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I'm trying to develop a spell and thought I'd ask for advice on the level that seems good for it. The spell is intended to alert the caster to danger to something a family or a town or the like. It will only alert them there is danger not what that is so the more spread out something is the harder it will be to pin down. Some examples . . .
1) If cast on a family and a family member gets drunk and is about to wander off the edge of a bridge and fall to their death the caster will be alerted. They wont know which family member is in danger or what that danger is and will need to figure that out via other means.
2) If cast on a town it wont alert them to a gang because that's not threatening the town but would alert them if a gang were to be warping people with dark magic as part of a plan to unleash death and destruction destroying all the people living there would. Again they wont know what the danger is only that its present.
Essentially it just is intended to allow a high level mage to be made aware if there's a threat to something they want to protect without having to be overly intrusive in doing so. Its a more abstract version of guards and wards.
The spell you are describing is a little too broad in scope and duration and probably needs to be better defined. You did not give many details, but it is hard to give decent advice. How long does the spell last? Is it an ongoing spell or does it foresee the future and give warning of things to come? What is the range of the spell, and how big of an area does it cover? What are types of dangers it covers?
From what you are saying you want to use the spell with I would probably take a different approach. Clerics actually have better divination spells than wizards and I would look to for ways to solve the problem. Something similar to the cleric spell divination would be what I would use. Change the focus so instead of a specific goal, event or activity make it a specific person, group or location. For the result use the table off of the spell augury instead of giving advice. Keep the time frame within 1 week like divination. I would make the spell 5th level because clerics are supposed to be better at this type of thing. So, the mage cast the spell and gets a waring if something is going to happen to the target within a week.
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Ah I didn't know about foresight I can adapt that one. What I have in mind is broader in scope but offers far less benefits so level 9 should work. I'll start here and work on it thanks.
@Mysterious Stranger
I don't have many details yet still very much a work in progress I know what I generally want it to do but not the details. To answer your specific questions . . .
Q1) How long does the spell last? Is it an ongoing spell or does it foresee the future and give warning of things to come?
A1) A permanent ongoing spell that sees current danger e.g. a bandit pointing an arrow at a family member under it with intention to fire if they don't hand over their money would alert the caster, the same bandit with a bow debating whether or not the person is worth robbing wouldn't.
Q2) What is the range of the spell, and how big of an area does it cover?
A2) Variable areas e.g. it could cover multiple dimensions if the family split up. Its more limited by intent/potential. That is a city in a country being invaded wouldn't register that potential danger but a city with an army besieging it would. Its something I need to work on but basically I need to figure out a balance on the alerting of danger so there's enough warning to do something but not enough to alert them months before hand of a threat.
Q3) What are types of dangers it covers?
A3) All dangers its broad but this is actually one of the things I think will limit its usefulness. Lets say you put the spell on a family you feel you have a duty to and you get alerted to a danger. You don't know which family member, you don't know where they are, you don't (unlike foresight) know the best action to take to avoid the danger, you get no mechanical benefits besides that forewarning and the danger could be anything poisonous gas, a robber, a heart attack, drunkenly falling off a balcony, anything that would physically harm or kill a fammily member.
Q4) From what you are saying you want to use the spell with I would probably take a different approach. Clerics actually have better divination spells than wizards and I would look to for ways to solve the problem. Something similar to the cleric spell divination would be what I would use. Change the focus so instead of a specific goal, event or activity make it a specific person, group or location. For the result use the table off of the spell augury instead of giving advice. Keep the time frame within 1 week like divination. I would make the spell 5th level because clerics are supposed to be better at this type of thing. So, the mage cast the spell and gets a waring if something is going to happen to the target within a week.
A4) If I understand what your saying here its the opposite of what I want for this spell. What your proposing is cast spell on X get alerted to danger in the coming Y time frame. What I want is a way for a high level caster to have their attention focused elsewhere but still have a magical trip wire on something that means something to them e.g. their family, a town they founded or the like which will alert them if something is threatening them. To use foresight again as a comparison.
Mage casts foresight: Mage gets all sorts of bonuses and if about to step on a trap know's they're about to step on a trap and that the way to avoid that danger is not to step on that particular tile.
Mage casts this spell: Mage gets alerted somewhere someone belonging to the Fawlty family is in physical danger. There's a very good chance by the time they figure out who and where it'll be too late to do anything to stop it and they'll be reacting more to undo or mitigate damage than prevent it.
Not sure even a 9th level spell would be enough to do what you want. You are talking about a permanent spell that affects multiple targets with infinite range that works on multiple planes. Foresight last 10 min. per level and only affects a single target. While it is true you don’t get all the benefits of Foresight, the scope of the spell way more than Foresight.
For something like this a magic item might be more appropriate. Even then it may need to be a minor artifact to do what you describe.
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@Senko
Do you still want to work on this spell?
Oh I'm still working on it and any advice appreciated, just that its not really at the stage for specific feedback. I'm more in the overall design phase at the moment just wasn't sure on a level to aim for. Not even sure if it'll be an unlimited number of castings, a one spell can be active at a time and a new one replaces it, a one target per level or something else like mysterious stranger's suggestion of an artifact yet.
@Mysterious Stranger
Fair points but as a counter mind blank communal (also 9th level) also works on multiple targets across multiple planes with infinite range and renders you immune to various effets. Admitedly it needs the target close to cast it and goes from 12 hours for 2 people down.
However as I said the very extent of this spell is actually a draw back given the lack of detailed information. Lets say you cast it on the smith family living at Taldane in Golarion because the father helped you out. Fast forward 21 years and the daughters grown up and gone to hell as an adventuring paladin and something triggers the alert. You don't know where she is, you don't know who she is, you don't know what the danger is. You'll probably start gathering information in Taldane and by the time you find out who and what she may well be dead. Now alternatively she's just a farmer like her parents and a goblin tribe attacks the farm. You still don't know who it is, however you do know its probably the farm of the smith family you helped out so you start looking there and can act. The larger the area to be covered the harder it will be to use it effectively due to the lack of information.
Furthermore this doesn't make any distinction on the trigger, for the example above an adventuring paladin is going to generate alert after alert because their job is putting them in danger and if you start ignoring those you might miss a genuine one from someone else.
A magical artifact is possible, as I said this is still in the design phase. Just drawing on information from a range of sources to use for it.
The supposed drawback is either going to for the most part either completely nullify the spell or be so minor it is not going to be of any consequence. As a spell it can be cast over and over again so there is nothing to prevent the mage from casting it on each individual target. While that might not be feasible for a town, it could easily be done for a family or small group.
A high-level mage is going to be able to find out what is going on fairly quickly, especially if they are able to cast 9th level spells. Discern location can find any creature on any plane and the only thing that will prevent it is a mind blank. Contact other plane while risky can provide the identity of the person in danger. Scrying is only 4th level and works across planes. Limited Wish give the wizard access to wizard divination spells of 6th level or lower and clerical spells of 5th level or lower. This gives the wizard access to commune. Sure, the high-level mage will have to cast a few spells to figure out what is going on, but that is going to be fairly trivial for a 18th or higher-level wizard.
Another way to accomplish this would be to use commune and ask if the family or town is in or will be in danger in the near future. This would require using a limited wish to accomplish so would cost 1,500 gp per casting. But it also has the advantage of being able to ask to follow up question if they are or ask other questions if they are not.
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The supposed drawback is either going to for the most part either completely nullify the spell or be so minor it is not going to be of any consequence. As a spell it can be cast over and over again so there is nothing to prevent the mage from casting it on each individual target. While that might not be feasible for a town, it could easily be done for a family or small group.
A high-level mage is going to be able to find out what is going on fairly quickly, especially if they are able to cast 9th level spells. Discern location can find any creature on any plane and the only thing that will prevent it is a mind blank. Contact other plane while risky can provide the identity of the person in danger. Scrying is only 4th level and works across planes. Limited Wish give the wizard access to wizard divination spells of 6th level or lower and clerical spells of 5th level or lower. This gives the wizard access to commune. Sure, the high-level mage will have to cast a few spells to figure out what is going on, but that is going to be fairly trivial for a 18th or higher-level wizard.
Another way to accomplish this would be to use commune and ask if the family or town is in or will be in danger in the near future. This would require using a limited wish to accomplish so would cost 1,500 gp per casting. But it also has the advantage of being able to ask to follow up question if they are or ask other questions if they are not.
Like I said its in developement still and I am considering options like only being able to have one active at a time with a second casting replacing the first one.
Why don't pass instead of a spell changed to a ritual it will fit more easy to lower level
I've got a ritual topic over in Homebrew.
I highly recommend you check out a 3.5 divination spell that works fundamentally similar to what your original guidelines were in Post #1.
It's called Enduring Scrutiny. It's on page 103 of the Complete Mage hardback. Although I'm sure you can find the specs for this 3rd level spell online somewhere.