As part of the work on the Fan Grimoire, we've seen several variations on the Intangible Tunnel spell, and it got me thinking:
What happens if a Bjornaer invents a Personal, Sun duration, Vision version, where everyone who looks at him gets an Intangible Tunnel?
That's tricky because spells cast through the tunnel usually go to their target because there is only one at the other side of the tunnel. If there are many, I guess the spell could either get one random "exit", fail or blow up depending on the mood of the SG.
If you think of it there are many variants of intangible tunnel spells but there isn't any with T: Group and I think that's for a good reason. That on the intangible tunnel side of this issue.
Then there is the Vision version of it. I'd never been much into Björnaer magics, but can you create a Personal, Momentary, Sun duration version of a PoF, where everyone looking at you gets one fire bolt?Because I'm not sure you can do that (and if you can't, then neither can you do the tunnel spell).
Yes, you can technically make a CrIg spell that causes anyone watching you to take fire damage.
The downside is, the spell needs to be appropriate for the Heartbeast. So a CrIg spell might be appropriate for a lizard, maybe, but an Intangible Tunnel spell might be appropriate for a Peacock heartbeast.
Ok, that crosses my third paragraph off. Two remaining, still! I love the idea but I find it just so tricky.
It can be advantageous, if you want to affect a group, but wants to use Touch to keep the level lower (maybe for Penetration, or maybe for a doable project in your Lab Total, or both)
That is a really nebulous and limited restriction (“not inappropriate to the animal”) highly subject to SG decision and the only example is that a prey animal such as a rabbit could not invent the spell Scent of a Predator. While there are animals such as salamanders where an Ignem power is very appropriate I’m not sure there are animals where Ignem is right out except, maybe, fish.
I don't see why there could not be. It is critical to note is that intangible tunnels bring targets close, they do not make them smaller.
Hence, you can cast touch spells to affect remote targets, but you cannot cast Ind spells to affect groups.
I would rule that once the tunnel is created, you can cast group spells through it with no further ado. If you want to cast individual spells, you need to sense the individual target to single it out from the group, and since the tunnel does not help you do that, you need some other means of sensing.
If the tunnel is created with sensory magic, the group may be large and require additional size magnitudes.
I think (but do not know) that the targets only get access to the caster through the tunnel, and can thus trivially cast individual touch spells back at them.
(I hope you are not going to ask how you cast sensory spells through the tunnel, cause that will make my brain fume.)
I'm just not sure why an intangible tunnel would be appropriate to any heartbeast. Maybe you can expand on why you think it would be?
In principle a group target intangible tunnel could create a group of intangible tunnels, each of them to a member of the group.
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The restriction is that it can’t be “inappropriate” to the animal form stuff. Now, either one rules that all magic powers are inappropriate so no “everyone looking at me bursts into flame” and no Vim-form powers either or one decides that’s a terrible restriction on actual magic and say these sorts of things are neither appropriate or inappropriate for most animal forms.
Really, that rule is really only worth discussing when we have forgotten what it means to RP. There should, for all characters, be spells they simply would not use because it makes them sick, because it violates their moral code, endangers their soul, or offends Mother Earth. Whether you have found your heartbeast does not really matter.
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I'll concede that requiring a designed spell not to be inappropriate to an heartbeast per RAW is a different requirement than requiring the designed spell to be appropriate to the heartbeast. Rules depending on storyguide arbitration will have different levels of flexibility by saga.
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Back to the original point, what happens if you have a Spectacle version of the intangible tunnel? Well, everyone who sees you is now at touch range for casting spells at. A powerful piece of metamagic, but it would be a very high level Vim spell to be able to cast decent spells down it.
Also, would you now count as being at touch range to other's spells? Now, other magi may not detect the intangible tunnel but some may be able to. Even worse, as this is a Bjornaer sensory spell, what happens when you meet a fellow practitioner of sensory magic whose defensive spells hurt anyone touching them (such as a porcupine or hedgehog casting damaging spells, or a toad being toxic to anyone touching them, all of which are highly heartbeast-appropriate)?
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The Tunnel effects are not real distances. Range: Touch and Target: Touch are 2 different factors of a spell. So other Bjornaer with Sensory magic spells using Target: Touch cannot use the tunnel-like effects bc the Sensory magic spell has Range: Personal which is not appropriate for tunnel effects. Tunnel needs Touch+ Ranges.
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You need to actually touch them to be affected by their Touch Target spell.
I think the bigger question is whether you would be aware of all the intangible tunnels such an effect would create. If another magus who knows about this effect is following you hidden by mundane means, so that they see you and you do not see them, could they then target you with an intangible tunnel your effect creates before you are aware that it is there?
It seems to me that a spell like this would make one highly vulnerable more than it would be usefull.
That's rather irrelevant. No matter how high the risk is, there will be a magus reckless enough to try it at some point.
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Certainly, but it may e more of a cautionary tale amongst Bjorners rather than something that should be pursued in a game.
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You'll probably not be aware of them if someone is hiding, and yes, it could well cause a problem, but that someone needs to have an InVi spell to be able to see it, and if caught, he can be charged with scrying, since he was hidden, looking at you.
It's also good to keep in mind, that some Heartbeasts might be harder to spot, in my hypothetical case, we're talking about an eagle that can fly way up. But even a lizard Heartbeasts might be missed by most people.
Someone hiding behind a wagon that you do not spot will not be charged with scrying because simply speaking they are not scrying. Hidden does not mean invisible, and I specified they were not using magic before the other magi's spell spell gave them an intangible tunnel.
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