Questions About Intelligent Items of Legacy

[ATHATH]

Can an intelligent (from one of those legacy abilities that grant intelligence) Weapon of Legacy use its own legacy powers (some of them have the wording of "you" casting the spell, and the item isn't the owner of itself... right?)? If so, does it use your save DC or its own?

Can you use the rules for lending an Weapon of Legacy to lend an intelligent WoL to itself? What happens if an intelligent weapon takes negative levels or needs to make an attack roll?

If I take the Truebond: Ritual of Faith feat (from DMG II) on/for my WoL, then take the Aligned Theurgy feat (from Dragon Magazine #325), will that boost the CL of all of my items powers, or just the ones that replicate spell effects? Can I use things like the Silver Pyromancer's ability to convert fire damage from spells into divine damage with my Ritual of Faith'd WoL? Would an intelligent WoL still benefit from the boosted caster level and spell-modifying effects that the Ritual of Faith lets the item have if it is the one invoking the abilities?

Can I apply effects that can be applied when I "cast a spell" on certain WoL abilities, since some of them have "you" cast the spell instead of the item?

This is for 3.5, by the way.

[unseenmage]

From the SRD,

"Unlike most magic items, intelligent items can activate their own powers without waiting for a command word from their owner. Intelligent items act during their owner’s turn in the initiative order."

So it can already activate itself if it feels like it.

[PunBlake]

So many complicated questions.


Can an intelligent (from one of those legacy abilities that grant intelligence) Weapon of Legacy use its own legacy powers (some of them have the wording of "you" casting the spell, and the item isn't the owner of itself... right?)? If so, does it use your save DC or its own?
I agree with unseenmage on this; intelligent items can use their own powers. Intelligent weapons of legacy usually gain intelligence as a side effect of you completing legacy rituals. However, intelligent items will use their own save DCs instead of yours.


Can you use the rules for lending an Weapon of Legacy to lend an intelligent WoL to itself? What happens if an intelligent weapon takes negative levels or needs to make an attack roll?
This is an explicit no.

If you cannot gain negative levels (for example, because you are a construct or undead creature), you cannot be the recipient of another character's legacy item.
There are no rules for an intelligent item to gain negative levels because it does not have levels to begin with and is arguably a construct.
Also, intelligent items cannot generally move on their own. Even using the Dancing property, the intelligent item is moving at the direction of its wielder.


If I take the Truebond: Ritual of Faith feat (from DMG II) on/for my WoL, then take the Aligned Theurgy feat (from Dragon Magazine #325), will that boost the CL of all of my items powers, or just the ones that replicate spell effects? Can I use things like the Silver Pyromancer's ability to convert fire damage from spells into divine damage with my Ritual of Faith'd WoL? Would an intelligent WoL still benefit from the boosted caster level and spell-modifying effects that the Ritual of Faith lets the item have if it is the one invoking the abilities?
As you would expect for a multi-feat, multi-rule interaction, the short answer is it's complicated.
Here are some cases for how things could fall out, but keep in mind your DM will need to adjudicate this:
1) Your item uses its own power on your turn with no action cost for you.
Consequence: Your intelligent weapon of legacy has no spellcaster levels (or levels at all for that matter). Since it is activating the power, there is no buff to CL from Aligned Theurgy applied. However, effects like the Good domain power and Spell Focus: Good (BoED) do apply (assuming you are wielding your intelligent item; see quote), as they do not depend on having spellcaster levels.

This special ability applies only while the bonded item is in your immediate possession (held or carried on your body).
2) You spend a portion of your turn's action to activate your item's powers.
Consequence: Since you are activating the power instead of the item, the CL buff from Aligned Theurgy could possibly apply (see next answer), in addition to the static buffs to save DCs from your Good domain power.


Can I apply effects that can be applied when I "cast a spell" on certain WoL abilities, since some of them have "you" cast the spell instead of the item?
This is a RAW vs RAI question, and there are two possible interpretations.
1) Activating a spell-like ability, regardless of its source, is different enough in action from casting a spell that the answer is no.
2) Sure. Your own spell-like abilities can also count as spells for effects that specify "cast a spell" like Silver Pyromancer's Sacred Flame (Su).
Personally, I lean toward (1) here, but YMMV.

Interesting side question for DMs (who would control the answer to this): What happens to an intelligent weapon's alignment when you use Truebond: Ritual of Faith if it has an alignment different than yours (and you've likely already subjugated its will)? Does your alignment overwrite its own? How does this interact with an intelligent item's motivation? Hmm.

[ATHATH]

From the SRD,

"Unlike most magic items, intelligent items can activate their own powers without waiting for a command word from their owner. Intelligent items act during their owner’s turn in the initiative order."

So it can already activate itself if it feels like it.
But I thought that only people who were attuned to a WoL could activate their powers, and there's nothing in the book that says that the item is automatically attuned to itself.

Also, I was planning to have the WoL move around on its own with the assistance of that power that gives it Mage Hand at-will.