Ballant's Stonesplit

The wizard who casts this spell cleaves the next stone object he touches. The force from his fingertip's manifests in a spray of light, creating a thick, winding crack that appears in the stone with considerable force. At the end of the round following the casting, the crack reduces to rubble an amount of stone equal to the area of effect. It does nothing to remove the rubble, so the caster usually must be mobile to avoid being crushed by his own spell. The spell can be countered by a successful dispel magic spell, cast before the stone is actually reduced to rubble.

For example, a 12th-level wizard touches a stone wall 100 feet long, 30 feet high, and 10 feet thick. A 40-foot wide section of the wall is reduced to rubble. The rubble fills the breech to a height equal to half that of the original wall, sloping away on each side at an angle of about 45 degrees.

If the spell is cast on a stone floor, a fissure opens and the rubble settles quickly, dropping the floor 1 to 4 feet and causing 1d4 points of damage to those in the area of effect.

If cast on a stone ceiling, the DM adjudicates any damage, but this use is limited by the spell's range (touch), and the ability of most mobile opponents to get out of the way.

The spell causes great damage to stone-based creatures, such as galeb duhr or xorn. If a successful touch attack is made, these take 12d8 points of damage, with a successful saving throw vs. spell reducing the damage by half. Petrified creatures are obliterated by this spell, though any magical items carried survive if a successful item saving throw vs. disintegration is made at a -4 penalty.

The material component of the spell is a single diamond-tipped chisel worth at least 1,000 gp, which is destroyed in the casting.

Notes; Uncommon or rare for Earth mages; otherwise rare or very rare. (Updated from Dragon Magazine.)