In my campaign, one of the clues connecting some BBEGs together is that the two lieutenants to the main BBEG have these magical items on them that, among other things, allow the main BBEG to know where the lieutenants are and how they are doing (alive or dead, basically). Sorta like an active tracker of sorts - the kind of thing a control-heavy paranoid main BBEG might be into!
I expect - and hope - my PCs surmise that they can cast Identify and determine what these are, but when asked I want to make sure I give them the right kind of answers. I have this particular enchantment chalked up as a variation on Scrying - is that right, or is there a better spell to use for this purpose?
I can see at least a couple of approaches you could use
1) if you want the items themselves to be magical, they could be a version of sending stones that instead of allowing talking between them, simply sends a magical 'ping' back to the holder of the other stone
2) if you want it to be spell-based, some souped-up version of locate object would allow the BBEG to keep tabs on the holders. In this scenario the items themselves wouldn't be magical (and thus identify wouldn't help), they would simply be unique in some way. You could also make it a variation of instant summons where the BBEG can recall the item if they think something is amiss -- which would them give the PC a chance to use locate object to track it back to the BBEG if they get within range
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Yeah, much like AntonSirius suggests, when I created something like that it was a special version of sending stones with a special version of locate object on them.
In my campaign, one of the clues connecting some BBEGs together is that the two lieutenants to the main BBEG have these magical items on them that, among other things, allow the main BBEG to know where the lieutenants are and how they are doing (alive or dead, basically). Sorta like an active tracker of sorts - the kind of thing a control-heavy paranoid main BBEG might be into!
I expect - and hope - my PCs surmise that they can cast Identify and determine what these are, but when asked I want to make sure I give them the right kind of answers. I have this particular enchantment chalked up as a variation on Scrying - is that right, or is there a better spell to use for this purpose?
I can see at least a couple of approaches you could use
1) if you want the items themselves to be magical, they could be a version of sending stones that instead of allowing talking between them, simply sends a magical 'ping' back to the holder of the other stone
2) if you want it to be spell-based, some souped-up version of locate object would allow the BBEG to keep tabs on the holders. In this scenario the items themselves wouldn't be magical (and thus identify wouldn't help), they would simply be unique in some way. You could also make it a variation of instant summons where the BBEG can recall the item if they think something is amiss -- which would them give the PC a chance to use locate object to track it back to the BBEG if they get within range
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Yeah, much like AntonSirius suggests, when I created something like that it was a special version of sending stones with a special version of locate object on them.
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