I've got one of my characters a barbarian with Lvl 3 Artifact skill & the Ancient Lore trait and when he ID's a Mana potion there is usually a question mark in front of it. What does this mean?? Another related question is this: When do skills MAX out. I read somewhere it was 12. Does anybody know for sure since I hope he sure gets better at Identifying things. He can't even Id the Ankh of Int. I got from the Todem treasure chest.(It cost me 625g) I thought he would have been better than that since my other barbarian with only Lvl 2 Traps & Locks picked that chest like nothing with Lvl 1 lock picks & it said it was "difficult".

Hmm...not sure about the potion...I think it may still be unidentified or something...

Skills max out normally at 12 but 14 for zenmasters with a certain skill..I forget the name of it...

And an identification lvl of about 7-8 should be good to identify just about anything...

A question mark should mean unidentified.

The skill So So mentioned is the enlightenment trait.

And yes, level 7-8 artefacts should usually do the trick. Some of the most powerful artefacts can only be identified at level 12.

Skills do get better as they get higher. And 12 is the max, before enlightenment.

Remember to use the identify trick, which is to group all the same item on one person and have them identify one of them (say, one of the eleven short swords). That one is identified, along with any other that you may have. So in essence, the other ten get identified for free [img]smile.gif[/img]

Also, you may want to have each character specialize in a given skill. For example, one character to ID items, another to pick locks, and so on. Otherwise, you end up diluting your skill points and you won't be very effective later on. You can just start doing that from where you are now without any real problem.

Thx for all the advice. So at Lvl 3 artifact some things are id's but the ? means not 100% sure. I've used the grouping techniques to advantage & also have one barbarian specializing in Traps & Locks while the one mentioned is concentrating on Id as Bungleau suggested.

That's basically it. The higher your ID skill, the more things you can identify. At level 1, you're pretty good on rusted swords, but all that jewelry stuff? Not here, thanks. Get to level three, and perhaps you've got rings, but not those ankhs. Level six or seven gets you ankhs, but not special items.

Have fun!

The '?' at the beginning and the end of the item name means "unidentified". The name between the "?' is a common name for the thing, for example ?Dagger? is an unidentified dagger. There is no partial certainty or uncertainty in it.
As far as identifying items is concerned, either you will suceed with the first attempt or you must increase your Artifact skill - repeated attempts will fail, too.

Recommended values of the Artifact skill:
Valeia - 5
Ishad N'ha - 8
Brimloch Roon - 12
These values should allow you to identify everything what you find there.

Needed values for identifying
ankhs - 5
normal weapons and armor - usually no more than 5
better weapons and armor - 7 - 10
special items - up to 12