Scrying: You Never Know Until You Scry

Usable By: Bard, Cleric, Druid, Warlock, Wizard

Spell Level: 5

School: Divination

Casting Time: 10 minutes

Range: Self

Duration: Concentration, up to 10 minutes

Components: V S M (A focus worth at least 1,000 gp, such as a crystal ball, a silver mirror, or a font filled with holy water)

You can see and hear a particular creature you choose that is on the same plane of existence as you. The target must make a Wisdom saving throw, which is modified by how well you know the target and the sort of physical connection you have to it. If a target knows you’re casting this spell, it can fail the saving throw voluntarily if it wants to be observed.

Knowledge Save Modifier
Secondhand (you have heard of the target) +5
Firsthand (you have met the target) +0
Familiar (you know the target well) −5
Connection Save Modifier
Likeness or picture −2
Possession or garment −4
Body part, lock of hair, bit of nail, or the like −10

On a successful save, the target isn’t affected, and you can’t use this spell against it again for 24 hours.
On a failed save, the spell creates an invisible sensor within 10 feet of the target. You can see and hear through the sensor as if you were there. The sensor moves with the target, remaining within 10 feet of it for the duration. A creature that can see invisible objects sees the sensor as a luminous orb about the size of your fist.
Instead of targeting a creature, you can choose a location you have seen before as the target of this spell. When you do, the sensor appears at that location and doesn’t move.

Review by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold

You’d think given the quantity of tables involved Scrying could have a myriad of outcomes and a large amount of complexity, but nope. Scrying is about as simple as divination spells get. You pick a creature to stick an invisible camera on, or a place to stick said invisible camera, and you get a live feed directly to your brain of all the sights and sounds around it.

The two tables adjust the save modifier an unwilling creature adds or subtracts from their check, with the two factors in the success of the spell being how well you know the target, and if you’ve got a connection to said target. This feels deeply magical to me; the casters chances of success is dependent on some little ritualistic items, offering you opportunities to have a near guaranteed success if you can get a lock of hair or a bit of blood.

Mechanically, Scrying costs a lot. A 5th level slot is a tall order when a dozen spells like Clairvoyance, Arcane Eye, and Find Familiar can spy on targets in a much cheaper way. The major upside Scrying offers is its distance; you can Scry on anyone on the same plane, irregardless of their location. That’s fairly niche. A character looking for espionage tools usually wants them to engage with the world immediately around them. If your plotting a heist, you’re normally within the same city or general vicinity of the targeted place, and can use any number of those other, cheaper methods to get information.

It being on the cleric and druid spell list, though, does leave it feeling like a purchasable magic item used in downtime. You buy an expensive orb, prepare this over a prolonged period of preperation, and get the benefits of Scrying with little actual cost. Wizards also get this fairly cheaply, only costing a spot in their spellbook that you prepare in the rare situations you want to see somebody or some place far away. Beyond these use cases, Scrying just isn’t offering enough that I’d want it over any of the cheaper divination tools, nor is it so much better I’d want it alongside them.

5e Spells

Scrying: You Never Know Until You Scry