It is a magical bug, that will allow the owner to hear what is said in the immediate vicinity of the 'bug.'
It is a jeweled encrusted bug. Once activated a normal looking bug in all ways. The bug becomes what ever it appears to be, except for the psychic link.
Magical Properties:
The wrinkle is that you have to read the inscription that is on the bottom of the 'Bug' to give it life and bond it to you. The 'Bug' will change from a jeweled bug into a real bug (of what ever type it appears to be). It will live as a real bug for the standard life time as if it were that bug (i.e. one day for a house fly).
The cost is that the reader will give the bug its life from him/herself. A gift of life should cost the owner some small amount of hit points. Once the bug dies/is killed the hit points will return to the owner slowly over a five day period.
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I do see some promise, but how did anybody come up with the idea... What is the benefit? Yes you hear what is said near the bug, but can you direct it to travel where you want it to go?
If not, the cost to pay seems rather high.
How many hitpoints does a common housefly have in your setting? It would seem reasonable that you would have to invest only the number of hitpoints that the housefly has.
Now in D&D you will sleep away damage at a rate of your character level.... So your hitpoints would grow back in one single night.
What happens to the 'bug' when it reaches its natural time of death? does it turn into a jewel encrusted bug again? Is it just gone?
What happens if the 'bug' gets killed? (same as above)
If it is just gone, I would say it is a bad investment to 'revive' the bug, it would be smarter to pry of the jewels and sell them.
On an aside note, the fruit fly lives for just one day, house flys live a bit longer, about 29 days.
If I used this idea, I would make the user invest twice as much hit points as the bug has normally, or 2d4, whichever is higher, but they get to control where it goes. If the bug is killed, they would have to heal the hit points naturally, if they have it return to them before it dies, and crumbles to ash, they would get back half the hit points and have to heal the rest naturally.
I actually like this idea. I don't really know why.
It is a simple idea, but because it is detailed in such a simple manner, I don't really enjoy it that much. It has so much promise as the two commetns above me has stated. This does have potential, which I gave credit for, but I also took off a lot for there not really being much background or information regarding who, what, where, why, and how. Basics to any story.
On a side note, I actually saw this in an X-Files episode where 'Aliens' had metallic roaches. They looked real, but if you crushed one it would leave metal splinters. Kinda creepy.