..And it has 32 charges left!

[Lord Pendragon]

As a DM, I find the "mystery and surprise" of not knowing what your magic stuff does is never worth the annoyance of trying to keep track of that stuff instead of the player.

As a player, I find that there isn't any "mystery and surprise" in not knowing what your magic stuff does at all. Just annoyance. "Oh, swell, my wand of magic missiles just gave out in the middle of this battle with wraiths. How mysterious. How surprised I am that this expendable resource I couldn't track gave out in the middle of a fight!"

Bleh.

 

[alsih2o]

Identify
Divination
Level: Brd 1, Magic 2, Sor/Wiz 1
Components: V, S, M/DF
Casting Time: 1 hour
Range: Touch
Targets: One touched object
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
The spell determines all magic properties of a single magic item, including how to activate those functions (if appropriate), and how many charges are left (if any).
Identify does not function when used on an artifact.
Arcane Material Component: A pearl of at least 100 gp value, crushed and stirred into wine with an owl feather; the infusion must be drunk prior to spellcasting.

Noone in my party could cast this spell.

 

[BSF]

As a DM, I find the "mystery and surprise" of not knowing what your magic stuff does is never worth the annoyance of trying to keep track of that stuff instead of the player.

As a player, I find that there isn't any "mystery and surprise" in not knowing what your magic stuff does at all. Just annoyance. "Oh, swell, my wand of magic missiles just gave out in the middle of this battle with wraiths. How mysterious. How surprised I am that this expendable resource I couldn't track gave out in the middle of a fight!"

Bleh.

Heh, for about 12 levels in-game, my Bard carried the Wand of Magic Missiles. For whatever reason the wizard didn't get around to trying to identify it. My Bard, with Use Magic Device, was the only one in the party that could use it. It was funny because I got the killing shot on two seperate dragons with that wand. I was actually sad to see it go to the wizard once he identified it at 15th level.

Alsih2o, is there any way you could encourage the PCs to find somebody to identify their stuff? It would make the bookkeeping easier.

If not, then the easiest thing to do is something with better organization. Heh, make it fun for you though. Instead of 3x5 cards, get a couple of empty containers. Use each one to represent a magic item. Add jelly beans/m&m's/whatever candy you prefer to represent the charges. Each time a PC uses a charge, give yourself a snack.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Noone in my party could cast this spell.

In that case, one, two, three...flizzzzz, puff, spark, nothing...it takes three charges before you get to the chewy center.


Player to alsih2o: "Why is it that all my charged items fail after three uses?"

 

[el-remmen]

Fake it.

They will never know the difference.

Just after a while of it having been used (determined roughly as "very little" "occasionally" "often" "all the friggin' time") announce - "You go to use it and it seems to no longer function."

Or

"It functions and then the wand crumbles to dust."

No book-keeping. No fuss. No muss. Still fun.

 

[iwatt]

Fake it.

They will never know the difference.

Just after a while of it having been used (determined roughly as "very little" "occasionally" "often" "all the friggin' time") announce - "You go to use it and it seems to no longer function."

Or

"It functions and then the wand crumbles to dust."

No book-keeping. No fuss. No muss. Still fun.

his is what I do. The player uses the wand and tells me....." I'm using the wand of ..... does it still have enough charges?"

Afterenough time....it fizzles. Done.

 

[Gez]

So what I did was set a DC40 roll for each time a wand is used to see if it fizzles out. The roll is 1d20 + 1/per use. That way I can say the wand has a +12 when they find it. From then on they can keep track without ever really being sure.

Yoink!

Let say that a wand user has to succeed at a DC X check to use the wand. Failure means the wand fizzle and stops functionning. Each use of the wand gives a cumulative -1 (or -2) circumstance penalty to the next check.

What should the DC be so that, with no other modifier (d20+0), the wand will run out, statistically, after 50 uses, on average?

 

[Herpes Cineplex]

As a DM, I find the "mystery and surprise" of not knowing what your magic stuff does is never worth the annoyance of trying to keep track of that stuff instead of the player.

As a player, I find that there isn't any "mystery and surprise" in not knowing what your magic stuff does at all. Just annoyance.

I agree wholeheartedly.

I honestly don't understand what the rest of y'all see in "mystery and surprise" as applied to things like the number of charges left in a wand. Especially when it's combined with a complaint about having to do the bookkeeping for it (or a complaint-free description of how you do the bookkeeping which nonetheless sounds like more work for no reward). Seriously, what's supposed to be fun about it?

It just seems to me that it would be cooler if the mysteries and surprises the GM was working to fit in the game had to do with the NPCs, or the plot, or the setting, or...well, just about anything other than how many times you can use a particular item or how much you add to the d20 when using it.

--
i'm considering actually using the dmg's % chance that a magic item will identify itself
ryan

 

[mvincent]

Not sure why they can't just have it identified between adventures. Note: Clerics with the Magic domain can bypass the material component cost, making the service cost 60gp instead of 110gp.

Secretly keeping track of stuff isn't all that fun imho. If they don't want bother with the expense of identifying it, just have the wand run out whenever you like (i.e. when it best fits the scene : )

 

[Beale Knight]

In that case, one, two, three...flizzzzz, puff, spark, nothing...it takes three charges before you get to the chewy center.
Player to alsih2o: "Why is it that all my charged items fail after three uses?"

Not sure why they can't just have it identified between adventures. Note: Clerics with the Magic domain can bypass the material component cost, making the service cost 60gp instead of 110gp.
Secretly keeping track of stuff isn't all that fun imho. If they don't want bother with the expense of identifying it, just have the wand run out whenever you like (i.e. when it best fits the scene : )

Just to add some information: the party's a Fighter, a Barbarian, a (Wilderness) Rogue, and a Druid, and we've been out in the wild far from our civilization since the adventure began - there's not really been any "between adventures". And while at least two of us have played long enough to know we could have the item Identified (by some of the NPCs we've met since leaving "civilization"), our characters don't - and neither of our characters is the item owner. Not trying to come off as snarky, just wanting to cap off presumptions.

More on topic - I like the idea of the thing just running out at a dramatic moment, or letting the owning PC notice that a feature is changing - indicating the charges being used. Charge notches could be a part of the artwork around the central gem, readily noticable if you know what to look for, much more subtle than a row of dissapearing hash marks. However many charges it started with is irrelevent, just make a decision on how many are presently left based on how much power you want the group to have.