Is there any rolling involved when being influenced by a magic item that is Wicked?

Question

I'm making a sentient magical weapon for my players to stumble across. I wanted to give it a few properties that would make it more evil, as it is a cursed weapon found within a necromancer's dungeon. I was reading the Minor Properties that I can give to a magical weapon and concluded that Wicked (DMG p. 143) was the best choice as it would influence players to act strangely, more evil, and selfish than their alignment would suggest.

Now that I have done that, I'm wondering how it works.

Do the characters need to make any saving throws against the weapon's influence, or, should I just role play it out and say they “have a strange urge to do the wrong thing”?

Answer 1

That is DM's call based on how powerful you feel the effect is.

Most spells that allow mind-control or behavior altering illusions are "save vs suck" (suggestion, phantasmal force, etc.) typically wisdom for influence or perception to see if they notice an illusion.

If the item is powerful enough, you could rule "it just always works," but this might leave players feeling cheated. I'd likely set a crazy high save. I also wouldn't tell the party what the save was for, and whisper or hand a card to the effected player. That way, another player might touch the wicked object if the first player succeeds the saving throw.

A game I was a player in wanted to death and destruction. The player who got it was asked to roll a saving throw. He asked if could williningly fail the roll, DM allowed it, and much story line was changed.

On Critical Role, Craven Edge is RPed out, with occasional saves. If you need inspriation on it, there is quite a bit of interactions with the blade http://criticalrole.wikia.com/wiki/Craven_Edge