Can One Spell Change the Way D&D is Played?

May 8, 2018

Dungeons & Dragons/ Game Master Tips/ YouTube

Small things or changes can greatly effect the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons gaming experience. Like how easy it is to figure out what the magic items in the dragon’s hoard do. In earlier editions of D&D the identify spell existed, but it wasn’t as potent when it came to examining magic items.

The identify spell from first edition D&D

Identify (Divination)

Level: 1 Components: V, S, M Range: 0 Casting Time: 1 turn Duration: 1 segment/level Saving Throw: Special Area of Effect: One item

Explanation/Description: When an Identify spell is cast, one item may be touched and handled by the magic-user in order that he or she may possibly find what dweomer it possesses. The item in question must be held or worn as would be normal for any such object. i.e. a bracelet must be placed on the spell caster’s wrist, a helm on his or her head, boots on the feet, a cloak worn, a dagger held, and so on. Note that any consequences of this use of the item fall fully upon the magic-user, although any saving throw normally allowed is still the privilege of the magic-user. For each segment the spell is in force, it is 15% + 5% per level of the magic-user probable that 1 property of the object touched can become known – possibly that the item has no properties and is merely a ruse (the presence of Nystul’s Magic Aura or a Magic Mouth being detected). Each time a property can be known, the referee will secretly roll to see if the magic-user made his or her saving throw versus magic. If the save was successful, the property is known; if it is 1 point short, a false power will be revealed; and if it is lower than 1 under the required score no information will be gained. The item will never reveal its exact plusses to hit or its damage bonuses, although the fact that it has few or many such plusses can be discovered. If it has charges, the object will never reveal the exact number, but it will give information which is +/-25% of actual i.e. a wand with 40 charges could feel as if it had 30, or 50, or any number in between. The item to be identified must be examined by the magic-user within 1 hour per level of experience of the examiner after it has been discovered, or all readable impressions will have been blended into those of the characters who have possessed it since. After casting the spell and determining what can be learned from it, the magic-user loses 8 points of constitution. He or she must rest for 6 turns per 1 point in order to regain them. If the 8 point loss drops the spell caster below a constitution of 3, he or she will fall unconscious, and consciousness will not be regained until full constitution is restored 24 hours later. The material components of this spell are a pearl (of at least 100g.p. value) and an owl feather steeped in wine, with the infusion drunk and a live miniature carp swallowed whole prior to spell casting. If a luckstone is powdered and added to the infusion, probability increases 25% and all saving throws are made at +4.

The identify spell wasn’t reliable in first edition as it in fifth edition D&D. Not only that but by rules-as-written in 5E during a short rest you can figure out the properties of magic items. It kind of kills the some of the social and exploration pillars of D&D in my opinion.

After reading the post here on our website about alternative ways to approach the identify spell, Nerdarchist Ted and I put forth our ideas in the videos below. What do you think? Does the game lose a little mystery because of identify? Are pearls worth at least 100 gp pretty common in your game setting?

This particular video is also a first for us. We stepped up our game and shot a batch of professionally produced videos we’ll be posting weekly. We’re super excited about the potential for these videos to reach more of you folks with helpful news, views and homebrews. Let us know what you think about this new video style. We’re looking forward to reading your comments over at the YouTube channel, here on the site or on social media. We always strive to improve everything we do and if it wasn’t for you out there we’d just be talking about RPGs in Ted’s basement,

How the Identify Spell Has Changed 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons | D&D Discussions

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