'Unknown': a minor quibble

[Gorgon Rider]

What's up with the 'unknown' objects?

My character can look into a chest and identify a Wind Ring or an Animal Rage amulet and various scrolls, but he can't identify some food items (like a fish) and mundane things like iron chain boots (which I'd think he'd at least recognize since he's trained in heavy armor) and iron throwing axes.

I have no points in Lore. My character is level 3.

So what's the magic formula for items being identified or not? Something here isn't making sense to me.

[RezoApio]

I second this post

I have made it twice with a beginner nefarious warrior given cleaving weapons that starts with an unknown axe in its first chest

Also the food item will appears unknown but will stil stack properly if I have the same object in my inventory.

[dundonalddub]

The only magic formula I know is either points in lore or a scroll of lore with divination of 5 or 7.

[Noru]

From the 200 gold you surely be able to identify weapon you get for starter, just right click on it, while a vendor is open. It will offer you to identify it.

[Slarty]

The magic formula relates, I believe, to the "item level" -- which is what determines which items a particular merchant will stock, what will appear in chests of a certain level, etc. This means that how "mundane" or "obvious" an item seems has nothing to do with how easy it is to identify in-game.

[silverkitty]

Although a certain level of hand-wave-fu can kind of come up with an explanation for lore -- food may be "obviously" salted fish but you don't know if it's safe to eat without some knowledge of which fish are good and how quickly they pick up diseases; you may know the function of armor and weapons but not know their sale value without some knowledge of what haggle points are appropriate for the metals in question... things like that.

It would be better but significantly more complicated to supplement Lore with points from other skills on items (i.e. Forage or Heavy Armor giving lore bonuses for food and armor items). Currently items are just classed by value alone.

[Antigrav]

My character is just up to level 3, still finding my way around.

My ranger, with intelligence of 12, can come across throwing knives and tell the difference between the copper and bronze varieties and how much damage each will do, but he cannot tell that the round, rock-like things he finds sometimes are rocks. I cannot throw a rock at a powder keg because I do not yet know what it could be or what its capabilities are. Fortunately, there are helpful merchants who will tell me what I have in my hand for only 1 gold piece. Maybe then they realize who they're dealing with and proceed to charge me 30gp to repair slight damage to my 50gp axe.

But then, I did take an untested memory-wiping potion a couple of years ago.

[KillingMoon]

The attribute Intelligence helps to identify items (besides the already mentioned skill in Lore).
Your hero's skills or level doesn't matter.

I thought it was kind of funny when I first started walking around with an unintelligent character, and noticed he wasn't able to identify a berry or potato!
But there's a good thing about finding unidentified items: it means you're finding high level items!

[Gorgon Rider]

From the 200 gold you surely be able to identify weapon you get for starter, just right click on it, while a vendor is open. It will offer you to identify it.

I know how to get items identified. You're completely missing the point: the weapon belongs to you, has been stored in your house, and (presumably) you've owned it for months. Yet you don't know what it is. Makes no sense.

Another examples: I can look at an Amulet of Animal Rage and know what it is (value of 400gp, +10 HPs, +2 damage), yet I can't identify a mundane gold ring worth 25gp.

My character has an INT of 15, but no points in Lore. I have no issue with him not being able to identify magic items and scrolls. But a gold ring? A piece of mundane armor or weapon, in the use of which he's been trained? Makes no sense.

But I do like Antigrav's explanation for it (the untested memory-wiping potion).

As I said, it's only a minor quibble, and I didn't mean to start any kind of controversy. Besides, now that my character has found a couple rings that boost the Lore skill by 2 points each, this isn't much of an issue anymore. Anyway, thanks for the replies.

[Randomizer]

I know how to get items identified. You're completely missing the point: the weapon belongs to you, has been stored in your house, and (presumably) you've owned it for months. Yet you don't know what it is. Makes no sense.

If you remember to read your journal, then you will read that you are losing your memory, again. You don't really remember that much anymore.

I find that you should start with at least a level of lore unless you have decent intelligence or are planning to get divination and the Lore spell.

[Gorgon Rider]

I find that you should start with at least a level of lore unless you have decent intelligence or are planning to get divination and the Lore spell.

Yep, that's likely a good option, although it would cost you three of your precious skill points (unless you take Rogue and the background that gives you Lore).

Like I said though, not a real complaint, per se. Just a minor whine. As I noted in my last post, with the luck of finding a couple Lore boosting rings, I've no worries now on that score.

[Buckets]

The attribute Intelligence helps to identify items (besides the already mentioned skill in Lore).
Your hero's skills or level doesn't matter.

I thought it was kind of funny when I first started walking around with an unintelligent character, and noticed he wasn't able to identify a berry or potato!
But there's a good thing about finding unidentified items: it means you're finding high level items!

I also like the role-playing aspect of low intelligence as portrayed in the game. If I have a stupid character, then he's going to act stupid and not know what a rock is. That's the role playing part. Maybe he knows what the amulet does though because that's one of very few things he can remember from the past because he liked it so much. But a rock, why would he remember a rock? It's just not that impressive.

[KillingMoon]

My character has an INT of 15... found a couple rings that boost the Lore skill by 2 points each, this isn't much of an issue anymore.

That's disappointing! I'm in a game with a character of Intelligence level 20, I just boosted his Intelligence by 3 but there are still 4 items in his backpack he has no clue about!
It's good for the game, though, I already have the upgrade button flashing, so I'm curious if I'll find out more if I upgrade... it would be difficult not to boost Intelligence now; I especially like to know what the book and the scroll are about.

[Gorgon Rider]

Keep in mind I'm still exploring around Eastwillow and the surrounding area. SO I've likely not had a chance to find anything terribly hard to identify yet.