You place a hand on the object, gloved or not, and glare into its figurative or literal soul. You may even sniff or lick it depending on how confident you are that it won't kill you right away. Observers to this act may feel a mild to intense discomfort depending on what item it is (pray that it's not someone's clothing, cough cough) but you can insist that this is all for the sake of science.
On testing:
Delphyrion has always wanted to know everything. However, no matter how strong one's background is in chemistry, you'd usually need equipment and time to study an object's composition. Not to mention the amount of harm it could do to the item.
On chemistry:
This gift could be groundbreaking, but only if you know what you're looking at. There's no point if you don't recognize what chemical or molecular structure you find in the item, or what you can do with it. Chemistry is all about using what you have, and what's the use of a weapon that you know nothing about?
On the questionable act:
Look, living creatures are born with five senses for a reason. Delphyrion will use all five senses if it means new knowledge can be found. Sure, they've gotten sick from licking stuff for no reason, but at least now there is a reason to do so. This will do wonders for their immune system.
Exert your Mind and spend a minute. Select a target Object within arm's reach. At the end of your investigation, roll Intellect + Investigation at Difficulty 6.
You learn all the following information about your target:
You may only use this Effect once per day.
You cannot investigate the same target more than once per day.
A bit of a gambler, he won this lupe in a game of cards some time back. The man he bought it from was a lost steampunk explorer, down on his luck and desperate for a small quantity of radium for some reason.
As Dr Scab pulls out his lupe and carefully examines the object in question, strange illusions can be caught in the lupe lens's reflection such as eyes, teeth, or flames but Scab doesn't seem to notice or mind, simply turning a little disk at the end presumably tweaking the focus.
Spend a minute to activate. Select a target Object within arm's reach. At the end of your investigation, roll Intellect + Investigation at Difficulty 6.
You learn all the following information about your target:
This Gift's Cost is capped at 2 and cannot be increased further.
The Gods of Ancient Egypt are renowned for their treasures. By holding or touching an item with one hand & making mystic passes with the hand bearing the Seal of Nephthys, Jules may invoke the Goddess to learn who values it, where it has recently been, & the presence of magical influence.
Exert your Mind and spend a minute. Select a target Object within arm's reach. At the end of your investigation, roll Dexterity + Thievery at Difficulty 6.
You learn all the following information about your target:
After you finish activating this Effect, you cannot move quicker than a walk (max 15 feet per Round) for one minute and suffer a -1 dice penalty for an hour. Exhaustion’s penalty and duration stacks with multiple activations.
Expend a point of Battery and spend a minute. Select a target Object within arm's reach. You may select a target at any range if you use up i of the target. At the end of your investigation, roll Brawn + Alertness at Difficulty 6.
You learn all the following information about your target:
You cannot investigate the same target more than once per day.
Alan seems to just know special qualities about things he examines.
Alan is able to peruse the timeline of objects he can examine and identify significant information on them.
Exert your Mind and spend a minute. Select a target Object within arm's reach. At the end of your investigation, roll Perception + Occult at Difficulty 6.
You learn a single specific piece of information, chosen from the following list, about your target:
You cannot investigate the same target more than once per day.
Dragons, naga, fey, and creatures of all types tend to collect and hoard. The problem is knowing about what is in your hoard, what they do, and what other beasts lay claim to your wealth. Now you can intuit that information by spending time with new pieces, studying and examining its exterior and underlying powers.
Exert your Mind and spend a minute to activate. Select a target Object within arm's reach. You cannot investigate the same target more than once per hour. At the end of your investigation, roll Perception + Investigation at Difficulty 6.
You learn a single specific piece of information, chosen from the following list, about your target:
The Thief examines an object closely for a minute to appraise its value. As their eyes dance across the subject, their pupils split vertically, and their irises fade to gold. If it is a particularly valuable item, the Thief may greedily lick their lips, revealing a forked tongue.
Within a minute, they have determined how materially valuable the object is and why.
Exert your Mind and spend a minute. Select a target Object within arm's reach. At the end of your investigation, roll Charisma + Culture at Difficulty 6.
You learn all the following information about your target:
You cannot investigate the same target more than once per day.