Wall of Ice

Evocation [water]

• • Level Magic-user 4

  • Components V, S, M

  • Casting Time 4 segments

  • Range 10-ft. per caster level

  • Area of Effect an ice wall 1-inch thick per caster level and an area up to 10-ft. by 10-ft. per caster level.

  • Duration 10 rounds per caster level

  • Save None

This spell creates a thick but brittle, freezing, flat wall of magical ice.

The caster completes the spell and must indicate where the wall will appear. One part must be within the stated range. When the spell is targeted, the caster must state which version of the spell is being cast. A Vertical Wall or Horizontal Wall.

Vertical Wall

• The wall must be a flat vertical plane. It cannot bend or turn.

• The wall must be on a solid surface or the spell will fail (in whole or partially).

• The wall must be contiguous.

• The wall is immobile.

• The wall is opaque.

• The wall can appear on a surface not perfectly level and can encompass certain types of obstructions (eg. a pillar less thick than the wall, other small objects less think than the wall).

• The wall cannot encompass a creature. Creatures in the area of effect when the wall appears will be shunted/moved to one side or the other (equal chances).

• The wall will fill in small cracks or openings and will adhere features in the terrain (it cannot be knocked over per the GM) and will create an air tight seal with adjacent surfaces (per the GM).

• Creatures located within 20-ft. of the wall will feel the cold but no damage is taken from proximity.

• Breaking Through the Wall. The wall is brittle and cracks easily when struck. If a creature uses a chopping weapon or digging weapon like a pick to attack the wall as a complex activity, a rift up to 12-inches deep can be created (roughly the same size/height as the attacker, an attacker that is 12 feet or taller will create a rift that extends to the top of the wall). When the wall is breached (based on thickness), the rift will allow the creature to squeeze through as a major action. The GM may allow huge-sized weapons to break the wall even if blunt or slashing.

• Other creatures can squeeze through the rift as a major action if they are the same size as the attacker. Smaller creatures can move through using regular movement. Creatures larger than the attacker can move through as a complex activity if they are within 5-ft. of the attacker's size (or a similar ratio in in mass; per the GM).

• Any creature attacking the wall or moving through a breach will take 2 points of damage per inch of thickness. If a creature attacking the wall moves through the wall as their next action, they will only take damage once.

• Creatures with the fire sub-type or those with vulnerability to cold take 3 points of damage per inch of thickness and those with the cold sub-type or immunity to cold take 1 point of damage per inch of thickness if they are the attacker (otherwise they take no damage from simply moving through a breach).

• Very hot instantaneous fire effects (see Saving Throws, Fireball) will melt a wall of ice in the area of effect at the end of the round, but will create a cloud of fog in a 20-ft. radius of the area of wall affected (treat as a 40-ft. thick wall of fog that lasts for 2 rounds). Non-instantaneous effects may cause some melting but won't otherwise affect the wall (although circumstances may adjust this per the GM). 

Horizontal Wall

• • The wall of ice can be cast horizontally, with or without support structures around it.

  • Whether structures support the wall or not, the brittle wall will break up and fall in chunks, raining down on all in the area of effect.

  • All creatures in the area of effect will take 3d10 cold and bludgeoning damage (no save).

  • Unattended items must save vs. Normal Blow or be broken or destroyed.

Considerations.

• Any damage done by this spell will negate a heat metal (or similar) effect.

• Magic Resistance. Creatures with magic resistance make one check versus the wall effect and if successful, can ignore the wall except as an opaque barrier.

Materials Components. A small piece of quartz or rock crystal. The component is consumed in the casting of the spell. Cost/Scarcity. 3 g.p./Common.

Known Substitutions. None.