Sandblast

Sandblast
Level	1
School1	Earth
Source(s)	Book of Geomancy
Casting noise	1
Spell noise	1, 2 or 3 (depends on the material: nothing, stones or large rocks)

This spell creates a short blast of high-velocity particles. It works best when the caster provides some source, but will do what it can with whatever ambient grit is available.

Spell Details
Damage Formula	1d(8+Power/4)
Max Damage	1d(14.25)
Max Power	25
Range	2
Targeting	Beam
To-hit
Special	Triple AC damage reduction

Spell Details
Damage Formula	2d(4+Power/3)
Max Damage	2d(20.67)
Max Power	50
Range	3
Targeting	Beam
To-hit
Special	Triple AC damage reduction; You need to wield stones

Spell Details
Damage Formula	3d(4+Power/3)
Max Damage	3d(20.67)
Max Power	50
Range	3
Targeting	Beam
To-hit
Special	Triple AC damage reduction; You need to wield large rocks

Sandblast is a level 1 Earth Magic spell which fires grit and stones from the floor or your inventory, dealing physical damage to a nearby enemy. If you wield stones while casting this spell, you deal more damage and increase its range from 2 to 3. Sandblast with stones maxes out at 2d20 damage, which is impressive for a level 1 spell. However, damage reduction from enemy AC is applied thrice instead of once, making it much worse against armored opponents. Ogres and trolls can use large rocks to increase damage even further, to a max of 3d20.

Strategy

Though stones are plentiful, earth elementalist characters will quickly run out if they overuse this spell. Use stones sparingly; use the standard version of the spell against goblins and save your ammo for bigger prey, like hydras.

Since large rocks are very heavy, you may want to break them up. If you repeatedly pick up a large rock and force throw it (press F, then the letter of the rock), it will eventually shatter into 20-40 much more portable stones. Then again, the 50% increase to damage is significant.

History

Prior to version 0.8, Sandblast had a range of 1, but using stones changed it to range 2. Using large rocks did not increase damage.