Spell Redesign: Identify — Ash of Creativity

Attunement

We’re going to break one of the rules of attunement in this spell. Normally only one person can be attuned to a given item, but identify is going to change that. By the end of this essay, I’ll have decided on additional changes to attunement, which will be collected at the end (or perhaps just a new paragraph to replace your present attunement rules.

The purpose of these spell redesigns are to design 5e spells as if 5e was a more holistic game unto itself, rather than a legacy product. They are not intended as a vehicle for broad rule rewrites, as a general design principle. However, the identify spell’s utility and purpose is almost entirely reliant on the edition’s present attunement rules. Identify could reasonably exist as a reference for attunement in lieu of any rules for it, should a designer write it as such. However if attunement rules do exist, identify simply can’t be evaluated or adjusted in isolation from those rules. The rules and this spell are extremely hyperlinked, so edits to the spell almost must come with edits to the attached rules out of necessity.

Magic Magnifying Glass

Good ol’ identify. Does exactly what it’s supposed to do, and nothing else. Beyond casting the spell on a magic item, you will almost never use this spell, nor will you prepare this spell for really any reason. If you’re a bard, you may have this as a spell known, and some classes might have it automatically prepared thanks to a subclass/archetype. For these characters, assuming they’re willing to dump a spell slot (and there are parties more comfortable with resource expenditure, no shade), identify can come in handy for recognizing specific spell effects.

I’d like identify to see far more use than that.

My Version (Better)

The change I agonized over most was casting time. I got to thinking on limitations on the spell, what its role in the game was, and the additional benefits I knew I’d add to give the spell repeat value. I came to a fork in the metaphorical road; either identify would take an action to pry away at an item’s secrets, or it would take days or maybe weeks to return any usable information.

Remember, my primary goal is making the spell re-usable, not once every 5 or 6 sessions when the party actually gets a magic item. Technically, the 1 minute casting time would be okay for the purpose of attuning to an item quickly, out of combat.

I’m not interested in a purely out-of-combat use.

If we’re using identify to do more than just figure out the benefits of an item, why not use it for more advanced strategies in play? Swapping weapons before a fight, wrestling over a magic sword? Whether we envision spells as producing success states to problems or producing mini-games, identify can do so much more with regards to magic items.

I’ve also written an opportunity for encounters with NPC spellcasters to turn hostile when the party seeks them out for identify. Turn your attention to the spell’s material component cost; rather than a pearl worth 100 gold pieces, it now requires a pearl worth 1,000 gold pieces. This is still a one time purchase, I have not written the pearl is consumed by the spell. The pearl’s cost now competes with an individual character’s desire to purchase a magic item, or scribe some of the scrolls they’ve discovered so far. It’s beyond what they’re likely to collect in a single or even several sessions, the wizard will likely purchase this pearl a couple sessions before a fighter or paladin snags their first suit of plate armor. Perhaps sooner; a group may view the increased armor class of their frontline warriors as more important than pithy details they can get from a local wizard or bard. Indeed, the high cost of Identify may significantly delay characters even taking the spell until the party is at least a few levels in.

So instead, they take their items to a few higher level NPCs. All’s well and good, until the party brings in something too good for them to have. Until the party brings in an item that spellcaster needs, because it has a property befitting a higher level spellcaster. Until an enemy of the party disguises themselves as one of these higher level spellcasters.

And the identify spell just let this new enemy attune to whatever powerful new item they found fit to betray the party for.

My Version (Even Better)

The idea of NPC spellcasters using identify as an opportunity to betray the party was so attractive to me, I took additional steps to preserve it. I didn’t want an NPC betrayal like this to be a one-off event, only as a result of rules ignorance, and never to be seen again by players with a modicum of caution in repeat campaigns. It’s gotta be baked into the spell, baked into attunement. I want these damn players to risk betrayal again, and again, and again, and I don’t care what kind of carrots I have to dangle in front of them to justify chancing that stick. Imagine an NPC spellcaster casting identify on a legendary or artifact item, and immediately wrecking the party to try and get away with the item.

What’s more, I think I accomplished my usual goal of creating a mini-game out of this spell. Rather than generating a mini-game itself however, it does so by interacting with other core mechanics (which I’ve edited slightly, as you may see below).

Attunement (Even Cooler)

While this doubtless needs another pass, I think it’ll serve as a neat template for making attunement cool again.

Nevertheless, it’s reminded me why I don’t like doing core rewrite adjustments. It takes a torturously long time, which involves very little writing, and a lot of continuously examining any written work for any potential embarrassment of myself. There’s no reason to spend this much time on it! You’ve already notice I’ve been far less verbose on this post than usual. I just can’t imagine applying my usual in-depth explanations to the idea attunement is relatively boring, and could be better for a game that wanted to focus on it. Am I crazy here? Let me know.