Intelligent Weapon [Archive] - Wizards Community

Intelligent Weapon [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Aloki
04-04-07, 05:00 PM I am going to introduce an intelligent weapon to my game. I want to make it so that they will keep it for the entire campaign, so, i want to make it advance in power as the PCs do. Any ideas on how I could do that? Also, could i get some backstory for it? I was thinking along the lines of the personality in the sword used to be an epic-level adventurer, and was, for one reason or another, had his personality trapped in the weapon. Since i really do not know what kind of weapon my party will need i will allow them to have it morph into the form they desire. But only once, or with a wish/miracle. I plan ahead, so this would be of a great help.

For first level i was just thinking it would be masterwork
Therashaland
04-04-07, 06:19 PM Well you could use the Weapons of Legacy book. It has several weapons that are similar to the idea you are talking about. Personally I dont have the book so what I usually do is come up with a back story and set some kind of action or ritual that is need to advance the weapon. This usually comes with a level requirement as well that way it doesn't become over powered.

One other problem I have had is that the player with this weapon usually gets a lot of attention and even becomes more powerful the other members of the party; so when creating your weapon keep in mind what other characters will be able to do at the level the ability can be acquired. I personally had a side affect to activating the weapon on or item. I have also just make the weapon very specific in its application. Such as an undead buster or fey related or anything you can think of....

Hope this helps.

~Therashaland
Dielzen
04-04-07, 08:15 PM Also check out the Unearthed Arcana for the Scions, which I find immensly more useful than WoL, but that's just me.
Aegis_Chiron
04-04-07, 10:06 PM In Dragon # 289 (One of Four I actually own!!) it talks about this same idea of levelling up treasures, specifically weapons and armor. In essense, the character sacrifices some of his own XP and gives it to the item. After reaching a pre-set limit, the weapon 'gains a level', or awakens an additional power.

There are certain restrictions for game balance sake, but nothing extreme. For example, the PC cannot give so much XP so that he drops a level; "he can only increase an item's bonus equivalent by +1 per every two levels plus one"; if it a double headed weapon has its own XP to earn, not one lump sum for the entire weapon. And there are level requirements to awaken different abilities

Apart from those, you as the DM can impose other restrictions based on the items history, or the story-line. Alignment, Class ability, Feats, Race... let the imagination decide.

For you specifically, I would give them a +1 weapon, and let them feel a faint intelligence within. As the weilder proves himself worthy of the weapon (ie levels it up a bit) the intelligence becomes more coherent, eventually being able to hold conversations with the wielder telepathically.

If you don't know what weapon to make it, wait an adventure or two, find out which of your players you trust with a weapon like this, and make it his choice weapon.
DrunkMonk
04-05-07, 03:20 AM I leave the game mechanics to the guys who shine in that area (not me), but we had a similar situation in one of our games that used an dagger that was intelligent. Not a former epic character, but close.

OUr DM had the dagger be a "after image" of a character that was supposedly killed. the dagger slowly regained memories, become more independent and more powerful. It turned out that the dagger was heroic, but the character who he was a copy of eventually was a villian. the dagger's personality was the "what if" that person never went bad? It was complicated but interesting.

The thing was, the dagger gave different abilities at different times and so 3 out of the 5 PC's carried the dagger for a while.

Just a note,

DM
Aloki
04-05-07, 06:40 PM I was gonna use it has a plot hook kinda. Basically an aristocrat that appears Neutral Good (even through Detect Evil), but is later revealed to be Lawful Evil, when the characters find the weapon which the aristocrat said was stolen, but in reality, he collects powerful weapons, and uses them for his own demented purposes. The people (hobgoblins) that "stole" the weapon actually did steal it, but it was from a merchant. I was too lazy so i am going to use "A Dark and Stormy Knight" for the part that they get the weapon. Know of any caves near Waterdeep, besides Undermountain?
dragonheart
04-08-07, 09:52 PM One very simple idea - since your planning on this being a near epic weapon anyway have it have both a very high intelligence and will so its personality score is extremely high. Then instead of it taking over the character as the the character proves worthy it (ie levels up) it reveals more and more of its powers untill the PC has a personality score high enough to perhas doubhle override it at which point it fully revels itself when the PC (and companions) is already near epic anyway.
Aloki
04-09-07, 01:22 AM That was basically what i was going to do, what i need is ideas for the abilities of the weapon at certian points
dragonheart
04-09-07, 12:07 PM Ahhhhh :) ok, it sounded initially like you were more looking for how to make the weapon than what powers to give it.

As for powers here are some ideas:
1. (obviously) total enhancment bonus of +5 (masterwork at level 1, +1 at level 4, +2 at level 8, +3 at level 12, +4 at level 16, +5 at level 20.

2. keen - improves the critical threat range - +1 bonus; level 6

3. Metalline - changes the composition to deal with foe's damage reduction - +2 bonus; level 9

4.Morphing - weapon can change into any other weapon of its size - +1 bonus; level 5

5. Magebane (MIC) - Vs casters of arcane magic or invocations treated as 2 levels higher and does 2d6 damage on a hit - +1 bonus, level 13

Intelligence: (Level 7)
Int: 19, Wis: 19, Cha: 10 ; Ego: 35 Alignment: (what ever you want)
Purpose: destroy evil archmages
Lesser Powers:
1. 10 ranks in Spellcraft - level 15
2. cure moderate wounds 3/d - level 10
3. Detect magic at will - level 7
4. 10 ranks in knowledge: Arcana - level 14
Greater powers:
1.Arcane eye 1/d - level 17
2. continuous detect Scrying - level 9
3. haste 3/d - level 11
Special purpose power: 15 D6 Sonic Blast 3/d - level 18

there you have an essentially epic weapon that will fill any warrior's heart with glee and be useful even well into epic levels but technically doesn't qualify as epic (I do love intelligent items)

note 1 - the magebane property effectively grants you bane status for dragons, lichs, archmages, alhoon, demons, devils even beholders making more and more useful as you progress not less useful.
note 2 - Sonic Blast is a modified greater shout that affects normal creatures as well as crystaline with its damage - since fire, cold and lightning are so commonly protected against as you increase levels and some powerful creatures have immunity to acid sonic energy is about the only sure fire energy source at high levels. with a potential for 45 DR of damage a day even if the mages save they take 22.5 D6 of damage and unless they are truely epic are probably either dead or near death.
Dielzen
04-09-07, 06:10 PM keen on an epic weapon is painful unless it's a 1h or 2h wpn and the PC gets the item before they're of high enough level to get Imp Crit...and even then it can be highly undesirable.
dragonheart
04-10-07, 09:13 AM Dielzen, if you read the initial post it is supposed to be a sword (ie 1/2handed) and is supposed to be aquired at level one and grow in power throughout the PC's career. given the morphing characteristic and background suggested by the original poster (ie an epic level character trapped in the weapon) the keen should be able to switch to impact if the weapon changes form. This could be explained by hte trapped character having improved critical.

On a side note I disagree that improved critical is the way to go rather than having keen/impact/etc on the weapon. Its a +1 bonus to the weapon that makes it about 5% better (your only going to get that critical around 3-8% of the time) while taking improved critical is taking one of your very limited feat slots for the same increase. Granted a fighter gets 11 bonus feats + the 7 everyone gets (1,3,6,9,12,15,18 levels) so for a straight fighter its about equal but for anyone else you want something that is going to improve your abilities by about 10-12% and taking improved critical is really taking a loss - have it applied to the weapon and lose a few experience that you can make up easily enough with the improved weapon.
Similarly feats like improved feint are seldom worth taking unless your willing to put a point into bluff every round since the foe gets to include their BAB on their counter roll against your bluff skill. Unless your pointing up bluff to go along with it your going to lose the check much more often than your going to win and that make the feat basically worthless unless your willing to place a point or two in bluff every level to keep it up wiht the fighter's BAB.
Dielzen
04-10-07, 09:20 PM Dielzen, if you read the initial post it is supposed to be a sword (ie 1/2handed) and is supposed to be aquired at level one and grow in power throughout the PC's career. given the morphing characteristic and background suggested by the original poster (ie an epic level character trapped in the weapon) the keen should be able to switch to impact if the weapon changes form. This could be explained by hte trapped character having improved critical.

Thanks, been following this thread from the beginning.

Keen is bad/undesirable if
1 - You're a fighter, so have lots of feats to spend on things like Imp Crit
2 - You're a TWF that uses the same type of weapon in both hands and they're good threat range weapons (Kukri comes to mind)

Sure, if you TWF two different weapons it's good, or if you're a melee type who needs to conserve their feats.

And his post doesn't say that the PC will know every aspect of the wpn when they get it, so they might take Imp Crit at Ftr8, then get bummed when the wpn grants Keen at lvl 10, for instance.

Things are SITUATIONAL, which is why I said Keen "can" be undesirable, not it "is."
dragonheart
04-10-07, 11:24 PM FAir enough :)

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Aloki 04-04-07, 05:00 PM	I am going to introduce an intelligent weapon to my game. I want to make it so that they will keep it for the entire campaign, so, i want to make it advance in power as the PCs do. Any ideas on how I could do that? Also, could i get some backstory for it? I was thinking along the lines of the personality in the sword used to be an epic-level adventurer, and was, for one reason or another, had his personality trapped in the weapon. Since i really do not know what kind of weapon my party will need i will allow them to have it morph into the form they desire. But only once, or with a wish/miracle. I plan ahead, so this would be of a great help. For first level i was just thinking it would be masterwork
Therashaland 04-04-07, 06:19 PM	Well you could use the Weapons of Legacy book. It has several weapons that are similar to the idea you are talking about. Personally I dont have the book so what I usually do is come up with a back story and set some kind of action or ritual that is need to advance the weapon. This usually comes with a level requirement as well that way it doesn't become over powered. One other problem I have had is that the player with this weapon usually gets a lot of attention and even becomes more powerful the other members of the party; so when creating your weapon keep in mind what other characters will be able to do at the level the ability can be acquired. I personally had a side affect to activating the weapon on or item. I have also just make the weapon very specific in its application. Such as an undead buster or fey related or anything you can think of.... Hope this helps. ~Therashaland
Dielzen 04-04-07, 08:15 PM	Also check out the Unearthed Arcana for the Scions, which I find immensly more useful than WoL, but that's just me.
Aegis_Chiron 04-04-07, 10:06 PM	In Dragon # 289 (One of Four I actually own!!) it talks about this same idea of levelling up treasures, specifically weapons and armor. In essense, the character sacrifices some of his own XP and gives it to the item. After reaching a pre-set limit, the weapon 'gains a level', or awakens an additional power. There are certain restrictions for game balance sake, but nothing extreme. For example, the PC cannot give so much XP so that he drops a level; "he can only increase an item's bonus equivalent by +1 per every two levels plus one"; if it a double headed weapon has its own XP to earn, not one lump sum for the entire weapon. And there are level requirements to awaken different abilities Apart from those, you as the DM can impose other restrictions based on the items history, or the story-line. Alignment, Class ability, Feats, Race... let the imagination decide. For you specifically, I would give them a +1 weapon, and let them feel a faint intelligence within. As the weilder proves himself worthy of the weapon (ie levels it up a bit) the intelligence becomes more coherent, eventually being able to hold conversations with the wielder telepathically. If you don't know what weapon to make it, wait an adventure or two, find out which of your players you trust with a weapon like this, and make it his choice weapon.
DrunkMonk 04-05-07, 03:20 AM	I leave the game mechanics to the guys who shine in that area (not me), but we had a similar situation in one of our games that used an dagger that was intelligent. Not a former epic character, but close. OUr DM had the dagger be a "after image" of a character that was supposedly killed. the dagger slowly regained memories, become more independent and more powerful. It turned out that the dagger was heroic, but the character who he was a copy of eventually was a villian. the dagger's personality was the "what if" that person never went bad? It was complicated but interesting. The thing was, the dagger gave different abilities at different times and so 3 out of the 5 PC's carried the dagger for a while. Just a note, DM
Aloki 04-05-07, 06:40 PM	I was gonna use it has a plot hook kinda. Basically an aristocrat that appears Neutral Good (even through Detect Evil), but is later revealed to be Lawful Evil, when the characters find the weapon which the aristocrat said was stolen, but in reality, he collects powerful weapons, and uses them for his own demented purposes. The people (hobgoblins) that "stole" the weapon actually did steal it, but it was from a merchant. I was too lazy so i am going to use "A Dark and Stormy Knight" for the part that they get the weapon. Know of any caves near Waterdeep, besides Undermountain?
dragonheart 04-08-07, 09:52 PM	One very simple idea - since your planning on this being a near epic weapon anyway have it have both a very high intelligence and will so its personality score is extremely high. Then instead of it taking over the character as the the character proves worthy it (ie levels up) it reveals more and more of its powers untill the PC has a personality score high enough to perhas doubhle override it at which point it fully revels itself when the PC (and companions) is already near epic anyway.
Aloki 04-09-07, 01:22 AM	That was basically what i was going to do, what i need is ideas for the abilities of the weapon at certian points
dragonheart 04-09-07, 12:07 PM	Ahhhhh :) ok, it sounded initially like you were more looking for how to make the weapon than what powers to give it. As for powers here are some ideas: 1. (obviously) total enhancment bonus of +5 (masterwork at level 1, +1 at level 4, +2 at level 8, +3 at level 12, +4 at level 16, +5 at level 20. 2. keen - improves the critical threat range - +1 bonus; level 6 3. Metalline - changes the composition to deal with foe's damage reduction - +2 bonus; level 9 4.Morphing - weapon can change into any other weapon of its size - +1 bonus; level 5 5. Magebane (MIC) - Vs casters of arcane magic or invocations treated as 2 levels higher and does 2d6 damage on a hit - +1 bonus, level 13 Intelligence: (Level 7) Int: 19, Wis: 19, Cha: 10 ; Ego: 35 Alignment: (what ever you want) Purpose: destroy evil archmages Lesser Powers: 1. 10 ranks in Spellcraft - level 15 2. cure moderate wounds 3/d - level 10 3. Detect magic at will - level 7 4. 10 ranks in knowledge: Arcana - level 14 Greater powers: 1.Arcane eye 1/d - level 17 2. continuous detect Scrying - level 9 3. haste 3/d - level 11 Special purpose power: 15 D6 Sonic Blast 3/d - level 18 there you have an essentially epic weapon that will fill any warrior's heart with glee and be useful even well into epic levels but technically doesn't qualify as epic (I do love intelligent items) note 1 - the magebane property effectively grants you bane status for dragons, lichs, archmages, alhoon, demons, devils even beholders making more and more useful as you progress not less useful. note 2 - Sonic Blast is a modified greater shout that affects normal creatures as well as crystaline with its damage - since fire, cold and lightning are so commonly protected against as you increase levels and some powerful creatures have immunity to acid sonic energy is about the only sure fire energy source at high levels. with a potential for 45 DR of damage a day even if the mages save they take 22.5 D6 of damage and unless they are truely epic are probably either dead or near death.
Dielzen 04-09-07, 06:10 PM	keen on an epic weapon is painful unless it's a 1h or 2h wpn and the PC gets the item before they're of high enough level to get Imp Crit...and even then it can be highly undesirable.
dragonheart 04-10-07, 09:13 AM	Dielzen, if you read the initial post it is supposed to be a sword (ie 1/2handed) and is supposed to be aquired at level one and grow in power throughout the PC's career. given the morphing characteristic and background suggested by the original poster (ie an epic level character trapped in the weapon) the keen should be able to switch to impact if the weapon changes form. This could be explained by hte trapped character having improved critical. On a side note I disagree that improved critical is the way to go rather than having keen/impact/etc on the weapon. Its a +1 bonus to the weapon that makes it about 5% better (your only going to get that critical around 3-8% of the time) while taking improved critical is taking one of your very limited feat slots for the same increase. Granted a fighter gets 11 bonus feats + the 7 everyone gets (1,3,6,9,12,15,18 levels) so for a straight fighter its about equal but for anyone else you want something that is going to improve your abilities by about 10-12% and taking improved critical is really taking a loss - have it applied to the weapon and lose a few experience that you can make up easily enough with the improved weapon. Similarly feats like improved feint are seldom worth taking unless your willing to put a point into bluff every round since the foe gets to include their BAB on their counter roll against your bluff skill. Unless your pointing up bluff to go along with it your going to lose the check much more often than your going to win and that make the feat basically worthless unless your willing to place a point or two in bluff every level to keep it up wiht the fighter's BAB.
Dielzen 04-10-07, 09:20 PM	Dielzen, if you read the initial post it is supposed to be a sword (ie 1/2handed) and is supposed to be aquired at level one and grow in power throughout the PC's career. given the morphing characteristic and background suggested by the original poster (ie an epic level character trapped in the weapon) the keen should be able to switch to impact if the weapon changes form. This could be explained by hte trapped character having improved critical. Thanks, been following this thread from the beginning. Keen is bad/undesirable if 1 - You're a fighter, so have lots of feats to spend on things like Imp Crit 2 - You're a TWF that uses the same type of weapon in both hands and they're good threat range weapons (Kukri comes to mind) Sure, if you TWF two different weapons it's good, or if you're a melee type who needs to conserve their feats. And his post doesn't say that the PC will know every aspect of the wpn when they get it, so they might take Imp Crit at Ftr8, then get bummed when the wpn grants Keen at lvl 10, for instance. Things are SITUATIONAL, which is why I said Keen "can" be undesirable, not it "is."
dragonheart 04-10-07, 11:24 PM	FAir enough :)