Forensic Evaluation
Forensic Evaluation
Forensic Evaluation (often abbreviated Forensic Eval or F.Eval, called Forensic in skill macros) is one of UO's specialty investigative skills — long considered a "Useless Skill" used only for roleplay, until Publish 72 (March 2011) made it the central tool of the Honesty virtue by enabling players to identify the rightful owners of lost items dropped by NPCs. It also reveals corpse cause-of-death, the identity of recent lockpicker on a chest, and Thieves' Guild membership in living characters. With the Honesty mechanic in place, Forensic Eval became a respectable skill for any character pursuing virtue progression.
Professional details
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Maximum skill | 100.0 |
| NPC Trainers | Healer, Judge |
| Anti-Macro Code | Yes (varies by target type) |
Honesty — the modern role
As of Publish 72, the Honesty Virtue is gained by finding Honesty Lost Items (items dropped from monsters, in chests, or in dungeons) and returning them to their rightful NPC owners. Forensic Evaluation is the skill that reveals the owner.
| Step | What you do |
|---|---|
| 1 | Loot or pick up an item flagged "lost" (it carries an Honesty tag). |
| 2 | Active-use Forensic Eval on the item (multiple times if needed). |
| 3 | First, the City of Origin is revealed. (Requires at least 40 skill.) |
| 4 | Eventually, the NPC Owner's name is revealed. |
| 5 | Travel to that city, locate that NPC, hand the item over. Honesty virtue increases. |
Best practice: dig out a single Honesty Lost Item, deliver it directly. This is the fastest single-act gain of Honesty available — faster than any quest-driven path.
Active uses — full mechanics
Corpse cause-of-death
Click the blue gem next to the skill, target a corpse: - If successful, you learn the circumstances surrounding the death. - Higher skill = more accurate description. - You can use this skill while invisible and through walls, making it a stealthy investigation tool.
Lockpicker identification
Target a picked Treasure Chest or any chest a player has unlocked: - If successful, you learn who recently picked the lock on the chest. - Requires at least 40 skill to learn this.
Living-character investigation
Target a living character: - If successful, the result tells you whether the target is a member of the Thieves' Guild (a Felucca-only criminal alignment). - For Felucca-based investigation work, this is a quick way to identify rogue PCs.
Item identification
Forensic Eval is NOT used for property-identification of magic items. That is the role of Item_Identification (a separate skill). Forensic Eval is purely investigative — owners, deaths, and pickers.
Failure messages
The "skill not high enough" diagnostic message is "You notice nothing unusual". If you see this consistently on the same target type, you need more skill — switching targets won't help (anti-macro lockout protects the same target until you successfully gain on a different target).
Training
| Range | Method |
|---|---|
| 0 → 30 | NPC Healer or Judge in any city. |
| 30 → 41 | Use the skill on corpses. A roof in a graveyard with Energy Vortex summons dropping below works. Jhelom Farms is also strong. Champion Spawn corpses or Painted Caves spawn give faster gains for stronger characters. |
| 41 → 100 | Picked chests are the canonical method. Cycle through 5–10 picked Paragon chests with a macro. (Beyond 55.0 skill you stop gaining on corpses; chests are the only reliable target above that point.) |
| Honesty path | Once you have 41 skill, you can train on Honesty Lost Items. |
The anti-macro lockout ensures that a failed attempt on a target locks that target out for that character until a successful gain on a different target. This forces target rotation.
See also
- Honesty — the virtue Forensic Eval gains
- Item_Identification — magic-property identification (different skill)
- Taste_Identification — sister investigative skill
- Lockpicking — produces the picked chests Forensic Eval reads
- Detect_Hidden — pair for anti-stealth investigation
- Painted_Caves — corpse-rich training ground