Ouch! I mean I have no idea how money works in your campaign, but this seems really harsh compared with some other material components.
It's a bit tougher, but I still have quite a few spells that have limitations or risks to them. For example, any spell that interacts with another plane - teleport, find familiar, or gate, runs the risk of a fiend of some sort hitching a ride through the temporary portal. It's along the idea that using black magic is dangerous (and in my campaign, necromancy is).
I've been considering modifying it a bit. The AD&D/2e version was quite complex, but I've never been happy with "you learn everything." So I take a middle ground, at my discretion. Simple items that they should just be able to use are fine. A
wand of magic missile? Yeah, you know what it is. I usually just give you the (finite) number of charges, since I generally don't want to bother tracking them myself.
As for money, it's pretty similar to the base rules. Easier than trying to change everything. Adventurers always end up with much more than they can use anyway.
That's cool, what do you have legend lore do?
Legend Lore is similar, although instead of identifying the history of its purpose and creation, it covers more about what has happened since then. Great battles it has seen, who has wielded it, etc. This grew in part from the great amount of lore that Ed Greenwood always added to magic items and spellbooks that he published in Dragon magazine. I figured it's much more interesting if that is shared with the players, rather than just savored by the DM. So I started doing it myself.
Identify is more from the item's point of view, which is limited mostly to what it was created for and its abilities, and
legend lore is kind of reading the residue of others.
I agree to an extent, but it's not "just because of a 1st level spell". Knowing a specific spells means you spent a valuable character resource - so if someone has this spell, then they've made a pretty big choice (with a few exceptions).
Yes, but you find a lot of spells in my campaign. I also have rules for learning spells you find, and you can attempt to cast spells you haven't mastered yet. So you pick and choose which spells you want to try to learn. So you'll never have a shortage of spells. Ritual spells (like identify) don't count against any potential maximum spells known in my campaign.
That said, The fact that you fill out some history definitely makes up for the loss in specific information on functionality.
The new identify works on objects and creatures that are affected by spells, which I think is a good thing. It's a niche that needed to be filled.
That's really what I'd expect
detect magic for. Although it's not as specific, I'm ok with that. I pulled back detect magic quite a bit, only detecting the presence and relative strength.
At the point of casting identify (especially in your game, where it's quite an expensive spell), I take that to be the players saying they're a bit stumped. So in this case, I'd at least tell the PCs that the magical stones do something (operate at a distance, make sound and light, whatever) when they are pushed, and that they're linked to each other. That should be enough to prompt them to make combinations at least.
If you play this way, it seems identify has even more of a niche use. Am I misunderstanding, or are you really spending 100gp to skip the short rest requirement and get a bit of backstory?
The short rest ability has been rolled into knowledge checks, essentially. I (and my players - they were the first to complain it was too easy), like a bit of mystery and attachment to the campaign.
So there are basically 3 levels of things (coinciding roughly with what I consider as low (0-2nd level), mid (3rd-5th level), or high (6th+ level) level magic. A short rest is sufficient for low level stuff,
identify for mid-level, and high level stuff usually needs a bit more research (but the other two aspects can provide some of the information).
While we don't role-play all of the details, having to go to a sage, or other expert for information adds something to the campaign. It's a great opportunity to feed information to the PCs. Anything that adds an expense to the game helps consume the steady supply of treasure. Being able to use some basic abilities (for example, a weapon with a bonus always works), but not others gives them something to be excited about going back to town to learn more, and something to look forward to in the next adventure. So something like the spell is used for something that's a bit more important than a simple wand. It gives them a starting point, and potential places to look for more information. Or clues to help them direct their research better. For example, if they go to a sage with the information they already know, then the sage has something to go on.
The other aspect of all of this, is that items that have a history, legends attached to them, and prior owners, attract attention. Perhaps a relative of a prior owner would like it. Maybe it's an important religious relic, and they feel compelled to return it to the appropriate temple. Of course, thieves come out of the woodwork when something unusual comes out. If they are attacked in town and draw steel, somebody might recognize the weapon, for example. That can be good or bad. All of this helps ground things in the world more.
But rather than the trend I see where people are designing magic items that improve as the character levels up, or unlocks abilities as they level up, it's more a question of when
they discover them. The item already has them. If they want to spend the time and usually money to research the abilities, then they may get access to more powers earlier.
I should point out that in my campaign, level advancement is much slower. Typically about a year of play to reach 5th level, two years to 7th level. But it's not as important if you're getting access to some powers earlier due to magic items.
I tend to have more magic items than a lot of campaigns. The majority are consumable, and there are also monsters that feed on magic (and can drain magic items). So the handful that are more than that stand out a bit more. Just like there are adventures to find magic items, they have adventures (even if they aren't played out at the table) to learn more about them. For all practical purposes they'll know most everything before they head out for their next adventure, but there are exceptions.
My daughter started out (at 1st level) with her family's moonblade. She carried it wrapped, because not being accepted by it yet she, like anybody who isn't accepted by it, couldn't touch it without taking damage. One of her initial goals was to learn about the blade and how to wield it. It was a several month quest for her before she was able to do so. One of my favorite scenes (I think she was 10 at the time) was in a battle against a sorceress. So she decided to try to make it look like she accidentally dropped the sword as she was trying to escape and take cover. So she did, and the ploy worked. The sorceress attempted to pick it up and took a lot of damage as a result. Later on it was a very helpful and powerful item, although primarily against undead and fiends. Of course, at one point she lost it due to a magical trap. She was convinced it had to be there, and practically had to be dragged out of the room by her companions. She was
mad for a little while. It was really cool, though, because after she got over the player shock, she turned it into character determination and played the part really, really well. When she did find it later on, she loved the arc, and totally got it.