Although I have been running a 5e game for a year now, I only recently tripped over a situation in which a player used Identify and I realized that I had not really thought through the implications of what seems to be the intent of the spell description. Previously, my players had found several magic items, cast Identify on them, learned their properties and how to use them and everyone was happy. Then they came across an item that has been turned to stone, but will revert if a command word is spoken. They discovered it was magical with Detect Magic, and then (quite reasonably) cast Identify on it. This left me with two immediate problems and one larger one.

The spell that had been cast on it had no name. Perhaps I should have invented one, but instead I simply described the effect: the item had been transmuted and the effect was reversible by speaking a 'mundane incantation'. (I thought that should be fine, but it made the player of the Wizard cranky because he is under the impression that PHB spells are the only magical effects that [ought to] exist in the world. But I guess that is a topic for another thread.)

The caster that transmuted the item had no intention of producing an effect that could be worked around with a 1st level spell. But as written, Identify is (arguably) pretty potent ("you learn [the object's] properties and how to use them"). In this case, I did not disclose the command word. (This caused my Wizard player to give me the look that says, "Ok, you are the DM and it's no big deal, but that seems arbitrary." That look always causes me to worry.)

If I were to allow Identify to reveal the command word, how does it not become an "I win button" for many puzzle-type obstacles that are somehow magic-dependent?

For reference, here is the description of the spell.

Note 1: I realize that I might possibly have ruled that the object is, at this point, just mundane stone and so not magical, but a) that seemed cheesy, b) that boat has sailed, and c) it doesn't apply to the larger problem that I am concerned with.

Note 2: To bring the question into a more simple, standard context, you might consider, at least for starters: if a door is locked with Arcane Lock with a password, will using Identify reveal the password?

Anyway, thoughts?

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