starting characters with "Opening the Intangible Tunnel"

Salve!

I have been thinking about the spell "Opening the Intangible Tunnel", and I am wondering if a just-Gauntletted mage would know this spell.
And if so, what other spells they would use with it?

Does anybody have examples of a magus coming out of Gauntlet with this spell?
You would need a decent ReVi total to make the Intangible Tunnel, especially if it had to penetrate magic resistance. Then you would need some decent Intelligo spells to know what is happening at the other end of the Intangible Tunnel.
I can understand if they were a spy, this sort of combo wouldn't be too difficult to accomplish.

What what if they wanted to do more than spy? The Gauntletted mage has probably used up most of his/her Arts on ReVi and In, so they wouldn't have much left to affect the other end of the Intangible Tunnel.
Which is why I am curious about what examples people have.

I actually like using a Touch-range version of it most. Cast it on your grogs and maintain it. Now you can cast all your Touch-range defensive spells and buffs on them at will from any distance.

Are you familiar with Hermetic Projects "The Intangible Assassin"?

I don't see any reason why a magus just past Gauntlet shouldn't have such a spell. If it makes sense for the character concept one can assume the parens knew the spell and taught it, or made it available as lab text.

Are you asking for examples of canon magi with this spell at Gauntlet, or whether any players have done so?

To cast an Intangible Tunnel (or similar effects) you need an AC to the target, and this is bound to be good for a Penetration modifier, so this helps with Penetration.

If you want to do more than spy, the "Intangible Assassin" in HP uses the tunnel to cast R:Touch spells in order to damage. And these will be lower level than normal R:Voice combat spells, and will thus have better penetration than the same effect at R:Voice, or be designed with higher damage.

Our current saga has a Flambeau who has used it extensively, and I believe right out of Gauntlet.

Or ypu could take a look at "Designing the Intangible Assassin" in Sub rosa #15. :wink:

Yes, my most recent character has a low level version Touch and Diameter... place a spell in an arrow, shoot arrow, go boom. Etc.

Opening the intangible tunnel has a million different uses most or at least many of which don't involve combat or penetrating magic resistance. I don't see any reason why an apprentice wouldn't learn the spell.

Don't forget that the Intangible tunnel can target many things without MR so penetration does not need to be the top priority. If you don't intend to use it offensively, it is a spell with many applications in the area of gathering information, protection and utility and does not need to target a person ("...allowing you to cast... ... on that target").
You can use it on bridge to know who/when somebody is crossing it, then you can cast a spell disintegrating the bridge without being nearby (bridge has no MR).
You can use it to spy in the local inn hearing whatever rumors the mundanes are spreading regarding the covenant, possibly catching some dodgy deal being made.
You can use it to boost & protect grogs, use animals to spy/fight/scare.
You can use it to control and trigger traps - very efficient for ambush: no rope or any noticable traps my mundane means.
You can use to communicate at distance, the target can emit sounds or have an image appearing on it (table, mirror, wall) with various CrIm.
You can use it for military purpose: Earth's Carbuncles at touch range, with an increased target modifier and you have a whole minefield (any PeTe/ReTe can be devastating). Because you design those spell with a range of touch, you can afford to increase their area of effect, whilst maintaining the same final level. Intangible tunnel makes the "Touch" range a formality, without any risk.

So definitely, Intangible Tunnel for a magus fresh out of gauntlet is a concept that has a lot of potential.

Intangible Tunnel allows to bypass "on the cheap" one of the most stringent limit in magic: the need to see the target. Instead of having to learn multiple high level spell with Range: Arc, you only need one.

I will try borrowing a copy of "Hermetic Projects" next week to check up on this.

It sounds like a combat spell. I wonder if there are non-combat uses for the Intangible Tunnel.
Most uses for Intangible Tunnels that I can think of require far higher Art scores than a young Magus can have.
I once speculated that an elder mage, with the right mastery, could simulcast both rituals of Hermes Portal spell using a ritual level 75 version of "Opening the Intangible Tunnel".

Update: I just read the post by Ezechiel357. Interesting, means learning variations of spells with Touch range, but an interesting line of inquiry.

With my current character, I have an Intangible Tunnel of Range Sight, it is very useful to target things without needing arcane connections. I call it the "Evil eye" . As I also have flexible formulaic magic, it means it can work at Range Arc when needed (I love this virtue)

One trick I found recently with tunnels, is that you can cast a Range Touch Tunnel on a already opened tunnel, thus increasing the spell level you can cast through the new tunnel by a few magnitudes :

Let's say you have a level 15 Range Arc duration diameter Tunnel (very similar to the one in the core rulebook). You can cast level 15 spells through it. By casting a new tunnel with the range Touch tunnel level 15 on it, you now have a new tunnel that can be used for spells up to level 30...

Also, as noted in Intangible assassin, it is very difficult to target a tunnel if you don't have the proper spells ready and are not its creator. In case of a wizard's war, the target should really expect a tunnel, but could really begin looking for it only after the first offensive spells are being cast. One thing I thought about, is that by opening multiple tunnels before striking, and sealing them with arcane seal (hermetic projects p81) the odds of the target to find the correct one to strike back are greatly diminished (or to seal it with their own arcane seal).

My character is not ready for any kind of violence, so I only ever used tunnels to spy on foes and gather information. Peering into the mortal mind on any arcane connection that is relevant is really powerful. It's also great with imaginem to see and hear at a distance, and and with creo imaginem, you can speak or send images through a tunnel, making it a great tool for communication.

It can also be used to target things indirectly. Let's say you send a grog into an inn. If you have an open tunnel on him, you can of course see and hear what's happening in the inn with the proper intellego imaginem (I think level 15 is enough). I don't think these magical senses let you target things you can sense through them, but you can also cast spells on the grog with target room, and affect anyone in the same room (for exemple call to slumber).

That's actually the name of a spell in Hermetic Projects which, not surprisingly, is a range sight arcane tunnel (with duration diameter).

This is genius.

Shush... storytellers read these threads.

Is this because the reduction of Range and Duration allow for a higher max level spell to be cast through? Eg. OtIT is normally limited to its own level, but a reduction in R&D allows for Level +2 mags?

On the original question: I think it’s very reasonable. If Pen is an issue then also use Wizards Communion with a few friends (or buy a copy in the starting library at the very least).

Exactly, Base is General, "Create a conduit or container for spells with level less than or equal to the level + 5 magnitudes of the Vim spell." If you make it D: Concentration or D: Diameter, R: Arcane, you add 5 levels, so the final spell allows spells up to its level, but if you make it R: Touch then you have 3 magnitudes less, so the spells you can cast are up to the Tunnel's level plus these 3 spare magnitudes.

The Hermetic Projects spells are so focused in low level spells that they all are quite achievable for almost any magi, just out of Gauntlet or older. I have a Tytalus who also employs that trick since Gauntlet, with Deft Vim and an Evil Eye spell to fix targets unnoticed, an Arcane Seal to keep things quiet and safe, and then affect them from a safe place, and a pretty wide range of D: Ring spells (another tunnel included) and Maintaining the Demanding Spell with D: Ring as well. Then he goes around broking circles as he needs spells to end. I love this: pretty much more strategical than tactical.

About the Arts where you need to put your focus in, obviously you will have to invest some XPs into Rego and Vim, but with a lvl 10 tunnel you can do pretty cool things (or even with a lvl 5 one), and being so low level the investment doesn't have to be that high. And you can always get yourself a Minor Magical Focus in spell containers & conduits and get the focus help.

I hope to borrow the "Hermetic Projects" book over the weekend.

However, all this talk of Touch level spells leaves me wondering about how this might affect teleportation spells.
Would I be rorting the system if I tried to argue that teleportation means instantaneously moving, without physically ever being in the intervening distance, from your current location (that you are touching) to another location (that you will end up touching) within the spell range?
In which case, in HoH:S in the Flambeau chapter there is a short-range teleportation spell (~50 paces) that IIRC is ReCo15
Could you have a level 15 Intangible Tunnel opened to a piece of architecture more than 50 paces away, then cast the short-range teleportation spell to teleport 1 pace away from the spot you are (intangibly) touching on the other side of the Intangible Tunnel?

I am thinking this is stretching the (somewhat ill-defined) definitions of "teleportation" and "Touch Range" (in respect to Intangible Tunnels) a little bit too much. But I am not certain.

ReCo guidelines for teleportation says: "transport instantly target by xxx paces" (implying from its current location)
Intangible tunnel allows you to cast spell "as with Range Touch". It does not makes the target closer. Probably the name of spell "Tunnel" might implies some form of hole in the space, but it is not the case. So the target cannot move throught the tunnel (if it is what you question was - I could have misread it).

An arcane tunnel spell could be used teleport something that is on the other end of the tunnel. This is a solution to the weirdness that teleporting yourself to your significant other's location is many magnitudes lower than teleporting them to your place, in fact a range AC teleport ends up being level 55, it requires a ritual, while if you cast a range touch spell through a tunnel it is "only" level 40.

That said, I agree with Ezechiel an arcane tunnel allows you to cast spells at distant targets as if they were closer (I would think of it as a tunnel of sorts) but it doesn't make you in a different location so I don't see how it would make teleporting yourself any easier.

Yes, I had been meaning teleporting through the "intangible tunnel".
However, on re-reading the spell description on p162 ArM5, I realise that I conflated two different sentences

Meaning I can only cast spells on whatever is the target of "Opening the Intangible Tunnel", not something in its vicinity.

I had conflated it with being a magus on the other side of the Intangible Tunnel

That fixes that possible rort.

I think I have had it as a starting spell a long time ago. That was a theoretical Bonisagus specialising in Vim. His vocation was research into similar Vim spells to push limits in every conceivable way. I cannot remember to have actually cast the Intangible Tunnel. That character concept made it plausible, but was not the most playable.

Point is, I think you need to min-max your character to the extreme to actually make use of the intangible tunnel. You need both the tunnel and the spell to cast through it, with the arts to cast both. Additionally you need concentration to maintain the tunnel. In practice, this is quite a lot of dice rolls. Failing or botching any one of them is enough to be in trouble, and this makes it high risk. It will generally be easier and safer to design a variant of the main spell at Arc Range.

It would be very interesting to see an actual newly gauntleted character who is able to use the tunnel safely and usefully. I am sure it can be done, but I am curious as to how much munchkinism is required to make it work.

There is nothing wrong or strange in a starting character with a couple of useless spells. Many magi study spells purely out of academic interest.

Er, you know, there isn't any problem in making one such a spell with D: Diameter at exactly the same level and get rid of the Concentration roll... or D: Sun or even D: Moon versions for more strategic approachs.

You are right. I think I made that character concept and researched the matter under 3rd ed, before the diam duration was introduced, or at least before I had fully read and comprehended 4th ed. I stand corrected. There are probably more tweaks you can make to make it more usable.