Cursed Item Identify DCs?

DC to ID a magic item is 15+Caster Level.

So let's look at a bag of Holding type I: 15+9 = 24.

Versus a Bag of Devouring: 15+17=32. With the stipulation that if the person doesn't exceed the DC by 10, all they get is the original purpose of the item. Meaning you need a 42! to ID a Bag of Devouring.

Seems like there is a "pretty grey line" between 24 and 42. Like, how does that work? I'm considering making it a DC 34 instead (the DC of the original item +10).

What is actually correct? The DC of the cursed item +10 or the original item +10?

Cursed items are meant to be difficult to correctly identify, thus the rule of beating the DC by the 10 or more to know it is cursed... however... you still should use the DC of the original to identify the base item... so 24-41 = bag of holding, 42 = Bag of devouring... you could always throw your players a bone even and say “something seems alittle unusual about it” if they roll 32-41, suggesting that it isn’t actually a bag of holding while not fully telling them it is cursed... they could easily misread that to be that it is an improved version of a bag of holding...

The same applies to non-cursed items that “function as ___”... improved versions of any magic item can (and should) be incorrectly identified as their lesser versions if the DC for the improved is missed but the DC for the original is hit.

Spells like Identify are an easy counter to the increased DC for cursed items.

Spells like Identify are an easy counter to the increased DC for cursed items.

Well, I mean, sure, if the PCs have some reason to think they should cast it. Why would they, though, if they make the roll and identify the item with a simple Spellcraft? (evil chuckle)

This is why I run things like they did pre-3.x: unless you have a spell that specifically detects curses, they will be identified as a beneficial item.

It's far more interesting to see PCs suffer the consequences of bad stuff than them automatically finding out something is bad and throwing it away.

Ryze Kuja wrote:

Spells like Identify are an easy counter to the increased DC for cursed items.

Well, I mean, sure, if the PCs have some reason to think they should cast it. Why would they, though, if they make the roll and identify the item with a simple Spellcraft? (evil chuckle)

Usually using identify to mass identify loot is the standard, both as a quick way to get everything at once and pre-emptively root out said cursed items. It's when people are mid-dungeon and pilfering items right away that can be a problem, but half the time people skip over identifying all together in those cases.

As a more general note to the thread, not every cursed item is a specific existing cursed item and thus have a specific CL like as above, some are simply "reverse items" or otherwise and use the CL of the base item, thus being easier to identify than the +18 that a bag of devouring has over a type 1 bag.