Divination spell guide · magic-item identification

Identify Spell

Identify — Reading an Enchanted Object

Identify reveals the workings of magic, but its rules changed sharply between editions. In D&D 5.5e / 2024 it is a 1st-level ritual that can examine a magical object or a creature affected by spells. Pathfinder 1e instead turns Detect Magic into a stronger item-appraisal tool, while D&D 3.5e retains the older one-hour, single-object identification spell.

20241st-level Divination; 1 minute or Ritual; Touch.

Pathfinder 1e1st level; standard action; 60-foot cone; boosts Spellcraft.

D&D 3.5e1st level for bard and sorcerer/wizard; 1 hour; one touched object.

Five-second ruling: choose the edition first. The three versions are not interchangeable. The 2024 spell directly reveals an object’s magical functions or the ongoing spells on a creature; Pathfinder 1e still requires the Detect Magic/Spellcraft identification process; 3.5e uses the older hour-long single-item procedure.

Identify Spell Rules by Edition

D&D 5.5e / 2024 Pathfinder 1e D&D 3.5e

SRD 5.2.1 · official current rules

D&D 5.5e / 2024 Identify

Level: 1st-level Divination
Classes: Bard, Wizard
Casting Time: 1 minute or Ritual
Range: Touch
Components: V, S, M
Material: A pearl worth 100+ GP
Duration: Instantaneous
Scaling: None

You keep touching one object throughout the casting. If it is a magic item or another magical object, you learn its magical properties and how to use them, whether it requires attunement, and how many charges it has, if any. You also learn which ongoing spells are affecting it. If a spell created the object, you learn that spell’s name.

You can instead maintain contact with a creature throughout the casting. In that case, you learn which ongoing spells are currently affecting that creature.

The pearl is not consumed. The spell requires a pearl worth at least 100 GP but does not say the component is consumed.
Identify normally does not reveal a magic-item curse. The general 2024 cursed-item rule says that most identification methods, including Identify, fail to expose a curse. A specific item’s description can override that general rule.
2024 has no blanket artifact prohibition in this spell. Do not import the Pathfinder or 3.5e restriction. A particular artifact or item can still impose its own limits.
The creature option is narrow. It reveals ongoing spells, not every magical trait, curse, disease, supernatural feature, secret identity, caster, remaining duration or spell level unless another rule supplies that information.

Short Rest alternative: in the 2024 magic-item rules, a character can instead remain in physical contact with one magic item during a Short Rest and learn its properties and how to use it. That is slower than Identify and still does not reveal a curse. Attunement, when required, uses its own procedure.

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game · First Edition

Pathfinder 1e Identify

School: Divination
Level: Bard 1, Sorcerer/Wizard 1
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: 60 ft.
Area: Cone-shaped emanation
Duration: 3 rounds/level (D)
Components: V, S, M
Material: Wine stirred with an owl’s feather
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

This version functions as Detect Magic, but it gives a +10 enhancement bonus on Spellcraft checks made to identify the properties and command words of magic items in your possession.

That distinction matters: Pathfinder Identify does not simply hand over an item’s entire description. It strengthens the normal magical-identification procedure. After magic has been detected, a trained character can use Spellcraft to identify an item’s properties; the standard DC is 15 + the item’s caster level, and examining one item takes 3 rounds. A failed attempt made with Detect Magic or Identify cannot normally be retried on that item until the next day.

The +10 is an enhancement bonus; apply normal Pathfinder bonus-stacking rules.
The spell’s material component is wine and an owl’s feather. Do not import the 100-gp pearl from D&D 3.5e.
Artifacts cannot be identified by this spell.
Because the spell functions as Detect Magic, use that edition’s aura-reading procedure rather than the 2024 object’s-properties procedure.

D&D 3.5e · d20 SRD

D&D 3.5e Identify

School: Divination
Level: Bard 1, Magic domain 2, Sorcerer/Wizard 1
Components: V, S, M/DF
Casting Time: 1 hour
Range: Touch
Target: One touched object
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

The 3.5e spell determines the magical properties of one magic item, including the means of activating its functions when relevant and the number of remaining charges, if any. It does not function on an artifact.

Arcane material component: an arcane caster uses a pearl worth at least 100 gp, crushed into wine and stirred with an owl feather; the resulting infusion is drunk before casting. This preparation consumes the pearl. The M/DF notation matters for the Magic-domain version: divine casting uses the divine-focus alternative rather than automatically importing the arcane pearl preparation.

This is the legacy version preserved from the original SpiralWorlds entry.
The one-hour casting time, single-object target and artifact exclusion belong to this edition; they must not be carried into 2024.
For cursed or deliberately masked items, use the 3.5e item’s own rules and same-edition interactions rather than importing the 2024 cursed-item rule.

What Changed Between Editions?

Rule	D&D 5.5e / 2024	Pathfinder 1e	D&D 3.5e
Basic method	Directly learns an object’s magical functions or ongoing spells on a creature	Enhanced Detect Magic plus +10 Spellcraft	Directly identifies one magic item
Casting time	1 minute or Ritual	1 standard action	1 hour
Area / target	Touched object or creature	60-ft. cone; identification bonus applies to possessed items	One touched object
Pearl	100+ GP; not consumed	No pearl requirement	100+ GP pearl in the arcane preparation; consumed
Artifacts	No general spell prohibition	Cannot identify artifacts	Cannot identify artifacts

How Identify Works at the Table

Detect Magic and Identify answer different questions. Detecting magic establishes that magic is present and, depending on edition, can reveal information about its aura. Identifying a magic item is the deeper appraisal step: what the object actually does, how it is used, and what limits or charges matter.

That difference is especially important when converting old adventures. A 3.5e treasure room designed around a costly hour-long Identify procedure does not create the same pacing in 2024, where the spell can be cast in a minute or as a ritual and the current rules also provide a Short Rest identification method. Preserve the adventure’s mystery through the item’s history, ownership, curse, consequences or incomplete context rather than silently restoring obsolete spell restrictions.

Rules authority: Identify tells you only what its edition says it tells you. It does not automatically reveal an object’s historical provenance, rightful owner, market value, maker, political significance, hidden compartment, mundane poison, or every secret connected to it.

Identify, Curses and Hidden Magic

In D&D 5.5e / 2024, the general cursed-item rule is deliberately separate from the spell’s ordinary property-reading effect: most methods of identification, including Identify, do not reveal a curse. If a particular item explicitly says its curse is revealed by Identify, the specific item rule wins.

This means Identify is reliable without being omniscient. A character can learn that a ring grants a magical benefit, that a wand has a certain number of charges, or that an object is under an ongoing spell while still missing a concealed curse that is governed by the magic-item rules rather than the spell effect.

Legacy editions require their own treatment. Pathfinder 1e and D&D 3.5e also contain spells and item rules that can disguise or complicate magical examination. In those games, use the same-edition wording of Magic Aura, the individual cursed item, and the relevant identification procedure rather than importing the 2024 curse rule wholesale.

Common Identify Rulings

Does Identify consume the 100 GP pearl in 2024?

No. The current spell requires the pearl but does not state that it is consumed. That is a major change from the 3.5e arcane preparation.

Does Identify reveal a curse?

Usually not under the 2024 magic-item rules. Specific item text can override the general rule. Do not assume that ruling automatically governs Pathfinder 1e or D&D 3.5e.

Can 2024 Identify be cast on a creature?

Yes. The caster keeps touching the creature throughout the casting and learns which ongoing spells are affecting it. The spell does not say that this reveals every magical or supernatural effect.

Does 2024 Identify reveal charges?

Yes. The spell’s object effect includes the item’s number of charges when applicable, and the current magic-item rules likewise state that remaining charges are revealed by Identify.

Does 2024 Identify fail on artifacts?

Not as a general rule. The current spell contains no blanket artifact exclusion. Pathfinder 1e and D&D 3.5e explicitly do exclude artifacts, so this is a genuine edition difference.

Does Pathfinder 1e Identify automatically tell me everything?

No. It functions as Detect Magic and gives +10 on the relevant Spellcraft checks for magic items in your possession. The identification check remains part of the process.

Does Identify tell me who cast an ongoing spell?

Not by itself. The 2024 creature option tells you which ongoing spells are affecting the creature; it does not also promise the caster’s identity, remaining duration, spell slot used or other unstated details.

Best Uses of Identify

Treasure appraisal: establish what a newly recovered magic item does before anyone commits to using or attuning to it.
Charge management: determine how much use remains in charged equipment.
Spell investigation: in 2024, examine an object or creature to learn which ongoing spells are affecting it.
Created objects: in 2024, learn the spell that created an object when the object itself was made by a spell.
Legacy item analysis: in Pathfinder 1e, combine Identify with the edition’s Spellcraft-based appraisal procedure.

Identify in SpiralWorlds, 1454

In SpiralWorlds, magical appraisal is part of learned natural philosophy as well as adventuring practice. University scholars, guild specialists, court magicians, treasure assessors and private masters may all know formal methods for distinguishing an enchanted object from an ordinary curiosity. A working Identify spell can therefore be valuable in a merchant dispute, a noble treasury, an excavated ruin or the division of recovered spoils.

The spell does not erase the need for scholarship. Knowing how an enchanted blade functions is not the same as knowing who forged it, which dynasty carried it, whether its ownership is contested, why its inscriptions matter, or what consequences follow from using it. Provenance, language, heraldry, history, reputation and hidden curses can still make an identified object dangerous or politically explosive.

That separation keeps magical identification useful without turning it into universal magical omniscience: the spell answers its rules questions, while the world supplies the history around those answers.

Sources & Licensing

D&D 5.5e / 2024 rules material

This work includes material from the System Reference Document 5.2.1 (SRD 5.2.1) by Wizards of the Coast LLC. SRD 5.2.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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