Warcaster's Oath

Description

This solid shield is commonly reinforced with greensteel bands and inlaid with tempest jade decorations. It is a favourite of battlefield magicians, especially Dawnish war-witches and Imperial orc warcasters. While it requires additional skill for a magician to benefit from a shield, those who favour the shield-and-wand or shield-and-rod style of fighting find the warcaster's oath to be a valuable addition to their tactics.

While it is popular among more martially-inclined magicians, it also sees some use among magicians who focus on healing and supporting their allies; incantations such as heal or purify are depressingly easy to interrupt, but a magician with this shield can not only cover himself and his patient from random blows or arrows, but in the event that an enemy gets close enough to strike a lucky blow the magician's resources are not wasted.

The Imperial orc magicians who use this shield, however, are strong proponents of the more warlike use. They wade into combat alongside their legion, invoking offensive spells with their rods while using the shield to ensure they do not need to back out of the fray to begin casting spells such as swift heal, empower, purge or repel. While the orc risks constant interruptions, as long as they are prepared to accept them they know they will eventually complete their spellcasting. This attitude has lead to some of the wielders, orc and human alike, being dubbed warchanters because their invocations can take much longer than those of magicians who retreat to a safe location to begin their spellcasting.

Rules

• Form: Talisman. Takes the form of a full-sized shield. You cannot make a magic buckler. You must be wielding this shield to use its magical properties.
• Requirement: You must have the shield skill to bond to this item.
• Effect: You may spend 2 personal mana to use unstoppable as if you knew the skill. You must be able to cast spells to use this shield - it explicitly will not work if you are wearing armour.
• Materials: Crafting a warcaster's oath requires seven ingots of green iron, five ingots of tempest jade and four measures of dragonbone. It takes one month to make one of these items.