Wardmist

The spell creates a wardmist. This is a 40-foot-high, 60-foot-wide band of permanent mist that must rest on the ground, floor, or other solid surface (It need not be level) The area protected by the ward is measured from the inner edge of the mist. The thickness of the mist is not included. The ward extends 40 feet beneath the surface of the ground, and may be narrower than 60 feet in width wherever desired. Its boundaries can twist and turn corners as sharply and as often as desired to protect a certain area, and they may exclude whatever areas the caster desires Once cast, a wardmist can't be moved.

A wardmist can always be freely entered or left. Beings entering it are sensed by the spell, which reacts by flashing a radiant or audible warning (or both, as desired to a specific spot or being. The spot or being is set upon casting, and it cannot be changed thereafter. Such a warning would still function in the location of a destroyed room (even in midair) or inside the tomb of a dead being.

Warnings classify those who enter the wardmist into two categories: those who bear ward tokens and intruders. Wardmist warnings transmit numbers and general locations of all intruders.

Sight and all known magical and psionic means of scrying won't work through the boundaries of a wardmist. A being in the mist can see through the mist to a distance of about 10 feet in darkness, and 40 feet when light is present. One cannot see out of the mist though, even if one is only inches away from its edge. One cannot see out of the mist to either the area it excludes or the area it encloses. A wardmist can be seen over freely by anyone tall enough or stationed high enough to be able to do so.

When visibility is reduced by darkness, intruders in a wardmist who don't use lamps, markers, or other means of proceeding in a straight path will move in a random direction each round of movement in which they fail a secret Intelligence check. It is possible to wander, lost, in a wardmist for quite some time.

The caster of a wardmist spell can try to link certain types of magically animated or undead monsters to the ward as it is forming to serve as guardian monsters. To become guardians, these monsters must be present and must fail a saving throw vs. spell.

When an intruder reaches a certain locale in a wardmist or has been in the mist for a set time, some guardian monsters are teleported to within 20 feet of the intruder. The types and numbers of guardian monsters are set by the initial wardmist spell but are limited by the available stable of guardians. Their typical orders are to attack and destroy all intruders, although some may be instructed to subdue, disarm, and capture while dealing as little damage as possible.

Wardmist Guardian Monsters 1d8 | Number and Type of Monsters ----+--------------------------------------- 1 | 2d6 baneguards 2 | 1d3 blazing bones 3 | 2d8 bone bats 4 | 4 helmed horrors 5 | 3d4 skeletons or 2d4 monster skeletons 6 | 1d2 watchghosts 7 | 1d2 wraiths 8 | 2d12 zombies

DMs lacking a particular description should substitute another monster from the list.

Guardian monsters are kept in stasis by the wardmist when not active. They do not age, heal, or eat. They become inactive 2d4 rounds after an intruder is slain or leaves the warded area A guardian monster can be healed at any time by application of the proper potions or spells. A destroyed guardian is forever gone. It can't be resurrected or replaced by the wardmist spell. Monsters can be unleashed to wander in an existing wardmist, but to be linked to and teleported about by the ward, they must be part of the initial wardmist casting. Tales exist of wards defended by golems and even by undead titans.

Mages may combine their efforts when creating a wardmist so as to give it multiple sets of guardians of the same or different types. Each mage casts a wardmist spell at the same time, though only one ward is created, and it is set to a single sort of ward token.

A wardmist doesn't seem to exist for a being that carries the proper token. Ward tokens must be made of a certain material, and they must bear a certain rune that is drawn while a secret word is uttered. The material, the rune, and the word are all set during the ward's casting, and they cannot be changed thereafter. For convenience, tokens to a particular ward are usually of a common shape and size, but the wardmist will recognize anything of the right material that bears the right rune. Some ward tokens have been inset into the pommels of swords, for instance, or baked into clay jugs or statuettes. In some large holdings, warders carry rings of varying tokens Just as they do rings of keys. Tokens can be made freely after the casting of a wardmist, but the requirements for a valid token can't be changed without using another wardmist spell.

A being bearing a valid token can't see or be affected by a wardmist and isn't subject to attacks by any guardian monsters linked to the wardmist. An intruder who seizes a valid token from another being, even while in battle with a guardian, will be instantly free of such guardian monster attacks.

Only one wardmist spell can exist in a given area. If a dispel magic is cast on a wardmist, it increases visibility around the caster by 20 feet, delays the appearance of any guardian monsters by a round, and sets off an immediate warning. Only a limited wish or wish can destroy a wardmist. Even repeated dispel magics will fail, and an antimagic shell cannot form within a wardmist. If this is attempted, the antimagic shell is wasted, and the wardmist is unaffected.

The most common addition to a wardmist is a band of armed human guards assigned to respond to the magic's warnings, Spell triggers are also popular; these are spells that have specific preset conditions to set them off. They then launch the effects of other spells, also cast earlier.

The material components are an amount of silver larger in total volume than the caster's fist, phase spider silk, and three powdered pieces of amber of no less than 500 gp value each. The caster must stand in an area that will become part of the ward and visualize the route of the desired ward boundary. An area of 600 square feet per level of the caster may be enclosed. If the wizard tries to enclose too large an area, the spell fails and is wasted. Mages casting simultaneous wardmists may combine their protections.