I both house rule it and go by the normal standards. The way most items are id'd in my games are at a mage guild or magic shop or some mage that knows how to (currently working on a PrC for it). Or the players if they don't want to pay the 10% that the item costs can cast identify or legend lore or analyze dweomer if they can. Magic is sorta a big thing in my world though, where there are magic shops in the major cities and going to id an item isn't all that much of a problem. Oh, and psionics are different should be the only way to play it. =o)
Identify
- Thread starter Kae'Yoss
- Start date
WizarDru
Adventurer
mkletch said:
Absurd? I don't think so. At 3rd level, maybe, but by 10th level, with 6 players (as I have), the Identify game is annoying. How many mages keep an identify spell memorized, if even that? Eight hours per item? "Well, we realize the ogres know we were the ones who attacked their fortress, and they'll probably sack the town...but we've got three items here, magistrate! You'll just have to wait...we need to know if we just found a +2 sword or not. That might be a cape of the mountebank, and we really could use one."
This either relegates the players to having unidentified items throughout an adventure, or putting the adventure on hold while they do. Neither is terribly satisfying. If you've played the "I put the ring on...do I feel any different?" game and enjoyed it, then bully for you. It's not one that my group has any desire to engage in more than once in a while. If there was a higher-level spell that gave you all of the information, then so much the better. But if a +3 ghost-touch dagger, +3 flaming dagger and +3 chaotic sonic bane dagger all trigger the same with identify...well, why isn't there a better spell, exactly?
Dreaddisease
First Post
Identify...
Bad news. Our games are pretty much the identify it all unless it is an artifact type thing. The way to make magic items interesting is to make interesting magic items. A +1 dagger of returning ain't that exciting, and less exciting if you can't even use it. The reason we cradle our items and find it hard to go without them is because we use them. At 5th level the identifier gets a brief history of the item. At 10th level or with analyze dwoemer the identifier sees its whole history... as if imprinted into the item. Also weapons and armor have insignias from the craftsman/woman who made the item, which can prove quite difficult if you happen to pass through their lands with their weapons without their permission. This is where my bookkeeping nightmare starts... to add in the holding of an items power in the back of my mind really adds to that nightmare... one i'd rather not encounter. Also every item is very important. You meet a bunch of goblins swinging +1 short swords. Each sword is different or all the same. Their histories can lead you on a path you didn't plan on; maybe to return them (if you are a paladin or good character group) or they maybe particularly hard to sell because that prince who commisioned those items is very vengeful.
If I were to keep all this information from my players especially at 10+ level they might just drop it into their bags of holding and forget they have them all together. The coolness factor gone...
BTW, if you can't find someone who can identify the item by touch/sight (i.e. loremaster or high level bard) when you are at higher level then you might want to consider getting a cohort that can.
Wait.. where was I ?
Bad news. Our games are pretty much the identify it all unless it is an artifact type thing. The way to make magic items interesting is to make interesting magic items. A +1 dagger of returning ain't that exciting, and less exciting if you can't even use it. The reason we cradle our items and find it hard to go without them is because we use them. At 5th level the identifier gets a brief history of the item. At 10th level or with analyze dwoemer the identifier sees its whole history... as if imprinted into the item. Also weapons and armor have insignias from the craftsman/woman who made the item, which can prove quite difficult if you happen to pass through their lands with their weapons without their permission. This is where my bookkeeping nightmare starts... to add in the holding of an items power in the back of my mind really adds to that nightmare... one i'd rather not encounter. Also every item is very important. You meet a bunch of goblins swinging +1 short swords. Each sword is different or all the same. Their histories can lead you on a path you didn't plan on; maybe to return them (if you are a paladin or good character group) or they maybe particularly hard to sell because that prince who commisioned those items is very vengeful.
If I were to keep all this information from my players especially at 10+ level they might just drop it into their bags of holding and forget they have them all together. The coolness factor gone...
BTW, if you can't find someone who can identify the item by touch/sight (i.e. loremaster or high level bard) when you are at higher level then you might want to consider getting a cohort that can.
Wait.. where was I ?
Li Shenron
Legend
When I am DM, I use Identify as written. More or less, this is how they get to know about the items they find:
Scrolls: spellcraft or Read Magic
Potion: taste a sip and guess (maybe that's house-ruled
)
Wands: try
Wondrous Items*: Identify
Armor/Weapons*: Identify
Rings*: Identify
They still haven't found any Staff/Rod yet (I tend to like staves too much, and encourage Wizard & Sorcerer to craft their own one).
* Before they get Analyze Dweomer, they still find more single-enhanced items than items with 2 or more properties, although they may already buy or craft them. When they find such, there is always a hint on the item (a weird mark or writing) that suggests the special power, and PCs get to use their Knowledge skills, Bardic Knowledge ability, other divination spells, uncommon spoken languages, or Decipher Script skill to find out its meaning. When everything else fail, the Bard (or Rogue) can still attempt to Activate Blindly with Use Magic Device.
I am afraid it won't be so fun anymore when the Wiz gets Analyze Dweomer.
Scrolls: spellcraft or Read Magic
Potion: taste a sip and guess (maybe that's house-ruled
)Wands: try
Wondrous Items*: Identify
Armor/Weapons*: Identify
Rings*: Identify
They still haven't found any Staff/Rod yet (I tend to like staves too much, and encourage Wizard & Sorcerer to craft their own one).
* Before they get Analyze Dweomer, they still find more single-enhanced items than items with 2 or more properties, although they may already buy or craft them. When they find such, there is always a hint on the item (a weird mark or writing) that suggests the special power, and PCs get to use their Knowledge skills, Bardic Knowledge ability, other divination spells, uncommon spoken languages, or Decipher Script skill to find out its meaning. When everything else fail, the Bard (or Rogue) can still attempt to Activate Blindly with Use Magic Device.
I am afraid it won't be so fun anymore when the Wiz gets Analyze Dweomer
.
mkletch
First Post
Li Shenron said:When I am DM, I use Identify as written. More or less, this is how they get to know about the items they find:
Scrolls: spellcraft or Read Magic
Potion: taste a sip and guess (maybe that's house-ruled
Wands: try
Wondrous Items*: Identify
Armor/Weapons*: Identify
Rings*: Identify
With potions, you use an alchemy check. Take 20 and just spend the requisite supplies form your alchemists lab.
-Fletch!
Li Shenron
Legend
mkletch said:
...maybe, but they just don't have Alchemy with their current characters
mkletch
First Post
Li Shenron said:...maybe, but they just don't have Alchemy with their current characters
We also figured out that the cost is pretty marginal, and, adding a markup, charge 7gp in all of our campaigns to have a potion ID'd. That keeps the high cost of identify from killing potions as a reasonable low-level treasure. It would only be 5gp for scrolls (if you only had a sorcerer who did not take read magic): 10gp /level, times effective level of 0.5 for a 0-level spell.
-Fletch!
