Helping Hand
Evocation
Level: Travel 3
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: 5 miles
Effect: Ghostly hand
Duration: 1 hour/level
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
Spell Points: 5
You create the ghostly image of a hand.
You can send out the hand to find a creature within the spell’s range. The hand then beckons to that creature and leads it to you if the creature is willing to follow.
When the spell is cast, the hand appears in front of you. You then specify a person (or any creature) by physical description, which can include race, gender, and appearance but not ambiguous factors such as level, alignment, or class (unless you have an ability to perceive such factors, see below). When the description is complete, the hand streaks off towards the closest creature (hereafter referred to as the subject) that fits the description, at a fly speed of 240’ per round (perfect maneuverability). The hand always takes the shortest feasible route.
The hand has the same sensory abilities as you, as determined at the time of casting. For example, if you have the Darkvision special ability, the hand could find a subject sleeping in a dark room - assuming that the physical description didn’t rely on qualities that the Darkvision can’t reveal, such as color. If no subject that matches the description exists within the spell’s range, the hand returns to you after flying around aimlessly for one minute, displays an outstretched palm (indicating that no such creature was found), and disappears.
Once the hand locates the subject, it beckons the creature to follow it. If the subject does so, the hand points in your direction, indicating the most direct feasible route. The hand hovers 10 feet in front of the subject, moving before it at a speed of as much as 240 feet per round. Once the hand leads the subject back to you, it disappears.
The subject is not compelled to follow the hand or act in any particular way toward you. If the subject chooses not to follow, the hand continues to beckon for the duration of the spell, then disappears. If the spell expires while the subject is en route to you, the hand disappears; the subject must then rely on her own devices to locate you.
The ghostly hand has no physical form. It is invisible to anyone except you and its subject. It cannot engage in combat or execute any other task aside from locating a subject and leading it back to you. The hand can’t pass through solid objects but can ooze through small cracks and slits. The hand cannot travel outside the spell’s range.
Augment: You can augment this spell in one or both of the following ways:
For every additional spell point you spend, the spell’s range increases by one mile.
If you spend 4 additional spell points, instead of indicating that the subject should follow it, the hand grows to a size category equal to that of the subject itself, takes physical (but still invisible) form, and invites the subject to step on to the palm. If the subject steps on the hand, the hand gently picks the subject up, and bodily carries it towards you at maximum speed (240’/round). The hand being physical when carrying the subject prevents it from oozing through cracks, but it still takes the most direct route possible for its new form. If the subject wishes to be put down, the hand immediately does so, gently putting it down on whatever surface the hand may be flying above. The hand can carry up to 25 pounds per caster level. If the subject (and the gear it takes with it) is too heavy for the hand to carry, it instead resumes its normal function of directing the way, until the subject’s weight has been reduced below its limit.