Proposed Game: Desire and the Dead (Tome)

[Avoraciopoctules]

Second, you seem to have gotten the message about PCs killing each other off without decent justification in the first act.

Technically speaking, I'm not against PC killing. I'm going to stay in character with my actions. This means that if JE keeps playing his character in a disruptive manner (and he did make accusations of homosexuality at basically every party member), it is perfectly in line for Lord Peter to bind Needleteeth in some rope and toss him in a chest out of the way for the rest of the adventure. If a character is disruptive, then other characters should totally make them stop being disruptive as they can.

Yes, I'm telling you that unless JE plays his character in a less annoying manner Lord Peter will have in character justification to lock him up so we don't have to read such terrible posts.

Understood. I think I chose the wording of my second reason with exceptional care.

[ubernoob]

Second, you seem to have gotten the message about PCs killing each other off without decent justification in the first act.

Technically speaking, I'm not against PC killing. I'm going to stay in character with my actions. This means that if JE keeps playing his character in a disruptive manner (and he did make accusations of homosexuality at basically every party member), it is perfectly in line for Lord Peter to bind Needleteeth in some rope and toss him in a chest out of the way for the rest of the adventure. If a character is disruptive, then other characters should totally make them stop being disruptive as they can.

Yes, I'm telling you that unless JE plays his character in a less annoying manner Lord Peter will have in character justification to lock him up so we don't have to read such terrible posts.

Understood. I think I chose the wording of my second reason with exceptional care.

Excellent. In a similar vein, I think Kaelik and I have worked up a compromise that also fits the RP so far.

Do you have objection to backpack turrets?

[Avoraciopoctules]

Halfling in backpack with wand = awesome.
Magic amulet that casts as a sorcerer with a reserve feat throwing out an energy blast each round = less awesome
Inexplicably functional clockwork spike shooter in backpack = medium awesome

=========

Kaelik:

If you want to tweak your PC into someone more capable of interacting with the rest of the world in a sociably acceptable manner, I am willing to reconsider ejecting him from the game.

[Kaelik]

Kaelik:

If you want to tweak your PC into someone more capable of interacting with the rest of the world in a sociably acceptable manner, I am willing to reconsider ejecting him from the game.

He is already more than capable of interacting with the world in a socially acceptable manner. Generally speaking, last I checked, Sigil doesn't have a "murder all animals for no reason" policy.

[Avoraciopoctules]

Kaelik:

If you want to tweak your PC into someone more capable of interacting with the rest of the world in a sociably acceptable manner, I am willing to reconsider ejecting him from the game.

He is already more than capable of interacting with the world in a socially acceptable manner. Generally speaking, last I checked, Sigil doesn't have a "murder all animals for no reason" policy.

Barking Wilder does not shoot color sprays which perhaps inadvertently engulf the politicians he is asking for a job. Usually.

Sigil has no such policy. But it would be very difficult for someone to recover from such a social gaffe in time to rejoin the rest of the party. Especially if they apparently cannot talk.

The not talking is the big issue here.

[God_of_Awesome]

Exitus, God of Vengeance, the god my Samurai will be swear allegiance too.

Long ago, in the depth of the Abyss, we had a balor called Exitus. Like any good Balor, he was chaotic and evil. But evil isn't one big happy family so the act of murdering other evil assholes was just as much on the agenda as killing good guys. Exitus just so happened to find murdering evil a more visceral activity.

However, you don't get alot of evil mortals in the Lower Planes, strange as it is. They usually only get here after they've died. The mortal that showed up were good-alligned trying to take the fight to the source of all evil for all that was worth. At the other end of the spectrum were evil mortal adventurers who took the fight to the source of all good for all the retardation that was worth.

So began Exitus's journey towards the Upper Planes, making it as far as Ysgard. An uneasy truce was established between him and the locals. He liked violence, they like violence, he liked commiting it on evil beings and so did they. Occasionaly they fought to but the local fought one another all the time. No active attempt to banish him back to the Abyss were really made.

And thus began Exitus's journey to becoming what he is today. The fact that his allegiance and temperment only coincided with that of the Ysgardian was a no-factor in the Outerplanes and an Outsider, so shaped as they were by belief. Exitus became Good-alligned simply because that was what he was believed to be. He became more like the Ysgardians too, his appearance becoming more goat-like and his favored weapon changing to a great-axe as opposed to a sword and whip combo.

That didn't, however, stop him from being power hungry. Now a good-alligned Balor, he found himself in unique position with a wide-variety. Exitus shot for god-hood. He found himself a niche to build a base of followers. Vengeance.

He suceeded, becoming a Lesser Deity with a dogma and a minor cult and everything. Followers are called Exicusians. They have little former heirarchy, with one cultist personally inducting another. Most of them are Samurai, so interpretations of dogma can usually be fixed with a quick call to the higher-up.

An Exicusian keeps a leather bound book entitled Grudges. Usually it also has one of the variations of Exitus's holy symbol, a flaming skulls, a flaming axe, an axe with a skull or an axe with a skull that is on fire. Subtle, Exitus is not. Even without those symbols, the book counts as a holy symbol for clerics.

Some common dogma:

Answer all transgression and write into the Book of Grudges all unanswered transgressions.

Unanswered transgressions, as described by Exitus, have made his followers a very personal bunch. Big bad evil guys who everyone knows is a dick generally don't enter into the equation, although offing them is also a bonus. It's more usually the ones who don't get caught or even get exalted. A world like Eberron, ie, where evil people can get away with calling themselves good would get bathed with blood if your dropped an Exicusian in it.

Exicusian are more personal. They seek out individual victims of tragedies, interview and investigate, a write down into the Book of Grudges all that they know. A smart Exicusian waits for solid evidence to present itself before moving in but by their nature will ignore that for following their gut.

This reflects Exitus himself. When he was Evil alligned, he did not participate in the Blood Wars, preferring personal glory with one-on-one fights. As a good-aligned god, the naivety of belief change his motive, not his focus.

Though you be a child of Chaos, you are first a servant of Good. Whenever you may, bring upon the wicked the Goodly children of Law so that your query may know despair on all sides.

This is obvious. If you can get the Lawful Good guys on someone's ass, do it. This is why investigation helps because proof is the basic way to sway people to your murderous indignant side. Nothing like proving to the LG Pallies that the King's mistress has been brainwashing and then murdering children so she can better enslave their spirits to get a Worf Barrage worth of Smite Evils so far up her ass it stop being funny right up until it does again.

The other reason Exitus did not participate in the Blood Wars is because he felt they were foolish. Before being turned good, he figured the resources of the Lower Planar Fiends would be better spent setting fire to the heavens. His 180* alignment turn did nothing to change his resource management ethics.

A common courtesy is it to present the head of a transgresser to the victim.

This is self-explanatory in its literal interpretation, which is the most correct one as it is. It gets messy when either A) their are no living victims and B) the transgresser for one reason or another has no head. For A), presenting it to their graves or any living relatives or anyone who might care is an acceptable substitute. As for B), well another body part will have to fill in for proxy if possible.

Before and after his 'ascencion,' Exitus was believer in the school of though that staking the heads of your enemies on your front lawn was as good a warning as any to potential foes.

Don't be stupid.

The most vague but often quoted dogma, the interpretations are more like wise advise passed down from generation to generation of Exicusians supplemented by direct commune with Exitus himself.

An Exitusianity, being a religion kept to each seperate individual, varies in how this is carried out. But it allows leeway in their duties. Going adventuring for the sake of gaining power could be interpreted as allowing you to further the agenda of the vengeance. Taking a vacation for the sake of taking a goddamn vacation could be interpreted as calming your nerves so they don't compromise your ability.

This was included by Exitus when his followers started dropping like may flies, charging head long into situations they were ill prepared to deal with or simply working themselves to death.

If you can prevent a transgression from ever needing to enter the pages of the Book of Grudges, do so.

This is what makes followers of Exitus do-gooders that simply specialize in righting wrongs then simply ones that do so exclusively. Protecting the innocent and all that jazz, if you can. Not to say you should go looking for innocents to protect, since that's someone else's territory. Like, every other good-aligned bunch ever.

Baldraxe Garl'gezmond

Statistics

Race/Type: Medium Humanoid (Drow)
Class: Samurai 3
Speaks: Common, Elven, Drow Sign Language, Infernal, Abyssal
Allegiances: VENGEANCE! (Exitus)
Background: Travelled Abroad

Ability Scores

Str: 16 (+3)
Dex: 10 (+0)
Con: 16 (+3)
Int: 12 (+1)
Wis: 16 (+3)
Cha: 14 (+2)

Vital Statistics

BAB: +3
AC: 14 (Flatfooted: 14)
Speed: 20'
Initiative: +0
DR: None
Hit Points: 24
Saves: Fort 4 (3+1), Ref 1, Will 6 (3+3)

Class Features

Samurai
Hit Dice: d8
Class Skills: The Samurai's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (all skills individually) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Swim (Str), and Tumble (Dex).
Skills/Level: 4 + Intelligence Bonus

All of the following are Class Features of the Samurai class:
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Samurai are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, as well as a single Exotic weapon appropriate to the Samurai's tradition. Samurai are proficient with Light and Medium Armor, but not with shields of any kind.

Ancestral Weaponry: Every culture with a Samurai tradition has a signature weapon that Samurai from that culture use. Whether it is the Spiked Chain of the Hobgoblin Khanate of Khadun or the Katana of the Human Empire of Rokugan, the weapon serves as a symbol of the office and prowess of the Samurai.
A samurai can only have one weapon designated as his Ancestral Weapon at a time, and this weapon must be a masterwork weapon exalted by the Samurai's warrior culture. He must perform a 24 hour ritual to call his ancestral spirits into the weapon and designate it as his Ancestral Weapon. This ritual costs 100 gp in incense and offerings, and once performed grants the following abilities:
-Counts as his Ancestral Weapon for all Samurai abilities.
-Has a minimum enhancement bonus to attack and damage equal to his level divided by three (maximum of +5 for a samurai of 20th level or lower).
-The Ancestral weapon has double HPs and +10 Hardness, and has the Ghost Touch special
property.

Pledge of Loyalty:
Samurai pledge their loyalty to a Lord, a figure of temporal power and head of a noble family or clan. To retain this Lord, they must follow this Lord's orders and uphold any Code of Conduct the Lord obeys. As long as a Samurai does these two things, he cannot be forced to act against his Lord or Lord's family by mind-affecting effects.

Samurai who have broken their vows to their lord are called ronin, while samurai who have never been pledged to a lord or are unwilling to do so are weaponmasters called kensai, sword saints, or simply "master swordsman" or other descriptive title. Regardless of their name, Samurai without a Lord receive a +4 bonus against mind-affecting effects.

Horde Breaker: A Samurai gains Horde Breaker as a bonus feat at 2nd level. If the Samurai already has this feat, he may choose a [Combat] Feat instead, but only if he meets the prerequisites of that feat.

Kiai! (Ex): At 3rd level, a Samurai may convert a successful strike into a confirmed critical hit. He may use this ability a number of times per day equal to his half his Samurai level +2. This ability is a free action that is declared after the strike is rolled and confirmed as a hit, but before damage is rolled. This ability cannot be used on Attacks of Opportunity.

Skills

Skills Points: 15
Skill Rank (Points+Bonus+Misc)
Appraise 1 (0+1)
Balance -4 (0+0-4)
Bluff 2 (0+2)
Climb -1 (0+3-4)
Concentration 3 (0+3)
Craft 1 (0+1)
Decipher Script 1 (0+1)
Diplomacy 2 (0+2)
Disable Device 1 (0+1)
Disquise 2 (0+2)
Escape Artist -4 (0+0-4)
Forgery 1 (0+1)
Gather Information 4 (2+2)
Handle Animal 2 (0+2)
Heal 3 (0+3)
Hide -4 (0+0-4)
Intimidate 6 (4+2)
Jump -1 (0+3-4)
Knowledge (Arcana) 1
Knowledge (Architecture) 1 (0+1)
Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 1 (0+1)
Knowledge (Georgraphy) 1 (0+1)
Knowledge (History) 1 (0+1)
Knowledge (Local) 2 (1+1)
Knowledge (Nature) 1 (0+1)
Knowledge (Nobility) 1 (0+1)
Knowledge (Religion) 1 (0+1)
Knowledge (Planes) 1 (0+1)
Listen 3 (0+3)
Move Silently 0(4+0-4)
Perform 2 (0+2)
Profession 3 (0+3)
Ride 0 (0)
Search 1 (0+1)
Sense Motive 6 (3+3)
Sleight of Hand -4 (0+0-4)
Speak Language 2 (1+1)
Spellcraft 1 (0+1)
Spot 3 (0+3)
Survival 3 (0+3)
Swim -1 (0+3-4)
Tumble -4 (0+0-4)
Use Magic Device 2 (0+2)
Use Rope 0 (0)

Feats

Natural Empath [Skill]
You read people like books.
Sense Motive 0 ranks: You gain a +3 competence bonus to Sense Motive checks.
Sense Motive 4 rank: You can quickly size up potential opponents. If you succeed on a Sense Motive check, opposed by your opponent's Bluff check, as a free action, you can tell if your opponent is an equal (CR = your character level), an easy challenge (CR < your character level by 1-3 points), irrelevant (CR < your character level by 4 or more points), stronger (CR > your character level by 1-3 points) or overwhelmingly powerful (CR > your character level by 4 or more points). You can use this ability once on a particular creature every 24 hours.
Sense Motive 9 ranks: If you succeed on a Sense Motive check, opposed by your opponent's Bluff check, you learn their allegiances. If you beat their result by 20 points or more, you can read their surface thoughts, as if by the third round of detect thoughts.

Buster [Combat]
Who would've thought that two-feet of solid steel would be so good with breaking things?
Special: This feat only applies to the first attack of a full attack.
Benefit: Whenever you hit with a weapon wielded two-handed the stricken must make a Reflex save vs 10 + 1/2 level + Str mod or be knocked prone.
+1: Any creature you succesfully knock prone with this feat is also disarmed*. If they weren't holding any weapons, then they are incapable of performing unarmed strikes, using natural weapons or casting spells for 1 round

Equipment

Scary Looking Samurai Armor: Baldraxe robbed an evil shogun's corpse for this and he's awfully proud of it.
For mechanical purposes, it's Scale Mail. Really, it's more like Leather Plate armor.
Benefits: Intimidate
4: You gain a frightful presence.

Glove of Healing

Firey Greataxe (Ancestral Weapon)

Talking Masterwork Katana

Enchanted Armor (Above samurai armor)

Background

Baldraxe hails from a Prime Material World called Yaodune, on the continent of Iropa in the Empire of Iron and the City of Grimholme. He was the son of Herza, Godmother of the Drowish Mafia. His father had been a half-elf of the sylvan variety Paladin-Samurai of a goodly god and not a willing participant in his conception.

He was a quarter human, with a barbarian grandmother (His elven grandfather, also a Samurai, has also not been all that willing in his father conception. Baldraxe came from a long like of rapelicious men). When he began to show the early signs of an aggression that could develop into a Barbaric Rage, he was put to work immediatley as Herza's muscle enforcer.

He did despicable things during his early life, things he is not proud of. Things he cannot take back. His younger sister Setta lead him to the temples for spiritual help. He tried to find solace in religion and it was there he met his half-aunt from his father's mother side. Her name was Fireface, so named for her bright red hair that included the most wicked set of sideburns ever to be witnessed on the face of a woman. She was Barbarian too and offered to Herza to teach Baldraxe how to be a Barbarian too. Herza accepted.

In secret though, she taught him the art of the Samurai, foreswearing him to the god Exitus, Lord of Vengeance, for she too was a servant of that god. Here he found his solace, his redemption. He could not take vengeance for the crime he commited, but he could take vengeance on others.

With the help of Fireface and several of his own siblings, Baldraxe orchestrated a rebellion against Herza, killing her as she gave birth to his youngest brother. He set Hel'n upon the crime throne of the drow and she betrayed them, forcing them to flee. His elder brother took the newborn babe while Baldraxe fled with Fireface and Setta to the north. Iropa, being a souther continent, was colder in the south and that's where barbarian's like Fireface came. In the north was the Forest Orient, the origin place of samurai art.

In the Forest Orient, the people worshipped the sun god, Perol, known as Pelor in the south, seeing their Sun Emperor as his mortal avatar. Setta came to the worship of Taiyou, for she could look upon the sun without hurt and enjoyed its blessings. Baldraxe learned more of the ways of the samurai until Fireface was slain by an evil shogun. Baldraxe put together a large adventuring party and stormed the shogun's palace. They slew the shogun and freed his people.

They also looted his palace but Baldraxe was kindly given 'dibs' on the stuff immediatley on the shogun. The armor was fine but the sword turned out to be curses, teleporting him to its home plane, the Nine Hells of Baator. Exitus intervened for his Samurai and diverted him to the Infinite Abyss. With a great deal of subterfuge and 20s on stealth and perception checks, he manage to crawl up to Limbo itself where he was brought to Ysgard by a bunch of Slaads bullied into the service of Exitus.

And then summarily kicked out of Exitus's house because he doesn't take freeloaders. He's already got enough with his petitioners and so Baldraxe ended up in the Sigil.

[God_of_Awesome]

By no means completely done.

[Prak]

GoA, I'm going to have to nick Exitus for my campaign.

...and possibly my own personal philosophy... that's about the only form of good I could live up to.

[Kaelik]

Barking Wilder does not shoot color sprays which perhaps inadvertently engulf the politicians he is asking for a job. Usually.

Sigil has no such policy. But it would be very difficult for someone to recover from such a social gaffe in time to rejoin the rest of the party. Especially if they apparently cannot talk.

The not talking is the big issue here.

1) He wasn't asking anyone for a job, he's an animal. I do notice however that you find no problem with two people adventuring with each other who are murderer and murdere, but you think it would be hard for me to continue because my non attack included your precious NPCs in the area. Maybe if you stopped worrying about how awesome your precious NPCs are for one second and how immune to everything they must be, you might recognize that my character traveling with the party is easier to manage than Peter and Needleteeth.

2) I know not talking is your problem, because you are a "real roleplayer" and like all such you don't actually appreciate roleplaying, you just appreciate long speeches in fake accents. But there is no part of not talking that in any way gets in the characters way as it currently stands, since he has not hurt anyone, and no one has any reason to hold a grudge against him. Hopefully, by the time it actually matters, we will be level 4, and he will use the Cloaker soulmeld to communicate more precisely. But in any case, all he has to do right now is follow the group, because he happens to like some members.

[ubernoob]

Halfling in backpack with wand = awesome.
Magic amulet that casts as a sorcerer with a reserve feat throwing out an energy blast each round = less awesome
Inexplicably functional clockwork spike shooter in backpack = medium awesome

=========

Kaelik:

If you want to tweak your PC into someone more capable of interacting with the rest of the world in a sociably acceptable manner, I am willing to reconsider ejecting him from the game.

I was thinking something along the lines of a human sized pet that uses supernatural abilities for me from my backpack (I'm large sized most of the time and have good str, so can carry him).

Yes, I'm talking about Kaelik's PC. My PC made the guy that was scaring Kaelik's PC be quiet, so Kaelik's PC has reason to like my PC and simply do as he says.

[Avoraciopoctules]

2) I know not talking is your problem, because you are a "real roleplayer" and like all such you don't actually appreciate roleplaying, you just appreciate long speeches in fake accents. But there is no part of not talking that in any way gets in the characters way as it currently stands, since he has not hurt anyone, and no one has any reason to hold a grudge against him. Hopefully, by the time it actually matters, we will be level 4, and he will use the Cloaker soulmeld to communicate more precisely. But in any case, all he has to do right now is follow the group, because he happens to like some members.

I see that you are a "real roleplayer", and like all such individuals, you will cling to your character concept regardless of how badly it clashes with the setting, established mission, and the situations the group has encountered so far.

¯\(°_o)/¯

Perhaps I'll see you in my next game.

[God_of_Awesome]

And I'm done.

[Kaelik]

I see that you are a "real roleplayer", and like all such individuals, you will cling to your character concept regardless of how badly it clashes with the setting, established mission, and the situations the group has encountered so far.

You'd have a leg to stand on if it clashed with anything at all besides your own pride in your NPCs.

[Avoraciopoctules]

Desire and the Dead is an actual module. You can download the pdf off of Planewalker. These mostly are not, in fact, my NPCs. I may have read the threads that were produced in the course of writing the module (I still think it was a shame the wight encounter had to be nerfed.), but I had no input into the creation of any of the characters in the Whispered Word beyond converting most of the combat-relevant ones into Tome characters.

[Kaelik]

Desire and the Dead is an actual module. You can download the pdf off of Planewalker. These mostly are not, in fact, my NPCs. I may have read the threads that were produced in the course of writing the module (I still think it was a shame the wight encounter had to be nerfed.), but I had no input into the creation of any of the characters in the Whispered Word beyond converting most of the combat-relevant ones into Tome characters.

As the DM, they are your NPCs because you are running them. I don't care about the reason why you value them more than PCs, whether you created them or not, only the fact that you do. That you do is impossible to dispute, as murdering another party member is apparently not as bad to you as incidentally including some NPCs in a non lethal AoE designed to forestall conflict.

[Avoraciopoctules]

As the DM, they are your NPCs because you are running them. I don't care about the reason why you value them more than PCs, whether you created them or not, only the fact that you do. That you do is impossible to dispute, as murdering another party member is apparently not as bad to you as incidentally including some NPCs in a non lethal AoE designed to forestall conflict.

Eh? Well, you're welcome to believe that if you want. Personally, I just stuck the "Problem PC" label on both of you. You may want to look at my stated reasons for leaving ubernoob in the game more carefully.

[God_of_Awesome]

Two questions.

One, I'm done with my character. Am I cool?

Two, what the hell happened in-game that started this problem? And I'd like a play-by-play account because I know Kaelik will just simplify into an insult.

[Avoraciopoctules]

Once I figured out which post your PC was in, I gave your PC as much of a look-over as I did everyone else's, I'd appreciate an easier-to read stat-block, but nothing particularly horrendous jumped out at me. The backstory is by no means the most painful I have read.

Remember that we are using arbitrary skill points, as can be seen in the first post of this thread.

I think Akula saw some things he thought you should think about. He may post at some point.

=======

In response to your second question, just try reading the IC thread. It starts at the second page, and this dispute has chewed up enough of my time that I don't fancy the idea of recapping the whole thing when I could spend that time trying out new mods in Cortex Command instead.

[Akula]

1) Your feat, natural empath, scales weird; you might wan't to make it scale at 0, 4, and 9 ranks.
2) Your armor similarly scales oddly, what is the full progression? Why is it giving benefits at 6 ranks and not 4 ranks and 8 ranks respectively?
3) What does a sentient katana do in your mind?

[koz]

1) Your feat, natural empath, scales weird; you might wan't to make it scale at 0, 4, and 9 ranks.
2) Your armor similarly scales oddly, what is the full progression? Why is it giving benefits at 6 ranks and not 4 ranks and 8 ranks respectively?
3) What does a sentient katana do in your mind?

The first of these is, admittedly, my fault. Damn thinking errors... it should scale exactly how you said, Akula.

The other 2, god only knows.

[Akula]

The other 2, god only knows.

i c whut u did there.

[God_of_Awesome]

The other 2, god only knows.

i c whut u did there.

It took me reading that to figure it out.

So what do you mean easier to read stat block.

1) I'll change appropiatley.

2) And I didn't come up with a full progression for the Scary Looking Samurai Armor. I just wanted my character to have it because that's what I always imagine that character having.

3) I was also gonna give it the vorpal quality but as it is a sentient sword with an opposing allegiance to Baldraxe (It is aligned with the Nine Hells), it would try to make him do thing he wouldn't want to if he wielded it. Normally he just keeps the fucker sheathed.

[Avoraciopoctules]

So what do you mean easier to read stat block.

http://www.tgdmb.com/viewtopic.php?t=50789

Mister_Sinister's post contains all the information I need, is easily searchable with Apple-F, and doesn't hurt to read. That seems like a decent example. You could try quoting it, cutting out all the stuff specific to the character, and using it as a template.

3) I was also gonna give it the vorpal quality but as it is a sentient sword with an opposing allegiance to Baldraxe (It is aligned with the Nine Hells), it would try to make him do thing he wouldn't want to if he wielded it. Normally he just keeps the fucker sheathed.

A typical magic weapon for a PC in this game would be a sword with an enhancement bonus and perhaps a minor quality.

If it's an intelligent item, then it has levels of PHB sorcerer. In the case of an independent item not necessarily willing to consistently cooperate with the PC carrying it, I'd make it something with significant but not overwhelming power.

So, the katana is a level 4 sorcerer. It has a scaling enhancement bonus, telepathy, and can see the area around it (it can see through magical and normal darkness). It messes with people's heads by casting Suggestion. It does not cast Web or Glitterdust.

[God_of_Awesome]

Does it do so constantly cause I would prefer sheathing options.

Making it a sort of last resort kinda thing.

[Akula]

A typical magic weapon for a PC in this game would be a sword with an enhancement bonus and perhaps a minor quality.

If it's an intelligent item, then it has levels of PHB sorcerer. In the case of an independent item not necessarily willing to consistently cooperate with the PC carrying it, I'd make it something with significant but not overwhelming power.

So, the katana is a level 4 sorcerer. It has a scaling enhancement bonus, telepathy, and can see the area around it (it can see through magical and normal darkness). It messes with people's heads by casting Suggestion. It does not cast Web or Glitterdust.

I think this would be a mistake. That item is more powerful than the PCs. An intelligent magic item is already much better than a sword with a lesser property. There is no need to make it better than PC. If you really want to grant more power in exchange for drawbacks...you can do it. But those deals are generally considered a horrible idea for a reason.
Also, the item you outlined has one of the primary abilities of a PC, so it might step on some toes.