All Right I'm sure that I will get flamed for bringing this up, but does anyone else feel that the ability to hide cursed items from players with the identify spell requires house rules?
I have been contemplating this for awhile, and either my understanding of the Identify Spell and curse detection are flawed, or 3e eliminated the suspense for cursed items.
For example, my players are all very experienced, and though they try to avoid most aspects of meta-gaming, they have developed a routine of not using/wielding/equipping any magic items that are not identified first. This practice effectively rules out the chance of experimenting on an item to discover it's usage, and I think drains some of the danger and fun from finding new items.. so, I am thinking of implementing the following system:
When someone creates a cursed Magic item they may choose to hide the ability under the typical enchantments. By doing this the Identify spell will not automatically reveal the taint, and based on the power level of the creator versus the power of the identifying Mage there is a good chance the curse will go undetected.
The formula I am thinking would go something like this: During the Identify, the Caster must make a Spellcraft roll at 15+creators highest magic user level. For example If Aglarrond the Horrid created a Cursed Ring of Jumping when he was a 12th Level Wizard, the Spellcraft check for Bob the identifier would be 15+12. Failure would mean the curse is undetected and can be inflicted on the next user of the item.
I am looking for comments to help me balance this. Also I would probably grant characters with the Magic Artificer feat or some of the augmented creation feats to add +5 to the DC for detecting the curse.. I know this might add a little overhead on NPC creation, and Item creation but I'm trying to break my players habit of knowing much more than they do.
--I do have one character who is a Transmuter who specializes in Artificer and am considering giving artificers a bonus to the detect as a benefit, just like the bonus to hide it.
Any suggestions??
I have been contemplating this for awhile, and either my understanding of the Identify Spell and curse detection are flawed, or 3e eliminated the suspense for cursed items.
For example, my players are all very experienced, and though they try to avoid most aspects of meta-gaming, they have developed a routine of not using/wielding/equipping any magic items that are not identified first. This practice effectively rules out the chance of experimenting on an item to discover it's usage, and I think drains some of the danger and fun from finding new items.. so, I am thinking of implementing the following system:
When someone creates a cursed Magic item they may choose to hide the ability under the typical enchantments. By doing this the Identify spell will not automatically reveal the taint, and based on the power level of the creator versus the power of the identifying Mage there is a good chance the curse will go undetected.
The formula I am thinking would go something like this: During the Identify, the Caster must make a Spellcraft roll at 15+creators highest magic user level. For example If Aglarrond the Horrid created a Cursed Ring of Jumping when he was a 12th Level Wizard, the Spellcraft check for Bob the identifier would be 15+12. Failure would mean the curse is undetected and can be inflicted on the next user of the item.
I am looking for comments to help me balance this. Also I would probably grant characters with the Magic Artificer feat or some of the augmented creation feats to add +5 to the DC for detecting the curse.. I know this might add a little overhead on NPC creation, and Item creation but I'm trying to break my players habit of knowing much more than they do.
--I do have one character who is a Transmuter who specializes in Artificer and am considering giving artificers a bonus to the detect as a benefit, just like the bonus to hide it.
Any suggestions??
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