Alpha's Lightwall
(Evocation)

Range:  10 yards per level
Components:  V, S, M
Duration:  1 round per level
Casting Time:  3
Area of Effect:  10-foot per level long square
Saving Throw:  Special

This spell causes a wall of dazzling yellow-white light to come into being at any point within the range of the wizard. Vision through the wall by any means is quite impossible, though it is negated by a darkness (q.v.) spell cast at it. When the wall first comes into being, all those within 10 feet of it who are not averting their eyes (thus a wizard could warn his companions that he was about to cast this spell) must make a saving throw versus petrification to avert their gaze from the wall in time to avoid being dazzled by its brightness. This dazzling results in a -2 penalty to-hit, a 20% spell failure chance for wizards, and a -1 penalty on initiative dice rolls. These effects persist for as many rounds as the difference between the victim's die roll and the roll needed for him to save. These effects can persist even after the duration of the spell has elapsed.
Naturally, blind or sightless creatures are unaffected by this spell, but subterranean or dark dependent creatures (drow, duergar, or svirfneblin, for example) suffer a -3 on their saving throw. Further, they are not protected by their normal magic resistance, as the spell is not cast directly at them. They are as vulnerable to its existence as any other creature would be.
The light given off is equivalent to a continual light (q.v.) spell within 20 feet, and equivalent to a light spell (i.e., normal torchlight) in an additional 80-foot radius. The lightwall, if cast outdoors, can be seen up to a mile away per level of the wizard (reflecting the additional size of a larger wizard's lightwall). The wall can, of course, be created smaller than the maximum size for the wizard's level.
The wall itself causes no damage to creatures passing through it. However, a character fighting someone with a lightwall directly behind him suffers a -1 on his chances to-hit (note that this is cumulative with the dazzling effects described above). Similarly to the 1st-level wall of darkness (q.v.), sound is blocked by the lightwall, assuming that it does not allow sound waves to travel around the sides of it (as when cast outdoors, for example). It does not absorb sound or prevent spellcasting, it merely does not allow sound to pass through it (even if such sound is from a horn of blasting or a shout spell). The material component is a clear gemstone or a sunstone worth no less than 100 gp.

