Questions tagged [curses]
For questions primarily about cursed items, curses laid upon a character, and so on.
122 questions
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Pirate-themed items [closed]
I'm working on a few magic items because I love the creative process and would appreciate feedback from you guys - here are a few of my pirate-themed items:
Buccaneer's Eyepatch
wondrous item, common
...
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Want some critique and suggestions for a homebrew item I made for a 5e campaign
D&D Homebrew Item Review
Campaign: Ghost of Saltmarsh (2014 Ruleset) | Party Level: 6
Request: Balance assessment of item's curses vs. benefits and potential tweaks
Quip Lash
Type: Ring | Rarity: ...
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How to use cursed items without upsetting the player?
I think that a cursed item is fun. For the DM. Sometimes, for the players, too.
However, sometimes it's not the case for the player getting the curse.
They might feel gotcha'ed.
This is my biggest ...
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How can the curse of witch's blood be removed mechanically? And is it even possible? [closed]
Roughly speaking, a character with a witch's blood curse [Hexblood] was created, cursed from birth. Is it possible to remove this curse with the help of game mechanics or spells so that it can be ...
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Blocked Movement & The Sword of Vengeance (and Teleport)
A PC in one of my games has been cursed with a [Long]Sword of Vengeance. During a recent combat he took damage and failed his DC 15 Wisdom saving throw, therefore "swearing vengeance" ...
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Does this NPC's curse from the Curse of Strahd published adventure remain active even after the NPC dies?
The NPC Ezmerelda d'Avenir from Curse of Strahd (p. 230) has this action (emphasis mine):
In my game, Ezmerelda was dominated and used this curse on a PC to give them fire vulnerability. Shortly ...
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Can a magic item be multi cursed when using the Blood Artisan feat to add new abilities to the item?
The Blood Artisan feat was a 3.0 feat that was upgraded to 3.5 in the Dragon Mag #318 (p39) Oriental Adventures update article.
Benefit: When you make magic arms and armor or wondrous items, you pay ...
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Does bestow curse's third option prevent you from using bonus action and reaction?
Bestow curse's third option prevents the target from using its action:
While cursed, the target must make a Wisdom saving throw at the start of each of its turns. If it fails, it wastes its action ...
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How balanced is this for a cursed item? part 2
Part 1
Emblem of the ever lasting plague
Wondrous item, legendary (requires attunement)
As an action, you can summon 4 (8 at lvl 9, 12 at lvl 13 or 16 at lvl 17) swarm of insects. You can use their ...
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Looking for a way to make a cursed swarm item (squirrels, rats, flies...) while the item is slowly taking the person over [closed]
One of my players has a wicked idea for a story hook:
He wants some kind of cursed item, that has like another person, god,... in it that slowly takes him over.
Every time he does take over, he emits ...
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For the Demon Armor magic item, does someone have to cast the Remove Curse spell every time for you to be able to doff it again?
I just read about the Demon Armor magic item (DMG, p. 165). Its description says, in part:
Curse. Once you don this armor, you can't doff it until targeted by the remove curse spell or similar magic. ...
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Does a druid in Wild Shape who's attuned to a Sword of Vengeance have disadvantage on claw and bite attacks?
If you're attuned to a Sword of Vengeance, you have disadvantage on attack rolls made with other weapons.
Does that include the natural weapons of a druid in Wild Shape?
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Can players mitigate the curse from a Shield of Missile Attraction by using thrown weapons?
The Shield of Missile Attraction states (emphasis mine):
This shield is cursed. Attuning to it curses you until you are targeted by the remove curse spell or similar magic. Removing the shield fails ...
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How does Shield of missile attraction work with friendly fire?
Let's say the tank is attuned to the shield of missile attraction and a fellow team member fires a bow/crossbow at an enemy within 10ft of said tank. Does the team member's projectile hit the tank ...
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Does Hex / Hexblade's curse end the spell Time Stop?
Time stop states:
This spell ends if one of the actions you use during this period, or any effects that you create during this period, affects a creature other than you or an object being worn or ...
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Was the Tremere Curse not allowing the Banu Haqim to feed off each other deliberate or accidental?
The Clan weakness of the Assamites was, starting with the Convention of Thorns till the modern nights, the Tremere Curse:
Due to the Tremere blood-curse, should an Assamite consume the blood of ...
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Issues with Clay Golem's Cursed Wounds?
If a character is wounded by a Clay Golem they gain Cursed Wounds.
is this curse on all their received damage or just this blow?
does it including damage they already have and future damage?
does ...
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How have other GMs handled 'Cursed items' in Index Card RPG? [closed]
I'm curious how other GM's handled 'Cursed Items' in Index Card RPG?
I know that the rules are loose but I'm wondering what others do with items tagged as Cursed or from the Cursed Loot Table?
Thanks.
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Can a conga line of creatures cursed by the same Shield of Missile Attraction transport ammunition instantaneously across the globe?
Let's say I have a single Shield of Missile Attraction:
Whenever a ranged weapon attack is made against a target within 10 feet of you, the curse causes you to become the target instead.
Let's say I ...
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Can a single Shield of Missile Attraction curse an indefinite number of creatures?
The description of the Shield of Missile Attraction says, in part (emphasis mine):
This shield is cursed. Attuning to it curses you until you are targeted by the remove curse spell or similar magic. ...
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Can a Lycanthrope become a Vampire?
As a DM, I'm wondering whether a Lycanthrope curse is canceled when such a monster is killed by a Vampire bite and becomes a Vampire Spawn. There doesn't seem to be indications against it in the ...
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Augury to detect cursed items
Could you use Augury to detect a cursed item by asking
"Am I safe to attune this item?"
The GM would have to say either "weal and Woe" if the item is both beneficial and cursed or ...
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What happens when you are not attuned to the Berserker Axe and you take damage while wielding it?
So the scenario is that I have a barbarian who's just picked up a Berserker Axe, without knowing what it is. They have NOT attuned to it.
From my reading, they get the +1 bonus to attack and damage ...
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Am I being unreasonable with my role playing of a cursed item?
If a player from my campaign sees this, please don't take any offence to it. It's just I'm really not enjoying the item and can't RP it in a way that other players will care about.
My character ...
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Is changing prepared spells a 'benefit of a long rest'?
This problem came up during a post-game discussion in my D&D 5e campaign last night. It concerns the curse ability of the Rakshasa and how that interacts with preparing spells. In game we managed ...
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How does oracle's burden interact with the god-meddled curse?
Oracle's Burden makes
The target creature suffers all the hindrances and none of the benefits of your oracle’s curse class feature.
The God-Meddled Curse does
Bizarre side effects occur whenever ...
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How do Resurrection spells work with someone who has died of old age?
In a campaign I run, one of the characters faces the real danger of succumbing to a curse that will add enough age to them that they would easily exceed their race's life expectancy. The curse ...
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Cursed Item Drawback Price Reductions: Do They Stack?
The rules for intentionally crafting cursed items in Pathfinder 1e lists the different curse types and how they modify an item's price.
If a cursed item possesses multiple types of curses, for example,...
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After you attune to a cursed magic item, are you aware that it is cursed?
After you attune to a cursed magic item, are you aware that the item is cursed?
For example, if you are attuned to a sword of vengeance, would you be aware that the item is cursed, even if you desire ...
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Forceful separation from a cursed item
For my group of (un)willing adventurers, I have a session coming up where the plan is essentially to render them all unconscious, separate them from all their gear and leave them in a dungeon to ...
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Choosing the Ability for a Hex
The Hex spell allows afflicting a target with a Disadvantage on Ability checks. I'm having a hard time deciding which Ability to target when hexing a target. What factors are there that should ...
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Does the Loadstone curse compound every use or only once?
The Loadstone description reads as follows (emphasis mine):
Curse. The stone is cursed, but its magical nature is hidden; detect magic doesn’t detect it. An identify spell reveals the stone’s true ...
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Do cursed items require attunement in order to curse you?
Most cursed items, like the Armor of Vulnerability, require to you attune to them in order to become cursed.
Curse. This armor is cursed, a fact that is revealed only when an identify spell is cast ...
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Does the Plagued curse cancel out the drawback of the Covetous curse?
A player of mine is building a Dual-Cursed Oracle. They want to take the Covetous and the Plagued curses. That brings up a question.
The Covetous curse states (emphasis mine)
You must wear fine non-...
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What level Curse does Lycanthropy count as?
I'm reworking some of my older campaigns in Pathfinder 1e and transferring them into Pathfinder 2e. One of the custom items I had in an original dungeon was a supposed "Wand of Wish" that ...
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Is adjusting damage type an appropriate power level for bestow curse?
A rather creative cleric in my game's party has presented with a new curse they want to use. The new curse is:
All damage the target creature takes is treated as the damage type to which the creature ...
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A PC in Curse of Strahd is cursed by Mother Night and eats a dream pastry. What happens?
A PC in Curse of Strahd has the opportunity to be cursed by Mother Night, at which point they are (emphasis mine):
As luck would have it, one of the PCs in my current CoS campaign has been cursed, ...
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When the Shield of Missile Attraction changes the target of an attack, does the attacker have to make a new attack roll?
I got interested in the cursed item Shield of Missile Attraction, but I have some doubts about how it works. Consider the following scenario:
Thurin the dwarven fighter is walking along the city ...
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Can a druid use Wild Shape to get rid of a cursed item?
The relevant part of the description of the druid's Wild Shape feature says:
You choose whether your equipment falls to the ground in your space, merges into your new form, or is worn by it. Worn ...
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Oracle's Curse and Handy Haversack
Would a Handy Haversack alleviate a Haunted Oracle's curse?
Retrieving any stored item from your gear requires a standard action, unless it would normally take longer. Any item you drop lands 10 feet ...
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How to permanently curse an existing item?
By permanently, I don't mean 'until dispelled', which can be achieved by using upcast bestow curse. I want to make those items that cannot be unattuned, except by casting remove curse on the wielder. ...
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Can a person attuned to Living Gloves cast Remove Curse on themselves to remove them?
The living gloves (E:RftLW, pg. 278) have the feature Symbiotic Nature:
The gloves can’t be removed from you while you’re attuned to them, and you can’t voluntarily end your attunement to them. If ...
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Can Living Gloves combined with Remove Curse be used to gain access to multiple artisan tool skills?
Living Gloves (p278 ERftLW) Says:
While attuned to these gloves, you gain one of the following proficiencies (your choice when you attune to the gloves):
Sleight of Hand
Thieves' tools
One kind of ...
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Can the Feign Death spell remove attunement from a cursed item?
When a creature dies, their attunement to any magic items (including cursed items) ends.
Will the feign death spell (PHB, p. 240) trick the curse into ending early?
You touch a willing creature and ...
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Being the "creator" of many circlets of spell-eating without downtime
So, this is kind of a silly question but bear with me.
My character's a power-hungry wizard. I've figured that he could use the Circlet of Spell-Eating cursed item to get stronger. Forcing people to ...
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Do pact archetype wizards have full curse progression?
I'm pretty sure that I can't be reading this right, but the pact wizard archetype from 5th level says you gain an oracle curse and you count your oracle level as half your wizard level. Looking up the ...
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(How) Can the Cursed -2 Sword be turned into an indestructible +2 sword of instant summons?
One of the standard cursed items is a longsword that causes the user to take a -2 penalty to attack and damage rolls, and is automatically drawn and fought with, even if the user intended to use ...
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What happens when you attack with a non-attuned cursed weapon?
Cursed weapons often have a flat bonus such as a +1 associated with them, however the negative effects of a cursed weapon tend to only be associated with being attuned to said item.
Could a player (...
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Would the following curse be too detrimental, too beneficial, or just right for a combat-focused campaign?
The Curse:
Clockwork Curse
All Attack Rolls the cursed target makes replace their d20 roll with a 10 instead of rolling, as per the effect of Clockwork Amulet.
Extra Details:
This curse is ...
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How can I deal with the Remove Curse spell spoiling my plot hooks?
My players met Fiachra, cursed to be a raven unless she brings the Scepter of McGuffin to Ebil Wissard III (grand son of the legendary Ebil Wissard).
Of course, the Cleric in the group casts the ...
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