Part Sand

Part sand enables the caster to cause a prominence made of sand, gravel, or loose dirt-that is, a dune, hill, knoll, or rise, not a depression or level ground-to move apart, forming a 20-foot-wide trough. This trough extends 10 feet in length and 3 feet deep per level of the caster. (For example, a 12th-level wizard can create a trough 20 feet wide, 120 feet long, and 36 feet deep.) The caster can also elect to cut a smaller trough. After aiming the initial cut, he cannot angle it to change direction. The magic holds the trough clear of slipping earth or sand for the duration of the spell. It even whisks away earth introduced into the trough by someone physically digging into its sides.

If the wizard's trough meets a solid rock face, the trough is blocked. (It cannot get larger.) However, a trough can be positioned along the edge of a rocky outcrop so as to expose it, provided the outcrop doesn't extend across the width of the trough at any point.

This spell also can be used to inflict damage on an earth elemental or other being whose body is formed of earth or sand (such as a sandling or a sand lion conjured by spell). A creature that is in phase with such substances (such as a xorn) is also vulnerable.

When the trough encounters such a creature, its progress ends immediately (digging no farther). The creature in the path of this spell immediately suffers 4d8 points of damage. Unlike part water, this spell does not panic such creatures-but it does force a saving throw vs. spell to avoid being slowed (to half movement rate and attacks) for 1d6 rounds.

Creatures that are not earth-based are not harmed by part sand. Large, solid objects (such as corpses and living bodies) unearthed in the path of the trough merely settle to the bottom; they are not flung aside.

The material component of this spell is two small stones.