What's this do!!!??? (Need an Identify)

[Aeternal]

So here's the deal. My party is engaged in a quest that takes us far out to sea. My character is a druid, and just so happens to be the only respectable spellcaster. Our problem comes from our lack of any arcane divining of magical properties. In short, we can't cast identify/analyze dweomer and we're about 2000 miles of sea one way and a 2 month hike in the other from any kind of civilazation worth note. Is there any magical or non magical way to identify magic on items without means of identify?

Things of note:
-Party includes a druid, a dread pirate swashbuckler, a scout/psionic, and a knight.
-My druid has the 3rd edition Faerun feat Ashbound. This background causes me to hate arcane, which can be troublesome.

THANK YOU!

[holywhippet]

What level are you? The only things I can think of are to use your animal companion (if possible) carry the item to someone who can ID it for you or to use a spell like transport via plant to get to somewhere you can get it ID'd.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Psionic Identify (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/identifyPsionic.htm). You can grab it via Psychic Reformation, if you have access to that power.

[Jack_Simth]

Psionic Identify (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/identifyPsionic.htm). You can grab it via Psychic Reformation, if you have access to that power.
Additionaly, the Magic Item Compendium is your friend. It includes the Artificer's Monocle (which turns Detect Magic into Identify), and (on page 217) lets you ID magic items via Spellcraft (effective DC 25 + spell level [1/2 Caster level if not a spell effect]), as well as giving a few other options via other skills.

[Big Fau]

So here's the deal. My party is engaged in a quest that takes us far out to sea. My character is a druid, and just so happens to be the only respectable spellcaster. Our problem comes from our lack of any arcane divining of magical properties. In short, we can't cast identify/analyze dweomer and we're about 2000 miles of sea one way and a 2 month hike in the other from any kind of civilazation worth note. Is there any magical or non magical way to identify magic on items without means of identify?

Things of note:
-Party includes a druid, a dread pirate swashbuckler, a scout/psionic, and a knight.
-My druid has the 3rd edition Faerun feat Ashbound. This background causes me to hate arcane, which can be troublesome.

THANK YOU!

I hate to nitpick this, but Ashbound is a 3.5 feat from Eberron.

[Invader]

There's a few suggestions in this article that might help.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/sg/20051125a

[holywhippet]

Psionic identify won't work if I'm reading it right. The SRD description says:


As the identify spell, except as noted here.

This power is used to identify the abilities of psionic items.

So it only identifies psionic items, not magical ones.

[eggynack]

What level are you? You might be able to cut the travel time down somewhat, possibly to nothing, and get to someone who can help you out.

[nedz]

Take a level of Divine Oracle ?
This is probably not feasible, but it would do the trick since it gives you Identify.

[Lightlawbliss]

Psionic identify won't work if I'm reading it right. The SRD description says:



So it only identifies psionic items, not magical ones.

most DMs use psyonic-magic transparancy

[ddude987]

Why not just try the item out? That's what we do in my group. Of course, we are known to destroy things completely by accident :smallbiggrin:

[prufock]

There's a skill trick for that: Magical Appraisal.

[Big Fau]

Psionic identify won't work if I'm reading it right. The SRD description says:



So it only identifies psionic items, not magical ones.

Transparency applies to spells, powers, and magic items. Psionic Identify is just as good as the normal Identify.

[Maginomicon]

There's a 40% chance that any magic or psionic item self-identifies. At GM's discretion, most or all store-bought items self-identify (because anything you'd buy in a store was very likely crafted to be sold in a store and thus would make sense to be crafted as self-identifying).

One of the most useful tools D&D 3.5 GMs have is keeping specific informations from players. However, sometimes it becomes a nuisance, particularly when it comes to identifying magic (and psionic) items, whose properties are unknown by-default. Luckily, I recently found this little gem buried in the alternate skill use rules that alleviates that problem a full 40% of the time.

How it works:
Any time you encounter a random magic or psionic item, anyone can concentrate on the item for 1 minute. When you do, roll a d%. If the d% comes up as 40 or lower, it's a self-identifying item, and you automatically identify one power of the item. If it's a self-identifying item with more than one power, you can continue to concentrate for longer to identify those powers at a rate of one power for each additional minute. If you have bardic knowledge, ranks in Spellcraft (for magic items), or ranks in Psicraft (for psionic items), you can attempt a DC 20 check with that ability or skill to identify all of the powers of a self-identifying item in the first minute.



Self-Identifying Magic Items

Many powerful magic items, particularly minor artifacts, reveal their powers to anyone who holds them. When someone holds a self-identifying item and concentrates, she learns one of the item’s powers each minute until the item has revealed all its powers. The item always reveals powers in the order they are listed in the item’s description. A successful Spellcraft or bardic knowledge check (DC 20) reveals all the powers at once.

Any magic item other than a potion or scroll can be created as a self-identifying item. At the time of creation, the caster must decide if the item is self-identifying or not. This capability does not affect the price or creation time of an item, but once the item is finished, the decision is binding.

To determine if a randomly generated magic item is self-identifying, roll d%. An 01–40 result indicates that an item is self-identifying, and a 41–100 result indicates that it is not.

[Captnq]

Simple.

Pick up a magic item.

Shake it. Swing it. Stab it into the air. Get out your handy dandy list of the 101 most common magic item activation words (+2 circumstance bonus to figure out how to figure out what something does.) Wear it. Dance with it. Hop around with it. Lick it. Bash it against your head. Bleed on it.

In other words, just keep trying it until something happens.

[Rubik]

I'd go for the Magical Appraisal skill trick (if you qualify) or the artificer's monocle (which is cheap).

The former's prereqs are: Appraise 5 ranks, Knowledge (arcana) 5 ranks, and Spellcraft 12 ranks. If you can manage those, it's a great thing to have.

[holywhippet]

Transparency applies to spells, powers, and magic items. Psionic Identify is just as good as the normal Identify.

Isn't this a case of specific overrides general though?

[Rubik]

Isn't this a case of specific overrides general though?No, because there's no clash of interest. If the ability said that it overrode transparency, that would be a case. As it stands, it just treats magic items as psionic for the purpose of identification.

I'd suggest using Psionic Identify using Linked Power, though, since it cuts down your manifestation time to ~1 round.

[Brookshw]

Why not just try the item out? That's what we do in my group. Of course, we are known to destroy things completely by accident :smallbiggrin:

+1 to blind activation. You're adventurers, throw caution to the wind :smalltongue:

[Rubik]

+1 to blind activation. You're adventurers, throw caution to the wind :smalltongue:You can always roll up a new character with access to cheap Identify.

Maybe your current druid's "twin brother"?

[Aeternal]

@holywhippet: I'm currently level 9. I don't know the exact location of our destination, and our origin is 2000 + miles away, so my companion can't really fly places as far as I know.
@Grod: I'll recommend it to the psion. Thank you. ^^
@Jack: I opted for that first, but I'm the only person who can actively cast Detect Magic, and my DM won't let me use the monocle because he considers the item "arcane" and thus against my characters background.
@Big-Fau: Thanks for the nitpicking, you guys make the world go 'round right. I remembered the wrong campaign setting. ^^;
@Invader: Thank you
@nedz: Nor is it really preferred, I'm almost positive I'm going full druid at this point.
@prufock: THANK YOU SO MUCH. With a few more levels I could take that after putting ranks in appraise.
@Maginomicon: Thanks, this is useful. I'll suggest this to my DM and see if he accepts. ^^
@ anyone who says "just swish and flick": I'm just not that direct I guess... and or I'm paranoid because I know the people who desgined our campaign are just complete ***** imo. I've only ever done that with boots of spider climb because boots don't really scare me so much I suppose. xD

Thank you much everyone for your help! ^^

[Brookshw]

Wishing I had linked it earlier, but, blind activation, what's the worst that could happen? (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0917.html)

[Telok]

Step one: Know your magic item rules.


Identifying Potions
In addition to the standard methods of identification, PCs can sample from each container they find to attempt to determine the nature of the liquid inside. An experienced character learns to identify potions by memory—for example, the last time she tasted a liquid that reminded her of almonds, it turned out to be a potion of cure moderate wounds.


Special Qualities
Roll d%. A 01-30 result indicates that something (a design, inscription, or the like) provides some clue to the wand’s function, and 31-100 indicates no special qualities.


Roll d%. A result of 01 indicates the ring is intelligent, 02-31 indicates that something (a design, inscription, or the like) provides a clue to its function, and 32-100 indicates no special qualities.


Roll d%. An 01 result indicates the wondrous item is intelligent, 02-31 indicates that something (a design, inscription, or the like) provides a clue to its function, and 32-100 indicates no special qualities.


Roll d%. A 01 result indicates the rod is intelligent, 02-31 indicates that something (a design, inscription, or the like) provides a clue to its function, and 32-100 indicates no special qualities.


Roll d%. A 01-30 result indicates that something (a design, inscription, or the like) provides some clue to the staff’s function, and 31-100 indicates no special qualities.


Roll d%. If the item is a melee weapon, a 01-30 result indicates that the item sheds light, 31-45 indicates that something (a design, inscription, or the like) provides a clue to the weapon’s function, and 46-100 indicates no special qualities.
If the item is a ranged weapon, a 01-15 result indicates that something (a design, inscription, or the like) provides a clue to the weapon’s function, and 16-100 indicates no special qualities.

Step two: Bardic Knowledge and Knowledge (History) will tell you if it's a magic plot item.


Bardic Knowledge
A bard may make a special bardic knowledge check with a bonus equal to his bard level + his Intelligence modifier to see whether he knows some relevant information about local notable people, legendary items, or noteworthy places. (If the bard has 5 or more ranks in Knowledge (history), he gains a +2 bonus on this check.)
A successful bardic knowledge check will not reveal the powers of a magic item but may give a hint as to its general function. A bard may not take 10 or take 20 on this check; this sort of knowledge is essentially random.

Step three: Know your skills. If you can't hit DC 50 skill checks by level 10 then you aren't trying.

Spellcraft: DC 25 to Identify potions, DC 50 + Caster Level to Identify the basic ability anything else, and DC 70 + Caster Level to Identify everything about anything. Psicraft works on magic/psionic tatoos like they were potions.

Step four: Look for command words written on it or sewn into the lining. Command words are to D&D what computer passwords are to modern day life. People write them down or use a small set of similar passwords. Look up other methods of scoring passwords and re-write them for D&D.

Step five: Take prisoners. You have ways of making them talk about the loot you scored off of them and/or their boss.

Step six: Put it on and use it. Be careful though, if the evil warrior wasn't using that magic sword it's probably for a good reason. Testing with mind controlled minions is advised.