Well, I said I'd do it so here it is - a bunch of annoying questions about one of the most utile spells in the game.
For the first use, what happens to anyone inside of the portal when it collapses? For example, if you're the mage and you're being pursued through the tunnel the portal created, what happens if you cancel the spell right after you pass through the other end? I assume the person is bounced out of the portal, rather than be crushed or warped into some phantom zone. But, do you end up at the beginning of the portal or at the end? Or is it a function of whether you're closer to one side than another (and what if you're in the epicenter?
Also, for the first use, can you stack the portals? If you can only make a portal of 900 feet, but you need to travel 1200 feet, can you just get to near the end of the tunnel, which would be solid wall, and then continue the portal?
Now the second use, making a solid wall into an Iconian gateway has a lot more questions. It's an obviously great tool for getting into a sealed room, as long as you know where the room is. But it says the portal is one way - once you step through, you can't go back. What happens if you merely REACH through? Can you pull your hand or arm back or is it stuck until you move forward? If you're stuck, what happens if you're not quite through the portal and it closes? Are you cut in half?
Does the flat surface have to be contiguous? Could you cast Mystic Portal on a wall with some holes in it? What if the surface is smooth and contiguous, but curved?
If you cast the spell on your roof, so that rain falls through the portal, but the portal opens facing upward, does the rain shoot out until it breaches the edge of the portal and then gravity pulls it back through the portal? The same would count for anyone jumping through the portal.
Since the portal is one way, I assume that is only for corporeal objects. Obviously, light can pass through the portal or else you wouldn't be able to see what was on the other side. What about sound? Could you open the portal but not physically pass through it and use it to eaves drop?
-Vek
"I'm sure more questions will arise."
Mystic Portal
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Veknironth
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ShadowLogan
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Re: Mystic Portal
#1. I would say there is no depth, the "tunnel" is just a portal. You step in and come out the other side.
#1b. No you could not chain them together directly. You could cast it, step through and cast it again to make a longer one.
2. I do not think you can reach through and grab something. I would treat it like a Stargate, you don't get transported unless you step into it (for all practical purposes).
2a. Surface geometry isn't something I've thought about. I'd probably allow curved surfaces, and the number of and size of the holes could influence if it can be used (the smaller the #/size the better).
2b. Portals are said to be one way. So if you cast it on a roof as the entrance, with the exit on a floor... You'd fall into the roof portal, come up through the floor and land on the exit portal which would not let you return.
3. Light passes both ways through the portal, so it'd be though to visually eavesdrop this way. Sound likely only travels one way (no mention of sound being sent from the exit), so you could open a MP to send a message, but not receive one (unless you can read lips or use sign language).
#1b. No you could not chain them together directly. You could cast it, step through and cast it again to make a longer one.
2. I do not think you can reach through and grab something. I would treat it like a Stargate, you don't get transported unless you step into it (for all practical purposes).
2a. Surface geometry isn't something I've thought about. I'd probably allow curved surfaces, and the number of and size of the holes could influence if it can be used (the smaller the #/size the better).
2b. Portals are said to be one way. So if you cast it on a roof as the entrance, with the exit on a floor... You'd fall into the roof portal, come up through the floor and land on the exit portal which would not let you return.
3. Light passes both ways through the portal, so it'd be though to visually eavesdrop this way. Sound likely only travels one way (no mention of sound being sent from the exit), so you could open a MP to send a message, but not receive one (unless you can read lips or use sign language).
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eliakon
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Re: Mystic Portal
Just as a note here...
I would not even say that Light passes through the portal.
I would say that you see what is on the other side in a similar manner to a crystal ball.
It is not the exact light from the other side coming through...it is a magical image on the surface of the portal that shows that which is beyond it.
I would not even say that Light passes through the portal.
I would say that you see what is on the other side in a similar manner to a crystal ball.
It is not the exact light from the other side coming through...it is a magical image on the surface of the portal that shows that which is beyond it.
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Re: Mystic Portal
My interpretation of Mystic Portal has always been that it's an instantaneous transport. You either create the exit portal anywhere you see or know of (the teleport portion of the spell), or you create the exit portal a number of feet away in a straight line when you don't know the destination. In either case, once you start to go through you appear on the other side.
Zerebus: "I like MDC. MDC is a hundred times better than SDC."
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Temporal Wizard O.C.C. update 0.8 | Rifts random encounters
New Fire magic | New Temporal magic
Grim Gulf, the Nightlands version of Century Station
Let Chaos Magic flow in your campaigns.
kiralon: "...the best way to kill an old one is to crash a moon into it."
Temporal Wizard O.C.C. update 0.8 | Rifts random encounters
New Fire magic | New Temporal magic
Grim Gulf, the Nightlands version of Century Station
Let Chaos Magic flow in your campaigns.
Re: Mystic Portal
Veknironth wrote:For the first use, what happens to anyone inside of the portal when it collapses? For example, if you're the mage and you're being pursued through the tunnel the portal created, what happens if you cancel the spell right after you pass through the other end? I assume the person is bounced out of the portal, rather than be crushed or warped into some phantom zone. But, do you end up at the beginning of the portal or at the end? Or is it a function of whether you're closer to one side than another (and what if you're in the epicenter?
As I also have it so you don't traverse the distance in the portal, if you are half way through when it closes 1 half makes it, the other half doesn't (adios amigo) .
Veknironth wrote:Also, for the first use, can you stack the portals? If you can only make a portal of 900 feet, but you need to travel 1200 feet, can you just get to near the end of the tunnel, which would be solid wall, and then continue the portal?
No as I have the internal distance of the portal traversed instantly you can't do that.
Veknironth wrote:Now the second use, making a solid wall into an Iconian gateway has a lot more questions. It's an obviously great tool for getting into a sealed room, as long as you know where the room is. But it says the portal is one way - once you step through, you can't go back. What happens if you merely REACH through? Can you pull your hand or arm back or is it stuck until you move forward? If you're stuck, what happens if you're not quite through the portal and it closes? Are you cut in half?
Its one way for solid matter, stick a pinky finger in and you either have to go all the way through or cut off your finger. If you get stuck halfway through when the portal closes at least half of you makes it there.
Veknironth wrote:Does the flat surface have to be contiguous? Could you cast Mystic Portal on a wall with some holes in it? What if the surface is smooth and contiguous, but curved?
If you cast the spell on your roof, so that rain falls through the portal, but the portal opens facing upward, does the rain shoot out until it breaches the edge of the portal and then gravity pulls it back through the portal? The same would count for anyone jumping through the portal.
Since the portal is one way, I assume that is only for corporeal objects. Obviously, light can pass through the portal or else you wouldn't be able to see what was on the other side. What about sound? Could you open the portal but not physically pass through it and use it to eaves drop?
I tell my players to imagine a rectangle of glass and place it where you could place a rectangle of glass that's 3 metres by 6 metres, so if there isn't enough room it won't work, if there are extrusions through it still no go. Solid matter in the way causes the spell to fail.
Also the rain would go through the portal and then not be able to get back so it would pool on the surface of the portal at the other end.
I must say I don't allow sound through but people can lip read and watch people through it.