Lore and unknown items

[faustmn]

Finally got to the point where I have accumulated a bunch of unknown items--and am encumbered.

I did a trial run getting Lore, but it did not help. Is it worth building that skill or best to just suck it up and pay the merchants for item identification?

I don't have mercantile, so I end up breaking even if I sell them something I don't want after identification.


On a related note, can you buy mercantile skill? I know there is a book for it.

Thanks in advance.

[dare49devil]

-There is a spell you can cast to identify items.

-Also, there is a ring that gives +6 Lore.

-IMO, don't have the merchant identify for you, waste. =/

[Unclever title]

There's no Mercantile trainer in Book I unfortunately even so with the game's mechanics it would only be good to level five, that's not great but it's a subtle improvement in terms of making things easier in the game.

I've never really done much with it but it's my understanding that the lore skill only works when you find an item not on items already in your inventory. So you may need to go to a barrel or chest and put something in it, close it then open it again and it may be identified.

The way I do things with Merchant's identifying things is that most often I only do it if I highly suspect the item will be useful (or know specifically from previous playthroughs) or if I have more than one of the item (stacked items or the weapon/armor weight and picture is identical). Then at bare minimum I get something out of the transaction (in the case of items being stacked that is). However if it's something too heavy I may identify it then sell it. If I know I won't care about it I'll sell it even as unknown.

[Painted Lady]

The things that are "unknown" are often things of real value. If you don't have enough points in Lore at this time, just stash those items in a barrel in Blackwater for the time being. The merchants' inventories are reset every week, so pop into Bordertown and Blackwater every 7 days and look for the Lore rings. One ring will identify many of the items, but if you have no points in the Lore skill, some of the items require two rings.

The rings are fairly expensive, so save your gold so you are ready to buy them. After you identify the unknown items you will probably make enough money selling them to cover the cost of the rings.

Another option is to buy the Lore spell. You must have Divination to use it. This is the easiest way to solve the problem.

Also, one hint. There is a group of items that turn up later in the game that you really, really want to be able to identify...........

[Kreador Freeaxe]

Also, if you have stackable items (like ectoplasm) where you have some identified and some unidentified, you can drop the unidentified ones on the identified stack and they will all become identified without paying the merchant's price.

[faustmn]

I'm going for the ring rather than spend points on Divination.

Finally gathered enough cash for it but was too late! Now have to wait for it to come up again in inventory

The things that are "unknown" are often things of real value. If you don't have enough points in Lore at this time, just stash those items in a barrel in Blackwater for the time being. The merchants' inventories are reset every week, so pop into Bordertown and Blackwater every 7 days and look for the Lore rings. One ring will identify many of the items, but if you have no points in the Lore skill, some of the items require two rings.

The rings are fairly expensive, so save your gold so you are ready to buy them. After you identify the unknown items you will probably make enough money selling them to cover the cost of the rings.

Another option is to buy the Lore spell. You must have Divination to use it. This is the easiest way to solve the problem.

Also, one hint. There is a group of items that turn up later in the game that you really, really want to be able to identify...........