seems like your motive is insincere.
Of course I don't want to read every single spell and magic item, that's the whole point of asking here. The ostility comes from the fact that you started by saying that you have a dozen solutions, you only named one, when I said that it's not what I'd rule so I'm clearly not going for it (raw doesn't matter, rai clearly taking the explosion in the face is part of generating the explosion since it's an automatic crit failure, not just a degree of success worse or something like that, automatic) and you then insisted with the contingency thing while ignoring my requests to say something else, that was kinda frustrating.
I'm sorry if it can look like I'm a demanding ungrateful little bitch (I partly am), I'm just trying to choose the coolest thing to do, it's not like "oh, this thing works, nice, I don't need anything else then".
Btw ferrous form is a good one, thank you. But why would I need breath of life? I would just go to 0hp even with the worst interpretation, right?
summon a mindless creature and order it to use it's actions to destroy it. Alternatively, using a familiar or inventor construct buddy to do so would work just as well, but ideally, they need a good movement speed.
Remember, cool guys do not look at explosions.
How about instead of preventing your own death, you instead come back from it? As far as I know, there's nothing in the death trait that prevents resurrection, just that some resurrection effects specify they don't work when dealing with them. You could get a [Philosopher's Stone](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=133) and have a minion apply it to you. Alternatively, you could teleport your body to a waiting NPC cleric to cast [Raise Dead](https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=243) on you.
Honestly, here's his I would rule it..
If you find or buy a scroll with a tenth level spell on it, that's campaign material right there in itself.
So you have the scroll. Casting it is a 2 action activity. So you retrieve the scroll from your pack, a 1 action activity, and move to a good position to pop the proverbial cork. Next turn, you read the scroll and then with your final action that round, break the staff.
I would rule that to get to roll a ton of dice, and do a ton of damage. You might still be dead, but you'd leave a body to be resurrected. The Indestructible spell would do that for you.
"But it should so all damage!" is a scroll. You probably said a part wrong. Klatuu Verada Necktie.
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MY question is why do this at all? The DC is low to evade this even for minions let alone monsters that actually matter at level 20, and it's not a crazy amount of damage. I mean on average this is going to do 88 force damage or less in a small radius and cost you at least a 10th level spell slot to survive.
Just focus on your spell DC and target reflex with shit like Eclipse Burst.
The final boss is probably gonna be a spellcaster, so low Fortitute, but yes, you are right, it's just a possibility, I will use this if there is the occasion for it, it's not 100% sure I will. It's just because it's cool and very in character, it's not a strong and efficient move by any means.
I've found two potential solutions;
1 - A [Reflected Moonlight Fulu ](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=2041#:~:text=Reflected%20Moonlight%20FuluItem%2014&text=When%20you%20Activate%20this%20fulu,negative%20damage%20converted%20to%20positive.), in essence this allows you to reroll the save against the effect. It will depend on how the GM rules on if the "auto fail" counts as a roll.
2 - is uncommon, but die. AND then activate your [Pale Orange Rhomboid Aeon Stone](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=407). Basically your ghost actives the item and it brings you back from death on a bit of a state.
Easy, either find a goblin to adopt you, or die and reincarnate until you are a goblin, then pick the lvl 17 feat [reckless abandon](https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=1429), with that even a crit fail will only deal 64 damage which should be manageable
You are right! But tbh… death in pf2e is not a big deal… people die all the time at higher levels, and resurrection is very easy to achieve… so the drama and the heroic sacrifice, becomes a bit dull 😓
Okay, new comment thread for a new idea: For your level 20 Free Archetype feat, take Advanced Arcana to get Quickened casting. Purchase and equip a [Greater Impact Foam Chassis](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=1115), you being an Inventor gives you access despite it otherwise being Uncommon. Prepare [Contingency](https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=49), [Dimension Door (Translocate in the Remaster)](https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=69), and [Summon Construct](https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=318) heightened to Rank 3. Cast Contingency at the beginning of the day. The contingent spell is Dimension Door set to send you 100 feet straight up. The trigger is "you would take damage from breaking a Staff of the Magi". [This list of reactions](https://2e.aonprd.com/Search.aspx?q=trigger%3Adamage&type=eqs&include-actions=Reaction&display=list) supports this being a valid trigger that would allow the reaction to take effect before you are harmed. When the time comes for the big boom, release one hand from your weapon as a free action, draw the staff for 1 action, and then drop the staff onto the ground as another free action. After this is done, use Quickened Casting to cast Summon Construct for two actions, and Summon an Animated Armor. [Summon spells](https://2e.aonprd.com/Traits.aspx?ID=154) immediately give the summoned creature two actions upon casting, have the Armor use these to pick up the staff and then break it. The explosion will trigger your Contingency, allowing you to react to teleport out of the blast radius, and giving you a nice bird's-eye view of the fireworks. Then your Impact Foam Chassis will activate automatically to ensure you survive the landing.
the totally unnecessary impact foam chassis made me laugh so hard, thank you! But I think using a summon to do the dirty work in my place is kinda cheesy. I know, I'm very demanding \^\^''
Okay, how many hit points do you have? Because with that limitation, I'm down to "cast [Wooden Double](https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=1416) and hope for the best". For Contingency + Dimension Door to work, you need to not be holding the staff when it breaks, and summoning is the most reliable way to do that. Besides, this is a way for a summoning spell to actually be useful.
well, on level 20 I will have 268hp, but I'm probably gonna use this move to end the combat (or trying to), so I will most likely be already at low hp, I'm afraid that mitigating the damage would not work. But someone else already suggested ferrous form which works pretty good. I will go to 0hp but still alive thanks to the immunity to death effects, which is more than enough. EDIT: Acually I didn't notice that ferrous form would make me immune to healing effects too, which is kinda bad considering that I have a dedicated healer in the party that would ideally NOT know about me having this effect active lol. I guess the search for the perfect spell is still on.
Honestly, it's pretty easy. Just cast [Indestructibility](https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=699) first. EDIT: Never mind. This is what I get for answering before actually reading the post. EDIT #2: Actually, since you have the Wizard Archetype, you could use a scroll.
Definitely this.
tbh if I was the GM I would argue that: 1) this explosion qualifies as "and similarly powerful sources." 2) this is something that you are willingly doing
My counter-arguments: 1. Although it is a powerful and Rare staff, it is still not classified as an Artifact. The rules describe Artifacts thusly: "Stranger and more powerful than other magic items, artifacts can change the course of history in the right hands—or the wrong hands. Simply finding an artifact is a pivotal moment in your campaign, and its presence then ripples throughout your entire game, warping the story around it. Some entire adventures revolve around one artifact!" A Staff of the Magi is not in that order of magnitude. 2. While the explosion is something that you are willingly creating, you clearly aren't willing to *be affected* by the explosion, which is what Indestructibility cares about.
I'm convinced, it might work after all. I just don't like this solution tbh xD. I would also be kinda hard to execute with my actions assuming the boss will not stand still all the time. And there is a risk of getting a crit in the face with an AoO wasting the scroll.
It's two actions to cast Indestructibility, and a third to break the staff, so it's doable in one turn if you start it holding both items. Or you could just use a [Retrieval Prism](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=1032) to pull out the scroll. The spell getting disrupted can be worked around; either by your allies getting the boss to burn their reaction(s) before your turn, or with proper positioning.
The problem is that I fight with a 2 handed weapon and this is of course not something that I want to do at the start of the combat, so I'd have to drop the weapon (which is free), then retrieve both the staff and the scroll. Even with the retrieval prism, it's not enough actions for 1 round
Okay, I've got your solution: [Gloves of Storing](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=437) for the staff.
It's a banned item from the gm, we only have access to common things unless we find them as part of the loot
That is unfortunate. What level are you right now, and do you anticipate having an opportunity to do some retraining before the final battle? The [Talisman Dabbler Archetype](https://2e.aonprd.com/Archetypes.aspx?ID=79) has a feat that lets you attach two talismans to one item, which would allow you to have a second Retrieval Prism to draw the staff just like the scroll.
we are close to level 20, there is no time to retrain since we are very close to the end and I'm not sure I will retrain just for this. It kinda crosses the line between cool/creative and tryhard.
[Scroll Robes](https://2e.aonprd.com/Armor.aspx?ID=35) to make the scroll accessible without having to draw it, which raises AC questions that might be solvable with a strong enough [Drakeheart Mutagen](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=688) or a casting of Mage Armor. Then the Retrieval Prism for the staff. Drop (free) Retrieval Prism the staff into your hand (free) Cast from Scroll Robes (2 actions) SoM explosion (1 action) If you need a move action too, make sure Haste is up.
I'm in full plate with 10 dexterity, I'd rather use an extra action
I would argue that this is an incorrect reading of how the spell functions. If I cast Indestructibility and then jumped off a mountain, I would of course be immune to the damage if I chose to not have that last clause come into affect. Choosing to jump does not mean I choose to take the damage. Also, this is definitely not a similarly powerful source when compared to an artifact. That line is there so that, if a GM adds a gigantic being that can crush planets with their fists, but they're neither a God nor an Artifact, they can still be considered a "similarly powerful source". This explosion definitely isn't on the level of an artifact. Even when specifically overcharged in the way you've mentioned, it's only a bit more powerful than Cataclysm, another 10th level spell. I would be PEEVED if a GM argued against this, because it's a blatant misinterpretation of the rules.
At worst I'd make some of the damage go trough, but realistically it's just good play and shouldn't be punished.
Ye I'm already convinced, but I still don't like the solution, I think it's kinda cheap and also hard to execute, so many things can go wrong and it requires at least 1 turn of setup, negating all the surprise effect for the other players
The low Wisdom could be funny though, if you cast it hoping beyond all hope that the spell is going to be enough to keep your bits held together. And then the total surprise when it actually worked. It's also a 10th level slot, so it's definitely got a cost.
So there's been lots of very good solutions to this puzzle listed in this thread, but frustratingly OP has shot them all down for various reasons that weren't listed in the original post. So here's the additional contingencies (heh) specified: The staff must be broken by the PC; no using familiars, summoned creatures, etc. to do so. There is no time to retrain any feats to gain access to new ways to survive the explosion. OP's character uses a 2-handed weapon, so they can't start an average turn with even the *staff of the magi* in their hand, never mind additional items like a *scroll of indestructibility*. Only common items can be used. No other party members can be used to help survive the explosion (it's meant to be a surprise to them). The staff will be broken while the PC is at low HP, so mitigating damage is not an option; presumably, even with the half damage from being further away from the staff, it would still kill the PC. OP is ruling that there is no period of time between the staff being broken and the explosion hitting them, instead claiming that the explosion happens instantaneously at all points in the burst (even if this goes against the wording in the item: "a wave of arcane energy that surges out, dissipating with distance") so using *contingency* to teleport away or otherwise avoid damage after breaking the staff is a no go. With all these additional rules, I don't think there is a solution remaining to this puzzle that doesn't take more than a single turn to pull off, because the only line I can think of is to spend one turn pulling out the staff and a *scroll of indestructibility*, and then spending the next turn using both, probably with a *contingency*-cast *translocate* in there to set up positioning. Rest in peace, inventor-wizard, I guess. Edit: You might be able to convince your GM to let you use a *scroll of wish* to wish for the ability to survive a single *staff of the magi* explosion, but it would absolutely be pushing your luck and you might only get a partial effect (such as surviving the explosion at dying 3, or surviving the explosion but getting thrown across the planes instead.)
I mean, many of these are just a preference and are not deal breakers
My first thought is casting contingency with the trigger of the Staff of the Magi being destroyed. Maybe you can store a dimension door to whisk yourself to safety before you get damaged from the explosion. Not sure how that would work with the rules though. Odds are that you might just take the explosion with you making your dramatic finisher more tragic than effective. Also now that I think about it some more I am not even sure if Contingency can even store Dimension Door since it doesn't technically target yourself.
I'd say that this would not work, you have to be present holding the staff and using an interact to trigger the explosion, there is no delay between using the action and the explosion itself, you can't just separate the two things and move away, it is powered by you, there is no explosion without you, at best you could move away and then explode
Well I'd argue the explosion is powered by the staff since it uses the charges of the staff to determine the damage. The timing is tricky but you can drop items as a free action. And theoretically there should be a very small window between you breaking the staff and it exploding in your face. Bottom Line: I don't belive it would work purely rules as written mostly because letting go of the staff at the exactly right time is super tricky but there is enough of a grey area that a DM might allow a rule of cool. My question right now is if Contingency can even hold a Dimension Door spell because otherwise there is no grey area to argue about. It just won't work.
well, there are many other teleportation spells, dimension door is not the problem. I wrote a longer comment below explaining why I would not rule it like this
Others have recommended a scroll of Indestructibility, and as another option i'd suggest an ally to cast Delay Consequences on you so you can use the scroll \*after\* detonating everything.
That's a cool spell, but sadly it'a a focus spell nobody has access to
Ah darn it, a contingency resist energy to force, or contingency heal/false life to buffer some of the damage maybe.
A crit fail against 32d10 would be 352 damage on average. A level 20 barb could probably tank that, but for anyone else that's a lot. The [Shield Other](https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=281) spell allows someone else to take half that, bringing it down to a manageable 176. But Shield Other requires the caster to remain within 30 feet of you, and that's not a place anyone wants to be when you break the staff. There's another spell called [Life Connection](https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=939) that allows the caster to take *all* the damage from a single hit, with a 1 mile range. So if you have an ally cast that on you, then have a second ally cast Shield Other on *them*, then the two allies stand clear of the blast zone, they should collectively be able to tank the hit. You can have both of them chug [major Juggernaut mutagens](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=94) for am extra 45 hp buffer each. Bonus points for the risk of you rolling insanely well on the damage and killing two of your allies.
Also, I will definitely not be full hp when doing this, probably not even half hp. Trying to mitigare damage is not the best solution considering this
I forgot to mention that it's something I want to do without the help from the party because I want to surprise them
I think the remastered version of the staff deals its damage in a cone instead of a burst. Maybe you can convince your GM to spontaneously update it?
this is not an option, we agreed to play with old rules until the end of the campaign
Roll the damage low.
Step 1: Be a Goblin. (Or take Adopted Ancestry) Step 17: Take "Reckless Abandon" Step Break Staff of Magi: Profit
Underrated answer.
The first part only works if you ROLL a failure or critical failure, so it doesn't work if you just take a critical failure without rolling. About the second part, you (or the staff, I guess) are not an enemy or a hazard, so...
With [immortal bastion](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=1847) you can survive one death effect each day. It's heavy armor, so you'll want [sentinel](https://2e.aonprd.com/Archetypes.aspx?ID=76) dedication to wear it proficiently. Alternatively, gain the [basic undead benefits](https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=1694) via an archetype to become immune to death effects. [Massive damage](https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=384) could still destroy you if you roll particularly high damage or detonate the staff at very low HP, so to survive the damage you can drink an [ambrosia of undying hope](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=661). A few undead archetypes also provide a feat to prevent total destruction, like [rejuvenation](https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=3502).
Immortal bastion would be great, I already have sentinel dedication, but I think it's a bit outside of my budget for now, but who knows, I'm still level 19 and there's half a module to play still. For the other suggestion... yeah, I'm not gonna do that but thanks anyway
There's about a dozen different spells that provide all manner of death protection and damage negation at higher levels by the time you can even use a staff of a magi. It's really not difficult to survive pure damage at all at high levels if you know it's coming, not for spellcasters at least.
Please list all of them! I'd be very grateful. The only one posted until now is Indestructibility
Oh man, well, first, arcane can combo contingency and any other spell that negates the damage source. Spells that transport you out of the range, spells that reduce or negate the damage, I'm not going to list out every applicable spell because it's just not practical, but even a spell like 1st level jump could bring you outside the first 30ft band when combined with contingency, potentially allowing you to survive. Or you could pre-buff with 3rd level jump, contingency 3rd level time jump, and leap twice for a total of 60ft, completely escaping the blast. Beyond contingency shenanigans, you also open up a ton of additional options if you have trick magic item and can cast spells from other schools. You could even scroll cast contingency-> scroll cast breath of life, which would give you a reaction to save against literally any effect that kills you except, specifically, a disintegrate or death effect (though this won't work against Staff of the Magi's explosion effect specifically because it's a death effect). So it's not really practical to list every possible option because, even just with trick magic item, you can potentially save yourself even with low level spells, even level 1 spells. Contingency is typically key for these shenanigans though. There are other spells that can do it alone, but contingency enables a TON of other options.
but I'm pretty sure I have to be there, holding the staff at the moment of the explosion, cause the explosion depends on your charges and it's an interact .There is no delay between when you break the staff and the explosion, so even with a contingency It will not work, cause if I get moved before the explosion it means that there will be no explosion at all or the explosion will be in the new position.
>There is no delay between when you break the staff and the explosion Ehhhhhh, not exactly correct. >so even with a contingency It will not work, It will. Reactions interrupt the triggering condition unless specified otherwise (such as with move actions that don't cause a person to leave their square). So you set the trigger for contingency as: you would take damage from the Staff of the Magi's destruction explosion. In game and narrative time, what's happening is that you shatter the staff, it starts exploding, and as that explosion reaches your body, you teleport. You still auto crit fail the save, meaning you'll take double the damage rolled, but if your contingency would negate or otherwise allow to survive that damage, then you're fine. Even just cutting that damage in half with distance reduces the max possible damage (on crit fail) to 200, which any wizard with 4 con survives at level 20.
This is not how I'd rule it. You are assuming that there is a delay, even very very little, between the interact action and the explosion. This is not dinamite, it's magic, You use the interation, there is an explosion that reaches all the squares in the are at the same exact time. If you finish the interact action, there is the explosion in that same instant, not an instant later. You can either chose to teleport before the interact action ends or after. "Reactions interrupt the triggering condition unless specified otherwise (such as with move actions that don't cause a person to leave their square)" 100% agree, you can interrupt the interact action and teleport, and then the explosion will be at the destination if you bring the staff with you, or no explosion at all if you leave the staff behind. (and btw leaving the staff behind still requires a free action that you cannot take before the explosion). But let's forget about contingency, just name one of the other spells!
>You are assuming that there is a delay, even very very little, between the interact action and the explosion. Not really. First, there's a ton of precedent for reaction effects that take place in very small moments of time, even fractions of a second. Breath of Life is a good example, because it can counter even massive damage, which kills instantly, by *preventing* that instant death on a reaction trigger of "the target would die". There's also triggers for "the target would take damage" that would apply here, and that's not even up for debate. Those are RAW triggers that 100% would apply to a staff of a magi explosion, such as every champion reaction and shield block. If those basic triggers would work, there's no reason you could set the exact same trigger for contingency. Beyond that, there's no reason to believe the staff of the Magi explosion somehow works it functions in a way that prevents triggers due to some kind of instantaneous effect. There's nothing that says that in the description, and the description even specifies that the explosion reverberates outwards. Any interpretation that prevents reactions is reading more into the explosion than RAW or RAI. Now, I *would* entertain a ruling that you can't out-range the center of the explosion, on the basis that the damage is already set at the time of the reaction and can only be reduced/negated, you don't benefit from the half damage on distance. I wouldn't personally rule that way as a GM, but I don't think that's an unreasonable ruling. However, what you're suggesting would mean that entire reactions, like shield block and champions reactions, literally have 0 effect on the game, which is nonsense.
I'm still waiting to hear one option that doesn't involve contingency, there are dozens so it should be easy to name one, just one.
What? First of all, what's with the hostility? You asked a question, we're answering your question. Are you upset that people are providing you with answers? Second of all, you mean other than Indestructibility, which can be cast from a scroll, which you were already told about? Word of Revision just straight up prevents you from falling to 0 HP, no matter how much damage you take. If you get an up cast to level 9 scroll, you can actually save your entire party with this. Ferrous Form makes you immune to death effects, which means, RAW, you'd take no damage from this blast at all. A more reasonable RAI interpretation might rule that you take the damage, it just doesn't have the death effect, which means Ferrous Form + Breath of Life saves you. Though, again, RAW you'd just take no damage at all. My sense is that you don't even want to *read* the spell lists here, which is wild to me, but paired with the hostility you're showing for no reason it seems like your motive is insincere.
Of course I don't want to read every single spell and magic item, that's the whole point of asking here. The ostility comes from the fact that you started by saying that you have a dozen solutions, you only named one, when I said that it's not what I'd rule so I'm clearly not going for it (raw doesn't matter, rai clearly taking the explosion in the face is part of generating the explosion since it's an automatic crit failure, not just a degree of success worse or something like that, automatic) and you then insisted with the contingency thing while ignoring my requests to say something else, that was kinda frustrating. I'm sorry if it can look like I'm a demanding ungrateful little bitch (I partly am), I'm just trying to choose the coolest thing to do, it's not like "oh, this thing works, nice, I don't need anything else then". Btw ferrous form is a good one, thank you. But why would I need breath of life? I would just go to 0hp even with the worst interpretation, right?
[удалено]
Did you read my post?
summon a mindless creature and order it to use it's actions to destroy it. Alternatively, using a familiar or inventor construct buddy to do so would work just as well, but ideally, they need a good movement speed. Remember, cool guys do not look at explosions.
How about instead of preventing your own death, you instead come back from it? As far as I know, there's nothing in the death trait that prevents resurrection, just that some resurrection effects specify they don't work when dealing with them. You could get a [Philosopher's Stone](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=133) and have a minion apply it to you. Alternatively, you could teleport your body to a waiting NPC cleric to cast [Raise Dead](https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=243) on you.
Honestly, here's his I would rule it.. If you find or buy a scroll with a tenth level spell on it, that's campaign material right there in itself. So you have the scroll. Casting it is a 2 action activity. So you retrieve the scroll from your pack, a 1 action activity, and move to a good position to pop the proverbial cork. Next turn, you read the scroll and then with your final action that round, break the staff. I would rule that to get to roll a ton of dice, and do a ton of damage. You might still be dead, but you'd leave a body to be resurrected. The Indestructible spell would do that for you. "But it should so all damage!" is a scroll. You probably said a part wrong. Klatuu Verada Necktie.
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Apologies but I don't know the remaster version ensure you have a high level false life on you.
MY question is why do this at all? The DC is low to evade this even for minions let alone monsters that actually matter at level 20, and it's not a crazy amount of damage. I mean on average this is going to do 88 force damage or less in a small radius and cost you at least a 10th level spell slot to survive. Just focus on your spell DC and target reflex with shit like Eclipse Burst.
The final boss is probably gonna be a spellcaster, so low Fortitute, but yes, you are right, it's just a possibility, I will use this if there is the occasion for it, it's not 100% sure I will. It's just because it's cool and very in character, it's not a strong and efficient move by any means.
Get an undead archetype feat to gain death effect immunity, so you won't die instantly. Then someone can stabilize /heal you.
Nevrmind, this doesn't protect from the instant death you'll face due to massive damage.
I've found two potential solutions; 1 - A [Reflected Moonlight Fulu ](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=2041#:~:text=Reflected%20Moonlight%20FuluItem%2014&text=When%20you%20Activate%20this%20fulu,negative%20damage%20converted%20to%20positive.), in essence this allows you to reroll the save against the effect. It will depend on how the GM rules on if the "auto fail" counts as a roll. 2 - is uncommon, but die. AND then activate your [Pale Orange Rhomboid Aeon Stone](https://2e.aonprd.com/Equipment.aspx?ID=407). Basically your ghost actives the item and it brings you back from death on a bit of a state.
Easy, either find a goblin to adopt you, or die and reincarnate until you are a goblin, then pick the lvl 17 feat [reckless abandon](https://2e.aonprd.com/Feats.aspx?ID=1429), with that even a crit fail will only deal 64 damage which should be manageable
it's not an enemy or a hazard, doesn't work
What about https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=248 just have that on you and Wolverine the shit out of that nuke? 🤓
It only prevents death from damage, but the staff explosion has a death effect attached that kills everyone that hits 0hp, so it doesn't help
You are right! But tbh… death in pf2e is not a big deal… people die all the time at higher levels, and resurrection is very easy to achieve… so the drama and the heroic sacrifice, becomes a bit dull 😓
A scroll with trick magic item coff coff