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Right now, the tag exists, with the tag info:

For questions about intelligent or sentient magic items.

(In D&D 5e, at least, these are referred to in the DMG (p. 214) as sentient magic items.)

However, though the two terms are very similar and refer to the same type of magic item, typing in "sentient" when attempting to add a tag to a question yields no results. Even typing "magic" doesn't show this tag in the list (it's not one of the top 6 tags with "magic" in the name). Only once you start typing the second word in "magic-items" does show up.

It's a relatively uncommon tag, so it's hard to have enough reputation in the tag to suggest synonyms - but I suspect at least some of the reason it's not used even on questions where it's appropriate is because it's hard to discover. I just searched RPG.SE for the term "sentient" and added the tag to several questions that didn't have it; I suspect there may be more but stopped after the first page or two. (I added it to a few more thanks to Hey I Can Chan's link in a comment.)

As such, I'm suggesting we add as a synonym of . Do you all agree that adding this synonym would be a good idea?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Have we seen [sentient-magic-items] used at all in the wild, or many questions that should but don't have [intelligent-magic-items]? \$\endgroup\$
    – doppelgreener Mod
    Commented Apr 20, 2019 at 19:24
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    \$\begingroup\$ @doppelgreener: I've definitely seen the latter; I just added the tag to 6 questions that didn't have it. (There may have been more, but I couldn't easily find them in the search.) As for the former, I'm pretty sure I've tried to use [sentient-magic-items] before I realized the [intelligent-magic-items] tag existed and retagged them. \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast
    Commented Apr 20, 2019 at 19:26
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    \$\begingroup\$ As a user who has written frequently on the topic, I approve of this synonym. Anything that makes the intelligent-magic-items tag easier to find would be good. In that vein, would synonymizing intelligent-magic-items with magic-items-intelligent get intelligent-magic-items to pop up more? \$\endgroup\$
    – Hey I Can Chan
    Commented Apr 20, 2019 at 19:39
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    \$\begingroup\$ @HeyICanChan When you type "magic-items" into the tag autocomplete for mainsite, "intelligent-magic-items" already comes up. \$\endgroup\$
    – doppelgreener Mod
    Commented Apr 20, 2019 at 20:13
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    \$\begingroup\$ @doppelgreener That's exactly what I was unsure of. (And, now that I've reread it, that's even evident in the question.) Thank you for the clarification. I'm genuinely surprised the tag doesn't get used more often. \$\endgroup\$
    – Hey I Can Chan
    Commented Apr 20, 2019 at 20:15
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    \$\begingroup\$ I didn't realise that tag existed. Thanks for brining this tag to my attention. I just updated these two questions of mine that should definitely have this tag. Hence I agree with this proposal. \$\endgroup\$
    – NathanS
    Commented Apr 21, 2019 at 15:45
  • \$\begingroup\$ In addition, what about [sapient-magic-items]? \$\endgroup\$
    – Stackstuck
    Commented Apr 26, 2019 at 0:03

1 Answer 1

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\$\begingroup\$

I think adding the synonym would be a good idea

I am coming from a D&D 5e perspective here, where the term "sentient magic item" is favoured, but as such as user, I was unaware that the tag even existed until seeing this meta post today.

In the past, I have asked two questions that concern sentient magic items and have now updated them with this tag. Had a tag existed when I asked these questions, I would have much more likely noticed and used it.

So I'd say, to make the tag more 5e-friendly, adding as a synonym would be a good idea.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Hard concur. While there are certainly arguments to be made against creating new tags for every little thing, synonyms have very few drawbacks comparatively and make the existing tag more useful and easier to find. \$\endgroup\$
    – gatherer818
    Commented Apr 23, 2019 at 0:23
  • \$\begingroup\$ which would be synonym of which? Maybe include that in your answer? \$\endgroup\$
    – Vylix
    Commented Apr 23, 2019 at 4:50
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Vylix Does it matter? I assumed a synonym simply allows either tag to be used for a question, but they both show up in the same tag-based search, so it shouldn't matter which way round they are. Or am I missing something? \$\endgroup\$
    – NathanS
    Commented Apr 23, 2019 at 7:44
  • \$\begingroup\$ I tend to think that the main tag should be the 'sentient', not 'intelligent', because I will try to search for 'sentient', not 'intelligent', first. Mainly I think the main tag is the one displayed on the question and receive the spotlight, so people would know to use the main tag instead of the synonym. \$\endgroup\$
    – Vylix
    Commented Apr 23, 2019 at 7:50
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Vylix: Personally I think of "sentient" first, but that's just due to my experience with 5e. I don't know which term is more common in other RPGs outside 5e, and both terms seem pretty equally descriptive. \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast
    Commented Apr 23, 2019 at 9:09

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