School of Aperture Magic

Long ago, there were secretive arcane colleges hidden deep underground that specialized in folding the fabric of the universe to connect two points in space at will. The arcane tradition of Aperture Magic blended athletic training with experimental magic, often to very poor and deadly effect for its practitioners. Those few tenacious enough to survive the dangerous testing, however, became unique mages who could seemingly disappear and reappear anywhere on a battlefield, implacable in their adept speed, creating and destroying portals to transport themselves in an instant.

No colleges of this tradition are known to still exist, but rumors persist of wandering Aperture mages who escaped the facilities they were raised in. Most simply seek to live a peaceful life, using their knowledge and skill only to nimbly avoid death and persecution. Yet others may seek to return to the thrill and danger of their training, becoming adventurers, while others more may even pass on their dangerous knowledge.

Spatial Apertures

Beginning when you select this school at 2nd level, you learn to fold the fabric of reality in on itself to create shortcuts in space. You add the arcane gate spell to your spellbook, and you can cast a modified version of it using any level spell slot. When you cast arcane gate in this way, the following changes apply:

• Both portals must be placed on non-metallic, non-glass, non-magical flat surfaces you can see within range. Any solid material between you and the surface blocks the initial placement of a portal, such as window glass. Each portal is not perpendicular to and does not appear above the ground, but is instead flush with the surface, with the functional side facing outwards from the surface, with no sign of the portal on the other side of the surface.
• They are not 10 feet diameter circles, but ovals 10 feet tall and 5 feet wide, at an orientation of your choice. They cannot be later rotated.
• The portals are not opaque, and can be seen through. Attacks can be made from outside one portal through the other as if the two were adjacent to each other, like how a creature may fire a bow through a window.
• When an object passes through a portal, its directional momentum is maintained. This allows objects to gain speed indefinitely if falling between a portal on the ceiling and a portal on the floor, or fling themselves by falling down a deep pit into a portal and flying out of the opposite portal.
• The portals are not created in the same action, but must be independently created with two actions. The first is created when you cast the spell initially, and the second is created as an action at any time during the duration of the spell. When only one portal exists, it is opaque and cannot be passed through.
• When you cast arcane gate in this way with a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, you may close either portal to place a new one within range as an action throughout the duration of the spell.
• If an object is partway through a portal when the portal is closed, the object is pushed out of the portal the majority of its body is on the side of.
• The spell has a material component of a small crystal.
• When the surface immediately beneath where a portal is placed moves, changes material, or is shattered, the portal closes on that surface.
• When you cast arcane gate in this way with a spell slot of 7th level or higher, it does not require concentration.
• The range of both points where either portal can be placed and the duration of the spell is changed based on the spell slot used to cast arcane gate in this way, according to the Spatial Apertures Table below.

Spatial Apertures Table
Spell Slot Level	Range	Duration	Can Place New Portals Throughout	Requires Concentration
1st	10 feet	1 minute	No	Yes
2nd	30 feet	1 minute	No	Yes
3rd	60 feet	5 minutes	Yes	Yes
4th	150 feet	5 minutes	Yes	Yes
5th	300 feet	10 minutes	Yes	Yes
6th	500 feet	10 minutes	Yes	Yes
7th	1000 feet	30 minutes	Yes	No
8th	1 mile	1 hour	Yes	No
9th	Infinite	8 hours	Yes	No

Physical Enrichment

At 6th level, the physicality of jumping through your portals and recovering from your many mishaps and falls gives you proficiency in Athletics and Acrobatics, if you do not already have them.

You also add the feather fall spell to your spellbook if it is not there already. You can cast feather fall on yourself alone without expending a spell slot a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of once), and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

High Tenacity

The study of Aperture Magic is fraught with failure. At 6th level, you’ve grown exceedingly tenacious. When you fail an ability check or miss an attack roll, if you repeat the same ability check or attack roll against the same target your next turn, you may roll 1d10 and add it to the ability check or attack roll.

Portal Combat

At 10th level, you have learned to passively create and repair small tears in the fabric of space around you to avoid and redirect attacks. You add the mage armor spell to your spellbook if it is not there already. You can cast mage armor without expanding a spell slot. When you do so, you can target only yourself and your base AC becomes 13 + your Dexterity modifier or your Intelligence modifier, your choice. Once you cast mage armor in this way, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest, though you can still cast it normally using an available spell slot. When you use mage armor, the increase in AC is represented by small portals appearing in the air around you when creatures attack you, passing through the portals to harmlessly appear on the other side of your body out of another portal when the attacks miss. 

When you are targeted by an attack, you can use your reaction to add a bonus to your AC equal to your proficiency bonus. If this causes the attack to miss, you can make an attack roll using the weapon or spell that missed you against a new target that’s within the weapon or spell’s range from you. You use the original attacker’s statistics for this attack. After you take this reaction, you can’t cast spells other than cantrips or arcane gate until the end of your next turn. This is represented by the quick creation of a small portal around you and redirecting the weapon or spell back at the attacker or a new target using an exit portal elsewhere surrounding your body.

Narbacular Drop

At 14th level, you’ve become so quick on your feet that you can drop out through your portals at a moment’s notice to avoid danger. When you have at least one portal created with arcane gate using your Spatial Apertures feature and you are subjected to an effect that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw, you can use your reaction to create a new portal using arcane gate within 10 feet on an appropriate surface, and move up to 10 feet to pass through that newly created portal to your other portal. If you had two portals open with arcane gate, one of your choice closes first. This allows you to avoid the effect entirely if the second portal you travel to is outside its area of effect.