Loremaster's Greater Lore Ability - How Does It Work?

[airwalkrr]

I forget the consensus the last time this was brought up and since a player of mine just gained this ability, I wanted to poll ENWorld to see how they think it works. I think I have represented the primary viewpoints in the poll. If you vote "other," please explain. A significant number of other votes and compelling arguments could possibly sway me. Please vote only once for each category. The categories are ACTION, COST, and USES/DAY.

 

[Dracandross]

From SRD for those who can't remember what's this ability about

Greater Lore (Ex)
At 6th level, a loremaster gains the ability to understand magic items, as with the identify spell.

-Dracandross

 

[starwed]

Identify has an instantaneous duration, and a 1 hour casting time. The casting time is not technically part of the identifying process; it's simply how long the spell takes to cast. If you get interrupted during that time, the spell fails and you get no information about the item.

So I just don't see anything in the ability's text to note an exception to the normal free action activation of (Ex) abilities.

 

[Agamemnon]

Hm. I've never paid much attention to it, but that's a terribly vague description of the ability. If it was a (Sp), there would be a lot less amibiguity.

 

[RangerWickett]

The question is, since identifying magic items is really such a pain in the butt, why would you want to make it take an hour? Hell, why would you want identify itself to cost so blinking much?

 

[starwed]

I'm curious about the reasoning of those who claim it takes an hour to use.