Scry · Game Mechanic Compendium

Definition

Scry relocates the user’s senses: a spell, item, device or companion lends sight or hearing from a point out of the user’s view and shows what an ordinary observer there would perceive. Reveal defeats concealment: exposing invisible or stealthed things, lifting fog over an area of the map, or posting a watcher that detects hidden things belongs there, while a watcher that only relays ordinary sight is a scry. Tagging one target is mark. Fog of war is the sight-range system scry works around, and line of sight the rule it excepts. Questions put to an oracle return verdicts, not perception, and lie outside the archetype.

Behaviour

The point of perception moves to a chosen place, subject or launch point while the user stays put. Wizard Eye and the Eye of Kilrogg are steered through the air; Thief II’s Scouting Orb is thrown and takes over the view once it rests; Siege’s drone is driven along the floor. The view lasts a fixed time or until the sensor is destroyed or recalled. Counterplay either blocks the view, as lead and an amulet do in Dungeons & Dragons, or attacks the sensor, as Siege defenders do.

Variations

Clairvoyance and clairaudience (Dungeons & Dragons): a fixed remote viewpoint, sight or hearing only, at short range, stopped by lead.
Mobile sensor (Dungeons & Dragons, Warcraft II): an eye is steered while the caster stays put; Warcraft II leaves the terrain it saw mapped.
Scrying device (Dungeons & Dragons): the Crystal Ball views a subject at a distance, less reliably when it is far or not exactly known.
Thrown or driven camera (Thief II: The Metal Age, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege): a device that must be retrieved or protected.
Companion view (Assassin’s Creed Valhalla): a bird gives an overhead view on call.
Foresight (Dune, Magic: The Gathering): the view is displaced in time; the user sees the next spice blow card, or the top cards of the library and may reorder them.

Gating

Dungeons & Dragons gates the spells by slot and short duration, and the Crystal Ball by three attempts a day, a rest day after long use and the threat of madness. Board and card foresight is a standing faction power (Dune) or a rider on a spell paid with mana (Magic). Warcraft II spends mana. Stealth and tactical shooters turn the sensor into a small stock of devices: Thief II’s orb is reused once picked up, and Siege issues two drones per attacker each round. Valhalla’s raven has no stated cost. Over time the limit moves from rare, rested magic toward cheap but destructible devices.

History and provenance

The earliest documented use cited is Dungeons & Dragons (1974): Men & Magic defines Clairvoyance and Clairaudience from ESP and gives Wizard Eye, an invisible sensor sent up to 24 inches, and Monsters & Treasure adds the Crystal Ball. Chainmail’s 1972 spell list has no remote viewing. Crystal-gazing in folklore is a likely antecedent. Dune (1979) is the earliest board foreknowledge cited, from a review, with no copy of its rulebook cited. Warcraft II (1995) is the earliest video form cited. Magic: The Gathering named the foresight form Scry in Fifth Dawn (2004), a keyword designed by Aaron Forsythe.

Notable examples

Notable examples, in chronological order. Notes describe how the ability behaves in each game; gating is what limits its use there; the latest reference is a widely played game from 2020 or later.
Game	Year	Medium	Gating	How the ability behaves
Dungeons & Dragons Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson (TSR)	1974	Tabletop RPG	Spell slots, Per rest	Clairvoyance (third level) sees and Clairaudience hears as ESP does, inheriting its 6-inch range, 12-turn duration and passage through up to 2 feet of rock, blocked by lead. Wizard Eye (fourth level) sends an invisible sensor up to 24 inches, moving 12 inches a turn for 6 turns. A Crystal Ball allows three attempts a day before madness, with a rest day after long use.
Dune	1979	Board & card	At will	The Atreides faction's prescience lets its player view the next spice blow card, so it knows where spice will appear before the others. The same standing power permits peeks at the treachery card up for bid and at one element of an opponent's battle plan, which expose present hidden information instead. It applies each time its step occurs.
Magic: The Gathering Richard Garfield (Wizards of the Coast)	1993	Board & card	Mana	Scry, made a keyword in Fifth Dawn (2004), looks at the top X cards of the library and puts any number of them on the bottom and the rest back on top, each group in any order. It rides on spells paid with mana, such as Condescend, paid with X and blue mana, which carries Scry 2.
Warcraft II Blizzard Entertainment	1995	Video	Mana	The Ogre-Mage's Eye of Kilrogg creates a disembodied, free-floating eye that the caster steers through the air and that transmits its view back; when it vanishes, the caster keeps knowledge of the terrain it saw. It is a mana spell whose exact cost is unconfirmed.
Thief II: The Metal Age Looking Glass Studios (Eidos Interactive)	2000	Video	Charges	The Scouting Orb is thrown from the inventory and, once it lands and comes to rest, switches the player's view to its perspective, so guards can be scouted without alerting them. The player returns to normal view at will and must pick the orb up before using it again unless carrying extras.
World of Warcraft Blizzard Entertainment	2004	Video	Mana	The shaman's Far Sight, cast for mana, "Changes the caster's viewpoint to the targeted location. Lasts 1 min. Only usable outdoors"; the class page calls it useful "for scouting and for looking for certain NPCs". From patch 2.0.1 (December 2006) the camera zooms in to the distant location instead of cutting to it. The priest's Mind Vision instead sees "through the target's eyes for 1 min".
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege Ubisoft Montreal	2015	Video	Charges	Each attacker drives a remote camera drone through the building in a 45-second preparation phase to find the objective, defenders and fortifications; defenders can disable drones they spot, and a surviving drone carries into the action phase. Current rules give two drones per attacker each round, and a drone can scan a defender to ping them, which is a mark.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla Latest Ubisoft Montreal (Ubisoft)	2020	Video	At will	Eivor calls the raven Synin for an overhead view of the ground below, used mainly to find points of interest to investigate. Ubisoft describes the raven as less adept at highlighting enemies, a task left largely to the separate Odin Sight. Ubisoft's guide states no cost or cooldown for the view.

Provenance

Earliest documented use: Dungeons & Dragons (1974), tabletop rpg. Confidence: medium. Men & Magic gives Clairvoyance and Clairaudience as third-level spells defined from ESP and Wizard Eye as a fourth-level travelling sensor; Monsters & Treasure adds three Crystal Balls and an amulet that blocks them. The wording cited is the archive.org scan of the 1974 booklets, whose printing is unidentified, and the page numbers come from its OCR markers. The 1972 Chainmail spell list, read in full, has no remote-viewing spell. Crystal-gazing in folklore and fantasy fiction is a likely antecedent outside games, and pre-1974 campaign and newsletter material by Gygax and Arneson remains unsurveyed. Earlier video forms than Warcraft II (1995), such as 1980s computer role-playing items, remain unsurveyed.

Sources

Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. (1974). Dungeons & Dragons, Volume 1, Men & Magic. Tactical Studies Rules. Rulebook Spells Table; Explanation of Spells, Magic-User 2nd and 3rd level (ESP, Clairvoyance, Clairaudience), p. 25; 4th level (Wizard Eye), p. 27. Accessed 2026-10-24. Clairvoyance and Clairaudience defined from ESP, its range, duration and lead block; Wizard Eye's invisible travelling sensor.
Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. (1974). Dungeons & Dragons, Volume 2, Monsters & Treasure. Tactical Studies Rules. Rulebook Miscellaneous Magic table; Explanations, Miscellaneous Magic: Crystal Balls, p. 36. Accessed 2026-10-24. Crystal Ball variants, three attempts a day, rest after long use, penalties for distance, unknown subjects and lead, and the counter-amulet.
Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren. (1972). Chainmail: Rules for Medieval Miniatures, 2nd edition. Guidon Games. Rulebook Fantasy Supplement: Wizards' spells, pp. 28-29. Accessed 2026-10-24. The full spell list, which holds no remote-viewing spell.
Richard Irving (grognard.com). Dune review. Article Accessed 2026-10-24. Atreides prescience, including viewing the next spice blow card and the peeks at treachery cards and battle plans.
Mark Rosewater. (2004). Scry Me a River. Wizards of the Coast. Article Accessed 2026-10-24. The rules text of Scry, its design by Aaron Forsythe, and its Fifth Dawn cards.
Blizzard Entertainment. (1995). Warcraft II manual (PC). Rulebook Orc spells: Ogre Mage Spells, Eye of Kilrogg, p. 75. Accessed 2026-10-24. A steerable eye that transmits its view to the caster, with terrain kept known after it vanishes.
Looking Glass Studios. (2000). Thief II: The Metal Age manual (PC). Eidos Interactive. Rulebook The Scouting Orb, pp. 23-24. Accessed 2026-10-24. The thrown orb that switches the view to its perspective and must be retrieved unless extras are carried.
Ubisoft. (2014). Behind the Wall Series: Tools of Attack. Article Accessed 2026-10-24. Pre-release description of attackers' drones in the preparation phase, defenders disabling spotted drones, and survivors carried into the action phase.
David Via (Siege.gg). (2026). How to Drone in Rainbow Six Siege. Article Accessed 2026-10-24. Current figures for two drones per attacker, the 45-second preparation phase, and scanning pings.
Ubisoft. (2020). 5 Essential Tips for Playing Assassin's Creed Valhalla. Article Accessed 2026-10-24. Synin's overhead view, its use for points of interest, its weakness at highlighting enemies, and Odin Sight as a separate ability.
Michael Lummis and Danielle Vanderlip. (2004). World of Warcraft: Official Strategy Guide. BradyGames. Book Shaman chapter (Far Sight); Priest chapter (Mind Vision). Accessed 2026-10-24. Far Sight and Mind Vision wording, duration, and the outdoor limit.
Blizzard Entertainment. (2006). Shaman Spells (World of Warcraft). Website Far Sight. Accessed 2026-10-24. Far Sight as a scouting spell.
Blizzard Entertainment. (2007). World of Warcraft patch notes (2.0.x). Website Patch 2.0.1, Shaman. Accessed 2026-10-24. The 2.0.1 date (5 December 2006) and the Far Sight camera change.

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West, James, Jr. (2026). "Scry." Game Mechanic Compendium, updated 2026-10-24. http://localhost:4321/abilities/scry

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