Arcane Gate Shenanigans

[KorvinStarmast]

I just hit level 10, and can see level 11 on the horizon if our DM keeps throwing monsters at us.
My initial request for advice on Mystic Arcanum, at 11, got some good results (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24506700&postcount=1), but as I ponder Arcane Gate I've got to admit that I've not seen it in use yet.

It is a spell that seems to me rife with the potential for creative uses and shenanigans. I have an idea that if I put an arcane gate behind an enemy, and the other terminus 500' up, our Barbarian might be able to shove an enemy through the gate and get them to fall 500'. (Or won't that work?)

Playgrounders: for those of you who have used Arcane Gate in play, what creative uses have you applied it to? (beyond the obvious "cross a 499' wide river/chasm/gap" kind of use)

Since I am mostly a support caster, grabbing this utility spell might be my best choice for Mystic Arcanum.

[Willowhelm]

I’ve not got any ideas for you but I don’t think your suggestion works.

“ Choose two points on the ground…” means no 500ft falls unless there’s a cliff nearby.

[Sparky McDibben]

Sorry man. I've got no ideas for you because I've never seen it used in play, except for a few times as a DM to facilitate surprise attacks by large groups of enemies.

Honestly, I figured it was for creative play as soon as I read it, but I could never get it to "work." I always figured, well, maybe I'm not creative enough, but I'd hoped that someone else had some cool stuff.

[PrinceOfMadness]

Disclaimer: I have not myself used this spell in play - my games never seem to hit that magic 11th level :smallfrown: - but there are a few potential uses of the spell I can think of.

The rings are visible only from one direction that you choose as the caster (the portal side). In other words, if you were to cast this spell so that the ring faces towards a wall or similar, you could use it as a delivery method for hidden/invisible attackers without alerting your enemies or needing to worry about opening any pesky doors. An invisible familiar to share senses with is helpful for delivering this in areas you wouldn't normally be able to see.

The rings allow objects to pass through as well as creatures. You could use this spell as a delivery method for all manner of hazards: caltrops, ball bearings, alchemist's fire, holy water, to name just a few simple examples, and establish battlefield control before ever entering the battlefield. Additionally, the rings block line of sight, but not line of effect, so you could potentially use them as a delivery method for other types of attacks that don't require LoS - breath weapons come to mind as an easy example.

Keep in mind, too, that the rings block LoS from one side only, and passing through the nonportal side has no effect. In narrow battlefields, you could use this to your advantage to cut off a 20' plane of enemy vision - from two side-by-side portals - while your own ranged attacks pass through unimpeded. As an amusing side effect, this can also be used to return enemy missile attacks to sender; ready an action to cast this just before an enemy archer fires to comical effect. And as a bonus action on your turn, you can rotate the planes to face in different directions if it becomes necessary to do so.

The spell can also be used as a budget Forcecage; in tight quarters or when your foe's movement is otherwise limited, you can place both rings facing your enemy and no more than 10 feet away to prevent the enemy from moving in - or making ranged attacks through - the directions so blocked. Handy if your foe has his back to the wall or is fighting in cramped corridors.

Again, these are all theoretical uses of the spell, but I believe that all of them work by RAW.

[BerzerkerUnit]

Depending on the DM its combat potential ranges from limited to nil.

Its utility potential is incongruent with its spell level because you need to see both points, they have to be on "the ground" and its always perpendicular to that ground.

That said, working with a grappler, it might be a magical meatslicer that instantly sashimis enemies.

Example:
Rd 1. Cast spell. Portal A near barbarian, Portal B immediately behind portal A so from the side a creature would appear to be passing through a 1 inch wide hula hoop.
Rd 2. Ready bonus action to portal rotate B 180 degrees.
Rd 2. Barbarian turn, barbarian forces creature half way through the portal triggering your reaction to spin portal B 180 degrees. Barbarian then continues movement to pull creatures back out of portal.

So say the barb has a classic pro wrestling clinch and drives the creep back so its legs are out the back but the upper torso is out the front. When the creature is half way through both it is normally oriented, when portal B spins, the creep is now staring at his own lower back and legs sticking out underneath them. Nothing happened bc the rotation made them pass through the back side of portal a, but when the barbarian pulls back, that first inch of lower torso is going to pass through portal A again, simultaneously overlapping the same space in portal be the inch below it does.

There isn't a rule for this specifically, but teleporting into things usually does some d10s and if the barbarian shuffles the creep back and forth for the remaining 15 feet of their movement, that might be 3-6 d10 force.

[KorvinStarmast]

My current idea is to occasionally synergize it with the Brass Horn of Valhalla that our dwarf has.

He summons the {3d4 + 3} berserkers, I put up the gate, and they get deep into the enemy rear and create chaos. But that's a 'once per week' deal with the horn.

I think (probably need to discuss with DM) that if I can see the top of a castle wall that it might be 'ground' and I can open a gate at our end, put the other end on top of the castle wall, and we just move the party from here to there without having to knock on the front door. (Maybe I need to borrow the gnome's broom of flying so that I can be high enough up to see both points, and have the bard cast invisibility on me so that the enemy does not see me up there. Problem is, once I cast the spell (it is concentration) my invisibility will go away, but with those two misty gates popping into existence they may get people looking at the gates rather than at me popping into existence.

I just noticed that the Cloak of Invisibility does not require concentration. Now all I have to do is fine one. :smallbiggrin:

[Ganryu]

At work, so short, but I love combining Arcanr Gate with Ghostly Gaze invocation to straight up avoid sections of a dungeon, escape, or bypass guards.

Also increases range of Eldritch Blast by 500 ft. Or changes direction

[Willowhelm]

There’s the standard “magic break physics” stuff that you can do. Stick one gate at the top of a steep slope and one at the bottom. Roll giant boulder down slope. Keeps going for as long as the spell. Energy from “nothing”. Once it’s going at speed you can also flip the direction and “fire” your boulder. 10 mins of near free fall acceleration is going to be quite speedy.

Other than that kind of thing as the expected uses I mainly just see it as extending the range on normal attacks. It can work as a kind of remote gun emplacement too though. Your end can face a wall (so the enemy do not have a shot at you) the other end can point at an enemy from a convenient angle to remove their cover and provide line of sight etc for spells. Good guys move in front of gate, fire, move out of sight again. If they try to ready an action to fire at you when you are visible, you can flip the far gate to point at a different enemy. If the enemy come through they’re coming through “blind” into a location of your choice.

You can have them chase you deliberately and then flip the gate so it faces off a cliff or into another trap etc. Depending on the “realism” the dm goes for they might all lemming their way off the cliff or get crowd-pressed into an immovable object etc etc.