Spell:Impenetrable Frost Barrier
Source: Book of the Emerald Circle by Brian Hon/Limited Reagent
Cost: 20m, 1wp
Circle: Emerald
Type: Simple
Keywords: Commitment (5m), War
Duration: Up to (Essence) scenes
This magic protects the sorcerer and his companions from attacks. The sorcerer takes a deep breath and breathes out a thin, cold blue-gray plume of frost. It extends from him, creating a loose cylinder of mist from (Essence) to (Essence x 50) yard radius and from (Essence) to (Essence x 4) yards high, centered on the sorcerer. By controlling his breath, the sorcerer has exact control over the cloud's dimensions. This, the casting action, is the only Obvious part of this spell. The spell lasts up to (Essence) scenes. If the sorcerer drops the spell's commitment, the barrier lasts until the end of that scene.
For this spell's duration, the sorcerer may direct the plume as he wishes, moving it up to (Essence) yards per tick reflexively, its center up to a maximum distance of (Essence) miles from his current location (once outside of that range, he cannot control the mist, although it does stay in place). The cloud must remain within (Essence) yards of a solid surface. Prevailing winds can impose movement penalties or bonuses, but will never disperse or shift the cloud against the sorcerer's will.
The mists swirl about any attacks originating outside the plume, buffeting them and coating them in ice, imposing an external penalty of (Essence x 2) to strike anyone within. Attacks without physical components are mitigated only via Essence pressure, dropping the imposed external penalty to (Essence). Area attacks affect everything outside the mist normally while those parts of it within are penalized. Even if an attack does strike its target, the frost dulls its force, halving its raw damage. The frost barrier does not affect attacks originating within the plume (keeping someone from entering the plume requires Blockade Movement actions). Unless it is particularly delicate, physical ammunition is left unharmed even as it are sapped of momentum, dropped lightly to the ground. The mists also impose a -1 external penalty on all visual Awareness rolls to see within the plume.
If the sorcerer is within his cloud of mist, he may briefly augment with further Essence. For every mote he reflexively pays in Step 2, he can increase the external penalty imposed by -1 for an instant, up to a maximum of (Willpower) motes spent.
Multiple frost barriers cannot be stacked; only the highest penalty of any number of plumes a ranged attack passes through is used.
