In the GLoG, MD can be hard to acquire, traditionally one per wizard level, +1 for wizardly robes and 1 per scroll consumed in the casting. A wand also gives you a spell you need not memorize. But what about staves and rods?
TL;DR
Rods can cancel or "absorb" a number of MD from a spell based on the metal they're made of but only so much a day before they overheat and are slagged. They are less effective against "AoE" spells
Staves deflect or part all
Rods and Cancelling
Rods are traditionally for cancelling or "grounding" single target spells, which why they're traditionally made of metal. A cancelled spell's MD is rendered inert and fizzles, the rod providing a pathway for the spell to return to its home plane; if all of the spell's invested MD is cancelled the spell is forgotten until prepared again.
The hierarchy of the metals correlates to how well they do this, typically cancelling 1 [dice] per purity of the rod per day. They can cancel more [dice] in day but become red hot to the touch, dealing [dice] damage to the holder (they must be held to cancel). Golden rods are the best for this and are called scepters and can usually command or cast spells relating to something specific like snakes, fire or fear. Rods are traditionally 1 cubit long.
Copper - 1 [dice] though it can reflect spells on a 1-in-6 once per day
Iron - 2 [dice] doubly protective against charms, enchantments and the like
Silver - 3 [dice] the properties of silver are well established
Gold* - 4 [dice], a scepter truly, lends authority to kings
More exotic materials may do other things. Lead rods are at least as good as silver but don't overheat, instead glowing brightly with octarine fire for [sum] turns. Brass rods let you convert cancelled [dice] into a lost MD on a roll of 6.
Rods are much less effective against "AoE" elemental attacks, fire and lightning and the like because it's no longer channeling the spell home but the physical manifestations of the spell as well. For that each [dice] cancelled counts as 2 [dice], overloading the rod and only affecting you unless all the spells invested MD is cancelled. Overloaded rods cause more damage from overheating but don't increase the damage of the spell.
For example if a fireball is lobbed at you using 4 MD, while you're holding an iron rod and you attempt to cancel it, treat it as 8 MD. 2 MD are cancelled but the other 6 causes the rod to practically ignite the air around it, dealing 6d6 damage to you while you hold it plus 2d6 more from what wasn't cancelled. This would look like your rod absorbing all of the fire for a second or two before it melts in and incinerates your hand and the rest of the fireball you didn't get descends on you with gleeful abandon. Your friend standing right next to you is frankly better off because while he is subject to 4d6 fireball, he is not also holding a small magical nuclear reactor in his hand.
A rod may be crafted as a blasting rod instead. It gains affinity with an elemental type and can only cancel spells doing that kind of damage but at the normal rate (each [dice] cancelled counts as 1 instead of 2). When using it to cast spells it has affinity with, treat all rolls of 1 as 2 or change the shape of the spell:
spheres become cones, cones to beams, beams to bolts, bolts to beads, beads to spheres (a bolt is relatively large, a bead is small enough to fit through an arrow loop)
If a rod is ever used to cancel 4 times their purity in a day, they are slagged forever. 1000 gp of aqueous reagent and wizard shit can refresh 1 [dice] worth of cancelling.
In the above example the iron rod was slagged for this reason. A gold rod could have cancelled a second fireball before being lost. The iron rod could have barely handled a 3 MD fireball but nothing else the rest of the day.
<*Gold is the most real metal. Existing in multiple planes simultaneously, it collapses pseudo-magic waveforms just like dragons do (this is why you can't usually get into a dragon's lair via realm-jumping, planar walking or tele-porting, realms collapse on each other in dragon lairs. Dragons are like arrows that pierce reality>
Staves and Warding
Warding is that badass thing a wizard does where the evil wizards elemental attack is parted and a sick dome of protective force forms around and behind them.
Staves (staffs? Staffses?) are hewn from special trees, the nature of each wood lending strength and metaphysical mass to them, allowing them to defend an adept wizard or warrior from elemental fury. The tree must have been struck by lightning, survived a forest fire or flood or sit alone on a hill that saw a bloody battle or some other such coolness.
A traditional staff is 3 cubits in length, the right length to show wizardly authority, made when an apprentice reaches journeyman status, trading in their old 2-cubit staff. Rarer are the staffs of wizard masters, 4 cubits in length, the length to show that their staff is much bigger than yours as is their academic acumen therefore they're in charge thank you very much. A wizard staff has a knob at the end.
As a reaction you may choose to ward off an AoE spell or effect. All [dice] worth of elemental damage is parted before you, protecting those in a cone behind you, but any [dice] in excess of the cubits of your staff destroys that many cubits of your staff and deal 1 damage to you. The second time in a day this is done, the wizard must save or the staff splits, useless, smoking and groaning on a success. The third time in a day, it explodes in a shower of splinters.
This obviously includes things that are not explicitly spells such as dragonfire, elementals attacks, lava flows or maybe even explosions, referee willing.
The type of tree the staff is hewn from is important:
Hardy and Resistant Pine - doubly effective against fire
Elegant and Everlasting Fir - doubly effective against cold
Noble and Fastidious Willow - doubly effective against acid
Wise and Sturdy Oak - wise ruler of trees, it is doubly effective against elemental effects originating from evil forces and creatures
Other woods may allow staffs to do other fantastic things. The springy elm sapling staff allows you to bat a spell back at a foe 1-in-6 times once a day. Holly and hawthorn are particularly troublesome for fey. The staff of a Joshua tree can be turned into a deadly adder for [cubit]x[dice] rounds. The rare and delicate balsa staff is surprisingly effective at deflecting wind.
You can call also call upon staves to help your magic endure longer. Choose a spell and carve it along the length of the staff. When you cast that spell the MD is only expended on a 1 or 2.
A wizard can totally cross a staff and rod in a protective stance where as long as they don't move they can ward/ground 4x as much as usual.
Other Magical Implements
What can be said of orbs that has not already been said before? Perhaps that anyone can scry with a crystal ball on their target for up to 1 minute per day though there is a 1-in-6 chance the images are false or misleading or have yet to happen. A piece of their target's hair, blood or nails prevents this. Wizards may instead scry instead for [sum] hours, and the orb investing +1 MD for free. Beware evil orbs that show you the opposite of what you desire. Also cover when not in use as they make excellent fire hazards.
Amulets, charms, evil eyes and other apotropaic devices can cancel the fullness of any spell they were made to ward from and then some once before fracturing. You can wear as many as you like but the average charm is only real and effective 1-in-6 times.
Rings are like the wizard equivalent of hidden boot knives (which they also use). A spell can be scrawled on the inside and cast without the use of one's hands and ten minutes of focus or cast extremely rapidly without the need for verbal components. The cost of the ring scales with how many MD can be channeled through it, increasing by an order of magnitude for every MD you wish to cast through it e.g. 1oogp for 1 MD, 1ooogp for 2 MD, etc.
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