Cool curse for a graverobber.

[Pigkappa]

I'm DMing the Expedition to Castle Ravenloft adventure (with several differences I put into it). I made it so the dead burgomaster was wearing an amulet granting a permanent Gentle Repose effect. The amulet is owned by his family, and Ireena or Ismark (his offspring) should dig him out in 1 year and take it back.
I also introduced Kalgath, a really old sorcerer. He doesn't care about the village and won't do anything to help the people of Barovia; he just cares about his life, and his son's life (maybe). The PCs think he's really powerful, while he actually isn't (level 8, 9 or 10, I still don't know for sure, will depend on rule of cool).
The PCs captured a werewolf and threw him into jail. They wanted to set him free and find out where he goes, but they couldn't think of a way to follow him effectively. So they asked Kalgath's help and he asked them the amulet. They initially refused (there's a Monk / Rysen Martyr involved here), but some of the PCs later changed their minds and went to the cemetery. They took the amulet; I rolled a secret Will save for the character who stole it and he rolled a natural 3.
So, I think it would be appropriate to lay a curse on him. The amulet has always been in Indirovich's family, and it shouldn't have been taken by anyone. However, I want the curse to be non-fatal and non-permanent, i.e., removable by some quest; the poor character is already afflicted by licanthropy. Any cool idea?


2L; DR
Some players stole an item from the grave of a good man. Any cool idea for an appropriate curse?

[Eurus]

Well the easiest removal condition would be to put the amulet back, I assume. As for the actual curse... perhaps some sort of harmless but menacing sign appears on the character, like curved horns or a glowing brand, to mark him as a thief?

[bobthe6th]

perhaps make him impulsively steal. random stuff starts going missing, and appears in his bag. slowly increase the affect, building to freinds stuff/gold. make a pretext to make the player pass notes with you, and roll checks behind your screen. at some point enquirer after his slight of hand skill.

end result: fellow players growing paranoid, and start ostracizing the afflicted player. make him purform some form of ritual involving apologizing to the sisters, and returning the amulet.

this will impress some moral reform on the character, and be a fun curse to RP.

[Diefje]

Make him lose control over his form? It normally causes people to become "unstable" if they steal it, but since he's a lycanthrope his form becomes unstable. Roll for him every few hours (depends on how cruel you want to be, you could random roll it too) 1d3. 1 is human, 2 is hybrid, 3 is animal, stuck in that form until next change.

Quest is obviously return of the item. If you want you can stick a year of being LG or the curse will return, or maybe a large donation to the family, or marry the ugly cousin.

[Pigkappa]

I think I'll make him slowly decompose. Every day, roll a DC 20 Fort save or decompose a little (-1 cumulative penalty to all social skills). The curse will end once he returns the item, which could be quite difficult in this case, but that's what you get for graverobbing in Ravenloft.

[Tokuhara]

My experience in Ravenloft isn't exactly great.

I was playing a wizard with a bat familiar (half-Vampire Grey elf) who got separated from the party. I got gassed and awoke in a coffin, buried alive. I cast the spell that let me see through my familiar and found it was in the clutches of Strahd. He laughed and said, "And this is where you die (said character's name)." My character's last image was Strahd biting my familiar's head off...

[Alefiend]

I agree with Eurus; feel free to add flavor as needed. The cursed character could have grave dirt on his/her hands and face that can't be washed off, and the faint smell of a rotting corpse. Turn this into penalties to NPC reactions and CHA-based rolls.

If you want it to be really bad, curse the character to look like, and maybe slowly transform into, a ghoul unless what is wrong is made right.