Made of twisted darkwood and covered in complex runes and sigils, this powerful staff seems to emanate darkness. You have resistance to radiant damage while you hold this staff. The staff has 20 charges for the following properties. It regains 2d8 + 4 expended charges daily at midnight. If you expend the last charge, roll a d20. On a 1, the staff retains its ability to cast the claws of darkness*, douse light*, and shadow blindness* spells but loses all other properties. On a 20, the staff regains 1d8 + 2 charges. Spells. While holding the staff, 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 spellcasting ability: become nightwing* (6 charges), black hand* (4 charges), black ribbons* (1 charge), black well* (6 charges), cloak of shadow* (1 charge), darkvision (2 charges), darkness (2 charges), dark dementing* (5 charges), dark path* (2 charges), darkbolt* (2 charges), encroaching shadows* (6 charges), night terrors* (4 charges), shadow armor* (1 charge), shadow hands* (1 charge), shadow puppets* (2 charges), or slither* (2 charges). You can also use an action to cast the claws of darkness*, douse light*, or shadow blindness* spell from the staff without using any charges. Spells marked with an asterisk (*) can be found in Deep Magic for 5th Edition. At the GM’s discretion, spells from Deep Magic for 5th Edition can be replaced with other spells of similar levels and similarly related to darkness, shadows, or terror. Retributive Strike. You can use an action to break the staff over your knee or against a solid surface, performing a retributive strike. The staff is destroyed and releases its remaining magic in an explosion of darkness (as the darkness spell) that expands to fill a 30-foot-radius sphere centered on it. You have a 50 percent chance to instantly travel to the Plane of Shadow, avoiding the explosion. If you fail to avoid the effect, you take necrotic damage equal to 16 × the number of charges in the staff. Every other creature in the area must make a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes an amount of damage based on how far away it is from the point of origin as shown in the following table. On a successful save, a creature takes half as much damage. | Distance from Origin | Damage | | --------------------- | -------------------------------------- | | 10 ft. away or closer | 8 × the number of charges in the staff | | 11 to 20 ft. away | 6 × the number of charges in the staff | | 21 to 30 ft. away | 4 × the number of charges in the staff |