My entry- Snapshot
While I think Arkhandus' "Specter's Game" ranks much higher on the 'spiffy and interesting' scale AND my entry has similarities to Land Outcast's "Drawing..." one, I'll still throw my favorite homebrew out there. Although I created it long ago for one of my 2nd Edition character's (He had a tourist mindset and adventured as much for the scenery as anything else.*) I've updated the text quite a bit to mirror it's closest companion spell, Amanuensis.
Snapshot
Transmutation
Level: Cleric 0, sorcerer/wizard 0
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action or 1 round (see text)
Range: Infinite (see text)
Target: A scene before you or sufficiently well visualized
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Will negates (object)
Spell Resistance: Yes (object)
By framing a scene with your outstretched hands, or visualizing it within your mind with enough clarity, you intone the spell and capture an image of the scene on a sheet of paper close at hand.
The scene or image captured can be of any size but cannot encompass more than your normal field of view and is limited to what may be seen with normal vision. Whatever the scale of the original scene it will be scaled down to fit within the boundaries of the sheet of paper provided. The scene can be further scaled down upon the sheet of paper as desired. The scene is captured perfectly but is limited in detail to what could be conveyed with a pen and ink drawing.
If capturing a real scene (1 standard action), the spell copies only what can be seen with physical sight. Images or auras perceived only by the caster of a spell will not be captured, unless they somehow create a visible effect which all can see unaided, i.e.- auras from Detect Magic or ethereal beings seen via See Invisible would not show up in the 'snapshot', but invisible beings outlined by a Glitterdust spell would. Likewise, illusions may be capture, but only if they create a visual effect which is the same for all viewers. (but see the next paragraph)
The spell can also capture an imagined scene or one perceived/affected wholly within the mind of the caster. This takes a concentration check with a DC of 15 and makes the casting a full-round action. But almost anything can thus be captured- from invisible spell effects perceived only via personal spells, to illusory phantasms, to scenes produced through imagination alone.
Writing can be captured with a 'snapshot' but only a single page of text (or whatever can be laid out to be seen all at once) can be copied and it's legibility might be compromised by the scale of the finished 'snapshot', making this cantrip inefficient for copying text. Furthermore, magical writing (such as the text of a spellbook, a spell scroll, or a sepia snake sigil) is warped into an illegible smudge or scrawl so as to be completely indecipherable. The spell triggers (and likewise renders illegible) writing-based magic traps in the material being captured.
Blank paper, parchment must be provided for the spell to draw upon. It can be contained within a book but the spell is still limited to only a single page within the book. An image can be spread over multiple pages only with multiple 'snapshots', each capturing a different area of the scene.
* My character kept a journal of his adventures and filled the pages with pictures of the various sights and unique creatures he came across. When he was high enough level he combined this cantrip with Clairvoyance to create spectacular maps of the areas he had explored. I'd cast Clairvoyance to see the view from several hundred feet directly above the party and then capture the image I saw in my mind- instant map!
