My sona is an elemental mage knight fennec fox... big name... sorry. Lemme Explain.
He grew up in a warrior type society where all the fennecs are either weapons masters or hunters for one of the many underground communities. (Yes, I know about real fennecs and what their lifestyle is. This is another dimension, so bear with me...)
Anyways, Wesley was one of the few who wasn't up to living like that. He wanted to be a full out sorcerer. He left the community to find a sorcerer to train with. Unfortunately, his mental and magical aura weren't sufficient to be a full out sorcerer, but he COULD learn to be a fairly powerful elemental mage, meaning he can create and alter fire, water, earth, wind, ice, lightning... that's about it... He prefers ice, because it's easier to manipulate, can be made into any shape, goes hand in hand with water, and is more predictable in what it will do.
When his basic training in the elemental magics was finished, he was told he needed a staff. He wasn't up to that. He grew up learning how to use a sword. A dinky staff just didn't cut it... literally. It wasn't useful in close up combat.
SO, what he did was he had a longsword plated in gold and enchanted to work like a magical staff. The gold helps it to channel the magical energies needed to power his abilities, which is pretty much the same thing a staff does. The enchantment also keeps the gold from chipping off every time he hit something/someone with it.
Now, one ability that he developed using his foxy intuitive mind and experimentation is something he likes to call a "cold aura". Basically, he creates an enchantment that floats around him LIKE a barrier, but NOT a barrier. If something, like someone's fist or paw came into contact with this enchantment, it would be instantly frozen solid, as if they had it stuck in liquid nitrogen. Now, if they were swinging said fist or paw, it would still hit Wesley full force. But, unless they wanted to lose their fist/paw, they couldn't hit him again... for a while... it takes about ten minutes to wear off. But it gives Wesley enough time to finish off his opponent.
... I have many more characters that are plenty of fun like Wesley if you're interested. ^^