DMing an intelligent item

Intelligent items have their own sentience and DMG/SRD says " these items think and feel the same way characters do and should be treated as NPCs".

Well, how you fellow DMs actually run intelligent items?

1) Do you roll initiative separately from the user?

Do you let the item actually act as an NPC with it's on initiative order? Or do you just let the item take it's action within the turn of the user?
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2) Do you allow the PC to notice something which the intelligent item has noticed?

For example, an item with higher mental ability scores has 120 ft. blindsense ability. Someone with blindsense ability usually just notice creatures within range, without Listen or Spot checks. That means, a creature with blindsense is not surprised unless suddenly attacked out o it's blindsense range.

Do you simply assume that the owner of the item simply cannot be surprised if the enemy or enemies start the attack within 120 ft. from him? Or do you treat the item and the PC as different character and let the situation like, say, "the item is not surprised but the user is surprised" happen?

Having an NPC that's always "on" can get to be a bit much, so I tend to just use intelligent items' input on the game sparingly - when it would make things interesting, and to give a general flavor of the items' personality and goals.

For your specific questions, I don't roll initiative separately for items. If a PC wants their intelligent item to do something, they have to use their own actions to activate it. As far as Blindsense goes, unless the item and the PC aren't on good terms, I would have it inform the PC of what it knows, so that, yes, the PC would not be surprised.

If the wielder and the item are getting along, then the item is happy to be used. It may shout out a warning if someone is sneaking up but other than that, just keep it in the background.

Now if the item is not happy about its wielder, then you can do a lot more.

Ralif Redhammer said:

Having an NPC that's always "on" can get to be a bit much, so I tend to just use intelligent items' input on the game sparingly - when it would make things interesting, and to give a general flavor of the items' personality and goals.

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This, I once tried to RP a small demon one of my players had made a deal with, giving it a host body to "see the world" and it in trade gave him cool evil powers. It was really a LOT of work to always be coming up with some commentary or a response to player activity or questions.

Now I tie item/npc commentary and action to specific in game events. IE: if there is a player with a Holy Sword of Awesome Goodness, and the player goes to strike a good-aligned enemy, or knowingly does an evil act, the sword reacts to that. Sometimes with commentary, sometimes with action.

I don't give my weapons any special abilities based on their INT, their sentience is largely a plot device. They know or sense things if it's relevant, or if they choose to share that knowledge with their wielder, but otherwise don't do much unless there is a specific need.

For the first question I seem to found the answer. From SRD,

Unlike most magic items, intelligent items can activate their own powers without waiting for a command word from their owner. Intelligent items act during their owner’s turn in the initiative order.

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So the intelligent item act during it's owner's turn. But the owner does not need to take some action to activate it's powers.

So, the question is narrowed down to the second one. Assuming an intelligent item noticed some ambushing enemy, but the owner didn't, should the warning from the intelligent item be fast enough to prevent the owner from being surprised?

Shin Okada said:

So, the question is narrowed down to the second one. Assuming an intelligent item noticed some ambushing enemy, but the owner didn't, should the warning from the intelligent item be fast enough to prevent the owner from being surprised?

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I would say, in general, no. And, if you intend this to happen, you should integrate it into the standard rules of the game by giving the wielder of the weapon an appropriate insight bonus to Spot/Listen (Perception) checks, and/or perhaps a bonus to initiative. Always keep the play as simple as possible, and that means (among other things) not loading up combat with a bunch more rolls.

As for playing an intelligent item, I tend to play them as having very simple very focused personalities. For one thing, you want to keep the demands that the item is making on its owner quite clear, so that you can fairly judge when a personality conflict is coming into play. For another, you don't want the item intruding into the game so much, that it takes spotlight from other players.

So for example, one of my players has a +2 keen eager rapier of swiftness named Firstblood. Firstblood makes the following demands on its wielder:

1) Don't use any other weapon.
2) Strike enemies before they can strike you.
3) Don't leave any enemy alive.
4) Don't flee battle.

That's about it. Of course, that's brutal. If the sword is in control, he's basically forced to fight anyone that threatens him to the death on the spot. Anyone that plots against him has to be preemptively killed. With the sword in control, once the sword interprets something as a threat, he's forced to be a single-minded psychopath. If a party member were ever to accidently injure him, it would be the end of probably multiple PC's.

As a DM, I agree completely with Celebrim. Creating an intelligent magic item is an exhausting task on so many levels. No one is going to put that effort into something if there's not an agenda to be fulfilled. Most intelligent magic items are very focused on that task, and tend to view whomever is wielding them as a means to that end.