Do you use Intelligent Magical Items in your campaign?

[BluWolf]

Almost ALL the intelligent weapons I have ever seen in campaigns are either used as comic relief or have the personality of a snobby french waiter/jilted lover.

Its cliche' and usually very distracting.

 

[Bendris Noulg]

In my setting, there are a total of 11 Intelligent Items. There are nine weapons (one for each alignment, called The Conflict Blades), and one LN Psionically Self-Aware Gem (The Eye), and one NE orb of corrupted Mineral that contains a small (but potent) vortex of Negative Energy (The Entropy Stone).

Not a one has yet entered actual game-play, however.

 

[JadeLyon]

My current campaign is based entirely on an intelligent magical item.

The item a talking gauntles with an "activation" button. I have them in a Quantum Leap/Sliders type of campaign. The item detects powerful artifacts being used to upset "the balance" and teleports them to wherever it is.

The intelligent item tells them at first that there is a danger, and as time passes, they can ask it questions about the situation.

After they teleport, they can continue to ask it questions about the artifact.

I absolutely love it, and my players are having a blast. It allows us to play short adventures (since we don't game on a very regular schedule) and it lets them be challenged at high level (most have leveled to 11th by now).

So ... yes, I use intelligent magical items. But as most have said, only sparingly, as they have to be unique for them to retain their "flavor"

 

[seasong]

A number of items in campaigns past have, at the least, had some degree of purpose or awareness. Some have also been described (by players) as malignant tumors on the face of creation. But they did not talk, which limits their perception as intelligent.

One campaign I ran was entirely based around an intelligent sword which was really an ancient demigod in hiding, who was arranging his resurrection. It talked, but only to its "owner".

In a very low-magic campaign I ran some time back, magic items were made by binding spirits to a purpose and into an object. Although spirits were not always "intelligent" in the traditional sense, they were certainly self-aware and could act on their own.

 

[BluWolf]

JadeLyon, that sounds like an amazing idea for short run or "change of pace" type games.

I could probably create a cool D20 Modern campaign off this.

Very cool.

Kind of a cross between Sliders and Friday the 13th the series.

 

[JadeLyon]

JadeLyon, that sounds like an amazing idea for short run or "change of pace" type games.

I could probably create a cool D20 Modern campaign off this.

Very cool.

Kind of a cross between Sliders and Friday the 13th the series.

Well, thanks. I thought it was truely a stroke of genius. What was a little annoying though, was when they threw the darn thing in a bag of holding and continued on their merry way.

Fortunately, the dungeon/catacombs collapsed and as soon as they were done digging to the surface, they got the hint =)

I do hope that if someone uses the idea they acknowledge me, and let me know how it goes.

Two guys at work play in another game, and they used the idea exactly like you said, in a d20 modern setting.

 

[Holy Bovine]

(haven't got anything intelligent in my game.

Now that's a darn unkind thing to say about people in your game!

Myself I love intelligent items in my campaigns. I mostly use rings and weapons (orignal aren't I? ). One of the most memorable was a short sword a thief in my Lanhkmar campaign came across. It looked like it was corroded and falling apart but, in desperation he used it in combat. Its special power was the destruction of lawful creatures (it was a very chaotic, non-evil campaign). The guy he was fighting was LG (he had been surprised and just wanted to subdue him with the flat of the sword). The LG guard falied his save (I ruled that even though the edge wasn't used the PC still did physical damage (1/4 of subdual was real) and the sword's special power had a 25% chance of taking affect) and immediately began to decompose before the PC's eyes. He was disgusted and appalled and tried many time to get rid of the sword. It always seemed to come back though (and he would always pull it out when things got hariy with the battlecry - 'If yer Lawful, you'd better run now!')

 

[DarkSoldier]

My antagonist had a pair of intelligent blades; artefacts forged by the God of Death and Destruction, bound with the intellects of demons.

Kage Daishou was the katana, Kage Shotou the wakizashi. Blades black as night, the God of Death planned to have them corrupt him into a force of mad destruction as the demonic minds imposed their will on his.

Fortunately, he had a lucid moment, realised what they were, and tossed them into a volcano to get rid of them. Unfortunately, the volcano erupted. He stopped, faced the flow, and let it consume him.

Since then, no intelligent items have appeared in the storyline.