Would there be any signs of such a spell having been cast - a trace of magic in the air or somesuch?

Not usually, but Cloverleaf's teachers generally were agreed that since it costs wizards nothing but time to look for enchantments, they would be fools not to when they have some time to spare. You never know when you may stumble on an enchanted coin, death rune, or some such.

Deluxe staffs are enchanted by arch-magi. They're indestructible, sapient (and with time, sentient), and remember every spell cast through them. They are also, once self aware, capable of casting spells on their own (though they need someone else's strength to do it). By and large, they can dominate any mage less formidable than the highest level one who ever bore them if they care to. Needless to say, a newly enchanted one isn't overly cheap to acquire; a knowledgeable and amiable one is all but impossible to simply buy.

It seems this one just wants to be left alone.

Can they dominate non-magi, or are magi simply particularly susceptible?

They can dominate anyone they can overpower. Mages are more likely to feed the stats that matter as they level up, and so work out to less likely to be dominated; but a really clever and/or charismatic non-mage (especially a high level one) could easily come out ahead.

Btw; the staff changed it's mind because the GM rolled a 56 on two six sided dice. Doubles add and roll over, mind you; but I rolled a 56, and for now Cloverleaf is in charge. He probably doesn't realize it in just those terms, though.

Damn, that elf's lucky...

--shakes fist-- Cloverleaf!

YOU're the elf, CCC. Kinzie's a human. And the chick.

...noted.

Cloverleaf couldn't name the Three Wisdoms on a bet; but he knows they're ancient scribes commonly assumed to have undergone apotheosis and then been appointed to suitable posts in the Heavenly Bureaucracy.

Stonewich is some fifteen or sixteen miles off to the east of Sandwich. There are roads that go pretty straight there, so the whole can be done in some five or six hours on foot (if one is in a hurry).

Cloverleaf's overwhelming faith in his own luck may be going a little too far.