Alastor Moody's walking stick was a wooden staff that the retired Auror carried.
Other alterations
Years of work as an Auror left Moody with several injuries and prosthetics, including a magical eye, a chunk missing from his nose, multiple scars on his face, and an artificial leg. The difficulty of walking with an artificial leg made it necessary for Moody to procure the walking stick, and it is suggested that Alastor didn't use the walking stick before 1981, because he was at Igor Karkaroff's hearing without it.[1]
Characteristics
The top of the walking stick distinctly resembles a ram, reinforced by the clear appearance of a cloven hoof at its foot. This could be representative of his character as tough, resilient, hard headed, and having a strong offence.
The other notable features of the walking stick is that it is as tall as Moody's chin, and appears to have a vine wrapping around it from the height of Moody's thigh, tapering off at the base of the ram's head. The stick is arranged so Moody can hold it at firm grip.
As a weapon
The walking stick is made of wood and has some degree of offensive magical power, demonstrated in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries against a Death Eater.[2] This attribute is likely to have been a secret to give Moody an advantage in combat. When Alastor stunned a Death Eater in the Department of Mysteries, it is suggested this walking stick be more of a secret staff.
It is in character for Moody to have this staff modified to be a magical weapon so that if he were to lose his wand, he would not be truly disarmed when duelling. The extent of the walking stick's power is unspecified since it is used as a weapon in only one scene in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
Alastor with his walking stick
It would also appear that some form of inherent magic was used to suspend the staff vertically (and later diagonally) in the scene of the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in which Crouch Jr disguised as Moody pursues the recently untransfigured Draco Malfoy.
The suggestion that the wood of a wand affects its magical characteristics, and its harmony with a wizard's magical abilities, implies that the type of wood comprising the walking stick is similar (or possibly identical) to his wand because of its use as a magical focus.
A walking stick (which seems to have magical properties of its own) is also used in the films by Lucius Malfoy. This cane houses Lucius' wand in the top, allowing his wand to be on hand at all times.
Similarly, Rubeus Hagrid also disguises a wand within another object; his pink umbrella. This is due to the fact that Hagrid's wand was broken when he was expelled from Hogwarts.
