II-27-30: Magic Swords & Armor

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Magic Swords: these are basically NPCs and have an alignment, intelligence, ego, and possibly even both an origin and purpose. 

Alignment: two-thirds will be Lawful, the remainder are of either Chaotic (~25%) or Neutral (~10%) alignments. Picking up a sword of differing alignment inflicts damage on the wielder. 

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Intelligence: fully half of all magic swords have the innate ability to communicate with empathy, speech, or even telepathy. Intelligence will also grants, in a separate roll, powers and languages.

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Extraordinary Ability Table: looking at the Primary Ability Table on the preceding page and this, one is brought to an interesting question, to wit: how often can you use them? Casting aside how magic swords were handled in AD&D (which may or may not be how EGG ran them in OD&D), do powers work at will or once per day? The text does not state. Our own interpretation was at will but the weapon must be drawn and the user can attempt no other action, but we have played in games in which powers considered usable once per day. 

 

Egoism: and here is the payoff. Gygax and Arneson both had a habit of giving with one hand and taking away with the other. A sword granting a combat bonus and special powers sounds like a real boon, but then the “sword as NPC” comes into play. We typically run most NPCs as helpful but ultimately most interested in their own goals. So are intelligent swords. The more useful they are the more apt they are to argue and perhaps even override the player’s will. 

 

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Swords, Damage Bonuses: as written, a +1 sword only adds the bonus “to hit” and not to damage rolled. Only swords with specific target creatures, +2 versus goblins for example, will also add their bonus to rolled damage and only against those creatures.

Armor: instead of adding its bonus to the wearer’s armor class, magic armor instead subtracts its bonus from the attacker’s “to hit” roll. A magic shield will only work if its bonus is greater than any magic armor worn, and then only one-third of the time. Magic armor and magic shield bonuses do not stack.