Identifying and Using Stuff...

[Shadeus]

Spoon out the money for a wand of Identify, unless nobody in your party can activate it. The convenience more than off-sets the cost. YMMV.

Yeah, but it still takes 8 hours to use a single charge. But still better than not knowing.

Wands use the spell trigger activation method, so casting a spell from a wand is usually a standard action that doesn’t provoke attacks of opportunity. (If the spell being cast, however, has a longer casting time than 1 action, it takes that long to cast the spell from a wand.)

Bardic knowledge may be one way around it...but analyze dweomer is the cure-all...which unfortunately you'll never get being 4th- to 6th-level.

 

[Munin]

Here's what I do with potions:

Every potion has it's own flavor.
Healing potions tast like castor oil. The stronger the flavor, the stronger the magic.
This allows the party to instantly identify any potion they have previously used. Plus it keeps them on their toes with the ones they haven't.

 

[James McMurray]

If you're playing 3.5, its only an hour to cast Identify. Of course, that still rules it out as a combat capability, but means that it no longer take days to identify loot.

 

[Shadeus]

If you're playing 3.5, its only an hour to cast Identify. Of course, that still rules it out as a combat capability, but means that it no longer take days to identify loot.

Damn! Another change they snuck by me. Thanks for pointing this out.

 

[Kershek]

Also, 3.5 Identify will reveal all the auras of one item.

 

[MerakSpielman]

...but only one item. In 3.0, you got to do 'the most basic function of an item' or something, but you got 1 per caster level. A 10th level caster could identify 10 potions with one 8-hour casting - in 3.5, this would take 10 hours (and 10 separate castings).

 

[DrSpunj]

Here's what I do with potions:

Every potion has it's own flavor.
Healing potions tast like castor oil. The stronger the flavor, the stronger the magic.
This allows the party to instantly identify any potion they have previously used. Plus it keeps them on their toes with the ones they haven't.

IMC I do something similar. Each type of potion has it's own Symbol/Rune/Glyph on the outside of its container. These are universal among all practitioners of magic, as deemed by the god/dess of Magic. Anyone screwing with a symbol and/or misrepresenting the contents of a container is very quickly reprimanded (i.e. insert gruesome punishment here) by the agents of that diety; or at least, that's what everyone says!

So once the party figures out a symbol--either by a DC 25 Spellcraft roll, watching the effects after an enemy uses it, drinking it themselves, or whatever other method they come up with--they thereafter can readily identify any other potions of the same type.

I build on lower level spells/symbols as well, such that Cure Moderate only had a DC of 20 after they knew what Cure Light was, because the symbols were similar. While potions are a mystery at the lowest levels, PCs quickly outgrow those puzzles and want to move on to bigger and better things (like what's so special about this magical longsword?
).

Thanks.

DrSpunj

 

[rhammer2]

Potion ID should be done by alchemy (in 3.0) or by spellcraft (in 3.5). Using Identify on potions is a waste of time and gold.

...but only one item. In 3.0, you got to do 'the most basic function of an item' or something, but you got 1 per caster level. A 10th level caster could identify 10 potions with one 8-hour casting - in 3.5, this would take 10 hours (and 10 separate castings).

 

[Len]

For weapons & armor with funky abilities, and most wondrous items, I tend to agree; experimentation can be a lot of fun. However, with potions and other single-use items there's always the concern you're going to waste it, so it usually just gets put in the backpack until you find someone that can tell you what it does.

Oh, one caveat: because of the Core rule that limits funky weapon & armor abilities to being placed on items that carry at least a +1 enhancement bonus, most of that "fun of discovery" doesn't occur until ~7th-8th level. That's when +2 weapons & armor typically become available, so at the lower levels your experimentation is limited to: "do I hit better with this weapon?" and "do I avoid being hit better wearing this armor?". Yippee.

Heh, the instances I mentioned above make me tend to disagree.

We acquired the thundering warhammer at first level, not 7th or 8th. I don't know if it was part of the published adventure, or the DM made it up or rolled it on the magic item tables. (I suppose "thundering" isn't a very powerful enchantment anyway since it only happens on a crit.)

And we didn't experiment randomly with the items, do numerical analyses on the die rolls, or waste the potions. The fighter didn't try the warhammer until his (non-magical) greatsword was destroyed. We used the potion when we had a dying PC and insufficient healing magic, but first we had to figure out which potion to feed him.

Maybe we'll get tired of this eventually and start saying "We haul all our loot back to town to have it identified." But so far the lack of Identify (no arcane caster in our party) has added to the fun.

 

[DrSpunj]

We acquired the thundering warhammer at first level [], not 7th or 8th. I don't know if it was part of the published adventure, or the DM made it up or rolled it on the magic item tables. (I suppose "thundering" isn't a very powerful enchantment anyway since it only happens on a crit.)

It's a +1 Special Ability, so the smallest available, and yet according to Core rules that would have to be placed upon a warhammer with at least a +1 enhancement bonus. That's a total bonus of +2, which is 8,000 gp, which is just about all of a 5th level PCs wealth, so they don't start showing up according to the Core rules until ~7th-8th level. Your experience, while definitely fun, I'd bet is very atypical for most 1st level parties.

Now, the situation you describe is exactly why I ignore the +1 enhancement limitation with my low level party (all at 4th level, just about to 5th). They're going to find a number of +1 equivalent weapons and armor in the next few sessions, but not one of them is actually a +1 enhancement bonus. They're still Masterwork items (so they can magicked in the first place) giving their bonus to attack or -1 ACP, but the PCs are going to need to figure out what they do on their own through experimentation or find someone that can help them out. But they're still useful items, even if they don't know the extent of their magical abilities, so the party can put them to good use.

Potions and many Wondrous Items without obvious effects, OTOH, are left somewhere below the beef jerky and a clean pair of underwear, and I specifically try to avoid those as much as possible.

Thanks.

DrSpunj