Prying Eyes — Magical Reconnaissance Scouts
Divination · Magical scouts · Fifth-level reconnaissance
A wizard scatters a fistful of crystal marbles into the air. Each becomes a glittering eye, flying silently toward a different tower. By morning, only a few will return with news of the fortress.
At a Glance
| Spell | Prying Eyes |
|---|---|
| Legacy school and level | Divination; Sorcerer/Wizard 5 |
| Casting time | 1 minute |
| Number of eyes | 1d4 + caster level |
| Maximum range | 1 mile from the caster |
| Duration | 1 hour per caster level, dismissible |
| Eyesight | Ordinary vision to 120 feet; vulnerable to darkness, fog and illusions |
| Reporting | Eyes return to the caster’s hand to replay their observations |
Eyes Across the Night
These scouts are small enough to pass unnoticed in a busy courtyard, but they are neither invisible nor indestructible. They follow a short command, search the assigned place and return with what they have seen. An eye that never returns tells the caster nothing: the wizard must decide whether it strayed out of range, found a dangerous trap or was deliberately destroyed.
Darkness and illusion remain weaknesses of the ordinary spell. Sending an eye into an unlit underground vault may be worse than sending a mortal scout with a lantern. The eighth-level Greater Prying Eyes changes that calculation by granting true seeing to its scouts.
Rules by Edition
Prying Eyes — D&D 2024
No official D&D 2024 spell named Prying Eyes.
Published reconnaissance alternative: Arcane Eye, Level 4 Divination
Casting Time: Action
Range: 30 feet
Components: V, S, M (a bit of bat fur)
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour
You create one Invisible, invulnerable eye within range. It sends its vision directly to you, sees in every direction and has Darkvision to 30 feet. As a Bonus Action move the eye up to 30 feet. It cannot pass through a solid barrier but can enter an opening at least 1 inch across.
Example: An arcane scout sends the eye through a crack in a closed door and watches the guards inside without waiting for a report. An eighth-level slot does not multiply the eye into a swarm.
The published 2024 spell is not the original fifth-level Prying Eyes: it has a different casting time, range, duration, visibility and reporting method.
Prying Eyes — D&D 2014
No official D&D 2014 spell named Prying Eyes.
Published reconnaissance alternative: Arcane Eye, 4th-level Divination
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 30 feet
Components: V, S, M (a bit of bat fur)
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour
One invisible magical eye transmits its observations to you directly. It has normal vision and darkvision out to 30 feet. Use an action to move it up to 30 feet, including through a gap as small as 1 inch. The eye cannot enter another plane of existence; within its plane there is no fixed maximum travel distance listed in the spell.
Example: A wizard guides the eye around a guard post and sees the patrol immediately. The wizard does not command a dozen visible eyes, and the eye does not need to return to the caster’s hand.
Higher slots do not grant extra eyes or the legacy spell’s one-hour-per-level lifetime.
Prying Eyes — Pathfinder 1e
Official Pathfinder 1e spell.
School: Divination
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 5
Casting Time: 1 minute
Components: V, S, M (a handful of crystal marbles)
Range: 1 mile
Effect: 1d4 + caster level levitating eyes
Duration: 1 hour/level; see text (D)
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
Each eye is a Fine construct with 1 hit point, AC 18, fly speed 30 feet, +20 on Fly checks and +16 on Stealth checks. It sees normally in all directions to 120 feet and has a Perception modifier equal to caster level (maximum +15). Darkness, fog and illusions can obstruct it; in darkness it must find its way by touch.
Give the scouts instructions of no more than 25 words when casting. Each eye knows what its creator knows, returns to the caster’s hand to deliver its report and takes one round to replay one hour of recorded images. After reporting it disappears. It also disappears if it strays more than a mile away or its duration ends. Dispel magic can destroy individual eyes.
Example: A caster of level 12 sends out 13–16 eyes for up to twelve hours, with Perception +12. If three eyes fail to return, the caster receives no information from them.
Prying Eyes — D&D 3.5e
Official D&D 3.5e spell.
School: Divination
Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 5
Casting Time: 1 minute
Components: V, S, M (a handful of crystal marbles)
Range: 1 mile
Effect: 1d4 + caster level levitating eyes
Duration: 1 hour/level; see text (D)
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
Each levitating eye is a Fine construct with 1 hit point, AC 18, fly speed 30 feet with perfect maneuverability and +16 Hide. It has normal vision to 120 feet in all directions. Its Spot modifier equals caster level, with a maximum of +15. Illusions, fog and darkness affect its ability to observe, and an eye traveling in darkness finds its way by touch.
Give a spoken command of 25 words or fewer. The eyes know what you know and must return to your hand to show you what they saw. Replaying an hour of images takes one round; the returning eye then vanishes. Eyes also vanish beyond the one-mile range or at the end of duration. Dispel magic can destroy them.
Example: A level-10 wizard creates 11–14 eyes for up to ten hours, each with Spot +10. A missing eye is simply missing: its creator does not receive a warning that it was destroyed.
Using the Scouts
Write commands that make sense to an eye: search the south gate, watch for a moving caravan, return after the third bell. An eye can observe but cannot open doors or interpret a complicated secret language on its own. The party must decide whether to trust a partial report and act before the remaining eyes return.
Adventure Hooks
The Siege Beyond the Curtain
The scouts map an enemy camp, but one never returns from a dark pavilion. The wizard suspects a ward, while the soldiers fear an unseen monster.
The Watcher’s Missing Eye
Three eyes reach the caster with conflicting information about a convoy. One was fooled by illusion, another by a real decoy, and the third shows evidence of treachery.
The Price of a Secret
A city magistrate orders the party to find who has been spying on the council. The tiny floating eyes belong to an archmage who claims to be preventing an assassination.
Related Divination
Greater Prying Eyes grants true seeing to each scout, raises the maximum Spot or Perception modifier to +25 and enables safe navigation through darkness. This is an eighth-level spell in the older editions, not a normal casting of Prying Eyes with a higher spell slot. For modern play see D&D 2024 Arcane Eye and D&D 2014 Arcane Eye.
Sources and Licensing
This older-edition material is Open Game Content licensed under the Open Game License v1.0a. The official underlying sources are the D&D 3.5e SRD Prying Eyes and Pathfinder 1e Prying Eyes. Modern Arcane Eye is linked above. The earlier page used an eye photograph credited to peachpink / Pixabay; this credit is retained for the archive. New scenes, explanations and adventures are original.
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