Thinking of implementing this regarding ID of magic items.

Thinking of implementing this regarding ID of magic items. Thoughts?

Mainly for flavor and roll-playing. Removes the boring: stop for 10min because this might be useful. Gives other non-caster something to do. Stops making wizard the default guy.

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Analytical Identification - skill-Based Alternative to Identify Spell for Common, Uncommon, and Rare magic items. 

Identification Check : When discoverinf a <Rare magic item, a character can attempt to analyze it, using a combination of skills. Player must be proficient in at least one of the skills. Player rolls two separate d20s, selects one option from each of these categories:

• Physical/Magical Analysis (Choose one): Intelligence (Arcana) or Intelligence (Investigation)
• Contextual Lore (Choose one): Intelligence (History), Intelligence (Religion), or Wisdom (Insight)

A + B + Modifiers / 2 with a DC 14 (common), 16 (uncommon), 18 (rare)

Crit/Fail - a Nat 1 or 20 on either die introduces a drama twist.

Natural 20 (Critical Insight): A Nat-20 on either dice - check auto succeeds as player has a flash of brilliant deductive reasoning. Item fully identified, and DM reveals one hidden piece of historical flavor (famous past owner,  lore hint, storyline tie-in, etc).

Natural 1 (Flawed Theory): A Nat-1f on either dice - check auto fails as player misinterprets a vital rune, material property, historical context, etc. Also, the character is utterly convinced that their incorrect theory is correct. They misidentify the item's function/activation in a harmless (but distinct way), believing the false assumption until it's officially clarified.

Natural1 and 20 Paradox: The Flawed Masterpiece

If a player rolls a Nat-1 AND a Nat-20, they experience a beautiful paradox. Character is completely right about half of item, but completlety wrong about the other half. The item s partially identified with a twist:

• What they get right: perfectly identify main function, mech stats, and bonuses and can attune to it and use normally.
• What they get wrong: fundamentally misinterpret one secondary trait, activation condition, or side effect. They are so confident that they see no reason to cast Identify.
• Resolution: This error in assumption can only be corrected if another player casts Identify, or when the player experiences the true secondary effect firsthand.

 Examples: Potion of Fly - you know it gives you a flying speed equal to your walking speed for 1 hour. - but - you don't know you turn into a bird, or you lose you movement for one round if you touch the ground. (or something like that)

Standard Failure (The Campfire Contingency): If averaged check is <16, the item's true nature remains completely hidden in the field:

• The Lockout: The analyzing character (and any allies who actively assisted them) are temporarily stumped. They cannot attempt the averaged check on this specific item again until they level up or gain new context (access to a grand library, etc).
• The Fallback: The item can only be successfully identified during a Long Rest, requiring some sort of magical identificastion (Identify spell) as a ritual to safely unwrap its properties.

To be honest, it seems like needlessly complicated AI slop.

If the goal is to make it so a character's skill proficiencies can have an impact on magic item identification, just a single ability check with an appropriate skill seems much more appropriate.

Appreciate being called AI Slop, lol.