Splintershield

Description

You throw out a hand and a lattice of pale, brittle plates snaps into being around the target, part bark, part bone, part the memory of every shield that has ever been raised in someone else's defense. Reduce the damage the target takes from the triggering attack by 2d8 + your spellcasting ability modifier. The plates then shatter into harmless splinters and the spell ends. If the triggering attack was a melee attack, the splinters fly outward as they break: the attacker must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or take 1d6 piercing damage. Splintershield cannot reduce damage below 0, and it cannot protect a creature that is already unconscious, since the plates only form around a body still willing to stand behind them. Veteran shield-bearers say the spell feels like being braced by a stranger who is already gone.