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CHAPTER 7ARCANECAMPAIGNS172plot, and it can solve otherwise challenging mysteries witha single easy casting.Of all the magical capability that a high-level spellcastercan bring to the table, scrying might be the most difficultfor the Dungeon Master to deal with. The only foolproofdefense against scrying is to pit magic against magic, relyingon spells such as nondetection or detect scrying in an attemptto ward off inquisitive heroes. The mundane precautionsof sentries, dogs, and locked doors won’t protect a villain’sstronghold against scrying magic—but there’s no reasona villain can’t use spells to anticipate the arrival of troublein the same way that characters might seek to avoid it. Forexample, an evil cleric might use a divination spell to ask ifhe will be the target of a scrying within the next week—andif so, by whom. Assuming the divination spell succeeds, thecleric could then take steps to defend against the scryingattempt.As with the defense against charmed interrogations, aclever and meticulous villain without access to divinationdefeatingspells might also make an effort to control theinformation accessible to any particular minion, potentiallylimiting the damage of a thorough scrying effort. After all,if the lieutenant known to the heroes has no idea where thesecret stronghold lies and has never met his leader face toface, no amount of scrying upon the lieutenant will ferretout the villain’s secrets. A very clever foe will take steps toshow her enemies what she wants them to see, planting falseinformation where the characters’ scrying attempts are sureto uncover it.As with charm spells, the best way to keep scrying spellsfrom tipping the balance of the campaign is to designadventures that count on them. Build scenarios in which thecharacters are expected to use scrying magic to advance theplot and determine their next course of action. Anticipatethe fact that the PC mage might attempt to cast scrying onthe mysterious red-haired monk who was seen near theking’s chambers just before the king was killed, then designencounters appropriately. Scrying based on nothing morethan that rough description might be the only clue availableto characters trying to solve the murder, or it might be a falselead. The mysterious monk might have had nothing to dowith the murder, or, even if he was the killer, might not haveknown who he was working for. Perhaps he was given instructionsto frame a lord who is loyal to the throne by fleeing tothe house of the unsuspecting lord after the killing. Just likecharm magic, scrying magic should be a helpful tool thatsometimes provides unhelpful results, teaching charactersto treat it as a step toward finding the solutions to particularproblems, not as a solution in and of itself.TeleportationMore than most other types of magic, teleportation can allowa party of heroes to turn your most challenging adventuresinto so much dramatic Swiss cheese. Teleportation (often inconjunction with scrying magic or a charm spell interrogation)is often used to skip past minions and defenders inorder to get right to the chief villain, rendering your perfectlydesigned preliminary encounters useless. More significantly,a party armed with teleportation magic is very hard to subjectto any kind of mortal peril; one quick spell pulls everyone’sbacon out of the fire as soon as things start to look bad.Without powerful magic or relatively arbitrary restrictions,teleporting PCs are extremely difficult to hinder unlessyou can situate the occasional adventure in a place whereteleportation is unreliable, such as a specific demiplane or incertain reaches of the deep underground. For example, theUnderdark of Faerûn, in the FORGOTTEN REALMS campaignsetting, is characterized by the presence of faerzress, a magicalradiation that hampers divination magic and teleportationmagic. Every creature in an area affected by faerzress recives a+4 bonus on Will saves against all divination spells. The use ofany teleportation spell in the Underdark requires a Spellcraftcheck (DC 35, or DC 25 for normally infallible methods suchas greater teleport), or a teleport mishap ensues.Certain spells such as forbiddance and hallow can makesmall areas impossible to teleport into or out of. The spellsanticipate teleportation and greater anticipate teleportation (seepage 97) offer the protected creature a short period of warningbefore a teleporting character or group arrives. As withother types of problematic magic, though, player charactershave earned the right to use teleportation by the time theyreach the appropriate level, and you shouldn’t attempt tomake every villain’s stronghold immune to it as a standardfeature of your adventure designs.Clever villains who lack access to thorough teleportationdefenses can take other steps to limit the effectiveness ofteleporting heroes. An evil cleric with a divination spellcould easily anticipate the time of the heroes’ arrival andset an ambush. Another villain might go to the trouble ofbuilding false throne rooms or lairs in the hopes of confusingher enemies, so that teleporting attackers might materializeinside a deadly trap. As with scrying and charm magic,simply controlling information in the absence of elaborateprecautions is a good step toward preventing unwantedvisitors—locating and teleporting to the overlord’s lair willbe a great deal more challenging for the player characters ifthe villain’s minions have no knowledge of the location orlayout of that lair.WORLD BUILDING WITH MAGICJust as you sculpt the physical topography and culturalgeography of your campaign to create opportunities foradventure, you can shape the arcane makeup of your campaignin the same way. The exact nature of magic and thedetails of its workings are critical elements of any fantasyworld. While the magic system of the DUNGEONS & DRAGONSgame answers many of these questions (What’s the processfor casting a spell? What can a spell do? How long does it takefor characters to recover their magic?), many opportunitiesremain for building distinctive campaign features from thewealth of classes, prestige classes, feats, and spells availablein the game.