Fun With Bestow Curse

[Felandria]

So, aside from the fact that Bestow Curse is awesome (Who hasn't been tempted to curse an annoying NPC and force him to have a 50/50 chance of doing anything for the rest of his life?), there's that little bit at the end that allows you to invent your own curse.

What delicious evils have you perpetrated with that little loophole, what kind of things would you like to do with it?

Personally, I like the idea of cursing items with drawbacks from the drawback table and giving them to others for the lulz.

"Hey, dwarf, there's an axe over here, you want it?"

"Sure."

*dwarf grabs axe, dwarf becomes female, hilarity ensues*

[FreakyCheeseMan]

It does seem like the greatest single use of that spell would be to troll level 1 commoners.

[ArcturusV]

Well, my favorite that a DM ever let me get away with... involved a nobleman (I think he was a Paladin?) who was constantly on the case of my character, stalking him, hounding him, challenging him to honor duels (Which my chaotic character would agree to and name a location just to never show up), etc.

So I finally Bestowed a Curse on him prior to one of our "Duels" that I finally showed up to just to shut this up (Party was tired of this guy constantly jumping in scenes and giving us grief so they begged me to end it once and for all). DM foolishly allowed me to cast a curse that quadrupled the weight of all worn and carried items by the guy who was a walking arsenal clad in full plate armor (Though oddly lacking ranged as I recall). So he was instantly over encumbered and unable to move, and I just rained spelly doom on him from outside his reach as he raged impotent at me.

[NikitaDarkstar]

There was a catfolk scout in my party at one time that was a little too interested in women in my necromancers opinion (to be fair, it didn't help that my necromancer was not single, and did not have his girlfriend around...). One curse of impotency later and he finally got some peace and quiet.

And no, no hard feelings over that one, OOC we both found the entire thing utterly hilarious.

[Kane0]

Cursing a villager to be infatuated with a party member (a lot like a permanent charm person). Used it to get him to come with us and help us out with menial work

Cursing a merchant to always be slowly losing business. Used it to our advantage by offering to trade only with him (at a discount) and offer donations to keep him finantially afloat

Cursing a village leader to always make bad decisions under pressure. We ended up owning that village after an orc raid

Cursing a suit of armor or shield to always curse loudly when struck in combat

Cursing a wand or staff to always proclaim the spell its user is casting

Not sure if all of them are rules legal, but our dm rule of cooled it for us :smallsmile:

[RolandDeschain]

Cursing a suit of armor or shield to always curse loudly when struck in combat


Hope you don't mind, but I'm sooooo stealing this one. :smallcool:

[FreakyCheeseMan]

This one is certainly outside the rules, but...

Curse a person to have a breath weapon.

That activated every time they speak.

[Anxe]

Sterility is a favorite of mine. I haven't gotten the chance to be more creative than that though.

[FreakyCheeseMan]

Acute intermittent porphyria.

[Felandria]

Has anyone considered buying some trinkets for the party, giving them out, then watch them wonder why they're all six inches shorter?

Except the halfling, I'd make him taller.

For the lulz.

[Raimun]

I haven't tried these but I'd like to.

- Inscribe insulting words to their foreheads/faces.
- Amplified foot step-noise. For all the rogues. I guess you could even get greater malus than -4, since it affects only one skill.
- Color their skin green or blue
- Replace one spesific word they use with an another. I'm thinking "is", by default.
- Continous Zone of Truth-effect (for the cursed only). Ever seen the movie "Liar, liar"? Bit of a stretch, though.
- Very high or low voice, depending which would be more fun.

And my favorite:
- Triple Curse. Bestow Curse cast thrice, with all the three default curses in effect. When you really have something against someone. I sure hope you can stack them.

[Baalthazaq]

Our rogue kept stealing from the party, so I cursed him so that the next time he stole, he got a randomly chosen STD (from the book of erotic fantasy's list).

The rogue then for some reason stopped stealing, without anyone telling him about the curse. We forgot about it.

Until he stole the artifact we actually asked him to steal. Then I remembered, in very quick succession, that I had cursed him, that I hadn't worded it to be stealing just from the party, and that lycanthropy is listed as an STD in that book...

[Jack_Simth]

- Triple Curse. Bestow Curse cast thrice, with all the three default curses in effect. When you really have something against someone. I sure hope you can stack them.
Nope (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicOverview/castingSpells.htm#combiningMagicalEffects). The specific reason you can't:
Same Effect with Differing Results

The same spell can sometimes produce varying effects if applied to the same recipient more than once. Usually the last spell in the series trumps the others. None of the previous spells are actually removed or dispelled, but their effects become irrelevant while the final spell in the series lasts.
- which also means if someone in your party has a particularly annoying curse for them, you can just cast a quick Bestow Curse on them to make something else happen instead. So if, say, your party Rogue is short six points of Dex, you can instead make up your own curse that doesn't have a significant impact on the party - such as, say, making him a her.

Edit: Mind you, almost nobody pays attention to that *particular* rule, and almost no DM cares if you buff up with five copies of Resist Energy before a big fight.

[Kane0]

Oh I forgot one. Cursing someone to develop a phobia (determined on casting). We had a lot of fun with that one.

[Arbane]

Cursing a troll so their regeneration malfunctions.

Cursing a Daemon to lower its DR.

Cursing someone to be terrible at lying.

Cursing someone with some form of insanity.

Wow, this spell really is a swiss-army sledgehammer of sadism. :smallsmile:

[Cruiser1]

Same Effect with Differing Results
The same spell can sometimes produce varying effects if applied to the same recipient more than once. Usually the last spell in the series trumps the others. None of the previous spells are actually removed or dispelled, but their effects become irrelevant while the final spell in the series lasts.

The above only says it's usually the case that the last spell trumps the others, such as casting Polymorph. If you Polymorph into a gnoll, and then Polymorph into a orc, the orc Polymorph will render irrelevant the gnoll Polymorph. However with spells like Resist Energy or Remove Curse, their varying effects can be in place at once. So Resist Energy (Fire) and Resist Energy (Cold) can both be cast on someone, and they'll be resistant to both elements. There are examples of this in the books, where a Dying Curse from a 10th level character (BoVD page 28) is to give their killer one Greater Bestow Curse, or four standard Bestow Curses at once.

[ksbsnowowl]

The Book of Vile Darkness includes 17 addition options for curses. Including sterility.

Page 28.

[TuggyNE]

- Amplified foot step-noise. For all the rogues. I guess you could even get greater malus than -4, since it affects only one skill.

The usual word is penalty; malus is extremely rare in English.


- Triple Curse. Bestow Curse cast thrice, with all the three default curses in effect. When you really have something against someone. I sure hope you can stack them.

As Jack_Simth already said, you can't. That's one of my favorite overly-draconian core rules; it messes up a lot of seemingly-workable tactics.


Edit: Mind you, almost nobody pays attention to that *particular* rule, and almost no DM cares if you buff up with five copies of Resist Energy before a big fight.

When I discovered the implications for resist energy, I added a workaround to my stack-friendly homebrew. :smallwink:


The above only says it's usually the case that the last spell trumps the others, such as casting Polymorph. If you Polymorph into a gnoll, and then Polymorph into a orc, the orc Polymorph will render irrelevant the gnoll Polymorph. However with spells like Resist Energy or Remove Curse, their varying effects can be in place at once. So Resist Energy (Fire) and Resist Energy (Cold) can both be cast on someone, and they'll be resistant to both elements. There are examples of this in the books, where a Dying Curse from a 10th level character (BoVD page 28) is to give their killer one Greater Bestow Curse, or four standard Bestow Curses at once.

I'm not sure the example trumps the rules, so can you go into a bit more detail?

[StreamOfTheSky]

Apparently I'm the only one who likes the Same Effect rules to curb caster power a bit and limit how much you can buff up....


The first time I ever saw Bestow Curse used, it was actually by the party cleric against a ~10-headed Hydra.

*Cleric casts Bestow Curse, Hydra fails the save*

Cleric: "Hey, you remember that custom curse I asked for and you approved?"

DM: "Yeah...." *looks strangely despondent*

Cleric: "Ok! The hydra is cursed to not be able to full attack, then."

:smallbiggrin:

[Cruiser1]

The Book of Vile Darkness includes 17 addition options for curses. Including sterility.
The sterility option is interesting because it could be considered beneficial to some people. It's 100% effective birth control! It's also the only RAW way I know of to accomplish this, without diving into BoEF or related theme 3rd party books. Combine with casting Remove Disease afterward to avoid STD's, and you can sleep with whoever you want with zero negative consequences.

[ksbsnowowl]

The sterility option is interesting because it could be considered beneficial to some people. It's 100% effective birth control! It's also the only RAW way I know of to accomplish this, without diving into BoEF or related theme 3rd party books. Combine with casting Remove Disease afterward to avoid STD's, and you can sleep with whoever you want with zero negative consequences.

There's also heartleaf from FRCS.

[Jack_Simth]

The above only says it's usually the case that the last spell trumps the others, such as casting Polymorph. If you Polymorph into a gnoll, and then Polymorph into a orc, the orc Polymorph will render irrelevant the gnoll Polymorph. However with spells like Resist Energy or Remove Curse, their varying effects can be in place at once. So Resist Energy (Fire) and Resist Energy (Cold) can both be cast on someone, and they'll be resistant to both elements.
That may very well be the intent, and I do quite agree that's the way most people play it, but that's not the actual wording.

There are examples of this in the books, where a Dying Curse from a 10th level character (BoVD page 28) is to give their killer one Greater Bestow Curse, or four standard Bestow Curses at once.That would be specific to a Dying Curse.

[Cruiser1]

That may very well be the intent, but that's not the actual wording.
Let's look at the actual wording again:

Same Effect with Differing Results
The same spell can sometimes produce varying effects if applied to the same recipient more than once. Usually the last spell in the series trumps the others. None of the previous spells are actually removed or dispelled, but their effects become irrelevant while the final spell in the series lasts.
The important part is that "USUALLY the last spell in the series trumps the others". Usually doesn't mean all the time. That means by RAW there exist spells where the last spell in the series doesn't make the earlier spells irrelevant. Unfortunately, the rules don't say what these cases are, or define what it takes for spells to effectively replace each other instead of both being in effect. The ruling is ambiguous, so it's ultimately up to the DM to decide.

However, it's pretty clear there are spells that must replace each other (later rendering earlier irrelevant), while there are other spells that can easily co-exist (both being in effect). Polymorph is a spell that MUST have a replacement effect. If Polymorph (Bugbear) and Polymorph (Griffin) have been cast on me, I can only be one or the other, not both at the same time. However, Resist Energy is a fundamentally different case which can co-exist. I can have Resist Energy (fire) and Resist Energy (cold) cast on me at once, and it's easy to see how they can both be in effect. Whether they actually are both in effect depends on how the DM chooses to interpret the ambiguous ruling.

That would be specific to a Dying Curse.
Bestow Curse is another spell in the category of Resist Energy, which has RAW support since books describe how you can have this spell cast on you multiple times, with them all being in effect. The Dying Curse is just an example of how four Bestow Curse spells can be given at once. (Another way is to prepare it four times and cast it four times.) The important thing is the end result: One has been given Bestow Curse four times for four different effects, where this spell at least allows them to all be in effect at once.

[rweird]

Apparently I'm the only one who likes the Same Effect rules to curb caster power a bit and limit how much you can buff up....


The first time I ever saw Bestow Curse used, it was actually by the party cleric against a ~10-headed Hydra.

*Cleric casts Bestow Curse, Hydra fails the save*

Cleric: "Hey, you remember that custom curse I asked for and you approved?"

DM: "Yeah...." *looks strangely despondent*

Cleric: "Ok! The hydra is cursed to not be able to full attack, then."

:smallbiggrin:

That doesn't help, Hydras (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/hydra.htm) make all of there attacks with a standard action too, it is pretty much the only monster where that curse wouldn't help.

[StreamOfTheSky]

I was summarizing / don't recall the exact wording anymore because it was almost 10 years ago and another guy's curse. Maybe it was "Can't make more than one attack on its turn" or whatever. In any case, it worked and hydra was neutered.

[rweird]

I was summarizing / don't recall the exact wording anymore because it was almost 10 years ago and another guy's curse. Maybe it was "Can't make more than one attack on its turn" or whatever. In any case, it worked and hydra was neutered.

Okay, I see. Sounds like a good curse.

[Jack_Simth]

Let's look at the actual wording again:

The important part is that "USUALLY the last spell in the series trumps the others". Usually doesn't mean all the time.
Correct, it means most of the time. Or similarly, the default state.

There are a decent number of spells that have multiple options on a given target/area - Alter Self, Polymorph, Polymorph Any Object, Resist Energy, Protection from Energy, Bestow Curse, Align Weapon, Animal Shapes, Baleful Polymorph, Control Weather, Control Water, Control Winds, Greater Magic Fang, Fire Shield, Hallucinatory Terrain, Disguise Self, Veil, Mark of Justice, Mirage Arcana, Screen, Seeming, Spell Immunity (and Greater Spell Immunity), Tree Shape, Suggestion (and Mass), from Core (that's ignoring the ones that duplicate other spells directly, and I may have missed some).

To qualify for "usually" trumping the others, more than half of them should have that designation. Which ones? Why those ones? RAW permits the existence of exceptions. Sure. Exceptions, however, are supposed to be called out. Where in Resist Energy does it say it's one of those exceptions?

[tiercel]

So if, say, your party Rogue is short six points of Dex, you can instead make up your own curse that doesn't have a significant impact on the party - such as, say, making him a her.

Gosh, thank goodness for the logic of D&D:

"Oh no, I have been cursed with clumsiness that will surely prevent me being a stealthy scout for my party! Whatever can I do to overcome this horrible curse?

I know -- GENDER-SWAP!"

I get the idea behind "a spell can't stack with itself" but this kind of logic seems to be approaching drown-healing.

[Santra]

-Animals refuse to be within 5 feet of the target and do not respond to the target’s commands or requests - Book of Vile Darkness

I have used this on a summoner druid who tried to kill me.

[Cruiser1]

There are a decent number of spells that have multiple options on a given target/area - Alter Self, Polymorph, Polymorph Any Object, Resist Energy, Protection from Energy, Bestow Curse, Align Weapon, Animal Shapes, Baleful Polymorph, Control Weather, Control Water, Control Winds, Greater Magic Fang, Fire Shield, Hallucinatory Terrain, Disguise Self, Veil, Mark of Justice, Mirage Arcana, Screen, Seeming, Spell Immunity (and Greater Spell Immunity), Tree Shape, Suggestion (and Mass), from Core
There are two fundamental types of buffs. In some spells, you set characteristic A to options X, Y, or Z. For example Polymorph sets a form to your choice of creature. In other spells, you set characteristic A, B, or C to X. For example, Resist Energy, where you set fire resistance, or some other type of resistance, to a fixed value. With the first type of spell (A to XYZ), multiple castings CAN'T take effect, because it's merely replacing characteristic A multiple times. With the second type of spell (ABC to X), multiple castings can take effect, because they're changing different things.

The text is again ambiguous, and there's no fixed ruling here other than the DM. However I would suggest that it seems that that all (A to XYZ) spells are meant to not allow multiple castings to take effect, while all (ABC to X) spells do allow them. There are fewer (ABC to X) spells, so it fits the "usually" term which suggests at least 50% of spells don't allow multiple castings to take effect.

Example (A to XYZ) spells from the list above that set something to your choice (which includes the various form or image changing spells): Alter Self, Polymorph, Polymorph Any Object, Animal Shapes, Baleful Polymorph, Control Weather, Control Water, Control Winds, Hallucinatory Terrain, Disguise Self, Veil, Mirage Arcana, Screen, Seeming, Tree Shape

The fewer number of (ABC to X) spells that give you a choice of what to set (which includes various pick something to buff or to be immune to spells) are: Resist Energy, Protection from Energy, Bestow Curse, Align Weapon, Greater Magic Fang, Fire Shield, Mark of Justice, Spell Immunity (and Greater Spell Immunity), Suggestion (and Mass)

Where in Resist Energy does it say it's one of those exceptions?
Why not ask the reverse: Where in Resist Energy does it say it's not allowed? When a multiple option (ABC to X) spell doesn't allow multiple castings, it's explicitly called out. For example, Spell Immunity (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/spellImmunity.htm) says you can only be affected by it once. When a spell doesn't say anything at all about whether multiple castings are allowed, such as Bestow Curse, examples show that it does allow multiple castings to take effect (such as from Dying Curses). Resist Energy is in the same category as Bestow Curse, so precedent suggests you can cast it multiple times and be affected by them. But again there's nothing that specifically says it works that way, so it's technically ambiguous and up to the DM.

[nedz]

Well there is the issue of Resist Energy and Protection from Energy stating that they overlap with each other; well actually PfE takes precedence.

Apparently this is the case even if you cast RE(Fire) and PfE(Acid) ?
I'm not sure I understand how the rules are meant to work here ?

[Felandria]

-Animals refuse to be within 5 feet of the target and do not respond to the target’s commands or requests - Book of Vile Darkness

I have used this on a summoner druid who tried to kill me.

Going by that devious little gem...

Curse an Archer to prick himself every time he notches an arrow.

Curse a blacksmith with slightly concave vision so his work always comes out misshapen.

[Silva Stormrage]

Here are a few

Whenever a caster casts a single target spell the target is randomly determined.

Metal is searing hot to the touch and they can't hold weapons. Wearing metal armor deals 1d6 fire damage per round.

Subject loses a random feat and gains the tomb tainted soul feat.

[nedz]

Curse a Druid to always be wearing chain mail.

[Silva Stormrage]

Curse a Druid to always be wearing chain mail.

Hm, I am not sure you can do that, I mean how would that work? Whenever he takes off the chain shirt another appears?

Something similar if he was wearing leather armor might be that he treats leather as metal for all purposes.

[ArcturusV]

Well that's actually kinda standard. I mean cursed equipment usually says something like "You will not use any other equipment/refuse to take it off or drop it", etc. So it's less that the Chainmail replaces itself and more that the Druid is unable and unwilling to take it off. Someone might pin him down and rip it off or sunder it. But he'll try to put it back on/get another as soon as he can.

[sambouchah]

Our party rogue is a major troll(only figuratively of course) and I was thinking of cursing him by making him scream every time he attempts to be a troll. Or maybe just straight turning him into a troll. But making it a troll doll typed thing who always makes a cute(relative term) gurgling noise and cannot talk. Now getting approved that last one will be hell but so so so worth it!

[Shalist]

Dragon Magazine 348 has a ton of curses / greater curses, btw. Also, this thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=234986) has a ton of nice suggestions from various sources.


You place a curse on the subject. Choose one of the following three effects.

-6 decrease to an ability score (minimum 1).
-4 penalty on attack rolls, saves, ability checks, and skill checks.
Each turn, the target has a 50% chance to act normally; otherwise, it takes no action.

You may also invent your own curse, but it should be no more powerful than those described above.Curse someone with:

A +6 increase to an ability score.

A +4 bonus to attack roles, saves, ability checks, and skill checks.

A 50% chance to get an extra turn each round.

etc, etc etc.

(What, they're 'no more powerful than those described above' :P)

[Felandria]

Oh my word.

You sir, are a genius.

[Kuulvheysoon]

It was the final battle in the campaign, the Grand Finale, and my Bard was the last member left alive before the BBEG (an Illithid Psion) was getting ready to suck my poor caster's brains.

Now, earlier in the campaign, an NPC had used a Greater Bestow Curse to rapidly age our Warblade to Venerable (described as stooped and ancient, the farthest age category).

So what did I do? Pulled out my scroll of Greater Bestow Curse. Seeing the smirk on my DM's face, I smirked back. And announced that I would be cursing my Copper Dragon (wyrmling) familiar. It took a second, but I saw his face flick through arrogance, confusion then, at last, dawning horror.

One standard action later, my familiar wasn't my familiar anymore, but it was a Great Wyrm Copper Dragon...who was friendly towards me. :smallbiggrin:

[Fyermind]

This is listed as one of the curses in dragon magazine:

Everyone who knows the target no longer recognizes him, except for the caster. Even the target's allies do not recognize him and those who come to know him again forget knowing him each morning.

I want to build an NPC caster who as afflicted himself with this curse. This would make it almost impossible to tell that he is in charge of evil plots as everyone always forgets he exists. Of course, his minions follow him even though they don't know him. They interact only with the effects he leaves behind for them.

[LTwerewolf]

One thousand days of hats is one a friend of mine came up with. Every day a random hat was on your head. If you pulled it off, there was another, identical hat under it. As soon as you let go of the hat you just pulled off it would fall apart into nothingness. Every day the hat would change. Some are rather innocuous, such as a simple cap. Others can be rather gaudy or outright offensive to people. The victim has no control.

[Rubik]

Cursing a Daemon to lower its DR.What's a Daemon? Like, Matt Daemon? (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000354/)

[ArcturusV]

And for famous, and fun, curses. The "Fish falling on my face anytime I try to smoke" on a heavy smoker. :smallbiggrin:

[Rubik]

Ooh. I just had a horrible, awful, WONDERFUL idea on how to torment someone in a game where Bestow Curse can NOT exist multiple times concurrently on one character.

Use Bestow Curse to force an NPC to be horribly psychologically transgendered and body dysphoric, with the irresistable urge to seek out another Bestow Curse to change their gender...in which case, this overwrites the transgender/dysphoria, making them the wrong sex AGAIN.

MUAHAHAHAHAHA!

[edit] Warning: Probably doesn't work on elves, dwarves, or Mialee (whatever s/he is).

[ZaradAnNasr]

Some (or all) of these may require Greater Bestow Curse.

Curse someone to believe that their every action is decided by some outside entity known as a "Player"

Curse an NPC to believe that he is invisible so long as he is naked.

Curse an enemy to have a 50/50 chance to forget which side of ANY conflict he is on.

Curse an spell caster to have a 50/50 chance of casting a different spell then the one they intend.

Curse a Familiar to believe that it is the one in charge.

Curse the paladin to believe that his party members are paragons of virtue.

[TuggyNE]

One thousand days of hats is one a friend of mine came up with. Every day a random hat was on your head. If you pulled it off, there was another, identical hat under it. As soon as you let go of the hat you just pulled off it would fall apart into nothingness. Every day the hat would change. Some are rather innocuous, such as a simple cap. Others can be rather gaudy or outright offensive to people. The victim has no control.

Heavily inspired, of course, by Dr. Seuss. (Who can forget The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins?)