Scroll of identify

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Revision as of 19:36, 1 June 2006 by Kernigh (talk | contribs) (Commentary: (The identify spell in combination with the Eye of the Aethiopica lets you identify any object soon after you discover it, even if you only want to know the BUC status.))
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The cheapest scroll in the game is the scroll of identify. The spoiler scrl-343.txt lists the cost at 20 zorkmids, thus making the scroll cheaper than any scroll except for the scroll of mail.

Facts

From scrl-343.txt:

identify

Always identified when read.
blessed
You can identify items from your inventory:
# items: 1 2 3 4 all
chance: 1/5 1/5 1/5 1/5 1/5
If your luck is positive, then 1 item becomes 2 items.
"This is an identify scroll."
uncursed
You can identify items from your inventory:
# items: 1 2 3 4 all
chance: 21/25 1/25 1/25 1/25 1/25
"This is an identify scroll."
cursed
You can identify one item from your inventory.
"This is an identify scroll."
confused
You merely identify the scroll.
"You identify this as an identify scroll."

Commentary

Wow! Reading a cursed scroll of identify is safe. Most cursed items cause something bad when you use them.

There is also a spellbook of identify, but that is a level 3 divination spell. It is very convenient if you can learn it, but many characters cannot. (The identify spell in combination with the Eye of the Aethiopica lets you identify any object soon after you discover it, even if you only want to know the BUC status.)

If you do not learn the identify spell, you will depend on these scrolls. It is advantageous to make holy water and bless your scrolls of identify, because that significantly increases their chance of identifying more items. It is also a good idea to gather many unidentified items into your inventory before reading the scrolls; if they are blessed, then the 20% chance of identifying everything is very significant.