Shattered Kingdoms

Is there a set criteria for builders on decay timers? I know that magical items that you find/dropped by NPCs decay. Same with sacred armor if you are not of the right faith / favor level.

However, where I am running into questions is with items that have no good reason to decay. I know there were some very saught after swords a few years past in teron that had decay timers added to them. I picked up (killed the old NPC who wielded it) weapon that my character could not use because I wanted to do some comparisons and it crumbled within a few minutes. If items are going to decay, should we not be able to tell, somehow? Sacred items, for example, have (Sacred) and you know if they are not yours, you won't keep them for long.

Just rather annoying when you spend like an hour getting an item only to have it crumble.

A transparent scroll of mine decayed at random.

@laez1: Pretty much every scroll in the game crumbles over time. Some take longer than others.

Store bought scrolls don't crumble anymore I don't think. (either that or it was vials, I can't remember)

Every scroll that you find or kill a NPC to get will crumble over time.

Thanks. That clears things up.