[Steve Plambeck]

IQ 16 Spells -- Dancing Sword (C)

Summons a sword that floats in midair and fights like it had a mind of its own. It's as if an invisible Myrmidon was wielding it, only better. The Dancing Sword can be as large as a broadsword but no larger, and it may be any smaller sword should the casting wizard prefer. It does its normal damage for whatever sword is chosen.

The Dancing Sword fights with the basic Sword talent, even if the wizard doesn't have that talent. But if the wizard who creates it just happens to have Fencing or Expert Swordsmanship, then it fights with any bonuses appropriate to those skills.

The Dancing Sword has front, side, and rear hexes just like any 1-hex figure. Anyone in its 3 front hexes is engaged by it. The Dancing Sword itself is never engaged: it can flit about the combat all it wants, at an MA of 10, and attack once per turn no matter how far it moved. It can even pass through hexes occupied by 1-hex figures (without striking them), or through Shadow, or Fire, but it cannot pass through a Wall hex. It always has initiative and moves before all other figures -- which is actually a weakness because its next target always gets a chance to turn and react to its new location.

The Dancing Sword has a DX equal to the basic DX of the wizard, before any armor, but any other DX adjustments apply, including the -2 DX after the wizard has been stunned. Just like any fighter, its turn to act is based on adjDX. And it always picks attack as it's option (unless the caster deliberately puts it on "pause"). Automatic results all apply: a broken Dancing Sword vanishes with a small scream, a "dropped" one falls to the floor and must "stand up" before it can fight again.

The wizard who cast this spell can be doing anything else while the Dancing Sword fights for them, as they could for any summoned creature. The sword vanishes when the wizard wills it, or at the end of the turn the wizard is killed or becomes unconscious.

Of note: the wizard does not "see through the eyes" of a Dancing Sword, as it doesn't really have any. It cannot be sent ahead to another room to scout or with orders to attack anyone specific. It can however be left fighting in a room the wizard leaves, especially good for buying time to make an escape.

A Dancing Sword is subject to the Control spell! And it may be obliterated by a lightening bolt, but roll 1 extra D6 to hit because its a small and slippery target; as it's almost always adjacent to friends, that could get tricky. Similarly a heavy crossbow bolt (again roll an extra die) knocks it down for 2 turns. A Rope spell entangles it rendering it harmless until it cuts itself free in (1-1) turns, or a Giant Rope for (2-2) turns.

Cost: 4 ST, lasts 12 turns