This spell provides a detailed mental listing of all the possessions and material being worn and carried by a chosen target creature. This inventory of possessions is placed in the mind of the mage immediately upon casting, as if the caster had always had this knowledge as a memory. All items carried, including concealed items are revealed - a scan might include "a pair of leather boots, with a small dagger in the left boot coated with a paralytic poison". A typical scan will reveal such items as clothing, weapons, armor, personal effects, coins, etc., plus their type, quantity and quality.

Information is provided only upon the physical nature and makeup of possessions. For example, the spell would not inform the caster that a target mage is carrying "a spellbook", but instead "a high-quality book of exquisite binding", nor would Zim's Remote Inventory reveal what spells are in the spellbook. The spell does not detect magic items, altho their nature might be discerned by their unusually fine quality. Zim's Remote Inventory does not provide information on relative value (how many gold pieces a gem is worth), but does reveal size and type ("a 3 carat diamond, uncarved").

The material component for this spell is the tip of an quill feather pen. This spell was deliberately designed to be fairly difficult to notice, with subdued somatic and verbal components and a small material component. If using the Sp&M Casting Subtlety rules, it has a base Spell Subtlety factor or 0 (plus any situational bonuses it might receive).