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<blockquote data-quote="Jeff Carlsen" data-source="post: 5832654" data-attributes="member: 61749">A lot of people are right in this thread, yet somehow don't agree. Some truths:<ul>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Some experimenting with a rare and interesting magic item can be fun and cool.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Experimenting for all magic items gets to be tedious and leads to a default list of experiments.</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">DM's need a mechanism for hiding special properties so they can be discovered in cool and wondrous ways.</li>
</ul>I think the first step is to roll basic magic item detection into a skill, such as Arcana or Spellcraft. In effect, this is advanced experimentation that involves more than just jumping off chairs. Wizards and other magic users should be able to poke, prod, and reveal relatively detailed elements of an item. Seeing as how D&amp;DNext is going to have a mechanism for automatic success, it makes sense to give effects a DC to detect. Those hard to detect and wondrous effects would simply have high DC's.The identify spell or ritual should also exist. It requires expensive components that are used to aid the Wizard in his experimentation and grants a +5 bonus to the skill.Everything else comes out as the DM determines it should. The wizard should know when an item has more to it than he's able to&nbsp; determine. Also, perhaps magic items can be magically trapped to prevent&nbsp; detection.Boom! Wizard has no eyebrows.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Jeff Carlsen, post: 5832654, member: 61749"] A lot of people are right in this thread, yet somehow don't agree. Some truths: [LIST] [*]Some experimenting with a rare and interesting magic item can be fun and cool. [*]Experimenting for all magic items gets to be tedious and leads to a default list of experiments. [*]DM's need a mechanism for hiding special properties so they can be discovered in cool and wondrous ways. [/LIST] I think the first step is to roll basic magic item detection into a skill, such as Arcana or Spellcraft. In effect, this is advanced experimentation that involves more than just jumping off chairs. Wizards and other magic users should be able to poke, prod, and reveal relatively detailed elements of an item. Seeing as how D&DNext is going to have a mechanism for automatic success, it makes sense to give effects a DC to detect. Those hard to detect and wondrous effects would simply have high DC's. The identify spell or ritual should also exist. It requires expensive components that are used to aid the Wizard in his experimentation and grants a +5 bonus to the skill. Everything else comes out as the DM determines it should. The wizard should know when an item has more to it than he's able to determine. Also, perhaps magic items can be magically trapped to prevent detection. Boom! Wizard has no eyebrows. [/QUOTE]

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