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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sword of Spirit" data-source="post: 5957873" data-attributes="member: 6677017">Coming from the 3.5 DMG perspective, I've personally never went with the idea that they can actually take control of the character's body.The text in the book seems to imply that they can, but it's so vague and refers to specific instances, and provides absolutely no definition of limits on that power.  By the book, there is nothing that says that the intelligent item who wins the roll can't just take over your character entirely and walk around wearing him like a suit.But that sure isn't the way that the same chapter implies it actually happens. The text seems to hint that a dominant item only uses the minimum amount of compulsion necessary to contribute to his goals, while a dominant player can use any of an items powers at will.I like to interpret it thusly: A dominant item cannot directly take control of a character. The item's ability to influence the actions of a player are limited by the items control over itself. So for instance the item can activate it's powers or not activate them whenever it wants, regardless of the will of the players. It can turn off it's magical properties, or even reverse bonuses (that +5 sword might start hitting with a -5 instead). And in a worse case scenario it can manifest minor physical control over its self, for instance, the sword "refusing to strike enemies" by causing an automatic miss on any attacks, or simply slipping from his grasp, or "forcing it's wielder into combat" by swinging in his grasp at the nearest creature (perhaps an opposed character Strength vs item Charisma roll is in order to see if the wielder can avoid having the sword drag his arm around like that).Unless an intelligent item has some sort of actual possession ability, I don't think allowing an ill-defined, limitation-free ability, which, oddly enough, the items seem reluctant to make use of fully, is appropriate--even though that's really how the game implies it works.</blockquote>

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