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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ComradeGnull" data-source="post: 5957878" data-attributes="member: 6685694">I think you're reading a little more into the RAW than is intended- if you fail your save, the item doesn't 'control you', but rather declines to bend to your will.  So essentially, if you make your save, you can make the item do whatever you want- employ powers, undertake actions that are contrary to its alignment or goals, etc.  If you fail the save, the item doesn't immediately turn you into Gollum, but rather can refuse to employ powers, can deny you bonuses, and (only in the most extreme circumstances, where you're doing something totally contrary to the item's purpose and alignment) rarely force an action.Personally, I would handle it as you are describing- if you fail your save, you start racking up penalties when you do things the item doesn't like.  If you make the save, you can do whatever you like with the item.  If the item keeps dominance for a while, it isn't running the PC for a whole session or something, but rather can keep stacking up bonuses or penalties in order to incentivise certain actions.  On a day when you fail your save but don't do anything that conflicts particularly with the item's goals and alignment, there is probably very little effect.The key, I think, is in treating the item like an NPC.  An NPC has a generally disposition toward the PC, but an extreme action may cause a crisis in their relationship.  If you have a hireling that is generally loyal, you don't need to roll Diplomacy every time you ask him to do his job.  On the other hand, if you ask him to kill his family or something equally odious to his personal beliefs he might not comply, do a terrible job, or just decide he doesn't want to work for you any more.The 'force an action' options are the equivalent of pushing a hireling so far that they turn on their employer.  A NG shield bearer might grumble and do a crappy job if he thinks he is fighting for mercenaries instead of a noble cause; if you tell him to burn down a house full of orphans, he resists you with force.The other obvious 'intelligent item' example is the Ring from LotR.  The Ring never 'makes' Gollum or Bilbo or Frodo do anything in particular (though the psychological compulsion to possess it is close), but it really wants to be put on and used (because this helps reunite it with Sauron, which is its goal).  Frodo gets weaker and sicker and the ring feels subjectively heavier the closer he gets to destroying the ring without using it (in game terms, stacking penalties the longer he is doing things that are in opposition to the ring's purpose).</blockquote>

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