Spellcraft Houserule anyone?

[mjkmarker]

The ability to determine a magic item/effect's school of origin, and general effect(s) via a magical aura and spellcraft check, can get too time consuming for my tastes. Not to be nit-picky but I feel it removes a lot of the mystery and wonder of magic, as veteran players can usually make a good guess at the spell/item's function from a successful check. My main concern is the time it takes to make 1-2 spellcraft checks for several magical items, then having to look up or come up with a school of origin, and general effects for each one. I don't want to get rid of this facet of the skill altogether, but I would prefer a system that is more ambiguos when revealing schools, and/or effects. Anyone know of a system or previous thread detailing this? Thanks

 

[dvvega]

Um I might be missing something, however Spellcraft doesn't let you detect general effects of magic items.

The best it can do is Detect Magic get the school of magic of all auras (unless the strongest aura overwhelms the weaker ones).

With the strength they could figure out maybe the plus on a suit of armour or weapon, but does that really matter?

What you need to do is enforce the "distory weaker auras" facet of the spell. For example, a flaming weapon should never have its "plus" revealed unless it is +5. Why? Because a standard flaming weapon requires CL: 10th. A 10th level effect far outweighs a 3rd level effect (it is +1 / 3 levels right?).

Thus you will say "the sword is magical - with concentration (spell craft roll) you discern it has a strong aura of Evocation about it". Now what are they to do? Complain that they should know the plus level too? "The aura of Evocation is so strong that it is blocking attempts at reading the faint aura you detected initially."

That is a much better way at confusing them than nerfing/changing the spell. They will soon learn that Evocation indicates one of the elemental abilities, however since it is a strong aura they will never truly know the plus until they Identify. In fact, they won't even be able to use the weapon ability until they know how to activate it. The weapon may be "upon command" however what command? Do they know it is Flaming? Or is it Frost?

A similar thing goes for armour, and wondrous items could be anything at all.

 

[mjkmarker]

thanks for the $0.02!

Yep, you're right, a detect magic won't do that, but a spellcraft check with DC 20 + spell level can identify a spell that is already in place provided you can see or detect the effects.

I don't reveal what the bonuses are until the item is used, and I'm usually pretty ambiguous when giving description, like saying "moderate conjuration magic involved."

My main concern is the game grinding to a halt whenever magical auras are detected so the spellcasters can pinpoint auras, detect strength, spellcraft check for school, try to find any discernible effects of a spell already in place, and then more spellcraft to id the spell (this usually goes for doors or corridors with magic on them). Just looking for a way to expedite this process, and keep the spellcraft checkers happy.

Thanks for the input.

 

[dvvega]

Actually the Spellcraft roll you quoted is not, in my understanding, intended for magic items. It is intended for in place spells such as Unhallow, or a Permanent Bless or something similar.

As for magic on doors and so forth ... they can never work out the actual spell, just the school. If they are constantly Detecting Magic, how is it being done? Do they cast it every time a door is encountered? The spell only lasts 1 minute/level. A decent search (take 20) takes 2 minutes on its own.

Maybe its a time thing you're not counting. Track the Detect Magic spell to the second and you may find they run out of Detect Magic spells.

Another thing to do is invent a new spell, School Abjuration, that masks the auras of other spells (actually I think there is one).