So I like Beauty and the Beast. That's the animated objects I know. And other than them, I don't really know how to do them, or *why* to use them. They seem kinda wacky and weird. Especially how they are written.
The main thing I did was make it *not* because of a wizard. These objects are not serving anyone and they are not here for anyone. They are here because the person who owned/used them left something behind in them. Never on purpose. Just by force of will/character, a little bit of them was left behind in these objects, so now the objects act like them.
These are best used sparingly. Like, if the party is graverobbing and they open the tomb of a knight, the armor is animate with his personality. Or if the party is in an old kingdom, ruined by giants, there's an animated book that knows what happened.
Shit like that.
Other than that, follow the advice and watch Beauty and the Beast if you REALLY want to use animated objects. Cause, in the 5e MM, they're kinda boring.
I always struggled with the 1e animate objects spell.
ReplyDeleteFor another look at animated objects, look at the type of Japanese yokai called tsukumogami.
Thanks for the lead! Maybe I'll have an edit of this soon with some new inspiration.
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