Insect Spies
DivinationDivination spells enable you to learn secrets long forgotten, predict the future, find hidden things, and foil deceptive spells.
Many divination spells have cone-shaped areas. These move with you and extend in the direction you choose. The cone defines the area that you can sweep each round. If you study the same area for multiple rounds, you can often gain additional information, as noted in the descriptive text for the spell.
PFS Legal
Available to
- Casting Time
- 1 roundMost spells take 1 standard action; others list 1 round, 1 minute, or more, or use a swift or immediate action.Full rule on Archives of Nethys ↗
- Components
- V, S, M (a drop of honey)V (Verbal): A spoken incantation; you must be able to speak in a strong voice. A silence effect or a gag spoils it, and being deafened risks failure.S (Somatic): A precise movement of the hand; you must have at least one hand free to perform it.M (Material): One or more physical substances consumed by the casting. Cost is negligible — covered by your spell component pouch — unless a gp value is listed.Full rule on Archives of Nethys ↗
- Range
- close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)How far the spell reaches. Close = 25 ft + 5 ft/2 levels; Medium = 100 ft + 10 ft/level; Long = 400 ft + 40 ft/level. Personal = yourself; Touch = a creature or object you touch.Full rule on Archives of Nethys ↗
- Effect
- up to one insect spy/4 levelsHow the spell is aimed: a Target (specific creatures or objects), an Effect it creates (e.g. a wall or a summoned creature), or an Area shape (burst, cone, line, and so on). Some areas are shapeable. "Target or Area" means the spell uses either, at your choice.Full rule on Archives of Nethys ↗
- Duration
- 10 minutes/level (D)How long it lasts. Instantaneous resolves at once; Concentration lasts while you keep focusing; Permanent lasts until dispelled. A trailing "(D)" means you can dismiss it as a standard action.Full rule on Archives of Nethys ↗
- Saving Throw
- noneIf a save is allowed, the target rolls Fortitude, Reflex, or Will: the result negates, gives partial, half, or no effect. "harmless" lets a willing target decline. Save DC = 10 + spell level + your casting ability modifier.Full rule on Archives of Nethys ↗
- Spell Resistance
- noWhether a creature's spell resistance can block the spell (Yes/No). For "harmless" spells a willing creature may lower its SR to be affected.Full rule on Archives of Nethys ↗
You summon one or more glossy black beetles, which have a measure of intelligence and make for excellent spies. When they are in your presence, the insects obey your mental commands, and you can issue orders to any number of them as a single standard action, provided that you issue the same orders to each one. In order to issue different orders to different insects, you must spend a separate standard action for each set of orders. An insect in physical contact with you can answer simple questions about what it has observed, at a rate of one question per round. It can relate only what it perceived with its senses, and can’t repeat speech. It has difficulty making subjective judgments, and questions that demand such reasoning are unlikely to yield a clear answer. For example, an insect is unable to relay someone’s emotional state or determine who among several people it saw might be in charge.
Each insects’ size is Fine. Each insect has 1 hit point, AC 20 (+2 Dexterity, +8 size), a movement speed of 5 feet, a climb speed of 5 feet, and a fly speed of 20 feet (perfect maneuverability). The insects use your saving throw bonuses, have a total Perception skill bonus equal to 5 + 1/2 your caster level, and can’t make attacks. Due to their incredibly small size and magical nature, they can make Stealth checks to avoid being noticed even if they lack a source of cover or concealment, and they have a total Stealth skill bonus equal to 18 + 1/2 your caster level. The insects can even climb onto creatures of Tiny or larger size while using Stealth, possibly riding on those creatures unnoticed. A Tiny creature gains a +16 bonus on Perception checks made to notice one of these insects currently climbing on it. For each size category larger than Tiny the creature being climbed is, this bonus is reduced by 4 (to a minimum of +0 for Huge or larger creatures).
You also maintain a faint mystical connection with these insects, which allows you to sense where they are. As a full-round action, you can concentrate on the spell in order to learn the direction and relative distance of each of the insects.
Each insects’ size is Fine. Each insect has 1 hit point, AC 20 (+2 Dexterity, +8 size), a movement speed of 5 feet, a climb speed of 5 feet, and a fly speed of 20 feet (perfect maneuverability). The insects use your saving throw bonuses, have a total Perception skill bonus equal to 5 + 1/2 your caster level, and can’t make attacks. Due to their incredibly small size and magical nature, they can make Stealth checks to avoid being noticed even if they lack a source of cover or concealment, and they have a total Stealth skill bonus equal to 18 + 1/2 your caster level. The insects can even climb onto creatures of Tiny or larger size while using Stealth, possibly riding on those creatures unnoticed. A Tiny creature gains a +16 bonus on Perception checks made to notice one of these insects currently climbing on it. For each size category larger than Tiny the creature being climbed is, this bonus is reduced by 4 (to a minimum of +0 for Huge or larger creatures).
You also maintain a faint mystical connection with these insects, which allows you to sense where they are. As a full-round action, you can concentrate on the spell in order to learn the direction and relative distance of each of the insects.
Variants
- Insect Spies