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<blockquote data-quote="MrMyth" data-source="post: 4224826" data-attributes="member: 61155">The five minute mark actually feels somewhat right to me. I know that in any games I'm in where they is no easy magic to ID stuff, as soon as characters get a new magic item, they spend several minutes asking...Player 1: &quot;Ok, I put on the magic boots. Then I try to jump real high.&quot;DM: &quot;Nothing strange happens.&quot;Player 1: &quot;Ok, I try to run really fast... in circles.&quot;DM: &quot;Nothing strange happens.&quot;Player 2: &quot;Oh, I know, try running up a wall!&quot;Player 1: &quot;Yeah, I do that!&quot;DM: &quot;No such luck.&quot;Player 1: &quot;I'll try... quickly shuffling back and forth to the right and left.&quot;DM: &quot;Nothing strange happens.&quot;Player 3: &quot;I'll try throwing some rocks at him while he's moving.&quot;DM: &quot;You notice he seems especially adept at dodging objects while moving...&quot;...and while that makes for a nice little scene, and the occasional bit of hilarity, it does slow the game down - especially when they do the same routine for every magic item in the pot.Or, if they don't try this, and don't have any magical means of IDing stuff... they spend several levels running around with useless items. So assuming that characters can spend a five minute downtime performing the usual hijinks to figure out an item seems reasonable to me. And hey - for an especially odd item, you can force them to make some skill checks or something similar, or make them actually act out the process of testing what it can do. As others have said, it's easier to add in a bit of complication than it is to take it out.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="MrMyth, post: 4224826, member: 61155"] The five minute mark actually feels somewhat right to me. I know that in any games I'm in where they is no easy magic to ID stuff, as soon as characters get a new magic item, they spend several minutes asking... Player 1: "Ok, I put on the magic boots. Then I try to jump real high." DM: "Nothing strange happens." Player 1: "Ok, I try to run really fast... in circles." DM: "Nothing strange happens." Player 2: "Oh, I know, try running up a wall!" Player 1: "Yeah, I do that!" DM: "No such luck." Player 1: "I'll try... quickly shuffling back and forth to the right and left." DM: "Nothing strange happens." Player 3: "I'll try throwing some rocks at him while he's moving." DM: "You notice he seems especially adept at dodging objects while moving..." ...and while that makes for a nice little scene, and the occasional bit of hilarity, it does slow the game down - especially when they do the same routine for every magic item in the pot. Or, if they [I]don't[/I] try this, and don't have any magical means of IDing stuff... they spend several levels running around with useless items. So assuming that characters can spend a five minute downtime performing the usual hijinks to figure out an item seems reasonable to me. And hey - for an especially odd item, you can force them to make some skill checks or something similar, or make them actually act out the process of testing what it can do. As others have said, it's easier to add in a bit of complication than it is to take it out. [/QUOTE]

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