This is a feature I first decided to take off my roadmap to alpha, but I realized that it's a too important part of my game concept, so I started implementing it.
A barrier is a buff which works like a HP buffer for a special element. When it is cast on another player, all damage with that element will eat away the HP value of the barrier before reducing the actual HP of the players. The HP buffer of the barrier decays naturally during the lifetime of the shield.
Currently there is only a provisorical implementation - every player starts out with a 100HP fire shield which loses 1 HP per second. But I am going to make barriers spells. Each player-character can have one barrier active at a time, but it doesn't need to be on oneself, so a player can make the tactical decision to protect another partymember instead of oneself.
There will be two kinds of barriers. Long-time wards which decay slowly but need a long time to cast, and quick counterspells which are cast very quickly but also decays rapidly. The first kind is used as a precaution when wandering dangerous areas, while the latter is cast when you notice someone attacks you to prevent the damage.
