PF/Any - Silly magic items and Spellcraft checks - How to hide/describe?

[nbates]

In the Pathfinder campaign I'm running (Serpent's Skull) I have created (and borrowed/stolen) several silly/fun magic items for flavor, or have added awkward effects to normal weapons.

Some examples include:

Underwear of holding
A "Ring of Invisibleness" that turns invisible when you put it on
A +1 longsword of defenestration that, when the user reduces the target to 0 or less hit points, causes a window pane to appear behind the victim which he then bursts through (defenestration), purely for flavor

Detect Magic does reveal that they are magical, and the players always attempt Spellcraft checks to determine what magic it is. What I want to do, though, is only have them find out what the magical effect is when it actually happens or the item is actually worn/used. It isn't as fun to tell them what it does ahead of time, because then there is no build-up or tension.

I hate having a player roll a 30 on their check and just telling them "You don't know what it does." The players in the group meta-game quite heavily and refuse to use magic items they haven't successfully Spellcrafted for fear of cursed items, even if their characters have never heard of cursed items. (But to be fair, who would don magic underwear before knowing the effects? :smalltongue: )I have only been able to say that they are certain it isn't cursed, but are still unsure of the magic.

Would anyone happen to have any advice regarding a better way I can present these items? Other than telling them out of character that there will be random silly magic items in the game, I can't think of anything.

Thanks for your time.

[Deadline]

We had a couple of goofy cursed magic items years ago (these were generally 2nd ed campaigns) that would often show up as bargains from various merchants in a variety of campaigns.

The Cloak of "Dis Basement" (sold as a standard cloak of displacement) - Functioned as a cloak of displacement, but anytime you entered a town/settlement, it would teleport you to a random basement area in the town.

Hat of "Dese Guys" (sold as a standard hat of disguise) - Worked just as a Hat of Disguise, except that the only disguises you could use it to create were the visages of a random NPC within 1000 feet. (You didn't have to be aware of the NPC for it to function, so sneaking into an Orc stronghold and "disguising yourself as an Orc" would make you look like one of the Orcs in the stronghold).

Draxtiloth's (or insert name of powerful wizard here) Pearl of Power - A bad joke played by a wizard on his apprentices, this item doubled 1st level spell slots (like a ring of wizardry). Unfortunately, it also rendered anyone using it incapable of preparing anything except Magic Missile in their 2nd level and higher spell slots. Rumor has it that when Draxtiloth's body was found, he had hundreds of small injuries on his back consistent with small arrows or crossbow bolts, though no weapons were ever found.