Detect Magic: Used as per normal, except instead of just telling the spell caster who detected the item that it is magical, I will only tell them the strength and colour of the aura. It’ll be up to them to figure out what colour corresponds to what school (with a Knowledge Arcana check to help them out).

Spellcraft: It’ll take 10 minutes of study (in keeping with Local Time) to identify the properties of a magical item. A PC is required to have a Spellcraft score equal to or greater than the CL of the item. Power’s of magical items will be “bundled” at different CL’s.

i.e – A +1 Keen Scimitar would require Spellcraft score of 1 to identify it as a +1 Scimitar, and an 11 to identify it as a +1 Keen Scimitar. Makes the Identify spell actually matter.

I propose that the identification DC’s stack, but discovering “bundles” would lower the DC. For example; a +1 Keen Flaming Scimitar would be DC 21. +1 for enhancement, +10 for CL of Keen, and +10 for CL of Flaming.

After 10 minutes of study a PC would know it to be a +1 Scimitar. That would lower the total DC to 20, because they already know it’s +1. Further study, assuming they could meet the 20 DC, would reveal one more of it’s powers (randomly rolled which one), which would reduce it to DC 10. So, one more study session and meeting DC 10 would reveal the full potential of the weapon. Reasoning behind this is that the further they study the item the more familiar they are with the magical energies of said item and have an easier time unlocking identifying it’s potential. I will also use the idea of randomly unlocking abilities through use for some items.

I know you might be saying “Well that’s kinda harsh, what if they just Spellcraft it once then move on? How will they know about the additional abilities?” Well my friends, that’s where Detect Magic comes into play.

According to Pathfinder rules, if you spend three rounds studying an object with Detect Magic you learn; 1) What is magical, 2) The exact number of magical things, and the potency of the strongest aura, 3) The exact strength and location of each magical item. You can make a Knowledge Arcana check at this point to determine the school of magic. I would merely tell them what colour it is and they’d have to learn which colour corresponds to which school. Although for a high Knowledge check I’d give them a “feeling” about the aura, i.e. “Angry” for Evocation(fire) or “Numb and Distant” for Necromancy.

The potential is all there in the rules, it’s just up to the GM to flavour it up and don’t let your PC’s get away with “Smash and Grab” dungeon crawling. This may not work in some groups but I know in my group the Player who does all the identifying and knowledge checks would be really into this. I’m going to try it out and see how it goes, I’ll reply with a write up if anyone is interested.

TL;DR – There is no TL;DR, it’s all relevant! :)

“you’ve essentially reduced identification to taking ten on spellcraft checks”

There are no spellcraft checks involved in this system. Depending on the power of the item, one of these three identification methods need to be used:

1) The caster can identify an item just by handling it.
2) The caster must cast “Detect Magic” to identify an item.
3) A sage or powerful caster must be consulted to identify the item.

I almost think identification needs a more fundamental overhaul. What if magic items are easy to identify, but it takes an effort to “unlock” them. And maybe certain properties remain a mystery until others are unlocked. You could almost use this s a way to level up equipment along with players.

Let us say the party finds a sword. At its full potential, it is a +3 demonbane sword which can cast “daylight” once per day. However, due to being lost for centuries, it’s powers are now dormant. These powers come in bundles, however. When the party wizard attempts to identify the item, his spellcraft result determines how many of these bundles are identified. He will always identify one basic bundle, but if he rolls poorly, he cannot identify anything further about this item until he gains a rank in spellcraft. So if our wizard botches the check, he learns:

1) the sword can regain a +1 enhancement bonus with some minor attention from a spell caster. A successful spellcraft check, taking five minutes, restores this enhancement. A particularly bad check might cause the cater to take some minor damage as the item’s power rebounds back on him. However, the wizard senses this is not the full extent of the item’s power.

The second tier might require a DC 15 spellcraft check to identify.
2) A further +1 enhancement and a once per day daylight spell can be unlocked with either a DC 25 spellcraft check, or by immersing the blade in the waters of a certain shrine consecrated to the Sun.

The first tier is probably quite accessible to a low level party, but the second tier might be too much for them. If the wizard cannot unlock the weapon’s powers, then the party might choose to go on a quest to unlock the power, or save that hook for later. But by the time they accomplish it, they’ll probably have reached a level commensurate with the item’s power.

3) This might require an even heftier spellcraft check. A further +1 and the demonbane power can be unlocked by a DC30 spell craft check or by slaying ten demons in single combat.

The nifty thing about this one, is that the player might activate a power without actually knowing the sword had at power. Or perhaps the player can identify the necessary conditions to unlock a power, without knowing what that power is.

If players are really unwary, they might actually activate something catastrophic by accident. Maybe instead of demonbane, killing ten demons awakens a chaotic evil intelligence in the blade. Suddenly that trusty sword takes on a whole new feel, and the players might actually have to try and destroy it.

Of course, when everyone is carting around a veritable fashion show of fantastic items, the number of activation quests might get out of hand. Treasure hordes might have themed items. Items found in the keep of an ancient order of Paladins might all have similar requirements. And if these items are scaling with the characters, it might cut down on the number of items you have to hand out in the first place.

It’s also a lot to keep track of, though…