From: covin@tartarus.uchicago.edu (David Covin)
Subject: Re: Girdle of Femininity/Masculinity
Organization: University of Chicago Computer Science
	<1992Nov18.015947.25042@mailer.cc.fsu.edu>
	<1992Nov18.200007.23246@blaze.cs.jhu.edu>
	<1992Nov19.021325.26390@mailer.cc.fsu.edu>
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 20:24:41 GMT

In article <1992Nov19.021325.26390@mailer.cc.fsu.edu> kdelgado@loligo.cc.fsu.edu (Kevin Delgado) writes:

>Just because the item isn't specifically usable by the mage does _not_ mean
>that he or she can bypass its penalties. 

True.  However, in this case, the item's only use *is* its penalty.
That is its only function.  Thus, it makes some sense to say that, if
it only functions for Clerics, Fighters, and Thieves, that its curse
will only affect them, since its curse is its function.

The interpretation is logical; however, the result seems stupid to me.
Thus, in my own campaigns, I ignore the restriction; I assume it was
a typo, or the result of someone really out-of-it when that section of
the DMG was edited.  In my games, girdles of sex change work on anyone
who puts them on.

DM fiat.  Try it; you'll like it.

>Always keep in mind that the mage suffers any and
>all penalties encurred as a result of identification...that is the major 
>drawback to the most powerfull 1st level spell.

As a player, I have never been able to get any use out of the spell;
nor have I ever seen anyone else bother with it.  It doesn't tell you
more than you could find out by other testing methods ("My mystic
powers tell me that it's a sword with a small number of plusses!" "No
shit, Sherlock-- that would be why it glows but isn't sucked towards
its targets with a very strong effect in combat.."), it completely
wipes you out for adventuring purposes until you've had serious rest,
it exposes you to any curse the item might have (no advantage there
over ordinary testing), and it has to be used as soon as you find the
item.  Which means that a) it takes up a spell slot which could
otherwise be used for Sleep, Magic Missile, Charm Person, Unseen
Servant, or even Detect Magic; and b) you'd better leave the dungeon
as soon as you find a magic item, reach a safe haven quickly, cast the
spell, then rest for another day before returning, if you want it to
be any use at all.  

Further, you have to spend at least 25 g.p. on a pearl, assuming
pearls are easy to find in your area, and somehow keep a goldfish
alive until you plan to cast the spell.  ("Sure, I'll just carry a
1-gallon aquarium in my backpack!")

For a low-level mage it's worse than useless.  ("Well, guys, I could
memorize Sleep, so we might actually win a real fight; Detect Magic,
so we'll know which of our treasure is important if we find any; or
Identify, which will tell us a little about a magic item if we know
that an item is magic somehow after we've somehow survived long enough
to get an item...")  However, it is for lower-level mages that the
adventure-until-your-1-spell-is-cast strategy is most appropriate; for
higher-level mages it's just a pain.

I have never seen this spell abused.  In fact, I have almost never
seen it used at all.  And the idea that someone might sacrifice a
luckstone in order to gain a slightly greater chance of learning
something vague about an item that simple testing might just as well
reveal, leaves me wondering whether to laugh or cry.  It's at least
as big a trap as Find Familiar; at least with that, you might get
lucky and get a special one.
--
David Covin                           covin@despair.uchicago.edu