During a recent discussion on the NSR discord server the subject of intelligent magic items popped up, and I was immediately reminded of the rules for generating intelligent swords in the Frank Mentzer Expert Set.
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| Drawing of a magical—possibly intelligent—sword by Larry Elmore |
There are other, similar rules for intelligent swords in Moldvay. Seeing as this is the go-to old-school ruleset (and likely the basis for any similar rules in OSE or Basic Fantasy), I'm ignoring those. Likewise—as with my [positively ancient] post about dwarf clerics— this is a paraphrasing of existing mechanics. I'm not adding anything original here.
I have a more interesting stab (ha!) at this topic over on Iconoclastic Flow:
https://flowiconoclastic.blogspot.com/2022/10/blades-with-brains.html
...and yes, it's swordtember, so I suppose the timing is germane.
![Text from wikipedia: The Sorcerer is one name for an enigmatic cave painting found in the cavern known as 'The Sanctuary' at the Cave of the Trois-Frères, Ariège, France, made around 13,000 BCE. The figure's significance is unknown, but it is usually interpreted as some kind of great spirit or master of animals. The unusual nature of The Sanctuary's decoration may also reflect the practice of magical ceremonies in the chamber.[1] In his sketches of the cave art, Henri Breuil drew a horned humanoid torso and the publication of this drawing in the 1920s[2] influenced many subsequent theories about the figure.[3] However, Breuil's sketch has also come under criticism in recent years.[4] A single prominent human figure is unusual in the cave paintings of the Upper Paleolithic, where the great majority of representations are of animals.](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig77L3WpDncX-rVfST6FFaWQocEyPi9LKQA7KqwIyWF6SXzeJasv3JmSCEXu7JsocfcvMNJJPlDIrRmx_bzWhQpqINtEVzZvrtNkZj0KycQMjGE1JdRmrjlp-TBa1VqwZuTnhUcjPE_nxV3U8ywoAhGpqu-1RCweBJLWT7PLZPoX0ev1gS0-2YdX6LEw/s851/Doctor_Suckling._Photograph._Wellcome_M0008769.jpg)