I guess I'll throw out my 2 cents worth. City staves seems like a reasonable idea. Or, limiting staves but, I only see limiting if the staves in the city locations don't count towards that number. The reason being, the city's lm's have staves in public locations and stalls and, if your city only has a couple lms, their staves would all be used for protecting the rest of you instead of him/herself.

As for stave strength, staves are limited to the level of the maker. The skill is available at GM but, basically, is worthless until Ultimate. At GM, the lm's staves can only have 2 runes and, are unidirectional.

Splashing... Yes, splash sleep cuts through adrenalin and insomnia but, it is a short duration and, it doesn't take those defences down. It isn't like spitting mandrake twice or hitting you with a sleep item twice.

Written by my hand on the 20th of Hindyear, in the year 1130.