Arcane Eye vs. Scry question

[Lucius Foxhound]

I've been checking out the Arcane Eye spell. I always thought that the arcane eye needed to start with you and move outward. It seems that it has a range of "unlimited," so you can have the eye start anywhere you'd like. (From the PHB: Range is "the maximum distance at which you can designate a spell's point of origin).

Is this right? Since you need to make a DC check with a Scry spell but there appears to be no DC check for Arcane Eye, why would anyone use Scry? Also, there's no $1,000 spell component! Please tell me what I'm missing here...

T'anks!

 

[Thanee]

Well, it is safe to assume, that the magical sensor starts out next to you and then moves with the given speed. So distance is actually rather limited by a low duration and travel speed.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Lucius Foxhound]

That's what I assumed too, Thanee. But check out the spell description:

Arcane Eye

Divination
Level: Sor/Wiz 4
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 10 minutes
Range: Unlimited
Effect: Magical sensor
Duration: 1 minute/level
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

The character creates an invisible magical sensor that sends the character visual information. The arcane eye travels at 30 feet per round (300 feet per minute) if viewing an area ahead as a human would (primarily looking at the floor) or 10 feet per round (100 feet per minute) if examining the ceiling and walls as well as the floor ahead. The arcane eye sees exactly as the character would see if the character were there. The arcane eye can travel in any direction as long as the spell lasts. Solid barriers prevent the passage of an arcane eye, although it can pass through a space no smaller than a small mouse hole (1 inch in diameter)....


It doesn't say that the eye appears next to you. In fact, it says the range is unlimited. I always thought that meant that the range the eye could move from you in unlimited, but that's not what it says in the PHB. Any chance this was addressed in the errata?

 

[Lucius Foxhound]

Just checked it out ... the errata says to change the range to 0 ft.

Those bastards.

 

[Kibo]

It's all in the details....

You *can* cast it anywhere, so long as you know you can cast it there. In my not so kreynolds opinion, you can't just say, "I cast it next to the arch-villian, whoever and wherever he may happen to be." You need to concretely know the where of it. Something like arcane eye might be used in conjunction with scrying, or as a straight replacement for it assuming the area is known relatively well by the caster. All IMNSKrO of course.

The advantage of scrying is that you need less precise information to use it.

Even with the errata, I'd probably still go with what I originally wrote.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

Just checked it out ... the errata says to change the range to 0 ft.

Those bastards.

On the plus side, now it's got a fixed range so it can be made persistent when you hit 15th level. . . .