chatdemon
First Post
Insight and Identify and Analyze Dwoemer
In my quest to make magic items more unique and mysterious, I sought to limit the availability and/or effectiveness of the identify and analyze dwoemer spells. Rather than simply make the spells unavailable to the PC spellcasters, I devised the following method, which introduces a new "virtual component" for these two spells. The idea here is that to focus the magic needed to unlock the secrets of an item, the spellcaster must first have at least some understanding of the nature of an item. Insight into an item comes in many forms, a few of which are listed here as examples. Each bit of lore about an item grants the character a percentage of the insight needed to begin casting the spells to analyze or identify the item. Once the character has 100% insight, casting may begin. Casting may also begin before this point, but there is a percent chance of failure inversely related to the amount of insight gained. A few suggested points of insight, and their percent values are listed:
Name of the item: 20% Simply knowing an item's name may unlock trivial bits of lore about the item in the mind of a student of the arcane.
Who Created it? 10% Knowing who created the item, and a rough grasp of that person's personality can give valuable hints at what the item's properties might include.
What is/are the command word(s)? 20% (each) Knowing the phrases or procedures required to activate an item, coupled with a bit of trial and error, are one of the surest ways to figure out what it does.
History of the item (famous owners): 20% Sometimes, the legends and stories about an items history will virtually describe its powers to a student of arcane lore.
Characters wishing to understand an item begin looking for insight into it through the use of methods like bardic lore, knowledge skills, gather information skills, and roleplaying exchanges with sages and loremasters. I strongly suggest limiting the amount of insight that can be gained through the use of divination magic. This brings us right back to a simple, cast the spell, know the answer routine, which is what I am trying to prevent with this system. The system also rewards players who have invested in their knowledge and information skills, and gives the bards in the party a chance to shine.
A tally of the insight percentage is to be kept by the DM, since incorrect information causes a penalty to the insight check instead of a bonus. For example, A character knows two command words of a staff (+40%) but studied false data and has the item's name wrong (-20%), and was thus led to more incorrect information while researching the item's history (-20%). The player thinks his character has 80% insight, and thus an 80% chance of success with his identify spell, but in actuality has 0% total insight and therefore no chance of succesfully identifying the item. When the identify or analyze spell is cast, the DM makes the insight check on D%/D100. A failed, but close check might simply fail to provide any information on the item, but I suggest being devious and having really bad insight check failures provide completely false results on the identify or analyze check. Imagine the character's surprise when the wand he identified as a wand of cure light wounds is put to use and the whole party is subjected to a fireball! The joys of the evil DM! But anyway, the severity of the incorrect information is up to the DM.
Another benefit of this system is that sometimes the information gained researching the item may provide enough clues about an item that the player will decide that the casting of an identify spell is not needed. For example: A wand named Merciful Kiss that was crafted by the famed healer Nohmak of the One True Path that is reliably said to have healed the wounds of dozens of soldiers long ago at the battle of Emridy Meadows is almost certainly a Wand of Cure Light Wounds, and the player may decide that he doesn't want to waste a day's spell, or a 100 gp pearl, casting the identify spell to confirm that.
I have provided a new feat to aid the student of arcane lore in discerning the abilities of a magic item:
Artificer's Insight
You are skilled at puzzling out the effects of magic items through the bits of lore you gather on the item.
Prerequisites: at least one level in a spellcasting class, or 6 ranks in the Use Magic Device skill
Benefit: You gain +15% to insight checks made when you attempt to identify or analyze a spell. This stacks with all insight percentages you have accumulated through researching the item.
Special: This feat may be taken multiple times, with effects stacking.
In my quest to make magic items more unique and mysterious, I sought to limit the availability and/or effectiveness of the identify and analyze dwoemer spells. Rather than simply make the spells unavailable to the PC spellcasters, I devised the following method, which introduces a new "virtual component" for these two spells. The idea here is that to focus the magic needed to unlock the secrets of an item, the spellcaster must first have at least some understanding of the nature of an item. Insight into an item comes in many forms, a few of which are listed here as examples. Each bit of lore about an item grants the character a percentage of the insight needed to begin casting the spells to analyze or identify the item. Once the character has 100% insight, casting may begin. Casting may also begin before this point, but there is a percent chance of failure inversely related to the amount of insight gained. A few suggested points of insight, and their percent values are listed:
Name of the item: 20% Simply knowing an item's name may unlock trivial bits of lore about the item in the mind of a student of the arcane.
Who Created it? 10% Knowing who created the item, and a rough grasp of that person's personality can give valuable hints at what the item's properties might include.
What is/are the command word(s)? 20% (each) Knowing the phrases or procedures required to activate an item, coupled with a bit of trial and error, are one of the surest ways to figure out what it does.
History of the item (famous owners): 20% Sometimes, the legends and stories about an items history will virtually describe its powers to a student of arcane lore.
Characters wishing to understand an item begin looking for insight into it through the use of methods like bardic lore, knowledge skills, gather information skills, and roleplaying exchanges with sages and loremasters. I strongly suggest limiting the amount of insight that can be gained through the use of divination magic. This brings us right back to a simple, cast the spell, know the answer routine, which is what I am trying to prevent with this system. The system also rewards players who have invested in their knowledge and information skills, and gives the bards in the party a chance to shine.
A tally of the insight percentage is to be kept by the DM, since incorrect information causes a penalty to the insight check instead of a bonus. For example, A character knows two command words of a staff (+40%) but studied false data and has the item's name wrong (-20%), and was thus led to more incorrect information while researching the item's history (-20%). The player thinks his character has 80% insight, and thus an 80% chance of success with his identify spell, but in actuality has 0% total insight and therefore no chance of succesfully identifying the item. When the identify or analyze spell is cast, the DM makes the insight check on D%/D100. A failed, but close check might simply fail to provide any information on the item, but I suggest being devious and having really bad insight check failures provide completely false results on the identify or analyze check. Imagine the character's surprise when the wand he identified as a wand of cure light wounds is put to use and the whole party is subjected to a fireball! The joys of the evil DM! But anyway, the severity of the incorrect information is up to the DM.
Another benefit of this system is that sometimes the information gained researching the item may provide enough clues about an item that the player will decide that the casting of an identify spell is not needed. For example: A wand named Merciful Kiss that was crafted by the famed healer Nohmak of the One True Path that is reliably said to have healed the wounds of dozens of soldiers long ago at the battle of Emridy Meadows is almost certainly a Wand of Cure Light Wounds, and the player may decide that he doesn't want to waste a day's spell, or a 100 gp pearl, casting the identify spell to confirm that.
I have provided a new feat to aid the student of arcane lore in discerning the abilities of a magic item:
Artificer's Insight
You are skilled at puzzling out the effects of magic items through the bits of lore you gather on the item.
Prerequisites: at least one level in a spellcasting class, or 6 ranks in the Use Magic Device skill
Benefit: You gain +15% to insight checks made when you attempt to identify or analyze a spell. This stacks with all insight percentages you have accumulated through researching the item.
Special: This feat may be taken multiple times, with effects stacking.
