The Knowing (Identifying – Rituals of Knowing)

With all Major Rituals of Knowing, the object or target of the ritual must be in physical contact with the ritualist; part of the ritual is to handle, examine, and the ritualist must be able to envision the three dimensional aspects of the object. Typically, the ritual involves the pressing of the object the heart, face or head of the ritualist in some form – lifting forth knowledge of the target’s composition and placing it in their mind. Many entities, institutions, organizations, and individuals can perform the Rituals of Knowing or make basic perceptions of an item or effect; the full spectrum of assessing are referred to as the practice of Mystical Discernment.

The properties of such items are discovered through the use of the items and the Rituals of Knowing. Simply using, wielding, or adorning oneself with the item can trigger curses, drains, or powers if by doing so will enable one or more of their powers. Using the Rituals of Knowing ahead of time will protect the possessor from such unforeseen outcomes and inform them of the capabilities of the item, though sometimes direct use and testing are the only ways available to discover item properties. Using the item in an intended way will trigger consequences regardless of whether the user is in direct contact or not – gloves and protective gear, remote manipulation, etc. cannot shield the user from backlash (though it can possibly protect them from physical manifestations of it). In most cases, items do not possess any insidious backlash, or any at all. Items truly inimical to the user by virtue of a Code of Conduct/Tenets or Harmony can often be sensed with the most basic of mystical detection spells, or even sensed by proximity or a momentary direct touch.

Powers/effects that manifest this are capable of discerning Marks of Impact from such things as taints and corruptions of the target’s Aura.

Simple Identification

Identifying Mundane Items

Crafter markings, cultural reflection, ornamentation, and even written elements can help identify the source and potentially the crafter of mundane items.

Identifying Dweomers and Auras

Items which are not mundane can initially be detected as so through a variety of common means (unless their aura hides it from such). In all cases, the attempt to identify the underlying dweomers and auras require that the item be touched by the character seeking the information.

Items with Charges: Uses 1 charge (if the item can be destroyed by running out of charges, that check will have to be made); If there are any curses or hexes on it, it will get triggered and applied to the object or person performing the task. An item must be Attuned to the character doing the identifying to unlock information, it must then be broken and re-established by the owner. The advantage to belonging to an institution is that this is done at a reduced cost or as a service for members in good standing; triggers any attunement effect (Attunes the item; -1 Essence until a daily cycle + more if needs to be broken to pass to another character). Each property of the item must be discovered using a means of Discerning The Weave/Pattern. – Missing a check does not reveal that anything was missed, its just not perceived.

Incarna d20™ The Knowing Details/Mechanics

This content is part of the i20™ Variant for the d20 System™.

d20 [specific] Requirements: Occult, Divine, or Psychic Aptitude 1 OR Allotted Essence.

Simple Identification [d20]

In general, conforms to the use of the Identify spell with the following changes:

  1. Casting Time: 1 Hour – Discerning The Weave/Pattern must be Ritualized; Experimentation is also needed.
  2. A battle of wills with a Sentient item can be automatically ended if the Identify Ritual is cast within a Magic Circle. This prevents the discovery of powers gained by attuning the item and the Attunement itself with the caster is broken.
  3. The process requires a 25% Cost Portion as a suggested _Baseline_ in materials, or a DC 12 Intelligence (Arcana or Religion) per property.
  4. Only one attempt can be made on a specific item property per Short Rest.
  5. A forced [quick] breaking of Attunement can be done by casting Dispel Magic on the item, while within a Circle of Protection as part of the Ritual.

iCore The Knowing Details/Mechanics

Rituals of Identification