help me brainstorm a cursed intelligent agile +1 elven curve blade for a fighter?

[Redchigh]

I'm giving *special* things to all my players, based on their background.

One player wanted an eleven curve blade, so I asked how she got it since its a well-kept secret to the elves.
She decided she stumbled upon a dead elf and took their weapon, and my fun began.

Little does the PC know, the elf was killed by a slow-acting poison from a drowned noble who wants the blade.

Its a cursed intelligent NE weapon, but without the negative level normally imposed.

It does have quite the ego, but wont vie for control unless neccesary. It knows that a spell could free it and lead to its destruction.

It seeks power, and may get more powerful than the PC if certain events happen- (However, by then it might decide it likes the weak-willed ifrit fighter wielding it, and only seek to manipulate her alignment into that of the blade.)

It will have a few spell-like abilities that have to be 'unlocked' by a mechanism I haven't decided yet. Perhaps via bribes to the blade- which may also result in the aforementioned alignment shift. The malevolence of the blade will only be hinted at occasionally.

What is a fair ego amount for it to give a fighter a chance at resisting? (The blade will gain abilities- and ego- as the player levels)

Any good brainstorms?

[Alexander Augunas]

My GM gave my kitsune a cursed +1 spellstoring katana. I forgot the exact details of the curse from the Core Rulebook, but essentially the sword was somewhat intelligent and it hated arcane magic; if I tried to store an arcane spell within it, it would always rebound in the worst possible way. (Example: I learned this the hard way when it blasted me with the touch of fatigue cantrip.)

On the other hand, it loved divine magic and would store divine spells in ways that a spellstoring weapon normally can't. Finally, it was cursed to always take a pink coloration, including neon pink lights that pulsed from the blade with the likeness of a cascade of glowing cherry blossom petals.

Needless to say, I love this sword. ;-)

[Bhaene]

When creating intelligent items, I treat them similar to creating an npc. I ask questions about the items history.

Who created the item, and for what purpose?

Was the item created with malice, or honour?

Who has possessed or used the item in the past?

How was it used, treated?

What is the items preferences in people, places, etc..?

An intelligent item needs a background story for why is it cursed? How is it cursed? Is the curse benign or malign to its current owner? Can the curse be removed? Can the curse be reversed? What would that entail? Does the item want its curse removed?

Tangent:

(I think the most powerful intelligent item I ever gave to a player in one of my games was a sword created by a bard. The bard sought to gain immortality. The bard first started creating the sword as an heirloom, a legacy to pass down through her family line. Her bid on immortality through her creation. She ended up being soul trapped into the sword herself. That is essentially how she died. The sword was almost complete when this happened. The bard was just going to imbue a few castable spells into the sword, and it was prepared to receive those spells. Instead the sword got imbued with the bard's soul, and personality. That particular sword had an ego of 36, and was meant for one of her descendants. She was quite stubborn if wielded by anyone who was not either one a bard, or two a family descendant of her bloodline. Fortunately for the player it was given to by the party, he was both a descendant of her bloodline, and a bard. The sword was very co-operative to him most of the time. Hope this gives you some ideas.)

* Now for a fair ego ... starting out as a low level campaign; ego of 8 to 16 depending on how much of a chance you want to give the player.

[Redchigh]

It was the cursed black blade of a Drow magus blacksmith. He attempted to upgrade it with his blacksmithing skill often, but always seemed to fail.
He didn't like the fact that it cursed opponents, preferring to fight with honor. (He lived among humans, and preferred their culture to the ruthlessness of the Drow. The blade resisted his alignment changes, and shifted chaotic evil. Thinking it should share the drows' hatreds and preferences for racial company, but may have been influenced with the Magus' personality as well.

The constant attempts to modify it weakened its abilities, but not its will. Perhaps it still triggers random spells that the Magus cast in the right situations. It seeks power.
The curse cannot be removed except by a wish, and will resist all attempts to do so, sometimes violently.

Hows that?

[derangel]

Fighters are not historically known for their awesome Will saves, so a higher Ego probably would not be optimal. If the magus who smithed the thing recognized exactly how evil the thing was, and its propensity for cursing wielders as well as allies, he'd probably do everything he could to limit the thing's influence and prevent innocent people from being its victims, if he was unable to simply destroy it outright and start over.

That said, it seems like the personality of this blade is particularly sneaky, if it's not actually interested in direct Ego control. That idea is supported by its tactics: it prefers to curse and weaken opponents rather than overcome them outright. Very drow mentality. So perhaps it takes a more subtle approach? You can give it 10 ranks in Bluff (+2 Ego) to give it another way to manipulate a wielder (perhaps also supported by a higher Charisma score (+1-5 Ego). You could give it the ability to cast Modify Memory 3/day (+1 Ego) as an even sneakier and more sinister tool of manipulating a wielder.

You've said that the sword is obsessed with acquiring power, which in its case probably means either in a direct combat sense (regaining its original, stronger abilities?) or in further subtle means of manipulating the people around it (more spell-like abilities?). My guess is it would try to get its wielder to spend money on upgrading its enhancement bonus and abilities (further increasing its Ego score). Maybe it has a specific ability that makes it an essential weapon, one that is sure to be used (True Strike 3/day?).

To break it down further:

Base item value: guessing 1,000-5,000 or so (Ego +1)
Ability scores: guessing avg of 14 each (Ego +6)
Telepathy: (Ego +1)
3rd-level spell 3/day (Bestow Curse, or maybe Pugwampi's Grace): (Ego +2)

With that, you're looking at an Ego score of about 10. If the sword is wary of over-using it, that shouldn't be too problematic. Reducing the ability scores would weaken it, as would taking away Telepathy. You know better than I do what you want this sword to do. Hopefully this will help you get a general idea.

From your description, the impression I get of this sword's personality is that it's primary foil is that it's not as smart as it thinks it is. It takes chances in battle on a whim, but doesn't take a chance on dominating its wielder unless it can be sure of doing so indefinitely. It knows where the power lies, and plays the long game, but is a bit of a coward. It's gotta be kinda traumatizing when your own creator hates you and tries to disfigure you.

[Keydan]

In my game I gave a gauntlet to my player, that was a kind of intelligent cursed item. Essentially it housed the souls of a whole druegar clan and a powerful clan-lord that fell to ruin and sought redemption. In exchange for carrying his people home and setting them free the druegar clan-lord offered the player a way out of the catacombs and some riches.

The gauntlet allowed making level drain attacks as touch attacks a few times per day, but those were evil. Also gave him the knowledge of dwarven script and tongue, and would give advice and lore answers if asked, though a roll of use magic device was needed.

The fun thing happened when he died from a natural 20 and natural 20 on conformation from a hill giant. He already stretchered his hand for a new sheet for his new char, when I told him he's alive and well.

Every time he'd die, druegar would spend some of their souls to sustain his life. But doing so would push him towards their LE alignment if a will save was not passed. At the end, after he'd become LE, the next time he'd die the clan lord would try and take over his body...

[Redchigh]

A few more things.

The sword doesn't want the owner to seek to remove the curse, so tries to find a balance between manipulation and usefulness.

If it could get a wish, it would either be for its master back or for power.. depending on its mood.

The blade is as much cursed by its owner as the owner is of it.

The blades owner had a daughter he didn't know about, who was born a drowned noble... The drow noble killed both her parents- the mother with a blade, and the blacksmith with a poison- the blacksmith tried to escape, but died of his wounds (or in a fight that he couldn't win due to the weakening affect of the poison) hence the dead drow with a blade the fighter found...