Author: MHP
Although WFRP is a low fantasy and magick world, they players will occasionally find magic items. Sooner, rather than later, they are going to want to identify these items to see what their powers are. This is fairly easy following the official WFRP rules, but I like to make it a bit harder. So that even with experienced magicians, they can never be fully sure of an items' powers.
Types of Items | Item
Power | Methods of Detection
Trial And Error | Smell
And Taste | Alchemical | Knowledge | Magickal
Table One | Table Two | Corruption | Trying Again
Firstly, let's discuss the different types of magic items. There are four categories of magic items with respect to detecting their magic and these are, Limited Use Items, Charged Items, Normal Items and Artefacts. Below it is detailed which item belong to which category.
Limited Use - Potions, dusts, ointments,
elixirs and anything that is only used once.
Charged - Anything that keeps infinite number of charges,
excluding those in the above category.
Normal - Any item that is not classified in any of the other
categories.
Artefacts - Only the most powerful of items, the stuff of legend.
Magical items vary greatly in power depending on the magickal energies they contain, all from a lowly potion to the mightiest artefact. How dangerous and corruptive the item really is depends partially on this power. Simply count how many different abilities the item has and there you have the power level. For example, a spell ring with two different spells is level 2, an amulet of coal is level 1 and a sword +10/+2 is power level 3 (1 for each +10 or +1). Some powerful attributes do count as two power levels, this is up to the GM's discretion.
Chaos items - Add +2 to the power level
Daemonic items - Add +3 to the power level
Items containing warpstone - Add +1 to +3 to the power level
(depending on quantity)
Dawnstones - Subtract -1 from the power level
There are several different methods that can be used to detect an item's powers. These are Trial and Error, Smell and Taste, Alchemical, Knowledge and Magickal. These vary greatly in how they are performed, how difficult they are, who can attempt them and what can come out of them. Often one method isn’t possible to perform, due to special circumstances so another one must be attempted. Note also that no matter how good the character is and how well the test goes, never tell him, e.g. the sword has +1 damage. Instead, tell him that it got a small increase in damage (that is if the test went well enough so he did discover the weapon’s power) or something similar. Below, each of the methods is detailed.
Anyone can attempt this. It's simply trying the item out in praxis to see how it works and hopefully find out some of it's properties. This method is very unreliable and very rarely reveales anything substansial (except with items in the Limited Use category but then they will be used already). If it reveales anything, then that's only vague information which leaves those testing it very unsure of it's actual powers. Furthermore, testing some items (like wand that can cast the fireball spell) can be outright dangerous and some items even deliberately give out false impressions.
Roll against Int with a –50 penalty. Non-spellcasters have an additional –20 but spellcasters gain a +5 bonus per level. There is also a –5 penalty to the test for each power level of the item above one. Consult Table One.
Obviously, this can only be attempted on items in the Limited Use category. Not only does it involve smelling and tasting the "item" but also other properties it might have (such as colour, etc). The character must have some knowledge or experience with potions and the Manufacture potions skill is a must. After about two to five turns of examination, the character can make a judgement of what it is.
Roll against Int with a –20 penalty. Non-spellcasters have an additional –20 but alchemists gain a +5 bonus per level and others with Prepare potions skill gain a +5 modifier. There is also a –5 penalty to the test for each power level of the item above one. Consult Table One.
This can only be attempted in a fully equipped alchemical laboratory and by someone who can use the equipment effectively, like an alchemist. Also, this can only be attempted on items in the Limited Use category. The character takes a sample of the item and uses various procedures and tests to find which ingredients and how much of them were used and from that he can deduct what it does. The tests take about 5 hours to a few days to complete and at the end of that time, the character can try to judge which ingredients were used. The sample used is always ruined, no matter the outcome.
Roll against (Dex+Int)/2 with a –10 penalty. Non-spellcasters have an additional –20 modifier but alchemists gain a +5 bonus per level and others with Prepare potions skill gain a +5 modifier. Consult Table Two.
After finding out which ingredients were used, the character can try to discern which type the magic item is. This is research and knowledge based and can take days or even weeks, all depending on how accessible and easy to find that knowledge is. Note that this is possible with all items, except Artefacts, if the ingredients used are somehow discovered.
Roll against Int with a modifier depending on the result from the roll here above. This modifier is positive if the test succeeded by over 20 or negative if it failed or succeeded by less than 20 and it equals the deviation from 20. That is, if the test above succeeded by 25, there is a +5 bonus to this one, if it succeeded by 8, there is a –12 penalty to this one and if it failed by 15, there is a –35 penalty to this one. As the test above represents how much is discovered about the ingredients, this modifier does apply even for other characters that wish to try this test (yes, after someone has found out something about the ingredients by the method above, anyone can try to find out with this test here which item they were used to make, as long as he is told the result of the above test). Non-spellcasters have an additional –20 but those with Prepare potions skill gain a +20 modifier. Lack of a source of knowledge can result in a penalty of up to –60. Trying this on items not in the Limited Use category results in a –20 extra penalty. There is also a –5 penalty to the test for each power level of the item above one. Consult Table One.
This can be attempted on any items except those in the Limited Use category. Note that this is the only way to discover what items classified as Artefacts do. Here the character uses knowledge and researches in libraries to try to discover what the item might do. That is, finding out the history of the item and what it does through that. Anyone can attempt this but those with no magickal experience stand only a miniscule chance. What is revealed depends on what is known or can be researched about the item. Magic is rare so many items have a unique look to them, but some might not. Even if the character finds something about the item, it doesn't have to reveal any qualities and it might also be the wrong item, mixed up with another similar. After researching, which could possibly take weeks (or even months), the character can try to guess which item it is and what powers it possesses.
Roll against Int with a –30 penalty. Non-spellcasters have an additional –20 modifier but wizards (including specialists but not alchemists) gain a +5 bonus per level. Those without the Identify magical artefact skill suffer a –30 additional penalty. Lack of a source of knowledge can result in a penalty of up to –60. There is also a –5 penalty to the test for each power level of the item above one. Consult Table One.
Magickal testing can only be attempted by those who are strong of will (WP score of 40+) and have the Magic sense skill. It can only be attempted on items classified as Charged or Normal. Limited Use items have different type of magick in them so any probing will fail (and they are covered above) and Artefacts are way to powerful. The character can attempt to probe artefacts but it will fail and the character will probably suffer some ill effects too. The character tries to magically probe the item to find out what it does. This method has the greatest chance of success but is also the most dangerous one. Magic is powerful and dangerous and probing it like that can have a lasting effect on the characters mind. The character holds the item and enters a trance as he probes the item. Each try takes an hour and the character may not be interrupted in that time, or the attempt will fail. After that time, the character may or may not have found out something about the item.
Roll against WP. Wizards (including specialists but not alchemists) gain a +5 bonus per level. There is also a –5 penalty to the test for each power level of the item above one. Consult Table One.
Not that if the item that is being identified has more than one power, then the below only applies to one of those as only one power can be discovered at a time. Also, usually the weakest power is discovered first and then in increasing power order after that.
Critical Failure = Mistakenly thinks it’s
something else than it is. Always harmful in some way
Failure by 30+ = Mistakenly thinks it’s something else than
it is
Failure by 20-29 = Mistakenly thinks it might be one of a few
different things
Failure by 01-19 = Can’t tell anything about the item
Success by 00-19 = Can’t tell anything about the item
Success by 20-29 = Can tell that the item is one of a few
different things
Success by 30+ = Recognises one power/effect that the item has
Critical Success = Recognises one power/effect that the item has
and can tell if there are more or not
Critical Failure is the roll of 99-00.
Unless the characters modified score is 70+, then it is only 00.
Critical Success is the roll of 01-02. Unless the characters
modified score is 30-, then it is only 01.
Critical Failure = Wrongfully names all the
ingredients used
Failure by 30+ = Wrongfully thinks of several ingredients that
were used
Failure by 20-29 = Wrongfully thinks of one ingredient that was
used
Failure by 10-19 = Not sure of any ingredient used, but suspects
a wrong one
Failure by 01-09 = Can’t tell anything
Success by 00-09 = Can’t tell anything
Success by 10-19 = Not sure of any ingredient used, but might
suspect one
Success by 20-29 = Can tell one ingredient that was used
Success by 30+ = Can tell most of the ingredients which were used
Critical Success = Can tell which ingredients were used and he
can salvage some of them
Critical Failure is the roll of 99-00.
Unless the characters modified score is 70+, then it is only 00.
Critical Success is the roll of 01-02. Unless the characters
modified score is 30-, then it is only 01.
When using the methods of Smell and Taste and Magickal, the character is either imbibing parts of the item or he is mentally tuning in to it. This can be dangerous and can cause corruption.
Taste and Smell – There’s only a very small chance that anything happens when this method is used. Use the “Dangers of Magic Items” rules presented in the Magick section, treat this as Single Use item but give an additional +20 modifier to the test.
Magick – When magically trying to detect an item’s powers, the risk goes up. Again, use the “Dangers of Magic Items”. Treat it as an active item (no modifiers), add +10 if it’s a single use item and apply an appropriate penalty if the item power level is over one. This must be done every time a character tries to magically detect an item.
A character can keep attempting to try to find out what powers an item has as long as all previous attempts succeed by 20 or more. Even if they haven’t, he can keep on trying, but any successful rolls (no matter how well they went) only turn up as “Can’t tell anything”. The failed rolls however have their normal effects. Note that this applies to each method of detection so that even if one has failed, he can still use another successfully.
If the character then ever rises in either Int or WP, he starts off with a clean slate and can again successfully use methods that once failed, that correspond to that particular skill.
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