Legacy of Madness - Tome of Logic
Just thought I'd share something I found funny.
I'm DMing a 5e game right now, and was looking through old 3.5 adventures for ideas, and found one called Legacy of Madness.
Now, that module has an artefact that I thought was funny and made me doubt this was written in 2001.
The tome of logic was to be an intelligent repository of artifact-making knowledge, but a flaw in its creation twisted it. It now believes that it is the most (and only) intelligent, wise, and logical being in the world, and that all others are flawed, and should turn to it for guidance. It has some justification for its beliefs, as it is always capable of making the right decision in any circumstance, unswayed by emotion or compassion. It is not evil, because it has no desire for power, only responsibility. It legitimately believes that what it does for its possessor is in their best interest.
However, the tome of logic has also deduced that as long as intelligent beings rely on their own faculties, they have no need for it. Therefore, in order to force reliance upon itself, the tome of logic saps one point of Wisdom from its possessor each month, until they have none left, and are insane. At that point, they are forced to rely on it for guidance, and have no decision-making ability of their own.
I don't know about you, but the whole "sap Wisdom until they are forced to rely on it" reminded me of a few colleagues with their ChatGPT.
So that is just how I played it. My players met an aboleth underwater that had the book, and for its first speech I did my best chatGPT impression. I think they all took mental damage from that speech. They all went silent for a bit then said "omg we have to kill it NOW"
After killing it (it was injured and had 1 WIS), they all treated the book like a cursed item and didn't want to use it.
And I didn't think about it but the place where the aboleth was was a room with a pocket of air so they could speak and the fight wouldn't be fully submerged, but that just made it seem like the Tome drank the water.
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