In playing 'Might and Magic, Book One: Secret of the Inner Sanctum', my party killed some monsters and I got an Amber Gem.

Don't gimmie no spoilers! But should I sell the gem for 250GP? Or should I keep it to experiment with it to see what it is and does? ???

Thanks in advance!

Without giving any spoilers.

To see if an item has a special power, try equipping it (E key). If that's not possible, try using it without equipping (U key).

Some items have both of the above. They can be equipped to give some bonus, and while equipped you can use them for additional bonus.

If you can neither equip it nor use it then it has no value (except if it's needed to complete a quest, in which case it will not be dropped by a random monster), so you can sell it for money.

Unfortunately, there is no way in MM1 like in MM2 to identify items at a blacksmith. So the only way of finding out if an item does anything is by trial and error (or using the Cluebook, which I ended up doing since trial and error proved to be too tiresome).

Finally some items are cursed (I think weapons/armor and shield only). While equipped, they give no bonus and cannot be unequipped except by spell or in a temple.


As for amber gem... if you try out the above, you will soon find out the answer.

I found out! Sell it for a cool 250GP at the shop! :)

I'm trying to go the hardcore way to feel how it was in the old times :P unfortunately some quest stuff 'can' drop from random monsters (belladonna, garlic...). It isn't that tiresome if you're not too anal about knowing everything about the particular item to min-max the hell of you chars like in some new games... in general the more the item's worth in gold the better, so yes, you can "identify" it in a blacksmith in a way... and the spells in items aren't usually that useful, uneless non-caster character is left alone in the battle with last chance to finish the enemy and happens to have a spell that will help him achieve just that (or it's the combat-wise useless robber, but you can just stuff him full of scrolls of fire and healing potions) - a rare situation. Clue book spoils one thing: makes cursed items pointless.