MerakSpielman
First Post
This would eliminate the problems some people percieve with identify vs. analyze dwoemer. Or that debate about cursed items going on right now.
The short description of this rule would be: The higher the level of the mage casting identify, the more is discovered about the item. He can always tell if there is unidentified magic remaining in an item (including curses) but cannot tell in any way the nature of this magic (cursed or keen?) or how many other functions might be present.
There are a couple of mechanics we can use to do this.
1) Actual level of the mage. For every 3 levels, he identifies another trait of the item.
2) Spellcraft check. The identify spell is just a tool to allow the mage to see the enchantments on an item and examine them professionally.
First function of an item: always identified (DC 1)
Second function of an item: DC 15
Third function of an item: DC 25
Fourth function of an item: DC 35
Fifth(!) function of an item: DC 45
I don't think these DCs are out of reach for a character of a level high enough to find weapons/armor with that many functions. Curses would count as a function. The caster makes 1 spellcraft check per casting of identify.
.
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Which option (if either) do you prefer? Should the numbers be tweaked?
Should the long casting time of Analyze Dwoemer be simulated by saying it takes 8 hours to analyze each function of an item?
Should the material component scale upward in price at all?
Or maybe no material component is required, but for each 200gp you spend on one, you get a +5 modifier to your spellcraft check or something?
Perhaps if you want to be able to identify more than one function, you have to memorize and cast identify as a progressively higher level of spell. (1 function=1st, 2 functions=3rd, 3 functions=5th, 4 functions=7th, 5 functions=9th). That could, in effect, combine the two systems above. Or not...
What do you all think?
The short description of this rule would be: The higher the level of the mage casting identify, the more is discovered about the item. He can always tell if there is unidentified magic remaining in an item (including curses) but cannot tell in any way the nature of this magic (cursed or keen?) or how many other functions might be present.
There are a couple of mechanics we can use to do this.
1) Actual level of the mage. For every 3 levels, he identifies another trait of the item.
2) Spellcraft check. The identify spell is just a tool to allow the mage to see the enchantments on an item and examine them professionally.
First function of an item: always identified (DC 1)
Second function of an item: DC 15
Third function of an item: DC 25
Fourth function of an item: DC 35
Fifth(!) function of an item: DC 45
I don't think these DCs are out of reach for a character of a level high enough to find weapons/armor with that many functions. Curses would count as a function. The caster makes 1 spellcraft check per casting of identify.
.
.
Which option (if either) do you prefer? Should the numbers be tweaked?
Should the long casting time of Analyze Dwoemer be simulated by saying it takes 8 hours to analyze each function of an item?
Should the material component scale upward in price at all?
Or maybe no material component is required, but for each 200gp you spend on one, you get a +5 modifier to your spellcraft check or something?
Perhaps if you want to be able to identify more than one function, you have to memorize and cast identify as a progressively higher level of spell. (1 function=1st, 2 functions=3rd, 3 functions=5th, 4 functions=7th, 5 functions=9th). That could, in effect, combine the two systems above. Or not...
What do you all think?
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