One of many good stories to come out of a campaign I ran about 10 years ago goes like this (short form):
One player had an extremely powerful, intelligent sword for a time. It really made him powerful, but as is often the way with artifacts, circumstances led to him wielding it only for a while. Then it was gone.
Soon thereafter, the PCs are sneaking around a noble's castle and they wander into the armory, where the walls are covered with hanging swords (and other weapons). Someone suggests casting detect magic. The player in question says that's worthless and there's really only one good way to measure value. He looks around, and then says to the swords:
"OK, so can any of you talk?"