Fire shield

Dragonflame mantle, also known as fire shield is an evocation spell used by sorcerers early in their training. When dragonflame mantle is cast it envelops the sorcerer using it in a fiery shield that not only makes it more difficult for enemy attacks to succeed against the sorcerer, but also burns any who touch them with scorching flames. Dragonflame mantle activates instantaneously when the sorcerer wishes for it do so, flaring up when the sorcerer is attacked. The spell is somewhat difficult to cast and as such requires a short rest of a few minutes or more before it can be cast again.

Before the Spellplague, dragonflame mantle was more commonly called fire shield and was used by wizards as well as sorcerers. It was also considered more powerful and not only protected the caster from attacks, but made them immune, temporarily, to extremes of hot or cold. There was an added versatility as well, as the flames protecting the caster could either be scorching hot or freezing cold upon contact with an attacker's flesh and the light given off by the flames, which might be violet or blue if hot or blue or green if cold, was of more use than the light given off by the later incarnation of the spell, reaching up to ten feet with half the illumination of an equivalent torch. Phosphorus was sometimes used as a component for the warm shield while a live firefly, glow worm, or the tail portions of four dead glow worms were used for the chill shield.

There were limits, however, to the spell in its old form. Like other spells of the time it could only be cast as often as the sorcerer had energy left for spellcasting or the number of times the wizard had prepared for its use. The spell also had shorter reach and attackers using long-reaching weapons like halberds were unharmed by the effects of dragonflame mantle.