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<blockquote data-quote="Damon Griffin" data-source="post: 930955" data-attributes="member: 3568">It's all but useless where magic weapons are concerned, though.&nbsp; No what wonderful qualities a weapon might have, all Identify is ever going to tell you is that it's a +1 weapon (or +2, or +3) -- which you already knew, because ALL magic weapons are +1 (or +2 or +3) before they can have any other qualities added to them.It's silly and uncomfortable for the characters to use game mechanic terms like &quot;XP&quot;, &quot;saving throw&quot;, &quot;hit points&quot; or &quot;+1 to hit&quot;, so even though the player does need this detail, the attack/damage bonus information revealed by an Identify may not be something a character should easily be able to quantify.&quot;Pray, friend wizard, what mighty enchantment does this wondrous blade possess?&quot;&quot;Well, it's a +1 weapon...&quot;&quot;Eh?&quot;&quot;I mean, it does slightly more damage than a weapon of its type would normally do, and you are 5% more likely to hit with it.&quot;&quot;Five per cent?&nbsp; Why speakest thou as an accountant?&quot;In other words, the only information Identify can give you about a magic weapon is a numeric value that should have no meaning to the characters in the game.In the previous editions of the game, you could use Identify to obtain information that could be described in-game in terms that would make sense to the characters, and then the DM could say as an aside to the players &quot;oh, and it's also +2 to hit and damage&quot;, but no longer.So, yeah, it's nice that Identify now works on one item per level, but you get a treasure with a bunch of magic weapons and you might as well not bother.&nbsp; Nine assorted weapons with completely different qualities and eight of them register simply as a +1 weapon, but the ninth is -- gasp! a +2 weapon! And now you wait for Analyze Dweomer.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Damon Griffin, post: 930955, member: 3568"] It's all but useless where magic weapons are concerned, though. No what wonderful qualities a weapon might have, all Identify is ever going to tell you is that it's a +1 weapon (or +2, or +3) -- which you already knew, because ALL magic weapons are +1 (or +2 or +3) before they can have any other qualities added to them. It's silly and uncomfortable for the characters to use game mechanic terms like "XP", "saving throw", "hit points" or "+1 to hit", so even though the player does need this detail, the attack/damage bonus information revealed by an Identify may not be something a character should easily be able to quantify. "Pray, friend wizard, what mighty enchantment does this wondrous blade possess?" "Well, it's a +1 weapon..." "Eh?" "I mean, it does slightly more damage than a weapon of its type would normally do, and you are 5% more likely to hit with it." "Five per cent? Why speakest thou as an accountant?" In other words, [B]the only information Identify can give you about a magic weapon is a numeric value that should have no meaning to the [I]characters[/I] in the game.[/B] In the previous editions of the game, you could use Identify to obtain information that could be described in-game in terms that would make sense to the [B]characters[/B], and then the DM could say as an aside to the [B]players[/B] "oh, and it's also +2 to hit and damage", but no longer. So, yeah, it's nice that Identify now works on one item per level, but you get a treasure with a bunch of magic weapons and you might as well not bother. Nine assorted weapons with completely different qualities and eight of them register simply as a +1 weapon, but the ninth is -- gasp! a +2 weapon! And now you wait for Analyze Dweomer. [/QUOTE]

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