If an intelligent weapon bestows a negative level on any wielder with an alignment different from its own (say LG for the sake of argument), will a ring of mind shielding protect a non-LG wielder from this?
I'm thinking it wouldn't, as the weapon not being able to know someone's alignment, is not the same as them having the same alignment as the weapon. But would like to know what others think.
No protection, since the negative level isn't due to the weapon knowing the wielder's alignment. It's because its "aura" is bad for everyone not in tune with it.
It's like a person wearing a perfect ape costume, complete with pheromones and whatever that will make other apes think you're one of them, and then you eat something that's harmless for apes but deadly poisonous to humans. That stuff will kill you, even though nobody could tell you're not an ape.
(That's just a random example I made up. I have no idea whether there's stuff that's poisonous to humans but not to apes, or whether you can get a perfect ape costume.)
Weapons that work this way don't normally have a way to voluntarily bestow negative levels. It is just function of the weapon. If the weapon is described in such a way that it can bestow negative levels, and it usually does so to those of an opposite alignment that is a different story.
I've always assumed that they had the ability to detect alignment, or at least detect their specific alignment. If they don't detect it, the negative level is bestowed.