Intelligent Magic Swords? (2e AD&D)

[bloodtide]

Yea.....this was a common thing. They were at least uncommon in some adventures, or at least in Dungeon Magazine.

The Famous named weapons were also a thing.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Back in AD&D days we were flush with talking swords. Not so much since 5e.

 

[Celebrim]

Well after playing around with the dice a bit, I found most intelligent weapons have fairly low Ego scores...Intelligence 16, Ego 15. NG.

Personality score of a sword is the combined score of its intelligence and ego - not it's Ego alone. That sword is dangerous. It outright murders most people that touch it (15 damage), and it's going to flat out dominate most relationships it has.

But I wasn't really asking if these things are too powerful or how to handle them; it's more that, by the rules, it seems they should be very common, and that hasn't been my experience, and I was wondering how common they are in other people's games.

Reasonably common. They play a major role in the backstory of my homebrew world. I try to have at least one show up in any campaign I run because they are fun. I would probably not have one with that brutal of personality score though, because you risk turning a PC into an NPC.

 

[James Gasik]

Personality score of a sword is the combined score of its intelligence and ego - not it's Ego alone. That sword is dangerous. It outright murders most people that touch it (15 damage), and it's going to flat out dominate most relationships it has.



Reasonably common. They play a major role in the backstory of my homebrew world. I try to have at least one show up in any campaign I run because they are fun. I would probably not have one with that brutal of personality score though, because you risk turning a PC into an NPC.

Oh ok, I guess I need to re-read that section, I had thought Ego was the main component to consider, since the text says "any weapon with an Ego of 19 will consider itself superior to all characters".

It is strange then that the abilities of swords with high intelligence (languages, reading, telepathy) also increase their Ego scores...

Typical. "Hey, we made intelligent swords as a rules patch for Fighters; oh and 25% of the best weapons in the game have this feature! But of course, we can't give you a benefit without a ton of restrictions, so say hello to having your weapon dictate what your character does!"

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Oh ok, I guess I need to re-read that section, I had thought Ego was the main component to consider, since the text says "any weapon with an Ego of 19 will consider itself superior to all characters".

It is strange then that the abilities of swords with high intelligence (languages, reading, telepathy) also increase their Ego scores...

Typical. "Hey, we made intelligent swords as a rules patch for Fighters; oh and 25% of the best weapons in the game have this feature! But of course, we can't give you a benefit without a ton of restrictions, so say hello to having your weapon dictate what your character does!"

I always chalked that up as someone or someones being big fans of Michael Moorcock.

 

[rgard]

I always chalked that up as someone or someone’s being big fans of Michael Moorcock.

Yes and Blackrazor comes to mind.

 

[Cruentus]

Typical. "Hey, we made intelligent swords as a rules patch for Fighters; oh and 25% of the best weapons in the game have this feature! But of course, we can't give you a benefit without a ton of restrictions, so say hello to having your weapon dictate what your character does!"

I know its not 2e, but I just looked in Old School Essentials to see what they have re: intelligent magic swords, and it reads: Pg 222 Referee's Tome. "Probability: If a referee wishes to randomly determine whether a magic sword is intelligent, the probability is 30%."

That's, like, a lot... Having started in Ad&d, I think we never paid that much attention to the probabilities of sentient swords, and left it to the DM to determine if any swords we encountered were sentient. And if they were, they were plot critical items in the adventure or the campaign, not some random treasure we'd find (again, unless plot critical).

Naturally, as mentioned by @Dannyalcatraz and @rgard, once we read Moorcock, then it was all about Stormbringer and then its second cousin Blackrazor. And oh yes, we went after Blackrazor...

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Yes and Blackrazor comes to mind.

And Mournblade, a.k.a. Ravenbrand.

 

[James Gasik]

Or the King of intelligent weapons you don't want to get near, Ebonbane.

 

[Mannahnin]

I know its not 2e, but I just looked in Old School Essentials to see what they have re: intelligent magic swords, and it reads: Pg 222 Referee's Tome. "Probability: If a referee wishes to randomly determine whether a magic sword is intelligent, the probability is 30%."

That's, like, a lot... Having started in Ad&d, I think we never paid that much attention to the probabilities of sentient swords, and left it to the DM to determine if any swords we encountered were sentient. And if they were, they were plot critical items in the adventure or the campaign, not some random treasure we'd find (again, unless plot critical).

OSE is taking that probability directly from B/X. (Cook Expert, specifically; Moldvay Basic doesn't have intelligent swords yet).

That "if a referee wishes" part is I think a nod to how it was often used in play. As I recall 1981 Expert doesn't present it as an optional rule.

I think your experience from AD&D was pretty common. Between the chance of intelligent swords being easier to overlook in AD&D's much more sprawling magic items section, and some DMs just not wanting to deal with the hassles of ego struggles and playing intelligent swords like additional NPCs, I think a lot of campaigns had fewer intelligent swords than the rules prescribe.