A question about curses

[argol228]

So, I am in a 4e campaign that is modified kingmaker. Our party fought a witch of some sort in a tower. My character surrounded her with flames as she was on her last bit of HP. she then walked into the flames and died, cursing my character as she did.

The curse reduced my Charisma, my highest stat, from like 20 to 8, no save. At first I thought this was a railroad event but it is not. Is this even fair, I even tried making the claim that she killed herself by walking into fire. the party is lvl 5 and we have an artificer. I do not know anything about artificers, but I am told they can remove curses, is this true?

I want to go back to town, but unfortunately I can't because even though it is a sandbox, the DM prepares events based on what area we are in, so as he says, "You can't go back to town, I haven't prepared for you to do that."

[ArcturusV]

That... is really weird. I haven't seen anything like that in game before. So I can't say what's what. Sounds like kind of a custom Screw You that the DM put in. I can't imagine that such a crippling penalty, (-12 to a stat?! REALLY?!) can't be overcome.

[Surrealistik]

Hope someone in your party has the Remove/Delay Affliction ritual.

[ghost_warlock]

This is your DM's way of telling you that he hates you.

Get out while you still can. :smalltongue:

[Mandrake]

Highly unorthodox.

Well, another possibility is that it will be sorted out in a similar way during your next session. Like, an angel heals you for helping him, for example.

For how long have you played with that penalty?

In the end, you can always talk to your DM and explain that without your primary stat the effectiveness of your character is vastly reduced and that you can't engage the game (and enjoy the game) properly.

Like I said, if there is a chance of its removal in the next session (if you think there might be), I suggest that you don't brake the party just yet, but try and roleplay your way through it, might even be fun. But if the DM continues without regard to this, you can demand an explanation at least, a new character maybe, or just leave the game if he is unreasonable.

But that's just my opinion. Good luck, cheers!

[Kurald Galain]

No, this is completely unfair and very much out of bounds for 4E.

That said, there is a heroic tier ritual (Remove Affliction) that should remove your condition no questions asked. Any cleric or wizard should be able to cast that, and any non-caster can use a scroll of that. That said, are you sure you want to play with a DM like this?

[Badgerish]

Ouch!

Mechanical options:
The Remove Affliction ritual should be able to remove this curse, but is costs 680gp + 250gp for a scroll or paying an NPC to cast it for you (It's 8th level so the Artificer can't learn it until 8th level).

Story options:
If they GM put this in... I kinda hope they would put in a way to remove it. Ask about this witch who cursed you, the tower, other casters in there area etc

Do you have an allied NPCs/backup characters that you could play while your character is disabled? ('cos that's what has happened. If your character was dead it would just cost 250gp extra to fix them)


I'm guessing that this is a 3.P/4ed conversion issue (although I haven't read/played Kingmaker), although even in Pathfinder, standard Curses aren't usually this bad, just being a -6 to a stat.

[ghost_warlock]

Come to think of it, I'm not sure I've ever seen anything in 4e that does ability damage/drain/reduction like this, let alone to this degree. Maybe there's some obscure ritual or disease...or aging penalty that does it, but if so its something I'm completely unfamiliar with. Not that I have absolute knowledge of the system by any means. :smalltongue:

[tcrudisi]

Come to think of it, I'm not sure I've ever seen anything in 4e that does ability damage/drain/reduction like this, let alone to this degree. Maybe there's some obscure ritual or disease...or aging penalty that does it, but if so its something I'm completely unfamiliar with. Not that I have absolute knowledge of the system by any means. :smalltongue:

No, there's nothing like this in 4e.

[DrBurr]

The closest thing I can think of which is like a drain is certain diseases penalize healing surges but even still they don't destroy your character just make you play more conservatively

I'd seriously consider leaving the game if this is a regular thing because at least if he killed you, you could make a new character

[Daer]

well it is hard to say for sure if it was some kind (rather bad) plot hook or if dm really hates you with just that.

jsut dow hat your character would do when losing his weapon. avoid combat at all costs and go hang outside town until it opens or something :)

look bit further to see if it is leading somewhere or not.

[Ashdate]

I'm going to go against the grain here a bit; it's very easy for internet strangers to tell you to quit the game, but without your DMs side of the story (nor without knowing his motives) I have to take this with a grain of salt. As there is no 4e equivalent to this "curse" I'm going to suggest you take a deep breath, and rather than see what internet strangers think, ask the DM where this is going. Perhaps he's trying to build to something cool. Maybe he's trying to slap down a mouthy power gamer. Maybe he's doing it to be a ****. But with such little context it's far too easy to jump to conclusions.

[NecroRebel]

If he says that he hasn't prepared something for what happens if you go back to town, fine, and if he doesn't want to ab lib something, that's fine, too. You should, however, talk to him about this issue, pointing out specifically how penalties to ability scores is unprecedented in 4e, and asking him to be sure to prepare something for what happens if you go back to town for the next session. If he outright refuses to let you go back to town despite having at least several days' warning that you certainly want to and have no reasonable IC reason not to, that should alarm you somewhat.

Since you appear to be a magic-using class and say that your highest stat was Charisma, I'm guessing Charisma is your primary stat. You should also point out to him that the -6 reduction to your attack and damage rolls seriously neuters your ability to contribute in battle - really, it likely reduces your damage per round by 75% or more - and the probable -4 or -5 to your Will defense majorly compromises your survivability. Try to make him realize that this radical drop in your effectiveness significantly increases the amount of work he has to do, as he has to consider your handicap when designing encounters, and enemies will survive longer, meaning he has more work to do inside battle as well.

[Sorcerer Blob]

So, I am in a 4e campaign that is modified kingmaker. *snip* The curse reduced my Charisma, my highest stat, from like 20 to 8, no save.

As others have stated, there is no mechanical precedent in 4e for ability score drain (or level drain if your DM is even thinking about it!) As your overall effectiveness in combat is tied to these abilities (some would argue more so than in previous editions) it makes it harder (or almost impossible) for you to contribute and do your part. As NecroRebel said, this just makes more work for your DM in the long run when it comes to creating and balancing encounters. Let's face it, you may have (some of) the stats of a 5th level character, but with that nerf, you are not really a 5th level character.


At first I thought this was a railroad event but it is not. *snip* I want to go back to town, but unfortunately I can't because even though it is a sandbox, the DM prepares events based on what area we are in, so as he says, "You can't go back to town, I haven't prepared for you to do that."

This is railroading. Putting up invisible barriers is railroading and saying "you can't do that I've not prepped for it" is the proof.

That said, I have a few questions. Is your DM a new 4e DM? It seems like they have some system mastery with 3.X/Pathfinder (though a -12 curse is all but unheard of) but are trying too hard to bring 3.X to 4e. Some things just don't translate.

As others have suggested, talk to your DM. Ask about this. Talk about how ability score drain isn't a 4e mechanic. Maybe they do have something planned but went about communicating it very poorly. If your DM doesn't have anything planned and is just cursing you as a relic of a previous edition, point him or her to this thread so they can give it a read through.