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 1d4 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.
The material component is a handful of crystal marbles.
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