This spell enables a wizard to protect his magical property and enchantments from tampering by other spellcasters. The backfire can be cast on any magical item or object even temporarily endowed with magical properties (such as a character that has been slowed).
The backfire remains dormant until such time as a character attempts to cast dispel magic on the object. The backfire not only causes the dispel to fail automatically, but the dispelling caster loses one memorized spell of a level equal to the spell or effect he was trying to dispel. If he has no such spell, the backfire causes him to lose a spell of the next lower level, until the caster has lost one spell or has no spell to lose.
For example, suppose that a 7th-level wizard is attempting to cast dispel magic on a door that has been wizard locked and is protected by the baneful backfire. Upon casting the dispel, the wizard instantly loses one 2nd-level spell (equal to the level of the wizard lock) and the door is still magically sealed.
The baneful backfire is not effective against a spellcaster of a higher level than the wizard who cast it. In such a case, a successful dispel magic would dispel both the ward and the spell it was put in place to protect.
The physical component of the spell is a bit of cat fur and a piece of carpeting roughly three inches square.
Notes: Uncommon or rare spell in WoG.
- Errata: is from the WORLD OF GREYHAWK setting, add to Notes: (WOG).