Spy-Like Spells

[Gig_Complex]

Well a little information first, I'm currently getting things organized for a campaign to be run on these boards that is going to be based in my own homebrewed setting that uses The Gates of Hell by Dicefreaks. The current idea is that the players are either members of the Order of the Fly, Order of the Lie, or The Infernal Denomination of Espionage. The players will be level 20, gestalt, so power level is going to be rather high and while I expect them to be able to withstand a lot of what I plan to throw at them I feel that Hell, no matter who their actual employer is (Beelzebub, Adremalech, or Spymaster Corin), would make sure they have proper equipment. The main idea relating to this that I have been throwing around in my head is a brooch, simple in appearance and what not, that not only helps hides the wearer from various magical and mundane detection (think along the lines of hiding alignment in regards to detect evil and things like scry) but is also a method of communication between the players and their superiors along with a way for the superiors to spy on the players.

Now on to what I wanted to ask the various gamers, what spells would fit with the theme above? The general idea is that the items will be minor artifacts in level so go all out if you feel the need to.

[Fan]

Use a alternate slot version of a Mask of undtectable unlignment.
thenj ust reflavour it with the ability for it to be tracked by the creator.

[Vinotaur]

1) Non-Detection at CL 20.

2) Mindblank

3) Rary's Telepathic Bond on the wearer, linking with all other Wearers.

I think there might be an across planar boundaries version of Rary's. Go with that if there is one.

Also, you might want to give them some invis x/day, or at will, or greater invis.

Same for silence, and that one silence spell that still allows you to cast spells inside it.

[Emperor Tippy]

Continuous Mindblank, using the less common interpretation that it protects against things like True Seeing, Detect X, etc.

And continuous Telepathic Bond (the version that works even between planes, it's in the Planar Handbook, IIRC) between all bearers of the items in the set.

There employer get's to here all of their chatter over the Telepathic Bond.

Seems to be exactly what you want. The price tag if it wasn't an artifact would be around 560K if it was at CL 20, 370K if it was at the minimum caster level (and you don't really have any reason to up the caster level).

[Jack_Simth]

Let's see....

Well, you want a couple of different things:

1) Mindblank (or Nondetection - whatever)
2) No-save Greater Scrying at will on anyone else using one of these (this bypasses the Mindblank effect from this item) and there's a "master" one, somewhere, that can scry on anyone with one of these, but can't itself be scried upon by one of these
3) Message through the Greater Scrying effect

So you can't be seen by most Divinations, you can see anyone else wearing one of these, and if you choose, you can also initiate a conversation with them.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

Clairaudience/Clairvoyance(for communication and bugging), Detect Scrying, Major Image(activated by the broach to remove all people from view if an area is the scrying target and to remove everything from view if a person is the target, not visible except to divination magic and lasts for 10 minutes 6 seconds, the broaches are immune), and any offensive spells you can justify affecting the Scryer. I like Wail of the Banshee, Holy Word, Dominate Monster, and Gaes/Quest(which requires they still be viewing the area 10 minutes hence, probably while they're waiting for the image to run out and afraid of disconnecting the spell due to having to save again). That combo has one HD-based, one Will, one Fort, and one idiocy save. The spells are all cast on the scrying eye, and have no effect on anyone in the area, and no visual manifestation, other than a slight warming that the wearer can feel.

[Gig_Complex]

Continuous Mindblank, using the less common interpretation that it protects against things like True Seeing, Detect X, etc.

And continuous Telepathic Bond (the version that works even between planes, it's in the Planar Handbook, IIRC) between all bearers of the items in the set.

There employer get's to here all of their chatter over the Telepathic Bond.

Seems to be exactly what you want. The price tag if it wasn't an artifact would be around 560K if it was at CL 20, 370K if it was at the minimum caster level (and you don't really have any reason to up the caster level).

Let's see....

Well, you want a couple of different things:

1) Mindblank (or Nondetection - whatever)
2) No-save Greater Scrying at will on anyone else using one of these (this bypasses the Mindblank effect from this item) and there's a "master" one, somewhere, that can scry on anyone with one of these, but can't itself be scried upon by one of these
3) Message through the Greater Scrying effect

So you can't be seen by most Divinations, you can see anyone else wearing one of these, and if you choose, you can also initiate a conversation with them.

Thanks you two, both of these ideas sound great for the item. I'm going to have to go over the individual spells tomorrow to make sure everything is kosher but it seems that the item(s) will fulfill the purpose I want.

[Vinotaur]

So even though I said the exact same thing first, you are going to thank everyone but me?

[Gig_Complex]

So even though I said the exact same thing first, you are going to thank everyone but me?

You didn't get the PM? I sent one off pretty much right after you posted.

[Yahzi]

Years ago a friend and I invented 3-D Infinite chess. There were 3 boards stacked on each other, and the edges of each board connected, making 3 nested spheres. And the inner sphere connected to the outer sphere. We experimented with various starting positions, trying to find a decent game. We failed.

Basically, on your first turn you declared check-mate, and then spent 20 minutes figuring out how to make it happen.

I can't imagine how 20th level D&D is any different...