We talk a lot about Recall Knowledge being vague and critical failures being hard to do well, but I see less conversation around Identify Magic. Particularly as it pertains to identifying loot. While you CAN have a hilarious moment with a poison being a potion or whatever, you need to come up with the false info on the fly, and then remember what the actual item is when they finally use it. Given how long players can sit on consumables or non-numerical items, that's can be a pain. It also doesn't work well with VTTs or digital character sheets where the default is adding the item right on there. Nor is it great for players to sit on cool items they don't know they have.
But I like the concept of critical failures having consequences, so let's workshop some alternatives.
Idea 1: Critical failure damages an item. Makes a certain amount of sense, but then you're just adding more rolls for Repair checks. Pass.
Idea 2: You temporarily break the time in a way that doesn't touch hit points, shorting out the magic so it can't be identified by anyone else, activated, or invested for 24 hours. Feels ok... But a little redundant with the normal failure condition. It really just locks your allies out from Identifying it as well.
Idea 3: you accidentally trigger the item with a dangerous mishap. This one can be entertaining but won't always make sense. Zapping your fighter with a horn of blasting is funny. Losing a one time use consumable like a bomb... Less so. Losing one bead on a necklace of fire ball: hilarious. But what do you do with a runestone or million other things without a hazardous activation?
Idea 4: some combination of the above. I think PF2 codifying crit fails is generally a strength, but in some cases it could stand to take a page from games like Dungeon World. Instead of a one size fits all soluion, a total failure is specific to what is currently happening in the fiction. This solution won't go over well with people who complain about GM fiat, but hey, this is the house rules forum. Those people probably didn't scroll down this low.
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Here are the following categories for Equipment according to Nethys: LINK
Adjustments | Adventuring Gear | Alchemical Items | Armor | Artifacts | Assistive Items | Consumables | Contracts | Cursed Items | Customizations | Grimoires | Held Items | Intelligent Items | Materials | Other | Relics | Runes | Services | Shields | Siege Weapons | Snares | Spellhearts | Staves | Structures | Tattoos | Vehicles | Wands | Weapons | Worn Items
I can imagine each one having a different set of rough guidelines for what constitutes a "mishap"!
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On a related note, there is already precedent in the game for "overcharging" (think: wands) resulting in a 50% chance of losing the item. Perhaps this DC 11 Flat Check can be imposed as a result of a "mishap" circumstance for consumables specifically? (Maybe even with a reduced DC based upon the character's inherent Proficiency?)
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Interesting. Yeah, I agree that there's no good one size fits all solution here. In general I'd shy away from ruining the item, that doesn't seem like fun. I'd aim more for "egg on your face" than actual harsh effects. It's entirely possible that after a hard fight the wizard is at 5hp and doing Identify Magic while the cleric is busy administering Treat Wounds. Exploding a healing potion in your face for 10 damage, not cool.
Maybe this would benefit from a table with 1d20 loose ideas for a mishap, reroll if not good for the situation.