Identify: maintain contact and ask the right question

SRD 5.2.1 · Spell decisions

Before casting

Casting detail	SRD 5.2.1 requirement
Casting time	1 minute or Ritual
Range	Touch
Components	V, S, M (a pearl worth 100+ GP)
Duration	Instantaneous

At the table

Prepare the listed material component and touch the target throughout the casting.
For a magical object, learn properties, use, Attunement requirement and charges; ongoing and creating spells have specified information too.
For a creature, learn which ongoing spells currently affect it rather than importing the entire object-information list.

Example decision

A caster touches a creature throughout Identify’s casting. Does this version of the spell promise a complete list of the creature’s abilities and personal history?

No; for a creature it reveals ongoing spells currently affecting it.

The final clause defines the creature use specifically: it reveals ongoing spells, if any, affecting that creature. The object clauses about properties, use, Attunement and charges should not be expanded into a general biography or stat-block reveal. Decide what question the spell can actually answer before committing the casting time.

Watch for this mistake

Do not replace the listed pearl value with an ordinary unpriced trinket. Also keep contact for the whole casting, not merely the instant at which the caster begins.

Ask the table

Is the target an object or creature, and which listed information would answer the present question?

Source spell

Level 1 Divination (Bard, Wizard) Casting Time: 1 minute or Ritual Range: Touch Components: V, S, M (a pearl worth 100+ GP) Duration: Instantaneous You touch an object throughout the spell’s casting. If the object is a magic item or some other magical object, you learn its properties and how to use them, whether it requires Attunement, and how many charges it has, if any. You learn whether any ongoing spells are affecting the item and what they are. If the item was created by a spell, you learn that spell’s name. If you instead touch a creature throughout the casting, you learn which ongoing spells, if any, are currently affecting it.

Source: SRD 5.2.1, 142. Online guide.

Source and reuse

This work includes material from the System Reference Document 5.2.1 (“SRD 5.2.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available at dndbeyond.com/srd. The SRD 5.2.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, available at creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.

The explanation, example and table prompt are Table Ready adaptations; source text has been reflowed. This guide and its printable card are available under the same CC BY 4.0 license. Independent reference; no official affiliation. These rules are optional for our system-neutral adventures.