Item Name: magical staff
Item Description:6 foot tall wooden walking stick style staff (very Tolkien-ish)--uncarved, left natural, smooth more through generations of use rather than attempts to make it more ornate than it truly is. has an elegance to it by its natural look and the shine of the wood through decades upon decades of handling. Set into the top by 4 big wooden prongs (much like jewelery prongs for stones) is a huge, perfectly clear quartz crystal. The crystal is about the length of a human hand and is about 4 inches in diameter. The stone amplifies the power of the staff. It has an intelligence about it that makes it necessary for the owner to "tune" the staff to his own aura and energies. It does not work nearly as well for someone who has not tuned the staff for himself.
How your character got this item: Robert's great grandfather was an alchemist and made the staff for himself. When he passed away, Robert's grandfather inherted the staff. He gave it to Robert as a graduation gift from Hogwarts when Robert finished his schooling there. During the summer after his graduation from Hogwarts, he spent the summer with his grandfather, learning to tune the staff to himself and learning how to wield it. Now, he uses the staff more as a walking stick rather than as a weapon. He is keenly aware of its powers and does not like to "overpower" someone by using more magic than is necessary. Now, he taps into the magical powers of the staff either for self defense purposes or for the toughest patient cases that need his healing skills.
The staff is capable of being transformed into an umbrella for being carried into or through a muggle environment, but it reduces its effectiveness as a magical item while it is not in its true form.
BTW--I wanted to name this thing, but my mind is just blank today. Can I add a name later?
_________________
by 
