How do you present unidentified magic items?

[Tamorlin]

Are unidentified magic items obviously magical even to the untrained eye? Do they have runes or something like that?

[Âmesang]

Some magic items are obviously magical, some not so much; I imagine it all depended on the general function and desire of its creator.

(I faintly recall that Heward's handy haversack resembles a well-used but sturdy backpack, while roughly 30% of magic weapons glow; I doubt Murlynd's spoon's appearance is anything to write home about, either.)

If this is about magic item identification, identify is a relatively expensive 1st-level spell, and per the Magic Item Compendium and Rules Compendium one can also identify an item's function by using detect magic (and, I imagine, arcane sight) in conjunction with a high Spellcraft skill check (25 + ½ CL).

[LTwerewolf]

Are unidentified magic items obviously magical even to the untrained eye? Do they have runes or something like that?

30% of magic items glow. Other than that, I don't see why they would be obviously magical.

[ryu]

30% of magic items glow. Other than that, I don't see why they would be obviously magical.

I mean unless your party was smart enough to buy the monocle of identify.

[LTwerewolf]

I mean unless your party was smart enough to buy the monocle of identify.

That's not being obviously magical, that's using an item because they're not obviously magical.

[LastOblivion]

It depends on the item, most wondrous items have a listed appearance you can use. But when it comes to magic weapons and armor, they will always stand out from common equipment do to the masterwork quality. Masterwork items look significantly different than their ordinary counterpart.

Other than that I don't know if there is a rule for the appearance of magic items. WoTC tends to give magic items lavish appearances in theme with their purpose. Because of this I tend to give magical Items distinguishable appearances. So its safe to say that most PC's should be able to guess if an item is magical by sight alone.

And don't forgot that you players have detect magic for a reason. It's a level 0 spell that every party should have at the ready. If they grab the emperors suit of ceremonial armor because it has more gold on it and pass by his legendary staff because they could not be bothered to use a level 0 spell its not your fault.

[J-H]

My party has a dragonfire adept who took Magical Insight; he can auto-ID everything after combat.

I have been describing magical items more specifically. A couple of examples:



As the skeletons stand, a few piles of gold pieces are disturbed and clatter to the ground, along with a few other small items you don’t have time to inspect now.

The skeleton closest to Ferris is carrying a small metal shield which still appears to be undamaged, and indeed barely dirty. The next skeleton back has thicker bones and might have originally been one of the humanoids the group recently fought. The one in the back is another human-sized skeleton, and is wielding a bow. Its quiver of arrows is partly inside its ribcage, but you think it can probably reach the arrows to draw and fire.




Nine of the gray humanoids run down the stairs, making no attempt to be stealthy.

They are gray, heavily muscled, with leathery skin – not attractive by anyone’s standards, even ignoring the fact that they have no eyes.

One of them is larger than the rest, and wields a falchion. He is clad in hide armor studded with a few strips of metal, with a leather cloak on his back. He spits a few more words in the same not-dwarvish language you heard before, and the krenshar at his side growls. Tharia and Khurdrum are able to sense just enough from his language and intonation to tell that it’s some kind of ‘you were warned,’ ‘too late,’ or maybe ‘mine.’ He makes no gestures as he speaks – perhaps blind creatures have little use for body language.

Six of the creatures are wielding crude axes, and are clad in hide armor like the leader. The three in the rear appear to be still pulling straps tight as they finish donning their armor for battle. One of the creatures appears older and leaner than the others, with hair that has turned from black and gray to white; he wields a longspear, and wears some type of amulet over his leather armor and cloak. Another looks possibly younger, and carries two knives that look suitable for butchering large animals.

The knives were masterwork.

[ryu]

That's not being obviously magical, that's using an item because they're not obviously magical.

All items mentioned past a certain level are gonna be magic. It's a matter of knowing what KIND on sight.

[torrasque666]

All items mentioned past a certain level are gonna be magic. It's a matter of knowing what KIND on sight.
not necessarily. A headband found at high levels could be art or another sort of valuable, but not be magic. Same for most things actually. Yes, weapons are armor you find are most likely going to be magic, but not necessarily. The treasure for an encounter could just be an armory with a crapton of nonmagical or masterwork weapons in it.

[ryu]

not necessarily. A headband found at high levels could be art or another sort of valuable, but not be magic. Same for most things actually. Yes, weapons are armor you find are most likely going to be magic, but not necessarily. The treasure for an encounter could just be an armory with a crapton of nonmagical or masterwork weapons in it.

The thing is that that is going to be extremely rare on the grounds that high level enounters have little to no practical use for non-magical objects in a majority of cases. The only exception I've found to this rule is high level mages wearing the equivalent of an overcoat and ski-mask over their entire outfit to obscure information and deny targeting options to specific things.

[Calthropstu]

As a DM: any way you want.

"The sword seems unremarkable on sight, it is simply a sword. But as you heft it, the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. You can feel something about this blade, its power is unmistakable."

"At first, the ring seems ordinary, but on closer inspection a single rune sits on the inside hinting it may be more than it appears."

"The staff twists around itself, giving it the illusion of that it is fighting itself for dominance."

"A single orb rests in the front of the helmet. You can see a swirl of some sort moving inside it."

"This **** be glowing yo."

[Strigon]

As a DM: any way you want.

"The sword seems unremarkable on sight, it is simply a sword. But as you heft it, the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. You can feel something about this blade, its power is unmistakable."

"At first, the ring seems ordinary, but on closer inspection a single rune sits on the inside hinting it may be more than it appears."

"The staff twists around itself, giving it the illusion of that it is fighting itself for dominance."

"A single orb rests in the front of the helmet. You can see a swirl of some sort moving inside it."

"This **** be glowing yo."

This is basically it.
If you want your magic items to be identifiable as such, any number of fluffy ways to do it occur. The item can feel hot, the item can feel cool, it can whisper inside your head, it can have runes that dance across its surface... in fact, there's a whole thread dedicated to just this. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?489766-101-flavorful-and-mechanically-useless-equipment-quirks)

Now, of course, that's only if you want them to be easily identified as magic. They could easily be inconspicuous. Most items will still clearly be of phenomenal craftsmanship, which could serve as a heads up, but there's no reason magic items must be overtly magical. Of course, doing it this way leads to the possibility of magic items being overlooked and lost, but the choice is ultimately yours.

[questionmark693]

Something I think is worth noting: even if they crit fail their skill check on appraise (granted, there are no crit fails for skill checks), they will still recognize the item is incredibly valuable. They won't know what it can do, or how to activate it, but it should be easy for adventurers in most settings to recognize magic items.

[Andezzar]

30% of magic items weapons glow. Other than that, I don't see why they would be obviously magical.FTFY. It would be pretty silly if 30% of all Cloaks of Elvenkind glowed.


Now, of course, that's only if you want them to be easily identified as magic. They could easily be inconspicuous. Most items will still clearly be of phenomenal craftsmanship, which could serve as a heads up, but there's no reason magic items must be overtly magical. Of course, doing it this way leads to the possibility of magic items being overlooked and lost, but the choice is ultimately yours.Magic Arms and Armors are mastercrafted madatorily, but all other items need not be made particularly well. I guess it depends on how paranoid or forgetful the wizard that created it is. A paranoid wizards would probably make items as ordinary looking as possible. A forgetful wizard or a wizard crafting for forgetful people or crafting items that should be usable by a large group of people might inscribe the command word on the item.

[Calthropstu]

The thing is that that is going to be extremely rare on the grounds that high level enounters have little to no practical use for non-magical objects in a majority of cases. The only exception I've found to this rule is high level mages wearing the equivalent of an overcoat and ski-mask over their entire outfit to obscure information and deny targeting options to specific things.

On the contrary.

Nobles, in particular, are extremely likely to wear nonmagical items of extremely high value, especially to a ball or when summoned to court. The 15th level wizard might wear two magical rings, but wear a ring on each finger, all of them valuable. Non functional ceremonial armor worn to parades are unlikely to be magical. Masks worn to costume balls are unlikely to be magical, but valuable. A high level rogue is likely to have a nonmagical peasant outfit for when trying to go about the city unnoticed.

Most people who are not actively adventuring do not wear magical gear from day to day. Most people you fight are going to be prepared as best they can for a fight, but if you perform a sneak attack on a wizard at night, the likelihood he sleeps in his robes is going to be... slim.

Edit: unless you think he should be wearing a nightgown of awareness...

[Andezzar]

Most people who are not actively adventuring do not wear magical gear from day to day. Most people you fight are going to be prepared as best they can for a fight, but if you perform a sneak attack on a wizard at night, the likelihood he sleeps in his robes is going to be... slim.

Edit: unless you think he should be wearing a nightgown of awareness...Of course a properly prepared wizard would wear a night gown of awareness, but then again you wouldn'get sneak attack on a properly prepared wizard. *cough celerity *cough divinations

[ryu]

On the contrary.

Nobles, in particular, are extremely likely to wear nonmagical items of extremely high value, especially to a ball or when summoned to court. The 15th level wizard might wear two magical rings, but wear a ring on each finger, all of them valuable. Non functional ceremonial armor worn to parades are unlikely to be magical. Masks worn to costume balls are unlikely to be magical, but valuable. A high level rogue is likely to have a nonmagical peasant outfit for when trying to go about the city unnoticed.

Most people who are not actively adventuring do not wear magical gear from day to day. Most people you fight are going to be prepared as best they can for a fight, but if you perform a sneak attack on a wizard at night, the likelihood he sleeps in his robes is going to be... slim.

Edit: unless you think he should be wearing a nightgown of awareness...

The hell is this sleeping where it's physically possible to be attacked nonsense? That's not a thing past the lowest of levels.

[Âmesang]

On a similar note that's why I had a noble character where a headband of alluring Charisma from Pathfinder; can't really take a bath while wearing a cloak. :smalltongue:

Why do those headbands where weigh a pound? Just how much silver did they put into them?

[Eisfalken]

I just describe the item when it's not doing anything.

All magic armor and weapons are masterwork. Even if the magic description says "stained", "rusted", etc., anyone who handles the item can easily tell the item is not decrepit. These things are expensive in and of themselves; you're stupid to not be hauling these back to town for sale at early levels, and more stupid for not throwing a detect magic their way at the end of the day to make sure they aren't special. Same deal for all jewelry: even if it's not a ring of protection +1, it's worth something back in town, and it weighs practically nothing.

Other items, it just depends on how it is presented. Most of the time it's not difficult to tell something is "up" with an item. Just popped open a 1,000 year old tomb of the legendary archmage Malcazar, and you see an intact grey robe, a weathered but intact backpack, and a silver-bound blue tome with the eye of Boccob on the front? Yeah, those are probably good candidates for being magic items.

The rest of the time? It's on the PCs. I won't necessarily let them miss out on WBL; if their adventure didn't provide enough items to balance it out, then I'll find ways for them to get gold to pay for custom items. I do this per player, though; I strive to avoid allowing any one player to get ahead of the others in XP or gold (though I don't help them with the choices they make with those things; if they screw up, that's also on them).

Don't give out too much info, but make sure they get exactly as much detail as they look for. If they say "we search the orcs", come up with a list of mundane trash and other stuff they might have on them, and just casually mention the headband you know is a magic one. If they somehow get a feeling of what to pick up and what to throw away, or if they just decide to haul it all anyway, just go with the flow and adapt to the situation.

This is only really a low-level problem. Experience with item descriptions and use of permanent magic detection will eventually end up overcoming this little issue.

[Andezzar]

I just describe the item when it's not doing anything.

All magic armor and weapons are masterwork. Even if the magic description says "stained", "rusted", etc., anyone who handles the item can easily tell the item is not decrepit. These things are expensive in and of themselves; you're stupid to not be hauling these back to town for sale at early levels, and more stupid for not throwing a detect magic their way at the end of the day to make sure they aren't special. Same deal for all jewelry: even if it's not a ring of protection +1, it's worth something back in town, and it weighs practically nothing.Our SOP for potential loot is to put it all on a pile and use detect magic. Everything that pings gets separated and additional castings of detect magic are used on them with the help of an artificer's monocle. Everything sorted easy peasy.

[Strigon]

Magic Arms and Armors are mastercrafted madatorily, but all other items need not be made particularly well. I guess it depends on how paranoid or forgetful the wizard that created it is. A paranoid wizards would probably make items as ordinary looking as possible. A forgetful wizard or a wizard crafting for forgetful people or crafting items that should be usable by a large group of people might inscribe the command word on the item.

Yes, but paranoid Wizards aren't the ones who own the majority of magical items. Well, at least, not the ones the players are going to run across. It makes perfect sense that they would want to hide their items, but pretty much everyone else will have their super expensive magical items have style, unless there's a very specific reason for hiding it.
It's like cars; sure, you could have an incredibly luxurious, fast car with the chassis of a Volkswagen Beetle, but isn't a Lamborghini so much better?