Artifact

Artifacts have a level but no price - they can't be bought or crafted, and their temporary nature ensures that they don't have a long-term impact on a character's total wealth. As with normal magic items, an artifact's level measures the potency of its properties and powers, but artifacts break the usual magic item rules.

An artifact can't be created, disenchanted, or destroyed by any of the normal means available for other magic items. In fact, the characters' access to artifacts (and even their retention of recovered artifacts) is entirely within DM's control. A character can quest after a particular artifact whose existence is known or suspected, but even then the character acquires an artifact only if the DM says so.

Artifact BehaviorArtifacts are sentient - although they're not necessarily communicative - and they have their own motivations. In many ways, they function like nonplayer characters.

An artifact cooperates with its owner as long as doing so fits with the artifact's goals and nature.

Each artifact's description contains a list of its goals and roleplaying notes for its personality. Some artifacts are malevolent and seek to corrupt their wielders, whereas others push the wielder to great acts of heroism.

What's more, an artifact's powers change depending on its attitude or connection to its current owner.

When its wielder performs actions in concert with its goals, an artifact becomes more powerful, but when the wielder acts against the artifact's wishes, its power diminishes. The artifact's mindset is measured by a concordance score.

Concordance

An artifact's concordance score measures the artifact's attitude toward its wielder. The scale ranges from 0 (angered) to 20 (pleased).

When a character takes possession of an artifact, it starts with a concordance of 5. (The owner's race, class, or other characteristics might adjust this starting concordance.) Various actions and events increase or decrease this score as long as the character possesses the artifact. When the artifact is pleased with its wielder's actions, its concordance goes up. When the wielder acts contrary to the artifact's desires, its concordance decreases.

The wielder knows of the factors that alter the concordance—it's in the artifact's best interests to communicate its desires and expectations. But keep the artifact's concordance score a secret, telling the player only if the artifact's powers or properties change. The player shouldn't ever know exactly how close the artifact is to changing its attitude.

CONCORDANCE

Published in Dungeon Master's Guide, page(s) 164.