Redbeard's Ravings

Identifying magical items is one of the areas of play where the game does not meet the fiction.  In part, this is due to magical items becoming frequent commodities and tools and not the singular plot points of fiction.  Yet some of us do have stories of the first time we found a wand, pressing the button, or quizzing the Dungeon Master on the properties of the newly found sword we were swinging about. A spell that gratuitously reveals all the mystery removes those moments from play.  On the other hand, spending 30 minutes of play deciphering that +1 dagger isn't fun for anyone else at the table, least of all the sole player and DM at that moment.  In 1st edition, the Identify spell was nearly unplayable by the book.  It needed to be cast within a certain time frame of acquiring the item so that the debilitating effects could be dangerous, and the 100gp cost was also meant to be significant, at least to the 1st level caster that had access to it. The 1st Edi...

Today's Catastrophe.  Catastrophes are obligatory character choices that involve rolling on tables like the one below.  I'm looking for critiques or brilliance that's evaded me before I subject them upon my test subjects , er, players.  This one is tentatively "balanced" to have roughly a 30% chance of a good, bad or mixed result.  I've got spreadsheet formulas to compute odds of different results for tables, because that's how I roll.  (get it?) Here is what you could get as a Plague Survivor:   D100 Plague Survivor Effects 01-16 Your constitution saves vs disease are at +2. 17-26 You have the scars of a plague survivor.   -2 to charisma checks for Performance or Persuasion and +2 to Intimidation checks.   You have advantage on constitution saves against disease. 27-32 You are immune to the plague but still have a dormant infection. ...

Today's Catastrophe.  Catastrophes are obligatory character choices that involve rolling on tables like the one below.  I'm looking for critiques or brilliance that's evaded me before I put them onto their final dice tables, arranging odds of about the same chance for good and ill on the different catastrophes. Here is what you could get if you were Cursed Who Cursed you? 1.        Drank from a cursed well/stationary cursed object. 2.        Came into contact with a cursed artifact/item 3.        Came into contact with a demon 4.        Came into contact with undead 5.        Creature of the wild 6.        Enemy: offended a witch/warlock 7.        Enemy: offended a priest of the Church of the Sun 8.        Enem...