Prying Eyes
This spell conjures a small horde of semitangible magical orbs or eyes that can be used to reconnoiter an area at the wizard’s command. Each of the eyes is about the size of a small apple and can see 120 feet (normal vision only) in all directions.
In order to report their findings, the eyes must return to the caster’s hand to replay in the caster’s mind everything they have seen during their existence. The eyes are subject to illusions, darkness, fog, and any other factors that would affect the wizard’s ability to receive visual information about his surroundings. The eyes only see as a normal human would - abilities and spell effects including infravision do not alter the eyes’ vision. It only takes the eye one round to replay one hour of recorded images.
The spell conjures d4 eyes, plus 1 eye per caster level. The eyes exist for up to 1 hour per caster level, or until they return to the wizard; after relaying its findings, an eye disappears. Each eye is AC 4, flies by Levitation at a rate of 12, and has only 1 hit point - a single hit from any weapon or damaging spell destroys it. A successful Dispel Magic destroys all eyes caught in the area of effect. While the individual eyes are quite fragile, they’re small and difficult to spot, especially in conditions of poor visibility such as darkness, fog, or rain. Of course, if the eye is being sent into darkness, then it’s very possible that it could hit a wall or other similar obstacle and destroy itself.
When the wizard creates the eyes, he can specify any set of instructions or orders that he wishes, up to 25 words. Any knowledge the wizard possesses is assumed to be known by the eyes as well, so if the wizard knows what a typical Jakallian merchant looks like, the eyes do as well. Sample commands might be, “Surround me at a range of 400 yards and return if you spot any dangerous creatures,” or “Spread out and search the town for Arweth; follow him for three turns, staying out of sight, and then return.”
Note that in the first command, the eye only returns if it spots a creature that the wizard would regard as dangerous; a seemingly innocuous peasant that is actually a shapechanged dragon wouldn’t trigger the eye’s return. In any event, if an eye is ever more than one mile distant from the wizard, it instantly ceases to exist. However, the wizard’s link with the eye is such that he won’t know if the eye was destroyed or if it just wandered out of range.
Some command words can be used to abbreviate the directions. For example, “surround me” directs the eyes to form an equally‑spaced ring at whatever range is indicated, and then move with the wizard. As eyes return or are destroyed, the rest automatically space themselves to compensate. “Spread out” directs the eyes to move away from the wizard in all directions. Other commands that might be useful include having them form a line in a certain manner, making them move at random within a certain range, or have them follow a certain type of creature. The DM is the final judge of the suitability of the wizard’s directions.
Material, Somatic, Verbal
The material component is a handful of crystal marbles.
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