IMPORTANT: This is a complete rework of the Iron Staff which completely changes the way it works.  If you have downloaded a previous version please carefully read the updated description.

The Iron Staff is strongly focused on use by a monk.  Other classes may wield it but in the hands of any but a monk it will be vastly inferior to nearly any other weapon.  The Iron Staff has an enchantment bonus of +3 which will affect only its attack roll and not its damage.  On a successful hit the Iron Staff will inflict only 1 point of bludgeoning damage PLUS damage equal to the wielder's normal unarmed attack.  For most characters this is a miniscule amount of damage, but for a monk it can be considerable especially at higher levels.  This makes the Iron Staff progress naturally in power as its wielder gains monk levels and thus more powerful unarmed attacks.  It is not too OP in the hands of a low-level monk so it is suitable even for Act 1, but it becomes extremely powerful in the hands of a high-level monk in Act 3.

As a monk weapon, use of the Iron Staff will trigger bonus unarmed attacks just as an unarmed attack would.  Unlike an unarmed attack the Iron Staff can benefit from feats like Polearm Master and Great Weapon Master.  It doesn't benefit from the attack and damage bonus provided to unarmed attacks by the Tavern Brawler feat but its +3 enchantment bonus can offset this.  Finally, the Iron Staff can perform a whirlwind attack once per combat, which is a very powerful ability if the wielder is surrounded by multiple opponents.

During testing I noticed that the Iron Staff will also inflict bonus weapon damage which may be provided by the wielder's feats, class abilities, etc. or by other items.  For example, when using the monk-centric Cloak of the Peacemaker from DonkeytheBard's Legendary Equipment Class Armor Sets mod, the Iron Staff receives both the 1d10 Force damage bonus to unarmed attacks AND the 1d6 Force damage bonus to weapon attacks.  I can't figure out how to prevent this, but in most cases it won't be too overpowering.

I decided to make these changes to the Iron Staff because the old version, even as a fairly powerful +3 weapon with bonus Force damage, was significantly inferior to my monk character's unarmed attack.  This meant that the Iron Staff usually just collected dust in the inventory and was seldom if ever used.  Now I have a reason to actually use it.

INSTALLATION

Installation is as for any other PAK file mod.  I install all of my mods manually, and if you choose this method you'll need the information below:



I don't use either Vortex or BG Mod Manager, so I cannot guarantee that this mod will work with either of those but I don't see why it wouldn't.

FINDING IN GAME

Version 1.0.1.0 places the Iron Staff of the Master in the tutorial chest in the nautiloid.  If you are already in a playthrough you can also summon the tutorial chest using wesslen's excellent Tutorial Chest Summoning mod. 

Another option is through use of the console enabled in Laughing Leader's Script Extender.  Kvalyr has posted excellent instructions on how to enable the console after you have downloaded and installed Script Extender; his post with those instructions is here.  Once you have enabled the console, make sure that your game is running and the character you want the staff to go to is the active character, Alt-Tab to the console, type "Reset" and press Enter, then copy and paste the line below:

Osi.TemplateAddTo("e24496d1-91ac-4dbd-bae0-5957391f1e9e", GetHostCharacter(), 1, 1);

Alt-Tab back to your game and the active character should have the staff added to inventory.

Alternatively, you can use AnteMaxx's excellent Spawn Any Item mod, using the UUID e24496d1-91ac-4dbd-bae0-5957391f1e9e.