For reference: There is a duell in the module where a shaman tries to secretly help one NPC by continously casting Cure Wounds on him while supposedly only helping him “stand up” after he intentionally let‘s himself fall prone. To spot this, a PC has to specifically declare checking for interventions a then suceed a DC 15 perception-check despite being within earshot…
your first paragraph is literally the book rules for spell components. You either have a focus/components pouch for mundane components and anything with a gold amount needs to be spent to cast.
Very few spells actually have a costly material component for it to ever come up anyway.
Can’t hide somatic or verbal components without being a Sorcerer for the meta magic though. Otherwise you’re literally undermining one of the key features of that class.
Spell components exist literally for the reason stated at the end: so the DM can keep in check the power of the spellcaster as needed for the scenario by limiting what spells are available to be cast.
Identify - (a pearl worth 100+ GP) Spend 100GP to fine out what this 10GP sword does.
Magical objects at least always give off an aura that makes it obvious they are exceptional. And magic items are usually always at least 100G anyways, if you go by the books “item price by rarity” scale, so it’s an equivalent trade off
Or it would be if not for one tiny thing…
You can alternatively spend one short rest in physical contact with the item (Per raw but the variant option of only getting a vague sense of the items capability/strength is better imo) to tell the exact same things as Identity.
Identity is way too expensive for what it does per raw. You still have to touch the item, so it doesn’t prevent curses, and can do the same effect as sitting with it for half an hour. The only thing it does otherwise is give details on any spells that have been cast on the object, not just its innate magical properties, but that is so situationally useful to be worth 100G.