D&D 5E GM's - How do you handle identifying magical items?

[Greenstone.Walker]

I also have my players track what they have found (though not where), and I as DM keep a mirror list only with more complete notes. Each item gets a unique number which stays with it even after identification, for recordkeeping purposes; Lanefan

That is a great idea! I am embarassed that as a DBA I didn't think of it.

 

[dd.stevenson]

Sometimes I want identification to be an exploration challenge, and sometimes I don't. If I do, then I tell them that regular ID methods aren't working. Otherwise, we just do it like what's in the rules.

 

[Paraxis]

Anyone can tell an item is magical by handling it, no detect magic needed. Detect magic speeds up the process and works on other things besides magic items.

Anyone can spend a short rest focusing on a magic item and identifies all of it's properties, besides curses, and artifacts can break this rule too.

The identify spell only speeds up the process, if cast as a ritual it takes 11 minutes instead of a short rest (1 hour), if cast using a spell slot it takes 1 minute. The end result is the same as anyone focusing on the item for an hour, you do not reveal any curses.

Attunement, it takes an hour to attune an item to you (a short rest) you know you need to attune it to you because you discovered this when you identified it, see above.

You may only have three items attuned to you at once.

Most cursed items require attunement and that is how they get you once attuned you are stuck, until someone casts the 3rd level spell Remove Curse.

Attunement also keeps you in the know of how many charges an item has for those pesky wands and staves that recover a variable number each day and if you expend the last one it has a chance of being destroyed, the attuned user knows the number of charges at all times.

IE I run it RAW.

 

[RotGrub]

Since the item could be cursed or be an iron flask that contains a demon i use the old school method. I also like it when a character discovers a property on his own and it's incorporated into the story. For me the exploration/discovery of magic is part of the adventure. IMO, magic should be mysterious.

Like other posters, I have a numbered list on my side of the DM screen.

 

[77IM]

The party wizard has identify and can cast it as a ritual so that's how I handle it.

But, identify won't reveal all curses, only some of the lower-level ones. I think the cursed item descriptions say whether or not identify reveals the curse. For items I make up myself, I just decide. For example, the accursed crossbow of damnation will identify as merely a crossbow of damnation.

 

[Li Shenron]

My default method for identifying magic item is:

"All methods work, and none of them has the final say on the item."

So you can try all existing methods (experimentation/sampling, knowledge checks, Identify spell...) and see which ones of them will tell you at least something about the item, but keep in mind that it won't be the end of it. I always keep the door open for a magic item to be unbound in power, either because there's something else to discover about it, or because the item grows in power with the adventures. (Consumables typically aren't that complex tho)

 

[CapnZapp]

I just reveal. I grew weary of "trial and error" two decades ago, and identify spells shortly after. I don't put time and effort into making cool magical items for my PCs to NOT discover their properties.

Liked, tapatalk style

 

[Geeky Princess]

I require identify to be cast on items to know the details of the item.

What I do is create a handout on an index card, on one side a picture of the item and on the other the details of what the item is and does. When they identify the item, they can flip it over to take a look.

I've attached a few of the handouts.

We've always used index cards, but I love the idea of the pictures on the opposite side. We usually just write "potion" or "sword". Thanks for sharing!

 

[Blue]

Do you also allow trial and error to give any info?

I was playing at a yearly convention (http://www.princecon.org) where you create a character at 5th and level them up throughout the Con, running with different DMs against a master theme. Identify happens back at the in-character gathering place between runs. Early in a run I found a magic ring and for hours durign the rest of the run I would try thing. "I see if I can make the ring shoot something." "I try to jump to the top of the wall using the ring." Two thirds of the way through when we were questioning some shifty folks came "I try to see if they are lying" and with a big smile the DM handed me a note: THEY ARE LYING.

That cemented my love of trying to use items to identify them. Where's the mystery of magic if it's just a hoop to jump through to know everything about it?

 

[SkidAce]

Attunement also keeps you in the know of how many charges an item has for those pesky wands and staves that recover a variable number each day and if you expend the last one it has a chance of being destroyed, the attuned user knows the number of charges at all times.

IE I run it RAW.

Where is this part stated?