Do you use Intelligent Magical Items in your campaigns?

[jasper]

Does your DM mean Int as true npc with it own ego and thoughts on whether Bob and Sara should be opening the door. Or Just enough int to tell bob that there is gold behind door number 1.

I use both.
Darryl the DragonSlayer. Go to the story hour and search deep.
Some of the others are min int and may go "rats" when it misses the pc head.

I would make sure to keep the full blown ones to min because it hard to juggle npc, monster and magic int items who have differ goals.

 

[Leopold]

I am using FinSlayer from Night Below. So far he/it is very very much like an NPC in the game. The PC's talk to him/it and ask him questions and ask what to do about things. It mostly just stands there and says "Which way are the kuo-toa?" they say "Down" it says "Then screw this skulking around nonsense! Down we go!" and it starts to take over...


each item has it's thought, emotions, feelings, and personalities. Finslayer is most definately all about cutting a swath through the enemy but going about it in a reasonbaly good way. All about the items agenda. And in this way I can have NPC's that interact with other NPC's have their own ways and means but not have to stat them out or worry about hit points or crap..

 

[Walter_J]

Absolutely. As a DM, I always try and arrange for each character to find a nifty item early on and intelligent items can be among the niftiest. As far as balance issues, I wouldn't worry about that too much, as long as you let common sense guide you when creating an intelligent item the characters might find. For example, a +1 sword whose only big claim to fame appears to be detect magic probably isn't going to have a big impact on game play, but could still be interesting, if say, the weapon used to belong to some great hero that used to hunt down evil spell casters and abilities that would be helpful against such opponents suddenly flair to life latter in the game... Things like that.

Never had a player create an intelligent item, so I can't be of much help there. I usually handle ego conflicts 'n such through a combination of dice rolls and role-play, depending on the player.

Oh, and as far as frequency, I'd decide that myself, if I were you. If your GMing and you haven't placed an intelligent item before, then I wouldn't place the first one randomly. I'd work out the particulars and place the item for a reason.

 

[MerakSpielman]

My players sold their intelligent item before they found out it was intelligent (it couldn't talk). It's special power was Truth Detection - if it was unsheathed and pointed at somebody, it would quiver whenever they told a lie. It couldn't figure out how to make it's intelligence known and it was good aligned so it didn't want to force its ego upon them. They had figured out that it was a Truth Detector, but needed the money more (to train). It just let itself get sold for a horribly low price (as far as it was concerned).

 

[gamecat]

Haven't used one yet, and am a bit gun-shy about doing so, as it's a bit of work for the DM (Me) to crunch the item's opinion about the current situation in addition to the other NPCs.

 

[Number47]

Not opposed to intelligent items, but the only one I can recall having actually placed was a potion. It was a failed potion of intelligence that could speak. It mostly only pleaded to not be drunk by anyone. It was only thrown in as a sort of red herring, it had no real importance to the game whatsoever. One of the players really became attached to it, however. He named it Lemony and used to talk to it frequently. He would tell it important things for it to remember, in case he forgot. It became his day-planner, of sorts.

 

[Monte At Home]

As a DM, I love them. I've got an intelligent dagger (basically the same one mentioned in the Banewarrens, with a few changes) in my game right now.

Although I'm happy with the DMG system, if you want to try something different, I put a whole new system for intelligent magic items in Book of Eldritch Might III. It treats them more like creatures or characters. They have levels, skills, feats, etc. (including lots of unique item feats).

 

[MerakSpielman]

I'll check that out Monte, but I still have to get BoEM 1 and 2. Seriously, I need a bigger monthly RPG budget... Gotta convince the wife...

I've been thinking of making the intelligent items in my world all have to contain the soul of a willing being (one way to achieve near-immortality, unless you meet somebody with Sunder). How else does the item get its intelligence? What consciousness is answering all those questions you ask it? How can an item have memory? You can solve all this with "It's magic, dude!" but I think it makes more sense (even magic-wise) for a real soul to be attached.

 

[Xeriar]

As a DM, I love them. I've got an intelligent dagger (basically the same one mentioned in the Banewarrens, with a few changes) in my game right now.

Although I'm happy with the DMG system, if you want to try something different, I put a whole new system for intelligent magic items in Book of Eldritch Might III. It treats them more like creatures or characters. They have levels, skills, feats, etc. (including lots of unique item feats).

Now I will certainly have to check that one out. Although I've never had a character (or even been in a campaign) with an intelligent weapon - just the airship.

What I really liked about the way my DM did it is that it really did 'grow' though, over time.

 

[Xeriar]

I'll check that out Monte, but I still have to get BoEM 1 and 2. Seriously, I need a bigger monthly RPG budget... Gotta convince the wife...

I've been thinking of making the intelligent items in my world all have to contain the soul of a willing being (one way to achieve near-immortality, unless you meet somebody with Sunder). How else does the item get its intelligence? What consciousness is answering all those questions you ask it? How can an item have memory? You can solve all this with "It's magic, dude!" but I think it makes more sense (even magic-wise) for a real soul to be attached.

What is a soul? How can they hold memory? How can they be aware? How are souls made? How are they destroyed?

Obviously, you may always answer these with your own personal beliefs, or make some up for your game, but the way I thought of it was that, if a creator spent a great deal of love and care on an item, he or she actually -gave- it a piece of their own soul, to become the item's.