Seriously, I'm whipping together a dungeon on the fly -- me & my big mouth, due to... reasons... my GMPC got captured by kobolds when I hadn't planned it. (The group knows they're getting an ad hoc adventure.)
So now I'm whipping together a small kobold lair; I have a basic layout done. But I want the chief to be able to see what's happening elsewhere in the lair. He's got sorcerers on tap and all, but presumably he's a martial.
There's got to be a magic spell that can be made permanent, or a magic item, that would create the functionality of a camera for a non-caster. Doesn't there?
How about a Serpentine Owl?
Serpentine Owl: This figurine becomes either a normal-sized horned owl or a giant owl (use the stats for the giant eagle) according to the command word used. The transformation can take place once per day, with a maximum duration of 8 continuous hours. However, after three transformations into giant owl form, the statuette loses all its magical properties. The owl communicates with its owner by telepathic means, informing her of all it sees and hears.
I can't beat the Serpentine Owl for bang-on-the-beak checking the box.
But since it's a home game, you are allowed to homebrew.
Not sure where a kobold gets a Crown of Eyes, but...
Crown of Eyes
This appears to be a crown of rusted random iron tracery at first glance. Closer inspection, or perhaps scent, will reveal the rust-red twistings to be flesh of some kind, meat, or nerves perhaps.
If the wearer of the crown removes an eye from a living creature (which need not be sentient), and twists a bit of that eye's optic nerve into the crown, then the eye will not molder or rot, and when the nerve has dried and become woven into the mass of the crown, the wearer will be able to chose to see through that eye, instead of one of his own.
Well, something like that. So he has lots of eyes hidden about the cavern, and he sits on his throne and plots.
Selvaxri, is there a way for any martial class to get Clairaudience-Clairvoyance via a feat? Or wearable magic item? Or is UMD & a wand the only way?
When I read the spell description, it looks to me like you get one sensor per casting. Period. But it can be anywhere you're really familiar with, which would work anywhere in his lair. Yes? No?
The spell doesn't allow (su) darkvision to operate, but does presumably permit (ex) darkvision. How do I know which one kobolds have? (The Universal Monster Rules say darkvision could be either, but neither the entry for kobolds in the Bestiary nor the ARG specifies which it is. Nor does the Race Builder clarify the matter, which I find especially annoying, since those are basic rules.)
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Gisher, wow! A Serpentine Owl's a great suggestion. I assume that I can't simply tuck the figurine into a tiny crevice in a wall for observation; that it's only an animated, Small-sized horned owl that can observe & report. Yes? (OK, the giant owl could, too, but it's not a good choice.)
On the plus side, an owl is stealthy, esp. since it could well benefit from concealed observation stations built into the walls. And I've already gifted owls in my game with blindsense 60 ft., due to their asymmetrical hearing. A very interesting suggestion -- thanks.
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Thornborn, the Crown of Eyes is creeeeepy. Presumably, the eye that the chief sees through is the mate to the one in his crown -- that is, the one still in the head of the "donor." And presumably, a kobold chief with an item like this has a whole lot of one-eyed slaves... Hmmmm. This is almost, almost, a gimmee just for the atmosphere of eeeevillll... Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
{Oh, I just reread your description; you were picturing parking the eye itself somewhere, while I was first envisioning the eye as well as its nerve being wound into the mass of the crown. Either works, I think. Or maybe a third possibility: you have to wind an eye with its nerve into the crown to see through its mate -- but the mate is also plucked to be left as an observation sensor. In that case, it's not that the chief has a lot of blind slaves as much as that he has personally plucked the eyes out of a lot of his meals.}
How much would you price it at? (It may not matter; I think the party would lose RP pts for their good alignment if they did anything with it besides destroy it...)
As much as I love the Serpentine Owl, I think Spy Eyes fit your situation better. I vaguely remembered seeing this, but it took a while to find.
Perhaps something in the vein of cups with strings? Holes in the walls, an extra tunnel system with ways to listen in and peer out, some sort of mirror/spyglass way of peeking into rooms, one-way mirrors, a secret ceiling crawlspace - all would be fine for spying on players without magic.
No man no. Just no.
You have the holes in the eye sockets of a painting in the room. It's 100% the only way to do it ever.
Gisher, thank you. That is exactly what I was looking for. Now all I have to do is rule that kobolds have (ex) darkvision, and I'm set. Although Thornborn's Crown of Eyes sure was creeeeeepy...
My Self, someday I'll be worthy of this sort of lair. Someday. It is, of course, the correct solution. But then it also pretty much calls for a lair of far more than a dozen or so rooms, and one that didn't appear at the drop of a hat (well, no, a big pile of snow).