Lately my players (really, one player specifically) and I have been having an ongoing discussion regarding the identification of magic items. A few players think we should read the book as written (identify during a short rest), but I think that an Arcana check is the only way to identify items (after all, the complex rituals need some bit of knowledge to decipher). Another player thinks we should compromise: An Arcana check to immediately identify (minor action), one player losing the benefit of their short rest to identify it, or automatically identifying it during an extended rest.
Don't misunderstand, I know that the reason for the rule in the book is to prevent the mystery math ("I rolled a 12 plus my bonus of 4 plus whatever this gives me"), but it doesn't seem to fit into the world for me. I was wondering if the board community could help me create some sort of houserule that would satisfy all of us, and determine the difficulty of the Arcana check.
Currently, we play by the book.
Humm, well I suppose if you only had one PC trained in arcana then it might take longer than you desire. The DC however is based off of how the skill is used in the PHB - identify ritual/magical effect/presence of magic.
What is the arcana skill of your PC(s)? If they start with a +4 or +5 and then train for a +9 or +10, they basically have a 50/50 chance of identifying a 1st level item at 1st level, which is what I was going for. This scales so they get slightly better at identify as they level (ability score increases) so that by the time they reach epic they have a better than 50% chance to identify an item of their level. Plus they can always increase arcana with a feat or item as well. I think if you drop the DC to 15+1/2 level then you're getting the percent chance to identify high enough that you may as well just go back to by the book.
My house rule is to use an arcana check, with the DC set at 20+1/2 item level. Ex: a lvl 4 item is DC 22, a lvl 10 item is DC 25. Each PC trained in arcana can make 1 check between extended rests. If there are two PCs trained in arcana, they usually identify an item by their second extended rest so it makes them work for it a bit, but doesn't delay them by that much.
That seems very reasonable.
My players actually got upset when I tried to implement a system that allowed them to identify items too easily. What you have here sounds like it would work out very nicely.
Well, it is a house rule so you are free to set the DC to whatever fits your party makeup. If your best PC's arcana skill at 1st level is +6, then go ahead and make your house rule DC 16+1/2 level. You don't have to do what I do.
Or simply get rid of the "must be trained in arcana" rule, so they get (presumably - it might be a small group) more chances at success.
2 players with a 50% chance each will have a 75% chance total to ID an item. 4 players with 25% chance each will have a 68% chance total. 5 players @ 25% each will have a 76% chance. (unless of course I totally screwed up the math. It's almost 4am here after all)
1) make it like a save, you identify it after a short rest if you roll a 10 or higher
2) arcana check, i see it more like 10 + level (of item) for heroic, 15 + level for paragon and 20 + level for epic
3) when you get too town you pay 100 gold to identify all items you have by going to a shop or arcane college.
4) by accident, every time you attack with it you get a learning D20 roll with a accumulative +1 to the learning roll after every attack and when that learning D20 roll equals the level of the item you eventually learn to use it. NAT 20 Auto learns it.
I cant remember the last one but if i can find my notes I might post it if its good.
I know 2 was discussed alot but i thought i would post some other methods that i have used.
2) This just seems to have really wierd scaling to me You're talking a DC 11 check to identify a level 1 item, but a DC 50 check to identify a level 30 item. While I admit we've never played epic level, that just sounds really high for a skill check.
3) You coud also just make an identify item ritual that costs the same and let the PCs cast it on the pile of loot before they leave the dungeon.
4) That could work for weapons, depending on how you want magic to work in your world, but what do you do for other items, such as amulets, cloaks, boots, etc?
3) You coud also just make an identify item ritual that costs the same and let the PCs cast it on the pile of loot before they leave the dungeon.
I was actually considering combining this with your original idea. The wizard would need to cast a ritual (Identify) in order to attempt to identify up to one item per level. Each attempt would require an Arcana check against a DC of 20 + 1/2 item level. The ritual may be performed as often as desired but each item may only be attempted once per day per wizard. Clearly this won't work for all groups as it makes it a bit more difficult but for my group I think it will work nicely.
You shouldn't limit it to the Wizard, and possibly not even link it to the Arcana skill to avoid making it a "required" skill. At the least; keep the DC fairly low, so that the Wizard can feel awesome for identifying everything but the others still have a bit of a chance. Not every party has an Intelligent character with training in Arcana, and it'd be nice if the game continued to work under that assumption
I've talked to DMs who've taken it even further and let the characters automatically ID items as they find them. No checks, spells, or rituals. They just automatically know what everything is. It's easy and works well for them.
Personally, I view magic items as being more mysterious than that and require at least a small amount of effort to identify. For our group, a ritual followed by DC checks sounds about right. It may take one or two days, maybe even a few days for a powerful item, but imo that isn't too excessive.
Somewhere in between the two schools of thought will probably work for most groups.
I would definately tie it to arcana though. Isn't knowledge regarding all things magical the core of the arcana skill? Otherwise, it's kinda like saying that using a theivery skill check to open a lock is too restrictive because there might not be a thief in the party.
Also, my main issue was with how high the DC was. Being a Wizard should make identifying easier, it shouldn't the only way to have a decent chance.
It's like placing the DC of traps so high that without a Thief the party wouldn't stand a chance of getting past a simple trap. It should be harder without someone who knows how to disable traps, but it shouldn't be almost impossible.
(I see that I said "unlink from Arcana", I meant "don't make it Trained only", actually :+ )
Also, you could mix in other skills for identifying some things. It might be religion to identify a medics weapon, or thievery to identify gloves that grant an item bonus to such a check.
For the arcana check I would adjust the target DC according to the level of the item and use the Target DCS (DMG 42) table.
An item one level lower is easy, the same level is moderate, and a level higher is hard. Anything out of range can't be identified by an arcana check and an identify ritual must be cast.
This means that a 1st to 3rd level char would need a 10 to identify a 2nd level item.
If they fail the check, I wouldn't give them another try until they gain a level.
I would say that they should be trained, at least to not blow there heads off on accident. DM: You see X. Player "Ooh what does it do *touches X*" X explodes in a huge fireball. DM: It was a necklace of fireballs XD. So in someways you wouldn't need training, but it gives a larger emphasis on being trained.
So a sword, it's always powers would have a chance to reveal themselvs whenever the weapon is weilded or armor defends against a attack, the triggered power might automaticaly trigger when the triggering conditions are met, and a action use gear the players could try to invoke a failed attempt means a loss of there action but a + to there next try.
This makes a realy easy with a little cash and a ritual, possible but kinda hard with simple arcana check (set dc to be prety low if untrained but still slightly possible) and even if there isn't a arcane user or anyone with good stats to fake arcana and even if there is no ritual caster they can keap tring to fumble into the magic gears use.
sorry if that was hard to follow.
In our game when it was 3.5 be found the rod of wonder(which is so much fun!) with a good arcana check we were able to determine it was a powerful magical item but weren't really sure exactly what it could do until we got back to our base of operations and had an NPC investigate it.