Orchestrating a mind/ body switch!!

[Hironomus]

So I had this idea of something fun to do breifly.
I am DM and I had this idea to cause a temporary effect of switching the players minds.
I was thinking i would make it work by having the players play eachothers characters for the duration of the effect.
I was thinking it would be caused by a powerful artifact weilded by a relatively weak antagonist.
so anyway... is this a good idea or is it stupid? how would i do it anyway? are there rules for this already (I'm thinking like magic jar)?
Help me out?
thanks

[Psyren]

Psionics does:

Temporary

Permanent

[Nate the Snake]

First, ask everyone ahead of time. It won't be fun if not everyone is on board with it.

Second, don't swap characters. That's just switching the players, not the minds. Use the rules given in the mind switch psionic powers.

Third, don't switch the wizard and the fighter. The wizard won't care; he still has his Intelligence score and his spells (granted, the spell failure from his new armor will mess him up, but still). The fighter WILL care; he still has his BAB and bonus feats, but he suddenly can't use them because he now has 8 Strength.

Personally, I think the last one makes the idea more trouble than its worth. Casters are more are less unaffected because they keep the stats they care about most while non-casters get nerfed because they lose the stats they need to be effective. On the other hand, anything that doesn't have a noticeable effect on the characters' physical attributes doesn't feel like body-switching. Either way, something fails.

[Hironomus]

Well when you put it like that Mind switch isn't really what I want (though it does have some nifty rules type things i can use).
I was more planning on them just playing eachothers characters.
The effects would most certainly NOT be permanent though perhaps they wouldn't know that.
As for getting their permission, I would rather it be a nasty suprise but I have carefully felt out the topic in the past, plus its a fairly open group of friends. I sort of feel like they are the types who could have fun with this anyway. Maybe. i dunno.
Regardless, you did bring some things to my attention that I hadn't thought of so thankyou.
In other news: Statting captain Ginyu seems like a fun idea now.