Whirlwind of Steel

This spell creates five phantom arms wielding scimitars. Both limbs and weapons are magical constructs and not actual, tangible things. The floating, flying limbs hack silently at targets until they are dispelled, warded away by magical barriers, or willed out of existence by the caster. They strike twice per round at THAC0 8. Each scimitar inflicts 1d8 points of slashing and piercing damage but is considered a + 2 enchanted weapon for purposes of determining what it can hit.

When whirlwind of steel is case, the caster irrevocably chooses one of two missions for the scimitars: They either remain within a stationary JO-foot cube whose center is seen and chosen by the caster at the time of casting and attack all creatures entering that area, or they attack a single target creature, moving to accompany that creature at MY Fl 18 (B) and revert to the first type of mission only if the target is slain or teleports away. (The stationary 10-foot cube in this case is either centered 5 feet above where the target falls dead or 5 feet above the floor at the pot from which the target teleported.)

All creatures are allowed saving throws for half damage against every scimitar strike from a whirlwind of steel. The caster always successfully makes such saving throws if she or he is hit by a scimitar. (The caster is not immune to the scimitars' attacks.)

The material components for a whirlwind of steel is a fragment of a metallic bladed weapon.