I'm resurrecting a request from player @AmbroseHoneysuckle, posted a couple of years ago. I did a search before typing up my own post, and this pretty much says it all... though I'd be inclined to add "please." :)
It should be possible for a DM to give a PC an item without identifying that item from the get-go. For instance, I should be able to give a PC a potion of healing without revealing that it's a potion of healing; to the player, it should appear as "red potion." There should be an "Identify" button alongside the item that then changes it from its descriptive name to its true name. Right now, the only way to handle this is to have the player add the unidentified item under Other Holdings, then delete it upon adding the identified item to his or her inventory, which is clumsy.
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The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.
Hard pass. That's a lot of coding taking a lot of dev time just to avoid the player taking, at most, 20 seconds (more likely less).
Add custom item "red potion", when id'd just remove and add the real item. It's a few seconds to add, a few to look up real item and a few to add real item and then delete the custom.
Why should devs spend weeks (yes, weeks - planning, authorisation, coding, testing...) at minimum making something very, very few people would use and only serves to save 12-20 (at most) seconds for a player?
What you can already do is still vastly superior to pen and paper. Let Devs focus on things the majority want, the things that are necessary, and fixing things that are broken.
Hard pass. That's a lot of coding taking a lot of dev time just to avoid the player taking, at most, 20 seconds (more likely less).
Add custom item "red potion", when id'd just remove and add the real item. It's a few seconds to add, a few to look up real item and a few to add real item and then delete the custom.
Why should devs spend weeks (yes, weeks - planning, authorisation, coding, testing...) at minimum making something very, very few people would use and only serves to save 12-20 (at most) seconds for a player?
What you can already do is still vastly superior to pen and paper. Let Devs focus on things the majority want, the things that are necessary, and fixing things that are broken.
Creating a custom unidentified item starts to become cumbersome when you start to have multiple unidentified items across multiple characters over a span of time. The simplicity of the act of creating a custom item gets bogged down with, "Wait, which item was that? Hmm... yeah, what encounter did that one come from? No, John got that one and identified that one 2 sessions ago." It's a very commonly used feature in Fantasy Grounds.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.
Hard pass. That's a lot of coding taking a lot of dev time just to avoid the player taking, at most, 20 seconds (more likely less).
Add custom item "red potion", when id'd just remove and add the real item. It's a few seconds to add, a few to look up real item and a few to add real item and then delete the custom.
Why should devs spend weeks (yes, weeks - planning, authorisation, coding, testing...) at minimum making something very, very few people would use and only serves to save 12-20 (at most) seconds for a player?
What you can already do is still vastly superior to pen and paper. Let Devs focus on things the majority want, the things that are necessary, and fixing things that are broken.
Creating a custom unidentified item starts to become cumbersome when you start to have multiple unidentified items across multiple characters over a span of time. The simplicity of the act of creating a custom item gets bogged down with, "Wait, which item was that? Hmm... yeah, what encounter did that one come from? No, John got that one and identified that one 2 sessions ago." It's a very commonly used feature in Fantasy Grounds.
Then use the item's notes or description field. It's why you have them.
While I would probably use it if it existed, I have to agree that there is an easy work around and minimal effect.
If you follow the rules the identification of items and potions is so trivial that there is no point in this. I tend to fall back on the "potion from room 21" type description so that we can figure out what it is later. If you do homebrew and don't number your areas or whatever you can have a master list of items the party has found. "You have a red potion. Mark it down as item 45" on your master list you mark down "item 45 - potion of healing (cursed)" or whatever.
I would much prefer the time was allocated to more options for notes in the campaign to handle something like this. Some sort of folder/subdirectory system would be good instead of just one long list that we have at the moment.
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I'm resurrecting a request from player @AmbroseHoneysuckle, posted a couple of years ago. I did a search before typing up my own post, and this pretty much says it all... though I'd be inclined to add "please." :)
The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.
Hard pass. That's a lot of coding taking a lot of dev time just to avoid the player taking, at most, 20 seconds (more likely less).
Add custom item "red potion", when id'd just remove and add the real item. It's a few seconds to add, a few to look up real item and a few to add real item and then delete the custom.
Why should devs spend weeks (yes, weeks - planning, authorisation, coding, testing...) at minimum making something very, very few people would use and only serves to save 12-20 (at most) seconds for a player?
What you can already do is still vastly superior to pen and paper. Let Devs focus on things the majority want, the things that are necessary, and fixing things that are broken.
My Homebrew: Races | Subclasses | Backgrounds | Spells | Magic Items | Feats
Need help with Homebrew? Check out this FAQ/Guide thread by IamSposta
See My Youtube Videos for Tips & Tricks using D&D Beyond
Creating a custom unidentified item starts to become cumbersome when you start to have multiple unidentified items across multiple characters over a span of time. The simplicity of the act of creating a custom item gets bogged down with, "Wait, which item was that? Hmm... yeah, what encounter did that one come from? No, John got that one and identified that one 2 sessions ago." It's a very commonly used feature in Fantasy Grounds.
The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.
Then use the item's notes or description field. It's why you have them.
This took me roughly 25 seconds.
My Homebrew: Races | Subclasses | Backgrounds | Spells | Magic Items | Feats
Need help with Homebrew? Check out this FAQ/Guide thread by IamSposta
See My Youtube Videos for Tips & Tricks using D&D Beyond
While I would probably use it if it existed, I have to agree that there is an easy work around and minimal effect.
If you follow the rules the identification of items and potions is so trivial that there is no point in this. I tend to fall back on the "potion from room 21" type description so that we can figure out what it is later. If you do homebrew and don't number your areas or whatever you can have a master list of items the party has found. "You have a red potion. Mark it down as item 45" on your master list you mark down "item 45 - potion of healing (cursed)" or whatever.
I would much prefer the time was allocated to more options for notes in the campaign to handle something like this. Some sort of folder/subdirectory system would be good instead of just one long list that we have at the moment.