This is a mod that adds staffs as a new melee weapon type for Minecraft. I was inspired when I saw that Mojang was going to add a new weapon type and decided to add a new weapon type of my own. Staffs are focused on control in combat, they have low damage, but attack faster than a sword, and with higher knockback, as well as passively giving you a small boost to armor toughness and knockback resistance. They have different textures in the inventory versus in-world, the inventory textures are 16*16, while the in-world ones are 32*32.

The staffs are tiered weapons, like swords, axes, and the upcoming spears, but they follow a different progression from vanilla tools, while still being similar. The most basic staff is a wooden staff, which is weak and fragile, but allows you to start using staffs early in the game. The next two tiers use underground materials from the Overworld, the metal staff and the arcane staff. The metal staff has higher damage, durability, and knockback, and it only costs some copper and a bit of iron. The arcane staff is more expensive, needing gold and lapis lazuli, but, like vanilla gold tools, it has very high enchantability, which is especially useful for staffs. Lastly, there is the master's staff, made with diamonds, netherite, and an end crystal, it has the highest damage, durability, and knockback, it is immune to fire, and it has the second highest enchantability, but of course, it has a price to match its power.

Staffs also have a special ability when you use them on a block, allowing you to vault off of the block. If you were on the ground before vaulting, it gives you a small push away from the block and slightly upwards. If you time your vault as you are jumping, it has massively increased power, allowing you to leap several blocks into the air if you time it perfectly. Also, if you vault off of the side of a block, you will be launched upwards slightly less, but pushed forcefully away from the face of the block you used the staff on. This could be used for some very interesting parkour mechanics.

In addition to their innate capabilities, staffs support all enchantments available for swords, as well as eight new enchantments (including two curses) that are staff exclusive. I also added in a new sword enchantment because I thought it would work well with staffs. This is why the arcane staff, with high enchantability, can become extremely powerful.

Ice Aspect. This is the new sword enchantment, and I know it has been done before, but I felt like it really added to the mage playstyle of using an enchanted staff to have a freezing attack option. It applies the powder snow effect, has two levels, and is a rare enchantment. Mutually exclusive with fire aspect.
Agility. An uncommon enchantment with three levels. Your movement speed and safe fall distance are increased while you hold a staff enchanted with agility in your main hand.
Hovering. A rare treasure enchantment with only one level. While you hold a staff enchanted with hovering in your main hand, you gain the slow falling potion effect, useful for navigating drops safely without vault-clutching.
Reaching. A common enchantment with five levels. Each level increases the reach of the staff, both for block interactions and for combat, up to a maximum of +2 block reach.
Siphoning. A very rare and extremely powerful enchantment with three levels. When you hit a non-undead mob with a siphoning-enchanted staff, it is inflicted with wither, while you gain regeneration. Duration and potency scale with enchantment level. I am aware that this is extremely powerful, but so is a sharpness 5 netherite sword, or a mace if used well, this enchantment is balanced for late game. Mutually exclusive with sharpness, smite, and bane of arthropods.
Stunning. An uncommon enchantment with three levels. When you hit a mob with a stunning-enchanted staff, it has a chance to stun the mob for a second, greatly slowing it down and reducing its attack power, the chance scales with the enchantment level, and how fully charged your attack is. Mutually exclusive with knockback.
Vaulting. Another uncommon enchantment with three levels. Increases the height and power of the vault ability of the enchanted staff. Experienced players may want to try combining a vaulting staff in one hand with a mace in the other.
Curse of Overgrowth. A rare curse enchantment with only one level. There is a time and a place for bonemealing the area around you, the middle of combat is not that time or place. Has a chance to randomly bonemeal blocks around you when you hit something with it.
Curse of Radiance. A rare curse enchantment with only one level. Gives you the glowing potion effect while you hold the enchanted staff in your main-hand, looks cool, but is terrible for stealth.

I also made it so that low-level villagers can sell you staffs, and that zombies, skeletons, and piglins have a chance to spawn with them equipped.

Overall, my goal with this mod was to make something small, but polished, and to add a new weapon type into Minecraft in a vanilla-style way, without making it seem exactly like something that might be added to the base game in a year or two.

Fun fact, the in-world staffs actually use custom models made in blockbench to imitate vanilla item models.

Another fun fact, some of the enchantments were somewhat inspired by a game called Shattered Pixel Dungeon.

Catnip's Staffs