I found a mystery in the crafting department and have solved it.

First posts ever on here but that will soon be obvious since I am sure this isnt the place to post what I have discovered. I couldnt find a specific area for "Crafting" so please put this where it will be most helpful. Also I am always so concerned about being misunderstood I tend to prattle on like an old, English scientist. Please forgive that.
Okay, my posting/forum shortcomings aside..
EUREKA!!
...but if what I am about to reveal has already been posted/done before? Then the "Eureka" part is about the new vacuum I bought.. ahem.

I found a mystery in the crafting department and have solved it.
The four Elemental staffs that can be crafted are very tricky because you cannot use a linear approach to them [as in ,, "Hmm I need this Clerical spell and this Mage spell...this will be easy!" ...heh nope]
Youll soon find out, as I did, that youll run out of levels.
Ill use the toughest one to craft as an example [Which happens to be the Air Staff]:
You need to be able to cast 5th lvl Cleric, 4th lvl Wizard and 3rd lvl Druid spells to be able to create this. Do the math, Ill wait...
HA! Exactly! You have TWO problems:
1. You have to reach 12th level in ONE of your classes to qualify for the FEAT: Craft Staff
[But if you do that you wont have enough levels left to reach the other spell levels needed.]
2. Even if you could add your class levels together [i.e. 6th Wiz + 6th Clr = 12th level caster] you would still be short of reaching all the requirements.

So without further ado ..The Method that I used to make all 4 Elemental Staffs:

Create 2 New Characters; both clerics, both True neutral and most importantly; BOTH followers of the God "Obad-hai" [Race doesnt matter but for Tolkien-honoring reasons I chose Dwarf and Elf]
Choose True Neutral for their alignments then choose the following for their Domains:
Dwarf: Fire and Earth ................ Elf: Air and Water.

Open up the "Cheater Box" as I call it. [Shift key + ~ key]
Type LEVELUP until you level. Repeat until you reach 12th level Cleric in both.
This is one of the biggest hurdles now overcome. Your Domains abilities under Obad-hai give you most of the necessary spells required for the staffs, but some will still need to be chosen manually after you change classes [which youre about to do]
Its important to note a few things:
1. Dont stress over choosing skills etc.. I literally start at the the top with appraise and after its full of points I go to the next one down. THEY WILL NOT MATTER for what we are trying to accomplish so just throw point where ever you want.
2. Since both characters are Clerical and get the ENTIRE list of each spell level they attain you dont have to choose the correct ones. That, however, is about to change:
3. Be sure to take ALL the crafting FEATS as soon as they are available.

The Dwarf [now a 12th level, Domain: Fire and Earth Cleric of Obad-hai] will change his class to WIZARD and remain one until 7th level [youll be a total of 19th level by then but it honestly doesnt matter what you do with that last level. At 12th Cleric and 7th Wizard youll be able to make both the Earth and Fire Elemental staffs]

The Elf [now a 12th level, Domain: Air and Water Cleric of Obad-hai] will change to DRUID until 5th level, THEN change to WIZARD for the final 3 levels. [12+5+3=20th level]

As the Dwarf levels [or whomever your choice for the Earth/Fire Cleric is..] , he must make sure to get the following Wizard spells as he is able to choose them:

Burning Hands - Fireball - Stoneskin - Charm monster
[Yes some are already in the Domain side but its better to be safe then get to the end and scream F********!!!]
All the other necessary spell to create the 2 staffs will already be in your Domain Abilities.

Ta daa!! You are now able to make the first 2 staffs: Fire and Earth... but we still need our lil' Dwarven friend for one more duty that you wont believe.

As the Elf levels [or whomever your choice for the Air/Water Cleric is..] , he must make sure to get the following Druid spell:
Call Lightning
And the Wizard Spell:
Charm Monster
["But Wait!" you say? You wont be able to reach the Wizard level needed to attain that spell? hehe.. as Ringo Starr once sang "I get by with a little help from my friends.."]
Here is the biggest secret [and by far was the hardest part for me to figure out.]
Have the Dwarf use his Scribe Scroll FEAT and make a scroll of "Charm monster" and trade it to the Elf. Have the Elf copy it into his spell book.
The requirement for crafting the Staff isnt that you have to be able to USE it yet [Which the Elf cannot do at 3rd level Wizard] ..merely that he POSSESSES it in his spell book.

Again TA DAA!!! It will register that he has all the prerequisites

The last hurdle to making these items would be Money. Simple enough:
[Again, open up the "Cheater Box" and type with NO SPACES :]

game.party[0].money_adj(99999999) then hit enter

Youll have plenty of money to make both staffs and enough for a round of drinks to celebrate.
You now have All 4 Elemental Staffs and the undying certainty that I love the sound of my own voice. [or sight of my own text..whichever]

In closing.. THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH to Gaear and All of Co8 for taking a great game that I have always loved and made it so much more. Amazing doesnt begin to cover what youve all done for it [In just bug fixes, humble npcs, etc. let alone all the new content.] :thumbsup:
When I hit the Powerball Im sending one [or all] of your kids to MIT :yes:

 

First, welcome . Second- this is great info on crafting some very difficult items, bravo- well written and informative. Maybe Gaer will turn it into a sticky? (or just move it to the crafting thread). :thumbsup:

 

One question - Does this method involve cheating (namely, using console) or Can this be achieved without cheating and in normal game?

 

Thank you for the warm reception and encouraging comments
And yes, DeusEx, as Shiningted pointed out, this is a matter of leveling. None of the steps that I outlined require using the "Cheater box" [or Console] to achieve, it simply expedites the process. Just understand that you will have to go ALL THE WAY to 19th level [CL 12 + Wiz 7] for the Fire/Earth staff, and bare minimum 17th [CL 12 + Drd 5 + Wiz 1] for the Air/Water. Thats a LOT of leveling, and it would be very challenging for just 2 characters to do it all [but imagine how fun!]

I personally used the console to do this with the aforementioned Dwarf and Elf team, had them make all four staffs and a few other elemental items, then took them to the Inn of the Welcome Wench where I loaded in 4 fresh 1st levels with them[my party cap was set at 6 members]. I traded the gear to the newbies then took the two Elders out back and had a Duel to the Death [the Elf won...barely btw]. I then took the 4 Elemental newbs out and had a blast!
So was it "legal" to do it this way?
No. Not by common standards.
But since I have completed the game in both Original and C08 versions completely legit, I feel I am allowed a little creative license to experiment. And please forgive the "Sci Fi" analogy on a "Fantasy" forum, but was it 'legal' when Ben Kenobi gave Luke Skywalker his father's lightsaber? [Dont hate me ]
I believe it was. It advanced the story without unfairly imbalancing the whole work. You cant receive an Heirloom unless someone before you acquires it and bestows it upon you. And unfortunately, TOEE is pretty much over by the time you reach those kind of Upper levels.
[and though I seriously doubt Obi-wan used the console cheat to get it, I do wonder what would happen if you hit Shift + "~" on R2-D2's keypad... :yes: ]

So the final decision is yours. There are no "Mod Police" ....yet. Its a wonderful game. Have fun with every facet that you can!
[I know I know..another long post. I cant help it. If anyone knows a thread on "How to post without writing a book?" please send it my way... and Ill try to keep my reply to a minimum ]

 

Very simple, O' Shining One... I believe he would either use them as the four support posts for an elevated hut [sings: "yeah we movin' on uuup.. to the East siiiide!"]
....or....
Be forever confused that when he hits the "red" stick against the "blue" stick he wakes up with no memory of it ....and his eyebrows have to grow back ...again.

 

Welcome Vallangaard.

I too have wondered if R2 had a debug command. I think if you hit the ~ key on his console he might say "Bigidy Bigidy"