Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 (Tek) 9/28/84 based on 9/17/84; site shark.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxn!ihnp4!qantel!hplabs!tektronix!orca!shark!hutch
From: hutch@shark.UUCP (Stephen Hutchison)
Newsgroups: net.games.frp
Subject: Re: Inanimate ego/intelligence
Message-ID: <1468@shark.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 17-Jul-85 20:52:55 EDT
Article-I.D.: shark.1468
Posted: Wed Jul 17 20:52:55 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 20-Jul-85 12:06:04 EDT
References: <122@uts.am.reading.UUCP> <6313@ucla-cs.ARPA>
Reply-To: hutch@shark.UUCP (Stephen Hutchison)
Organization: Tektronix, Wilsonville OR
Lines: 64
Summary: 

In article <6313@ucla-cs.ARPA> mccolm@ucla-cs.UUCP (Eric McColm) writes:
>*** PAC-Mailer Wasn't Here ***
>
>About magic/egotistical swords:  If the sword is capable of controlling the
>character *all* of the time, this raises some problems for the campaign.

A solution to the problem is to determine what, exactly, it means for a
sword to have an ego.

Larry Niven, in "Glass Dagger", postulated a magic sword which WAS a demon,
bound by magic into the shape of a sword.  The sword dominated its victims
by (first) taking a "bite" out of them, so that they couldn't let go.  It
then caused them to be more warlike, meantimes sucking the life out of them.

The great sword Orcrist would be (in a higher-magic campaign) a powerful
holy sword, yet had no discernable Ego.

Stormbringer and Mournblade were facets of the same entity, and had real
personality.

RuneQuest ego-blades have a spirit bound to them.  "The Fantasy Trip" allows
for magic swords with egoes being either variants on gem-trapped spirits or
blades with gem-trapped spirits affixed.

In any of these cases what you've got is a blade which has a separate
living personality, which is able to act only through another person.

Any of the really impressive swords in fantasy would count as artifacts
in a well-balanced campaign.  Therefore, they might be able to be more
compelling than the usual sword.

So as for "ordinary" magic swords:  I implement egoblades as being either
elementals bound in the form of a sword (I don't use the standard 4-way
elemental system) or as being enchanted or blessed blades which have some
spirit bound to them.  Holy swords have a Minion of their patron deity
bound to them, which makes them able to function very much like clerics
to that deity.

As a curse, the blade could have added to it the ability to dominate the
wielder, but in my own campaign this would require (for each crisis) that
the sword have to target this power.  In AD&D terms, the wielder saves
vs. the command.  Once the wielder lost, it would take a remove curse,
exorcism, or some similar effect, to make the wielder STOP with a compelled
course of action.  Once the course of action was completed, though, the
wielder could save against the next compulsion.

It could also have added to it the CURSE that the wielder couldn't drop
the blade, but this is susceptible to any of the several methods for
removing curses.

What WOULD be likely in my campaign would be the wilful refusal of the
sword to use its powers to help a creature which bothered it, and the
suppression (or even malicious reversal) of its magical sharpness, plusses,
and so forth, if a character refused its silent promptings that it wants
to move onward to a new owner.

The real point of all this blathering is that I consider any sword lifted
from modern fantasy, especially the Elric stories, to be artifact-quality
magic and blessedly rare.

As far as artifacts afflicting their users, the history of the artifact
would clearly determine who was affected how.

Hutch