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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Stormonu" data-source="post: 5831961" data-attributes="member: 52734">Potions *should* be labeled.  Only an idiot would carry around a handful of nearly identically colored, unlabeled potions - especially if one or more was a poison intended for a weapon...Scrolls *should* be decipherable by spellcasters; they have to be read (and can we get back Protection scrolls for the non-casters?).+X items should be easily identifiable, mostly due to their quality and for the metagame aspect of making the DM remember the bonuses for all the PCs unidentified stuff.  However, if the item has other abilities besides granting +X bonus, that might not be so-easily-determined.Items with command words (inscribed or stitched into them - I mean, look at all the people who can't remember computer passwords with the darn password taped to the monitor, under the keyboard or just inside a nearby drawer - are you going to trust your memory to five different items in the middle of a creature-infested dungeon?) might hint at their use - or not.Everything else should require experimentation.  In D&D, despite the standardized descriptions, every magic item is a individualized, hand-made item.  They aren't stamped out a factory like iPods or whatnot, and the game should steer away from homogenized descriptions/depictions of magic items.  One wand of fireballs might be made from crystal with a ruby tip, while another may be made from black-scorched ash with a tip that still smolders red.While knowledge of Spellcraft should help in divining some traits of an item ("Hmm...a ruby?  The magic in this wand is likely attuned to fire..."), I'd prefer the old method of learn-by-experimentation wherever possible.  Magic determination should be a last resort sort of option.And I'd really like to see items with drawbacks return to the game.  Not necessarily "cursed" items, but items that provide some sort of detriment in return for it's power.  Perhaps the above mentioned ashen wand of fireballs heats up when used, requiring the caster to make a Fort save or drop it (or use a heavily insulated glove, which might cause other issues with the item "not connecting" to the user).  This is one area D&D has really fallen down on since 3E - everything has to be 100% in the player's advantage or its "crap not worth printing".</blockquote>

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