Ice Spikes

This spell brings into being a ball of rock-hard ice around one of the caster's fists, a ball that bristles with spikes, resembling an exaggerated replica of the head of a mace. The magic of the spell protects the fist from all damage while the spell lasts (it can be ended at any time by the silent will of the caster). It improves the casters THAC0 (for smiting blows with the fist only) by 2 points. A blow from an ice spikes fist does 1d4+4 points of damage, and the fist is considered a +2 magical weapon for purposes of determining what it can hit. Note that the spell effect precludes most spellcasting and the performance of many other activities (such as climbing at the usual rate, casting additional spells, tying knots, and so on).

If the caster willingly sacrifices some of his or her own hit points, the damage done by a single attack with the ice spikes fist can be augmented by a like amount. For example, if 4 hit points are sacrificed by the caster, the blow they empower inflicts 1d4+8 points of damage. Hit points sacrificed are not lost if the attack misses, and are restored by normal rest or healing magic. (A sacrifice is not automatically assumed for the next blow of the fist after a miss; the caster decides separately for each fist attack.)

Whenever an augmented fist attack strikes a natural or magical mass or wall of ice (regardless of how many points have been sacrificed). the caster of the ice spikes spell must make two saving throws vs. spell. If both succeed, the mass of ice shatters and collapses. If only one roll is successful, the struck ice is marred enough to form a handhold, but takes no additional damage. If both throws fail, the target ice is entirely unaffected.

The material component is an icicle or sliver of ice of any size and origin.