Pathfinder rule musings

Saving throws and magic items:
The save DCs for spell-like effects generated by magic items are too low, in my opinion. For example, the dagger of venom inflicts the effects of a poison spell on the target. This is a 4th level spell, so the Fort save DC is listed at 14. This DC does not, of course, incorporate the ability score modifier of the creator, presumably because that value is not known for every magic item. However, this means many magic items become pretty useless at mid-levels. Now remember, in the example above, poison is a 4th level cleric spell. That means the caster has to have at least Wis 14 to cast it. So, at minimum, the creator of a dagger of venom must have a +2 Wis bonus. I propose, then, that the save DC for this item should be 16, not 14. Also, if a PC wanted to make one, he should be able to use his own ability modifier. That way, a dagger of venom or any other magic item could be as dangerous to 15th level characters as it is to 3rd level characters.

Determining magic item functions:
I think the combination of using detect magic and the Spellcraft skill to identify magic items has caused many higher level spells to become much less useful. Consider, the number of spells that allow one to identify magic items, detect magic, identify, analyze dweomer, arcane sight and arcane sight, greater. Now admittedly, none of these spells exactly duplicates the effects of the others. For example, using detect magic or identify requires a Spellcraft check, while the higher level spells do not. However, I suspect most players will find little incentive to have all these spells in their daily list. There is just too much redundancy.

-Rognar-