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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jürgen Hubert" data-source="post: 3311171" data-attributes="member: 7177">Sometimes people need reliable ways to identify the powers of a magic item who aren't the owners of said items. This includes the following groups:- Potential buyers of the item.- Government officials wanting to tax the item.There are several things they can do:- Cast identify as an arcane spell on the item. This has the problem that the mere act of identification costs 100 gp. In the case of the potential buyer, this money will turn out to be wasted if the item does not turn out to be something he might be interested in, and even if it does it represents a significant expense. In the case of the government official, this might very well turn out to be a greater expense than any tax income from the item!- Get a cleric with the Magic domain to cast it on the item. This is preferable, since clerics don't need to expend any money for the spell, but how many such priests are around to fulfill such functions? Also note that it is a second-level spell for them - reducing the number of times they can cast it each day.- Gauge the relative power level of the item with Detect Magic. This might be acceptable for government officials if the tax is based on aura strength, but usually unsatisfying to potential buyers - unless they can buy it for much cheaper than items of such power are usually worth.How do you deal with these issues in your campaign?</blockquote>