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Post by meribson on May 10, 2017 19:07:35 GMT
How frequently do you include intelligent items in your campaigns? It hasn't come up yet largely due to the inability to find enough players, but in my setting a large number of 'medium' along with most major magic items and all artifacts are intelligent items. An npc I adapted from a one-shot PC of mine has an intelligent sword that burns the hands of anyone else that tries to wield it.
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Post by joatmoniac on May 10, 2017 21:14:26 GMT
I use it fairly sparingly because it is like adding a companion in some ways. It is even more so in some ways because it is a continuous NPC that the player(s) can interact with. I definitely try to have at least one in each campaign because I think that they can be tons of fun. I would try and tailor the personalities to the players as best as possible, because it would be no fun if the player didn't like the personality of the intelligent weapon that they have, haha. Would you potentially have multiple items tied to a single player?
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Post by meribson on May 11, 2017 3:48:08 GMT
Well like I said, it hasn't come up yet, but my current thought process is that the most powerful item dominates the others so that the PC only has one potentially crazy item whispering to them at a time. Could make for interesting game play to have a PC's magic items randomly trigger as they battle it out for dominance.
"Randaar, your flaming sword just gave away our position!"
"Apparently it and my +2 dancing shield are having an argument."
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Post by lasersniper on Jun 7, 2017 21:17:46 GMT
"Randaar, your flaming sword just gave away our position!" "Apparently it and my +2 dancing shield are having an argument." Okay now I want a poor PC to get stuck in the middle of an intelligent sword and shield arguing about the best course of action in a fight. Now you would think the sword would advocate for attacking and the shield defending, but actually it is reversed. Because I mean come on now, getting hit by other metal objects probably hurts. Shield- "Just run headlong into them, hack and slashing until they stop moving."
Sword- "Now hold on, lets be patient about this. Just be patient and wait for an opening. Get them in one attack once his guard is down"
Shield- "Of course that is what YOU want, you aren't the one constantly being smacked in the face while we wait" Sword- "THAT GUY HAS PLATEMAIL ON!!! Do you realize how long it would take to hack through that! You were meant to take the punishment, do your job for once" Shield- "HAVE YOU SEEN THE SIZE OF HIS WARHAMMER! I'LL BE CRUSHED!!!!" Sword- "Aaaaw is the glorified metal plate scared of a little hammer?" Shield- "Don't you mock me, you were the one complaining about chipping a tip on his armor. Obliviously afraid your inferior craftsmanship would show through." Sword- "HEY! I was forged by the *in unison* finest dwarven smiths in all of Dayiembe, from the harden metals carted all the way from the lands of Unudiris. Sharpened and enchanted by the great wizard Shoreek of the Shelsharres' Wizard Council" Shield- "Yeah yeah we know all about your heritage, the problem is you never put your point where your mouth is. At least I am honest. Warhammers F***ING HURT!" |
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Post by Guest on Jun 25, 2017 15:56:21 GMT
In one of the settings I developed, all magical items had some degree of intelligence. The metaphysics were a bit convoluted, but the basic premise was that only consciousness could bridge the gap between the material plane and the astral, with the latter being the source of all magical energy. Without that bridge, there's no flow of magic into the material. Thus, to make a permanent magical object, it needed to be imbued with an intellect to serve as a conduit. In most cases this involved binding a spirit into the item, though it was also possible to create artificial intelligence (a feat similar in power and scope to the Simulacrum spell).
The level of intelligence varied wildly with the purpose and power of the item. An insect spirit or artificial equivalent would suffice for a bag of holding, whereas a human or greater spirit/construct would be required for something like a Holy Avenger.
This never really came up in game play because, in the process of crafting, most crafters didn't include a way for the object's inhabitant to communicate with the material world, and those inhabitants generally lacked the means to do it themselves. They were just kind of stuck there, enslaved in a sort of mental loop that formed the conduit and shaped the magical energy. Would've made for some interesting moral dilemmas if the PCs ever learned their loot hated its own repetitive, tedious existence.
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