OK, admittedly 3rd ed noob here.. but this, really??

Obviously this isn't going to come as a surprise to those who properly know the 3rd ed rules.. but personally coming from a 2nd ed background..

It costs money to cast the spell 'Identify'???!!?!?!?!?!

What's the point of it then?, it might be a bit cheaper but it shouldn't cost gold to cast a spell.

I think that's a bit of a dumb change.

EDIT... actually it's not any cheaper... that IS just dumb. It makes the spell entirely pointless. Who's getting charged, where does the gold go?.. Is it just a gold eating spell then? I don't like that.

 

I agree, I don't use the identify spell. The only purpose I can think of is if you need, for some reason, something identified RIGHT NOW. Also, read magic works on potions as well as scrolls. Thankfully, because that would get expensive.

 

I feel dirty now.

My flabber has not been so gasted in a very long time.

So how do I get Read Magic?.. Is it a feat?

EDIT.. Lol, it's a cantrip. :/

 

The Identify spell has a spell component cost of a pearl worth at least 100gp. So instead of having you buy every good pearl in Greyhawk, the game takes the component's cost from you. If your wizard takes Craft Wands, you can make a Wand of Identify for cheaper than the 5000gp it would cost to cast the spell 50 times.


Read Magic is a zero level spell for all spellcasters.

 

There are a few spells that cost gold to cast, at least the first time you cast them, extra-planer chest for example.

 

I can understand there would be some kind of explanation for it...I still think it's really dumb though. They've basically castrated the spell.

Yep, a cantrip.

 

A bit odd that you whine concerning this change when you come from AD&D 2nd edition. There has always been material components concerning many spells and Identify has always had a requirement of a pearl worth 100 gp as well as a owl feather in wine.
The reason for this is balance and nothing more. Finding out what a magical item does right away is powerful or at least the people that created the rules seems to think so. So it has not been nerfed at all. You may have played the game and ignored material components, but it really isn't much of a problem.
In D&D 3.5 you're not supposed to be able to cast spells unless you have a hand free. I wish that rule were implemented as it really makes builds much harder. No more cleric powerhouse with a Towershield/Bastard Sword casting spells while fighting. Unless you take some feats to allow that of course :yes:

 

I realise I'm new here and all......but I stopped at 'whine'

I'd understand your point of view if I'd made a huge bitching post.. but I didn't.. I pointed out that ONE dumb thing is dumb.. which it is.

Please don't blow it out of proportion.

 

Now who's blowing things out of proportions? Sorry, but whining has for a long time being a term for complaining, but I apologize if you see that word as something extremely negative. What I like about Temple of Elemental Evil and the Co8 mod is that it tries to incorporate many of the core rules from D&D 3.5 edition. Unlike NWN 1 and 2, which were a steaming pile of wannabe D&D rules. They tweaked and tried to balance something in their own way and ended up with something far from that.
So where would you tweak the balance in this mod? Remove the component just for Identify? Then when you get the spell Raise Dead which also requires a hefty component would that have to go as well? Get rid of components altogether. Then also get rid of the gold requirement for creating magical items? Do you see where I'm heading?
A game made in the spirit of D&D 3.5, should use as many of the rules as possible from the game it's trying to emulate. Maybe it's because I still play tabletop games and know most of the rules by heart. But try to play the game for a while and see how you like it. Maybe even try to find a tabletop group if you're into that. Was not meant to get you in a bad mood, so sorry if I accomplished that.

 

The "problem" is not the spell but every merchant being able to identify magic things (apparently they can all use arcane magic) and doing it at cost price of 100gp. It does make the spell almost worthless unlike actual pen & paper play. That said it's an understandable design decision for a computer game...

 

Agreed. The cost should be greater and not all merchants should be able to do and only a few times. But that might be too difficult to implement.

 

For what it is worth, the cost is able a way to help your group to horse its gold when you acquire magic items. For a small cost of 100 gp, you get to sell off the items for quite a bit more.

Using money to make money, ya know. hehe

 

I don't think it's stupid that it costs 100g to ID something, I think it's stupid that magic armor and weapons don't really sell for what they are worth. Soon into the game though money is not an issue. One of the best changes Co8 has done is make read magic work for both scrolls and potions, that ofcourse is free.

 

Well, you get a pretty good price for magic items if they are:

a: Identified, and

b: Being sold to the correct vendor for that item type.

You get very little money for unidentified magic items, and half price for selling to the wrong vendor. When in doubt, price it out at different vendors and see what they offer. Magic items in general will get full price selling to Burne and Rufus.