Ice Blight (Reversible)

This powerful spell allows the wu jen to summon fearsome freezing winds, ice, and snow in the area of effect. Once cast, gray scudding clouds gather and rain begins to drizzle down. The temperature begins to fall abruptly-40 °F in a single day. Winds begin to blow, gently at first, but slowly gaining strength. Each day the weather conditions worsen. The clouds thicken, the rain falls heavier, the air gets colder, and the winds blow more fiercely. The temperature can drop no colder than-20 °F.

In arctic and winter conditions, the snowfall begins after 6 hours. In temperate climes, snow begins to fall by the end of the first 24-hour period. In desert lands the snow starts 36 hours after the casting of the spell, while tropical areas experience snow by the end of the second day. Thereafter, the snow continues to fall at the rate of 1 inch per hour to a maximum depth of 48 inches. The winds whip the snow into huge drifts (5 feet to 12 feet or more) and the wind chill is extreme. During the snowfall, visibility is limited to 200 feet and movement rates are 1/2 normal.

Creatures exposed to the weather without adequate warm clothing, fire, and shelter suffer 1d8 points of damage each turn. Control weather spells cannot cancel the effects of the ice blight, but can be used to lessen the severity by raising the temperature, slowing the snowfall, and breaking the cloud cover.

Casting ice blight is an extremely difficult process for the wu jen, as he seeks to control magical energies powerful enough to affect a huge area. Upon uttering the final word of the spell, a tremendous blast of mystical energy leaps through the wu jen, ravaging his body and spirit. The wu jen instantly forgets all other spells memorized the moment this spell is cast.

His Strength and stamina are broken, causing him to lose all but 1 hit point. All his ability scores are temporarily reduced to 3 and he must have immediate bed rest (the caster is at the center of the area of effect). Each day the wu jen regains 1 point to each ability score. Only when all his abilities have returned to 50% or more of normal can the wu jen begin to recover his lost hit points (although once this occurs, curing spells can be cast to speed recovery). Likewise, no spells can be memorized until all scores are returned to normal.

The material component for ice blight is a piece of ice.

The reverse of the spell, drought, cancels the effects of ice blight. Drought has the opposite effect, raising the temperature and drying the land instead of covering it with snow. When cast, the sky quickly clears of clouds and remains so for the duration of the spell. No rain falls for the duration of the spell. The temperature soars upward 20 °F per day to a maximum of 120 °F during the day and a cool of 100 °F at night. Fields become hard and cracked after four days, small streams dry up after six days, all but the deepest wells go dry after 10 days, small rivers are reduced to a trickle in 14 days and go dry after 20 days. Large rivers drop noticeably in 10 days and become little more than streams after 20 days. On the 25th day of drought, only extremely deep wells still have water-all else having evaporated or soaked away.

Plants suffer according to their size and normal habitat. Desert plants hardly notice the drought while those of tropical jungles die and wither rapidly. Normal creatures flee the area of the drought, returning only when normal conditions have been restored and the land recovered. Creatures exposed to the full light of the sun for an entire day suffer 2d6 points of damage a day if without adequate shade and water. Characters in bulky and metallic armor suffer 1d3 points of damage a turn from the blistering heat and exhaustion. As with ice blight, the effects of the spell can be lessened by a control weather spell and can be cancelled by the casting of an ice blight. The caster suffers all the effects of casting the ice blight when casting drought. The material component for drought is a handful of desert sand.

Notes: Common in oriental lands; uncommon in some savage northern lands; otherwise very rare.