Probe Spellshadow

There are two uses of this spell, detection and dissection. Both deal with spellshadows, described in the chapter called "Spellwarp: Astral Magic."

The detection ability leads the caster, upon finishing the spell, to the location on the Astral Plane of a particular spellshadow known to the wizard. For the spellshadow to be "known," the caster must be aware of the original caster of the spell that created the shadow, or the exact place and time when such a spell was cast. The spell lasts until the wizard arrives at the spot, although if he pauses for more than an hour while traveling to the location or if he stops more than ten hours away from the location, the probe spellshadow spell is ruined.

Once at the site, the wizard can use the proficiency read spellshadow to glean information from the shadow, or he can cast probe spellshadow again to dissect the shadow, giving him a chance to learn the spell (see the Intelligence table in the PHB for the percentage chance to learn the spell) and add it to his repertoire. This dissection gives the wizard all the basics of the spell, but he must then meditate on these factors for a week per level of the spell before he can put them all together well enough to write the spell in his spell book. Obviously, only wizard spells (not including those from opposition schools or above the wizard's spell level) can be learned by the wizard, although any spell can be detected and read.

In any event, a spellshadow fades Id4 hours after it has been disturbed - that is, probed or read in any way (even just detecting it will cause it to fade, although the shadow doesn't fade until 1d4 hours after the spell completely ends).

Spellshadows were almost certainly discovered by the githyanki, who developed this spell. Nevertheless, the information has leaked out to a few bloods on the planes. Only one in a thousand spellcasters knows the dark of them, though, so the knowledge is very rare, and therefore, very valuable.