Swords detect meal

[aldarron]

Among the unique things about 3lbb D&D thus far missed by the retroclones is that there is no such thing as generic magic swords. They are all supposed to have an ego, intelligence, alignment and such like special characteristics.

The list for how you generate them is in M&T, but nearly identical methods are presented (but rarely if ever used) in the Dungeon masters guide and the Rules Cyclopedia. One difference is that in the list of magic abilities in the 3lbbs a roll of 71-80 gives the sword the power of:

Detect Meal & What Kind

of course in the later publications they put the T back in.

[coffee]

To quote from Murphy's Rules:

"I sense ... golden arches!"

[snorri]

Sure, I can't imagine an Halfling without a Detect Meal inteligent sword.
The sword should also have a %liar, which makes it lie about the quality of meal

[Morandir]

...oops.

I did not know that was a typo. My wife has had a sword with the "detect meal" ability for about a year now...I wonder if I should bother changing it, or leave it as-is?

[coffee]

If it works, leave it as is!

If she's more interested in treasure (like gold and such) then you might want to change it. Of she might want you to.

Either way, tell us more! Sounds like fun.

[tombowings]

I can think of more than a couple times when a sword that could detect meals could have been extremely useful. Knowing what the monsters eat (assuming they do eat, which isn't necessarily a given) as to poisson their food supply would be a great way to rid the party of all those nasty baddies. Just wait two weeks, clean up whose left, and walk out with a hoard of treasure.