The Wizard Eye Globe and Seeing-Stones
by Robert J. Nuttman, Jr.A seeing-stone is a pale blue-gray gemstone, polished to a rounded finish, roughly the diameter of an Imperial gold piece. These are mounted in unobtrusive locations, usually the corner of a chamber, just below the ceiling. By itself, the seeing-stone is merely a curious decoration. But when paired to a wizard eye globe, it allows the wizard eye globe's user to "see" through the stone. It only shows normal vision, thus is foiled by darkness (both natural and magical). On the plus side, it is also not fooled by sight-based illusions: the user of the accompanying wizard eye will simply not see any such illusions within the globe.
A wizard eye globe is a sphere of glass, roughly 6 inches in diameter filled with a swirling, light colored fog or vapor of some kind. Concentrating on the globe allows the user to see the view from any nearby linked seeing-stone in the depths of the sphere.
A wizard eye globe can be attuned to up to 12 different seeing-stones which can be accessed up to 300 yards' distance. The globe normally defaults to showing the view through the closest such stone. However, the user can "blink" to any other seeing-stone within range of which he or she is aware. Seeing-stones have a tendency to interfere with each other, and trying to see through a more distant stone with another between can sometimes cause the sight within the wizard eye globe to be blurry or distorted.
General Skills: The user (usually a spell caster) must make a Magical Engineering check to activate the wizard's eye globe, and subsequent checks can be made to "blink" to viewing through another nearby linked seeing-stone. More distant seeing-stones impose a +1 penalty to the roll for each chamber's distance, with an additional +1 penalty for each other seeing-stone between the user and the target stone.
5e: The user must make a DC 13 Intelligence (Arcana) check to activate the wizard eye globe. A DC 13 check can be made to "blink" to another nearby stone, with the DC increasing by 2 for every chamber between the wizard eye globe and the target seeing-stone. The check is made with disadvantage if one or more seeing-stones are between the globe and the user's intended target seeing-stone.