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Magic items and identify
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<blockquote data-quote="Li Shenron" data-source="post: 6764482" data-attributes="member: 1465"><p>Yes for properties that apply automatically or are always active, but normally no for properties that needs to be activated, for which presumably you need to know what to activate.</p><p></p><p>Some magic items mention a <em>command word</em>. But even <em>Identify</em> is a bit fuzzy on whether it would tell you the command word, is it part of "you learn its properties and how to use them"? It could be read either as "how to use" = "say OPEN SESAME and it works", or "how to use" = "say the command word and it works" and still not tell you which is the command word.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>If the NPC tells you what are the properties and "how to use them", then you can use them.</p><p></p><p>Obviously if he tells you a lie, you have wrong information and cannot use them.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Use -> Yes for passive (always-active) properties (unless attunement is actually required). Presumably No for properties that need activation.</p><p></p><p>Attune -> Yes. <strong>Attuning actually tells you </strong>how to activate the properties (DMG, p.138), and AFAIK it might even be the only occurrence explicitly mention that it tells you even any command words. </p><p></p><p>It's weird, because normally it is an <em>Identify</em> spell which can tell you if you need attunement (non-spell identification with a short rest doesn't mention if it tells you that). But written that way, it sounds like you can <em>try</em> to attune to something, and if it was indeed an "attunable" item, it will also reveal its properties.</p><p></p><p>As you can imagine, the RAW is not easily usable, since it says:</p><p></p><p>- <em>Identify</em> spell > reveals properties, "how to use them", if attunement needed, number of charges</p><p>- identify by focus (short rest) > reveals properties, "how to use them"</p><p>- attunement by focus (short rest)> reveals properties, "how to use them", command words</p><p></p><p>The whole thing is an invitation to f%ck the RAW and do what you like <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Li Shenron, post: 6764482, member: 1465"] Yes for properties that apply automatically or are always active, but normally no for properties that needs to be activated, for which presumably you need to know what to activate. Some magic items mention a [I]command word[/I]. But even [I]Identify[/I] is a bit fuzzy on whether it would tell you the command word, is it part of "you learn its properties and how to use them"? It could be read either as "how to use" = "say OPEN SESAME and it works", or "how to use" = "say the command word and it works" and still not tell you which is the command word. If the NPC tells you what are the properties and "how to use them", then you can use them. Obviously if he tells you a lie, you have wrong information and cannot use them. Use -> Yes for passive (always-active) properties (unless attunement is actually required). Presumably No for properties that need activation. Attune -> Yes. [B]Attuning actually tells you [/B]how to activate the properties (DMG, p.138), and AFAIK it might even be the only occurrence explicitly mention that it tells you even any command words. It's weird, because normally it is an [I]Identify[/I] spell which can tell you if you need attunement (non-spell identification with a short rest doesn't mention if it tells you that). But written that way, it sounds like you can [I]try[/I] to attune to something, and if it was indeed an "attunable" item, it will also reveal its properties. As you can imagine, the RAW is not easily usable, since it says: - [I]Identify[/I] spell > reveals properties, "how to use them", if attunement needed, number of charges - identify by focus (short rest) > reveals properties, "how to use them" - attunement by focus (short rest)> reveals properties, "how to use them", command words The whole thing is an invitation to f%ck the RAW and do what you like :) [/QUOTE]
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