Identifying Magic Items

[nihon]

I just went and created two new spells: "Greater Identify" and "Identify Artifact/Relic". You can see them here:

http://www.pazu.net/me/Ttheths_Spellbook.pdf

Let me know what you think. These came about after a big discussion in our gaming group, so we hammered out what we thought was fair for these spells.




Joe

 

[KarinsDad]

The only thing I could think of was making a Knowledge (arcana) or Knowledge (religion) with a DC of 15+the caster level... But I just don't feel right using that house rule.

I use a similar rule.

DC of 10 + spell level + caster level

Also, you can only do this when doing a Detect Magic spell.

However, at mid to high levels, it didn't matter. They start discovering virtually everything about the item anyway. Sigh. I've thought of bumping it up to 15 + spell level + caster level.

 

[maddman75]

Here's what I do.

Identify takes 8 hours, costs 100 gp, and tells you what an item is. Analyze dweomer doesn't exist.

I don't feel anything is added by the characters having a bunch of items they don't know how to use. Might as well give them nothing. The only thing that is added is bookkeeping on my part. Not worth it.

 

[SheepLord]

First of all, I just wanted to state that this is one of the better posts and replies I've seen on the boards in a while.


Scrolls are just plain very easy to identify.

Potions are almost as easy to identify, or at the very least cost next to nothing to have a local achemist do it for you.

After that, it can get a little bit harder to get items IDed:
Detect magic and spellcraft are a good start, checking for aura strength and school of magic.

Identify is good as well. Sure it only does the first power of an item, but you can to that on one item per level. So a 3rd level wizard can ID 3 items for the same 100 gp and 8 hours.

Bards are handy, either in the party or as NPCs. Tip a bard after a show, and ask him to look at an item while yer there.

Then you can go and find a wizard with that 6th level spell when these attempts have failed.


One thing I often do in my campaign is to actually have the NPCs USE the items during the fight or out of combat right before the characters eyes! If a wizard sees an axe in that orc's hands burst into flames in the 2nd round of combat, when that wizard ID's the item, he gets to know that function for free. Maybe the ID spell gives him the command word instead.

Players love this, until they see that the NPCs are using up potions, scrolls, and wand charges that they could have looted!

 

[Caliban]

Here's the way I handle it:

Minor stuff is identified in the standard way: Alchemy check for potions, read magic/spellcraft for scrolls, etc.

Common items (wands, staves, some rods, some wondrous items, etc.) are fully identified by the identify spell (usually cast by an NPC).

Powerful items need analyze dwoemer or legend lore.

Plot device items are usually pretty hard to identify except by research and/or experimentation.

 

[mkletch]

I don't feel anything is added by the characters having a bunch of items they don't know how to use. Might as well give them nothing.

Then magic items are simply a commodity, like a wheel of cheese. Without any sort of mystery in the game, there is little to discover, and little reason for your adventurer to even get out of bed in the morning. I agree with Gordon: "Greed is good." But it only extends so far, and gets boring. If I want pure greed, I play Diablo or somesuch.

-Fletch!

 

[Victim]

I tend to think that having unknown properties on items is a big pain for the DM. You'd have to take an extra step each time the item was used to account for its properties, so if the item is a fighter magic sword or armor, then that's quite a bit. How often do people have to be reminded of effects like prayer and bard song?

I think PCs should be able to figure out the properties of stuff that they use. However, when the group with no monks finds a +2 Vorpal nunchuk (yes, I know), no one will have any reason to doubt the identify. But if the fighter is trying to decide whether to keep his old weapon with a new one of the same type, I'd give him some indication if it had hidden powers, possibly prompting the group to use high end div spells on it, like paying for Analyze dweomer and so forth.

 

[mkletch]

Whether the DM allows players to sell items at half value, near full value, or somewhere in between, the value of a magic weapon is always high enough that you won't lose money by doing Analyze Dweomer.

We typically AD anything with a decent strength aura, or have the party wizard cast it on everything. It takes time and money, but has proven worth it to us.

If your campaign has so many magic items that the DM cannot remember one or two 'mystery powers', then the issue of identifying items would be largely moot. There are tons of magic and cash flying around, and the players can afford almost anything they want. Magic is indeed a commodity in that environment, like technology in the 'real world'.

-Fletch!

 

[Lucius Foxhound]

Sheeplord's right ... the responses on this post have been good (no one has said anything about Identify being "broken"!).

Here's how we play it:

Weapons can be identified by practicing with them for a short amount of time. This identifies the basic functions (+1, +2, as the spell would) and some additional functions (such as granting haste once per day, etc). Any additional functions are found just by trying them out (e.g., one of our +2 rapiers that no one was using turned out to be a wish blade... it was only found out after a character said, "I want that Naga to die!" and he heard in his head, "Wish it, and it will be so." He did. One dead Naga.

Rings we usually just put on and test them out... We usually play that wands have the command words etched on them or else we use identify to find out what they do.

We really only use identify for the strange stuff that we can't try out... like Dust of Sneezing, etc.

If you play it right, Identify is a fine, balanced spell.

 

[War Golem]

Here's what I do.

Identify takes 8 hours, costs 100 gp, and tells you what an item is. Analyze dweomer doesn't exist.

I don't feel anything is added by the characters having a bunch of items they don't know how to use. Might as well give them nothing. The only thing that is added is bookkeeping on my part. Not worth it.

I agree for the most part. IMC, Identify is as per the book, with the following alterations:

Identify – Casting time is 10 minutes per item studied. May only be cast 1/day. Reveals all non-special functions of a magic item. Exactly what qualifies as special or non-special is DM’s discretion. Enhancement bonuses and most standard powers are usually considered standard; powers that only activate under special circumstances may be considered non-standard. This spell will indicate if a command word is necessary to use the item, but will never reveal what the command word is.

Command words I prefer the PCs to determine by trial and error. The standard guideline is that the command word will, most of the time, be related to the item function - so the command word for a Wand of Lightning Bolts might be 'fry' or 'sizzle.' This gives the PCs a lot of room for trial and error, while giving them some reasonable parameters within which to experiment.

A successful bardic knowledge check or legend lore spell will often reveal a command word, though.

The reason I reduced the casting time was that I, as DM, really don't like the PCs essentially having to burn a day (8 hours) to find out what the stuff they just found does when they are in the middle of an adventure. The 10 minutes per item seemed like a good middle ground - can keep the pace of the adventure moving, but using the spell may be poor strategic move if the PCs are operating under a time crunch (and usually, mine seem to feel like they are, whether it's the case or not).

Cheers,

-War Golem