This spell causes a 10 foot diameter section of ground to rise up into the air on a spire of dirt and stone. Thereafter, the mage can cause the platform to rise or lower at a rate of 10 + (rank x 3) feet per round; 80 feet at rank 21 and 100 feet (10 feet a second!) at rank 22. The platform can carry up to 500 + (rank x 100) lbs. Unwilling targets on the platform can leap, climb or otherwise attempt to escape the platform by any means they possess as there is nothing holding them there.
Note that the platform cannot ascend beyond the wizard's range with the spell. If, for example, a rank 2 wizard wants the platform to rise beyond 30 feet (his range at rank 2), he must be riding the platform.
A free standing spire loses stability beyond a certain height (this assumes the mage is riding on the Earth Spire). Stable height is 25 feet per rank. Thus, a rank 10 mage can create an Earth Spire that is 250 feet high and it will be stable. Outside forces acting on it might reduce stability but, barring that, it will be stable. Stability reduces beyond that though it is up to the GM to determine what that means. In the case of a rank 10 mage creating a spire that is 275 feet high, he may rule that the mage must make a 4x Luck roll once every minute to see if the spire topples.
If a spire is built alongside a cliff or even a mountain slope, the spire will be stable as long as it has the vertical surface to support it. For example, a rank 10 mage wants to create an Earth Spire to get to the top of a 500 ft cliff. The spire will remain stable for 500 feet and will only have stability issues once it is over 250 feet higher than the top of the cliff (i.e., over 750 feet high).
An Earth Spire can ascend at an angle to follow the incline of a mountain slope or descend down a natural shaft in the earth.
Earth Spire tends to be a noisy spell and sounds like a small earthquake as it ascends or descends. |