Identify: maintain contact and ask the right question
Identify examines an object or creature through contact maintained throughout casting. The information returned depends on which kind of target is being examined.
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 |
Use it 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.
Make the call
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?
The ruling
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?
The source spell
SRD 5.2.1, page 142. Read the official PDF.
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 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.