Stone Trap

This spell renders stone invisible and moves it to a mid-air location (within range) chosen by the caster. It levitates in place, sometimes for years, until the spell is released, either by will of the caster, or by the caster's death. This spell is often used to devise a trap, holding boulders as deadfalls above archways (including castle or delve entrances), vault doors, thrones, bathtubs, beds, or other strategic areas.

Release can be accomplished by the utterance of a word or phrase, (often a phrase spoken in the original spellcasting). The spell also might be keyed to specific conditions, like the 2nd level wizard spell magic mouth (in other words, “when the lock on the door is broken or picked” and so on).

When the spell is triggered, the stone turns visible as it falls, inflicting 2d4 points of damage per level of the caster. Each creature in the area must make a saving throw vs. spell. Success allows a Dexterity check. A successful Dexterity check indicates the creature escapes damage completely, while a failed check means the creature takes half damage.

Skilled dwarves often fashion false stone ceilings of smooth-finished stones and raise them overhead to serve as stone imps. A true seeing effect reveals the levitating stone clearly, but if the caster has prepared it with enough skill (using shaped stone blocks, or carved ornaments such as gargoyle-heads or vault arches), the viewer may not recognize the viewed stone as any sort of trap. The levitating stone does radiate magic, faintly – but then, many dwarven delves radiate magic from most of their stone surfaces, if spells have been used in their shaping or subsequent use. A suspicious thief can find the trap at half his or her normal Find Traps skill, and a successful Remove Traps check (also at half the usual chance) can bring down the stone without harm to the thief.

The material components are a speck of grit, a drop of water, an eyelash from any creature, and a pebble.