Describe your Defensive Rote

[KnightFerrous]

So one of the fun things i've found fascinating about the books is how the different practitioners defend themselves, from Harry's Kinetic wall, to Elaine's hyperawareness, to Carlos' Disolving field. So tell me those who are playing or planning practitioners(should get bonus points for Aliteration) how do you defend yourself?

The practitioner I am planning is an ex-necromancer sorcerer. Trying to move away from black magic he relies on his fallback "safe" magic of Earth. His defensive shield layers electromagnetic and gravitational energy both directed down and slightly away so most things that hit the field just thud into the ground at his feet. The visual effect is that of a slow "light waterfall" as the visual radiation is pulled towards the ground. His defensive focus is a heavy wrought iron and bronze ring carved with runes on his left middle finger.

[Deadmanwalking]

One of the player's in the game I'm prepping for is a changeling with Seelie Magic, his Defensive Rote summons up a swarm of ectoplasmic bronze butterflies with silver and gold wings to intercept the attack, destroying themselves in the process and leaving remnants of their wings to flutter to the ground.

A Fire specialist Wizard I created, but have yet to play, summons a dozen or so pinpoint motes of pure white plasma that hover around him and intercept attacks, burning them into nothingness with the concentrated heat of a small star, and likewse destroying themselves in the process.

A water specialist Warden I created uses a subtler variant of Carlos's entropic shield that looks like a mere heat-haze-like distortion in the air.

[Mal_Luck]

I was working on a Magnetomancer that created a magic-charged field of electromagnetism that when an incoming projectile interacted with it it would lose most of it's kinetic energy colliding with the field. When magic hit the field it would crackle with energy as it was spread over and around the shield like a Faraday Cage and electricity.

It could still however be penetrated by wood or physical beings. So a Black Court could probably still rip him apart if it got close enough.

I was still working out the kinks, but I sorta abandoned the character in favor of my current True Mortal

[Biff Dyskolos]

A spirit shield. Instead of blocking an attack it shifts it into the nevernever so that it passes right through you.

[Wyrdrune]

I was also working on a magnetic defense. My character did use a variant of this in a abandoned factory - the spell picked up all tiny and minute metal items as screws and nails and stuff and let it whirl around him, intercepting attacks. When he saw his chance, he sacrificed the shield and let the spell hurl the metall stuff at one of the enemies doing shrapnell damage.

[iago]

And don't forget that for some spellcasters, the defensive rote is a veil. "You don't see me!" doesn't do much to prevent damage once they can find you, but finding you is the tricky bit.

[PapaBear]

A) Shield of vibration. Everything that comes through the shield is shattered.

B) Gather ghosts and compress them into a shield of ectoplasm. For a bad guy necromancer.

C) Pure spirit magic shield that is netlike. Catches projectiles/attacks instead of reflecting them.

D) Last idea I was tinkering with is a kinetic redirection field(probably a bubble of magic around the user). Projectiles that enter the field have their kinetic energy redirected to move out of the field. Would this be a veil?

[Cajun Guy]

My character uses a shield that shunts attacks through the never-never so that they pass right through.

An altternative I considered using gravity as a shield. You could have a field around you that increases or reduces gravity around the caster. This would work well except against extremely fast attacks like light which would probably be moving too fast for the shield to alter it's course enough to help.

I also thought of combining spirit and fire you could have a sort of burning ectoplasm shield. Basically a napalm shield. It would stop projectiles and the like. It wouldn't be so good at keeping out physical attackers if they were crazy enough to run through it. Does it break the first law if someone is stupid enough to run through a naplm wall you created? Plus, definitely not building friendly.

Just some ideas

Cajun Guy

[Mal_Luck]

And don't forget that for some spellcasters, the defensive rote is a veil. "You don't see me!" doesn't do much to prevent damage once they can find you, but finding you is the tricky bit.

Ah, I also had a rote I called Bending the Spectrum. Since light is part of the electromagnetic spectrum it was an earth-based veil that bent light around the caster.

I can't find it on youtube, but what I had in mind was Darien Fawkes when he quicksilvered in Invisible Man or an effect similar to the Muramasa Blade in Warehouse 13.

[Lanodantheon]

My Warden Pup specializes in the more Esoteric aspects of Earth Magic.

For example, his attacks include a spell that creates a cloud of White Phosphorous as well as one that creates a very, very short lived radioactive isotope of nearby stone.

His defensive rote is one I've envisioned for a long-time: a gravitational bubble that deflects and dissipates forces rather than stopping them cold. Think Fortune from MGS2, except with Gravity instead of just Magnetism.

[Arandmoor]

Been working out the character kinks on my Librarian Wizard (known so far as "the Archavist") in our Magical Spokane game.

Problem 1: Nothing he uses should be able to harm books unless something extremely unusual happens.
Problem 2: Even if something unusual happens and he finds himself backed up against, oh say, a bookcase (worst case scenario in his eyes) his shield, at the least, should not harm any nearby books.
Problem 3: If his defensive rote works successfully, it should damn well not put a mark on anything inside the library. Especially the books.

I found an answer to the above problems in the 2nd Edition D&D Psoioncs Handbook. I can't remember the name of the power, but there was one that created a barrier around the psion consisting of "elastic air" that contracted when a projectile attempted to pass through it. I figure his rote affects the air around him changing its properties to increase the action of friction on objects passing through it, slowing them down and eventually stopping them completely. Visually, things like shrapnel, bullets, etc will hit the shield and the impact would send circular ripples through the area of the defensive field as the kinetic energy of the projectile was bled off and dissipated (think Neo stopping bullets in the Matrix).

After the magic creating the shield dissipates, everything held in the air just falls to the ground.

Anything with its own locomotive power could just swim through the shield I guess, but anything small would have a hell of a time breathing (goddamn bugs).

[Shinto_Knight]

my wizzard focuses on force and physics, and rather than stop the force bluntly, he diverts and deflects the energy (or bullets) around him. like angled armor on a tank.

[Archmage_Cowl]

i had an idea for an air mage that specialized in sword combat based magic and had a shield of blades of air that cut down any attack before they reached her.

[Wyrdrune]

my wizzard focuses on force and physics, and rather than stop the force bluntly, he diverts and deflects the energy (or bullets) around him. like angled armor on a tank.

be careful that it doesn't ricochets off and strikes a bystander...

[Knave]

Intervening Hair? Shadow tentacles?  Phantasmal creatures that leap in front of bullets.  (The Bambi shield : p)