I recently gave my players this sword. This then started a conversation on its ability to sense warm-blooded creatures within 30'. I told them that the user would have to be 30' from the party or it would detect them as well. They said that with an intelligence of 12, the sword would be smart enough to tell party members apart from anyone else. How would you all rule this? The sword doesn't have vision, can't speak, and can only communicate via chilling its hilt.
Gotta say, a weapon with an intelligence of 12 that can only communicate by being chill better have a pretty involved interior life or is going to be really really bored. Can the sword understand its wielder or other speakers. I'd argue that a sword that smart can probably get familiar with the "feel" of the party so can be asked "ok, Edgelord (party nickname for the blade), you feeling anyone besides the five us in here?" Frankly, I'd have it work as a narrow band (warm-blooded sensing) specific version of a weapon of warning. Otherwise, you've given the PC and party a fairly useless weapon unless you want the wielder to basically "walk point" and enter every new passage and room solo to "clear" it before the rest of the party joins and that's not good party behavior as you're basically mandating party splits. If you want to slow down the action in locating hidden beings, let the chill feel work as a dowsing rod. When they're at a door, wielder points the blade and the blade responds chill if it feels anything beyond the threshold.
I also like the idea of the wielder sleeping at camp with the weapon and being woke up by a feeling like getting an ice bucket dumped on you if the blade sense intrusion. Even a rat.
It's based on a weapon that was made for 2E, and 12 INT was the lowest INT score a sentient weapon could have, making it semi-emphatic. "The possessor will recieve some signal (a throb, tingle, etc.) and feel urges when its ability functions." Here, the signal is the chilling hilt/handle, and its ability is sensing warm-blooded creatures within 30'. I can see how it resembles a weapon of warning, and we might be on to something there. I'd say it works more like a paladin's divine sense.
I just think if you're somehow obscuring other entities when the party is present is forcing "split party reconnaissance" just so one players magic item can work. Again I'd use a dowsing/divining rod type effect to the chill feel so the sword could point out what it senses, or just have the person walk "point" for the group with the sword instructed to only give feedback if there's something going forward, or something new enters the radius (I'm assuming a 12 INT can follow instructions). Otherwise it's kind of a "meh" feature from a party standpoint and subconsciously encourages the wielder to go off on their own to fully realize the weapons abilities. Also note Divine sense provides the Palladin knowledge of the sensed entities' locations. If you want the blade to that, don't frustrate it with an inability to differentiate.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
If the means of communication is "chilling its hilt", then the communication isn't "empathetic", it's tactile.
An "empathic" connections implies a level of insight, or low level telepathy, where the wielder would sense base emotions like "fear", "joy", "confusion", etc...
That said, even with a simple "on/off" indicator, the sword could technically communicate very complex information. (Computers operate entirely on 0/1 binary, which is the same principle for Morse code.) The hilt may be capable of "pulsing", "flickering", "sparkling", "bursting", or performing other patterns that can communicate more nuanced information. For example, when surrounding by the same group for a period of time, the sword might seem to "breathe" calmly, indicating that warm-blood is present, but not particularly interesting. When something new arrives, the "breathing" may quicken proportional to the size/quantity of new creatures. If something appears suddenly, the sword might "burst" with cold akin to a previously offered suggestion. For orientation, the sword might be able to differentiate between Forward/Backward/Left/Right by chilling different parts of the handle, or pulsing in waves flow along the appropriate direction.
An Int of 12 represents greater intelligence than the majority of humanoids possess, and when someone or something has only one thing it can do, it will eventually master that thing.
Considering the sword is Neutral Evil, what is the party composition? If they are mostly good, then why wouldn't it constantly be pointing at the party? Without some kind of guiding sentience trait, it is hard to know what the sword is ultimately after. Does it thirst for blood? Does it seek memories? Was it made by Yuan-ti? And I also don't get the tie in to the Negative Plane. Maybe it is seeking out warm blooded creatures that use magical energy to help it sustain it's life until it can return to the negative energy plane. This would certainly give it a feeling of what it is detecting. And bad luck to the party wizard every time it casts a spell within 30' of the wielder... but as there is no Wisdom Save or some such, then there is no real threat to said magic user. I don't think it is a bad item... I think it just needs a little more design polish and you'll be in good shape.
Some feel certain ways about Mercer Worlds, but I would look at some of the Betrayer Artifacts (Blade of Broken Mirrors) for some design on items that have sentience... and possibly that can grow over time and become more powerful. It also has listed beings that give the sentience and some ways of thinking like they do...
Thank you so much for your feedback! I just realized I forgot to put 'At Will' for it's warm-blooded creatures sense. Does that change anything?
Basically, after reading what you two said, when the player asks it if there are any within 30', the hilt will send a chill up their arm. They'll have to be at least touching the hilt/handle for it to communicate to them. Maybe it'll urge them to go find and kill what it senses, too. The greater the chill, or the more urgent it seems, the closer they are to what it's sensing.
I recently gave my players this sword. This then started a conversation on its ability to sense warm-blooded creatures within 30'.
I told them that the user would have to be 30' from the party or it would detect them as well.
They said that with an intelligence of 12, the sword would be smart enough to tell party members apart from anyone else.
How would you all rule this? The sword doesn't have vision, can't speak, and can only communicate via chilling its hilt.
Gotta say, a weapon with an intelligence of 12 that can only communicate by being chill better have a pretty involved interior life or is going to be really really bored. Can the sword understand its wielder or other speakers. I'd argue that a sword that smart can probably get familiar with the "feel" of the party so can be asked "ok, Edgelord (party nickname for the blade), you feeling anyone besides the five us in here?" Frankly, I'd have it work as a narrow band (warm-blooded sensing) specific version of a weapon of warning. Otherwise, you've given the PC and party a fairly useless weapon unless you want the wielder to basically "walk point" and enter every new passage and room solo to "clear" it before the rest of the party joins and that's not good party behavior as you're basically mandating party splits. If you want to slow down the action in locating hidden beings, let the chill feel work as a dowsing rod. When they're at a door, wielder points the blade and the blade responds chill if it feels anything beyond the threshold.
I also like the idea of the wielder sleeping at camp with the weapon and being woke up by a feeling like getting an ice bucket dumped on you if the blade sense intrusion. Even a rat.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
It's based on a weapon that was made for 2E, and 12 INT was the lowest INT score a sentient weapon could have, making it semi-emphatic.
"The possessor will recieve some signal (a throb, tingle, etc.) and feel urges when its ability functions."
Here, the signal is the chilling hilt/handle, and its ability is sensing warm-blooded creatures within 30'. I can see how it resembles a weapon of warning, and we might be on to something there. I'd say it works more like a paladin's divine sense.
I just think if you're somehow obscuring other entities when the party is present is forcing "split party reconnaissance" just so one players magic item can work. Again I'd use a dowsing/divining rod type effect to the chill feel so the sword could point out what it senses, or just have the person walk "point" for the group with the sword instructed to only give feedback if there's something going forward, or something new enters the radius (I'm assuming a 12 INT can follow instructions). Otherwise it's kind of a "meh" feature from a party standpoint and subconsciously encourages the wielder to go off on their own to fully realize the weapons abilities. Also note Divine sense provides the Palladin knowledge of the sensed entities' locations. If you want the blade to that, don't frustrate it with an inability to differentiate.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
If the means of communication is "chilling its hilt", then the communication isn't "empathetic", it's tactile.
An "empathic" connections implies a level of insight, or low level telepathy, where the wielder would sense base emotions like "fear", "joy", "confusion", etc...
That said, even with a simple "on/off" indicator, the sword could technically communicate very complex information. (Computers operate entirely on 0/1 binary, which is the same principle for Morse code.) The hilt may be capable of "pulsing", "flickering", "sparkling", "bursting", or performing other patterns that can communicate more nuanced information. For example, when surrounding by the same group for a period of time, the sword might seem to "breathe" calmly, indicating that warm-blood is present, but not particularly interesting. When something new arrives, the "breathing" may quicken proportional to the size/quantity of new creatures. If something appears suddenly, the sword might "burst" with cold akin to a previously offered suggestion. For orientation, the sword might be able to differentiate between Forward/Backward/Left/Right by chilling different parts of the handle, or pulsing in waves flow along the appropriate direction.
An Int of 12 represents greater intelligence than the majority of humanoids possess, and when someone or something has only one thing it can do, it will eventually master that thing.
Considering the sword is Neutral Evil, what is the party composition? If they are mostly good, then why wouldn't it constantly be pointing at the party? Without some kind of guiding sentience trait, it is hard to know what the sword is ultimately after. Does it thirst for blood? Does it seek memories? Was it made by Yuan-ti? And I also don't get the tie in to the Negative Plane. Maybe it is seeking out warm blooded creatures that use magical energy to help it sustain it's life until it can return to the negative energy plane. This would certainly give it a feeling of what it is detecting. And bad luck to the party wizard every time it casts a spell within 30' of the wielder... but as there is no Wisdom Save or some such, then there is no real threat to said magic user. I don't think it is a bad item... I think it just needs a little more design polish and you'll be in good shape.
Some feel certain ways about Mercer Worlds, but I would look at some of the Betrayer Artifacts (Blade of Broken Mirrors) for some design on items that have sentience... and possibly that can grow over time and become more powerful. It also has listed beings that give the sentience and some ways of thinking like they do...
Thank you so much for your feedback! I just realized I forgot to put 'At Will' for it's warm-blooded creatures sense. Does that change anything?
Basically, after reading what you two said, when the player asks it if there are any within 30', the hilt will send a chill up their arm. They'll have to be at least touching the hilt/handle for it to communicate to them. Maybe it'll urge them to go find and kill what it senses, too. The greater the chill, or the more urgent it seems, the closer they are to what it's sensing.
How's that sound?