Here is the problem: we want to use the spell Teleport, Greater to reach a place we only have basic info about:
- We have a map of our continent (scale 1cm for 500km) and we know the general location on this map of the region we are heading for (which is about 10,000 km from our current location). That map was made by a NPC that has general knowledge of the place but never was there. Actually the place is pretty wild and icy.
- We also know of some guy that we might encounter there.
- We suspect that some huge artifact could be hidden somewhere near that place.
Our DM told us that we don't have enough information for the greater teleportation spell to succeed, so we are looking for some kind of divination spell that could help us collect enough data, either by seeing it through some kind of magic vision, or by gathering enough geographic information to meet the spell prerequisites.
We are not especially looking for a precise location (well if we could figure out the surroundings of that guy that would be ideal), but rather for finding out a safe place to teleport to, avoiding us having to travel 10,000 km. Once in the correct region, we will fall back to usual investigation to find out about the quest objectives.
Once we know what spell to use, we will ask our artificer to craft a scroll with this spell. Since he is not very strong (well, about level 8), the lower the caster level of the spell, the better.
I was pretty confident there was a spell to watch a distant place you have never been to, but could not remember which. Anyway, any suggestion allowing us to meet the objectives is welcome.
BOUNTY: Since the bounty comment is all messed up, I will report it there:
Even if the solution might not be as straightforward as I first thought, I have the feeling that we are far from having explored all possibilities. With how the system is made and how it is sometimes easy to exceed the previsions of the authors, I am pretty confident that there should be clever and simple ways of teleporting to a general region of the world.
I am expecting that a clever combination of magic items, spellcasting, or even magical beast with special properties. @DuckTapeAl's answer is an illustration of what I expect: with two plane shift we could arrive within 500 miles of the targeted location. Unfortunately I am not accepting it because, you know, the question is about teleportation and we don't have the resources handy for casting Plane Shifts. As another illustration there is the possibility I discussed with @Hey-I-Can-Chan of teleporting to the moon, make a geography check to spot the region we are aiming, and teleporting back to that region. Surviving in space might be an issue but I like the imaginative effort and creativity it shows.
I will be prioritizing answers that are:
- as safe as possible (for example when using Plane Shift you take 2 times the risk of arriving in an unfriendly area).
- as simple as possible (It's okay if there are complex preparations for the first time, but from there on further applications should be simple)
- as cheap as possible (solutions requiring a 250,000gp item are interesting but we can't afford it, so....)
- make usage of teleportation or fly powers (Phantom Steed is also okay)
use the least possible magic, because we have no spellcaster in the group, so it is always a pain to find a NPC to cast for us or to have to buy a scroll.
Allowed rulebooks are: Core 3.5 (PHB I&II, DMG, Monsters Manual I-IV) plus Eberron related books, all Complete XXX (e.g Complete Warrior), Compendiums (e.g MIC). Some supplementals also (I think book of vile Darkness, unearthed arcana and alikes should be).
Banned books are: Dragon and Dungeon Magazines, Tome of Battle, Sword and Fist and generally speaking, all books that are rather anecdotic or too unbalanced.
Universe is restricted to the universe of Eberron (note this allows for flying boats and other steam-punk related magic). Other universes like Forgotten Realms are banned. Alternative systems like Psionnics are also banned.
Party Resources:
There have been a lot of comments about this part so I am going to sum up everything here:
My PC is a human from Orien's house with all levels (least, lesser, greater, syberys) in the dragonmark of Passage. I also have 2 level of Dragonmark Heir and 1 level of Blade of Orien It gives me access to the following spells (day basis):
- Dimension leap (4)
- Mount (0)
- Expeditious retreat (1)
- Dimension Door (2)
- Phantom Steed (0)
- Overland flight (1)
- Teleport (0)
- Teleport, Greater (1)
Some additional feats I have taken make so that when I use one Action Point I can use any of these once more. I also have a feat that let me sacrifice once per day one dimension leap to gain a temporary AP for one round. Thus I can use every of these spell. My caster level for the purpose of casting those spell is 18.
There is another PC who has 8 level of the artificer class. He can emulate almost every spell but when it comes to high ranked spells there is a big risk of failure and that is mostly pure XP wasting.
And That's all. We also have a rogue that can use magic devices, other members can't cast spell useful to the party. But one can imagine we Greater Teleport to Sharn and hire some high ranked spellcaster for the purpose of casting some spells. When it comes to the real traveling event, we are on our own though.
As for the disposable resources, there are not a lot of things to mention. Our artificer can create wands. We have a Censer of controling air elementals. We have some magic items we could sell for around 50,000 gp, but we would rather not because our artificer can decraft those to use the xp for crafting something else. But our DM enforce that any craft duration is proportional to the market cost, for example the Censer took 100 days to craft for the homonculus of our artificer. Our artificer can also craft scrolls. I believe some PC also have their own economies. As for myself, I lost all my wealth in some game of destiny so I only have kept my equipment.
Resolution:
I am awarding the bounty to @Sandwich because his answer about using the spell Forest eyes is the one which fits the most in regard to the bounty's conditions. I am accepting the answer of @Hey-I-Can-Chan because this is the one we actually ended to use in our session. Thank you all for all your contributions.