Identify
- Level: 1
- School: Divination
- Class: Bard, Wizard
- Casting Time: 1 minute or Ritual
- Range: Touch
- Components: V, S, M (a pearl worth 100+ GP)
- Duration: Instantaneous
You touch an object throughout the spell's casting. If the object is a magic item or some other magical object, you learn its properties and how to use them, whether it requires Attunement, and how many charges it has, if any. You learn whether any ongoing spells are affecting the item and what they are. If the item was created by a spell, you learn that spell's name.
If you instead touch a creature throughout the casting, you learn which ongoing spells, if any, are currently affecting it.
Tactical Usage
Magic Item Analysis: Identify provides comprehensive information about magic items including properties, usage requirements, charges, and attuned status. This knowledge prevents dangerous experimentation and maximizes item utility through informed usage.
Spell Detection: The ability to detect ongoing spells on objects or creatures provides valuable intelligence about magical threats, beneficial effects, or environmental hazards that might not be immediately apparent.
Ritual Efficiency: The ritual casting option eliminates spell slot cost for non-urgent identification needs. Plan downtime usage to preserve spell slots while still gaining essential magical intelligence.
Spell Combinations
Detect Magic Synergy: Use Detect Magic to identify magical auras, then follow with Identify for detailed analysis. This two-step process provides comprehensive magical intelligence while managing resource expenditure efficiently.
Dispel Magic Coordination: Identify ongoing spells on targets before attempting Dispel Magic, allowing informed decisions about which effects to target and appropriate spell slot levels for dispelling attempts.
Legend Lore Follow-up: After using Legend Lore to research significant items, use Identify to confirm specific properties and usage requirements. The combination provides both historical context and practical application knowledge.
Material Component Details
Pearl Economics: The 100+ GP pearl represents a significant early-level investment but provides permanent utility throughout the campaign. Consider the pearl a essential adventuring tool rather than consumable expense.
Component Durability: Unlike many expensive components, the pearl isn't consumed during casting, making it a one-time investment that provides ongoing value throughout your adventuring career.
Magical Focus Alternative: Spellcasting focuses can replace the pearl, but using an actual pearl adds thematic weight to divination magic and creates opportunities for pearl-focused roleplay or story elements.
Creator Notes
Information Control: Identify provides complete item information, potentially revealing plot-relevant details or powerful abilities. Consider how this affects treasure reveals and story pacing in your campaign.
Curse Detection Limitation: Identify specifically doesn't reveal curse information, maintaining mystery and danger around cursed items. This preserves the traditional risk/reward dynamic of unknown magical items.
Campaign Integration: The spell encourages treasure hunting and magical experimentation by removing the guesswork from item identification. This can accelerate power progression and change party dynamics significantly.
Environmental Interactions
Touch Requirement: The need to maintain physical contact throughout the casting creates vulnerability during the 1-minute casting time. Secure environments and ally protection become crucial for safe identification.
Magical Aura Interaction: In areas with strong magical auras or antimagic effects, Identify might provide incomplete information or fail entirely. Consider environmental magical conditions when planning identification sessions.
Privacy Concerns: The lengthy casting time and obvious magical activity make secretive identification challenging. Plan for situations where discrete magical analysis might be necessary.
Common Rulings & Clarifications
Creature vs Object: The spell works differently on creatures versus objects. Creatures reveal ongoing spell effects only, while objects provide comprehensive magical properties and usage information.
Created by Spell: If an item was created by a spell rather than permanent enchantment, Identify reveals the specific spell name, providing valuable intelligence about the magic's nature and duration.
Charge Information: The spell reveals current charge counts for items that use charges, allowing informed resource management and usage planning for limited-use magical items.
Alternative Applications
Magical Investigation: Use Identify to analyze evidence in magical crimes or mysteries. Spell residues, enchanted clues, or magically altered objects can provide crucial investigation information.
Academic Research: Scholars and researchers can use Identify to analyze historical artifacts, study magical techniques, or catalog magical collections for academic or commercial purposes.
Trade and Commerce: Merchants dealing in magical items benefit enormously from Identify's ability to provide accurate item valuations and usage information for proper pricing and customer service.
Related Spells
Detect Magic: Lower-level prerequisite that identifies magical auras without providing detailed information. Use Detect Magic for general scanning and Identify for detailed analysis.
Legend Lore: Higher-level spell providing historical and legendary information about significant items or creatures. Combine with Identify for comprehensive item knowledge combining history and mechanics.
Arcane Eye: Provides visual reconnaissance that can locate magical items for later Identify analysis. The combination allows remote magical intelligence gathering with follow-up detailed analysis.
Scaling Analysis
Early Levels (1-6): Identify provides exceptional value when magical items are rare and their properties unknown. The information advantage significantly impacts character effectiveness and party decision-making.
Mid Levels (7-12): Remains valuable as magical items become more common and complex. The ability to understand multiple item properties and interaction becomes crucial for optimal equipment management.
High Levels (13-20): While less revolutionary, Identify remains useful for analyzing powerful artifacts, understanding complex magical effects, and making informed decisions about legendary item usage.
Narrative Flavor
Magical Analysis: Your hands glow with soft divination magic as you trace the object's surface. Invisible runes briefly appear in the air, displaying the item's magical signature while mystical knowledge flows directly into your mind.
Pearl Resonance: The pearl component pulses with sympathetic magic, creating harmonic vibrations that reveal the target's magical nature. The gem's surface reflects images of the item's creation and intended purpose.
Knowledge Transfer: Information about the object's properties arrives as sudden, certain knowledge rather than visual images. You simply know how the magic works, what commands activate it, and what limitations constrain its power.