Grasping Staff (Patreon)

Staff, very rare (requires attunement by a warlock or wizard)

This grotesquely carved stone staff is miraculously light but deathly cold and clammy to the touch. You have resistance to necrotic damage while you hold this staff.

The staff has 10 charges. While holding it, you can use an action to expend 1 or more of its charges to cast one of the following spells from it, using your spell save DC and spell attack bonus: arcane hand (5 charges), bestow curse (3 charges), chill touch (no charges, or 1 charge to cast at 5th level), inflict wounds (1 charge), mage hand (no charges), or vampiric touch (3 charges).

The staff regains 1d6 + 4 expended charges daily at dawn. If you expend the last charge, roll a d20. On a 1, the staff turns to ash and summons 2d6 hostile tiny undead crawling hands within 10 feet of you.

The wizard's hand felt unwelcome by the staff, as if it knew that it was being touched and didn't like it. He dropped it, wiping his hands on his cloak.

He waved a steady hand over the stone staff and muttered an incantation. His eyes opened, suddenly aware of the staff's power. He decided to make camp for the evening. It wasn't ideal, but he felt safe knowing that he'd already dispatched the cave's previous inhabitants.

He sat down again, focusing on the arcane connections he shared with other possessions. He felt the space open for another such connection, and carefully, slowly, allowed his magical being intertwine with the staff.

An hour later, drenched in a sweat from meditation, the wizard picked up the staff once more. This time, the hands adorning the staff seemed warm and welcoming: ushering him to join them.