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Collin152
2006-12-30, 07:04 PM
So, I was looking at Bestow Curse and its greater equivelent from one of the Complete books, and I thought, "You know? These are nice, but bland." I also really like the idea of curses you arent quite so keen on getting rid of.So I thought Id create some greater curses to inflict upon your PC's- they probably wont get any of these. Feel free to add your own. Assume all saves originate from the spellcaster as typical. Ill start with this one I call "Curse of the Shortsighted."

First off, the target rolls a Will save. If it fails, they take 4 wisdom damage that remains as long as the curese does. Simple. But, Every round of combat, there is a 10% chance they will be required to make another Will save. If this second save fails, they take an additional point of Widom damage that can be healed as normal, but gain an unnamed bonus to strength as long as the wisdom damage remains. After this, the chance is 5%, but they can induce it voluntarily if they so choose. The Wisdom drain is tied to the strength bonus- if it is healed, the bonus vanishes on a point for point basis. The bonus and penalties may be dismissed after at least one hour. If, through this, the subjects wisdom is reduced to 0, they can make a Fortitude save to engage Stge Two and remain at wisdom one. Stage Two is treated as a second curse that must be broken before the prior one. It functions as Stage one, except that the percentage is 20%, Wisdom damage can not be healed (And ths the bonus remains as long as stage two is active) and rather than taking wisdom damage to increase strength, both Constitution and Charisma are reduced by one point to increase strength by two. When this curse is removed, all the Charisma and Contitution damage must be healed before the wisdom damage can be healed, though Stage One may be removed before all the Constitution and Charisma damage is healed. When a Stage is removed, the damage remains, but any bonuses that remain dissolve. If Charisma is reduced to 0, The mind of the subject shatters, and they die as though by old age. If Constitution reaches 0, they die as normal. There is no third stage of this curse.

Wordy, but once you get down to it, simple. You weaken yourself in a way to power up strength. For most, this is just a pumped up curse. For many barbarians, it is a blessing with too much ranch dressing. But clearly, nobody wants to reach Stage Two, but your will saves weaken as the curse grows on you. This is something to throw at your parties tank. Options: A built in suggestion to let the curse remain as a new weapon.

Well, its wordy and long, but it works well enough. Chime in, everybody!

Fizban
2006-12-30, 07:34 PM
I've always liked BoVD's suggestion's, one of which is blind and deaf with a normal curse. Also, don't the curse spells never actually damage ability scores, just penalize them as low as one?

Bears With Lasers
2006-12-30, 07:38 PM
How about one that sets someone on fire? For good, I mean. They can extinguish themselves, but they have to keep doing it every other round, or take the 1d6 fire damage for being on fire.

Collin152
2006-12-30, 07:46 PM
I've always liked BoVD's suggestion's, one of which is blind and deaf with a normal curse. Also, don't the curse spells never actually damage ability scores, just penalize them as low as one?
Never read/going to read BoVD, so I dont know about that. Sure, they usually just penalize, but this is a more... Plotline one. You know, nostandard.

Eternally on fire, eh?Torture, but perhaps too much. Youll never sleep as long as its active, and if you hit the party's cleric with it, good luck on the others getting through it.

Bears With Lasers
2006-12-30, 07:47 PM
Maybe that should be a greater curse... honestly, though, if you want to kill someone with a spell the same level of Bestow Curse, there's plenty of ways to do it.

Collin152
2006-12-30, 07:52 PM
Right, right, but curses arent about killing; they are about debilitation and agony, or as I prefer, pumping up the right hand whilst repeatedly chopping off the rest of you. Like, Lycanthropy. Sure, you turn into a mindless beast on full moons, but you also become a combat machine when you want to be.

Krimm_Blackleaf
2006-12-30, 08:34 PM
Arms or legs falling off?

Roderick_BR
2006-12-30, 09:47 PM
Some kinds of polymorphs effects could curses too. If you look like a monster, you won't be allowed entrance in most cities, and will probably be hunted down. A lot like lycantropy, only that it dosen't give you much bonuses, and is active all day long.

Curse: Disfiguration. You look like you washed your face with acid, and hit over with a Goliath Greathammer. Any normal person will mistake you with some inhuman monster. You gain a -10 penalty to any charisma-related check (mostly skill checks) that requires a person to see you, but you gain a +10 for your Intimidation checks.
This is not direct charisma damage. Sorcerers and bards can still cast spells as normal, but the bard's Perform checks will be greatly be reduced, unless he can remain hidden, like playing from behind a screen.

sigurd
2006-12-30, 10:02 PM
How bout these - I think they'd make a character stand up and take notice.


Your progeny shall be born undead...


Those that give their hearts to you suffer to do so. -- Everyone who spends a week with you takes 1 wisdom damage if they like you - irreparable while you are alive, even if you lift the curse.


Food loses its taste -- everything tastes like ash to you. Though you still need to eat you cannot enjoy food. You have no chance of noticing poisons or rotting food by taste. On the other hands iron rations aren't worse than a fine cooked meal.


Your possessions rust in your hands - you slowly corrode all your equipment with your presence. Items must make a saving throw every month they are in service to you.

Winged One
2006-12-30, 10:47 PM
I read an idea for a normal curse a while ago on these forums, though I can't for the life of me recall who came up with it in the first place...the target appears to be a child. First, they're affected as if by Reduce Person. They take some sort of penalty(-5 maybe?) on all CHA-based checks to make aparant adults take them seriously. Affect their speech in a cute manner("da wed dwagons awe coming!""that's nice, dear") just to annoy them some more.

Collin152
2006-12-30, 10:53 PM
These are all so, so sweet! Cant wait to use them with my manipulating wizard hinderence- I mean, villain.

Fizban
2006-12-30, 10:55 PM
There's the classic "animals shy away from you": you automatically fail all handle animal checks, and animals attempt to flee if you come within 5' of them. If cornered, an animal will attack you until it can escape.

Horrible Luck: whenever you roll a 20 it counts as a 1 (I've seen this somewhere before, but where....).

Alone among mosters: similar to Disfiguration, except all others appear disfigured to you. Until you discover the truth, the same modifiers apply, and afterwards the rest of the world still looks ugly (great for those romantic people with beautiful lovers, so much for that).

Vermindraw: vermin plague you. Whenever you stay in one place for more than a few minuites, all manner of creepy crawlies infest the dark places around you. In your bedding, under the chair you're sitting on, in all the dark corners of the room. Needless to say, this disgusts most people.

Decay: food that remains near you spoils at an exceptional rate.


And always remember, the less mechanical stuff you use, the more nasty fluff you can use.

Collin152
2006-12-30, 11:01 PM
Hm. That Vermindraw just borders the realm of making me sick to think about. Lets move away from living quality impairments, shall we?

mabriss lethe
2006-12-31, 12:47 AM
I posted some really rancid curse-like feats a few days ago. They're a little much for some players, but with the right group they can be a whole lot of fun.
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30361


How about one that sets someone on fire? For good, I mean. They can extinguish themselves, but they have to keep doing it every other round, or take the 1d6 fire damage for being on fire.

If you want to make this a really fun curse, apply the "Too Much of a Good thing" rule. Instead of making it a slow and lingering death, turn it into something more cruel. The flames should harm everything except the cursed character. Food chars in his hands before he can get it to his mouth. His clothes incinerate before the folds settle around his body, weapons and tools glow red hot in his hands, but within minutes will be nothing but useless puddles of molten iron. No inn would take him in, it would burn to the ground before he got into the common room. ..You get the idea. If the curse reminds you of King Midas' golden touch, you're probably on the right track.

TempusCCK
2006-12-31, 01:22 AM
How about a curse where the ground beneath you has severely reduced friction, making it impossible to move or stand. Think about how much that would suck in the middle of the dungeon, you'd have to get a couple of players to lug the one around. If you really want to be a jerk about it, set it on the heaviest character.

Iituem
2006-12-31, 03:13 AM
Hmm. A few variations on the old 'bad luck' curse for you.



A weak curse, but very simple to inflict. Cheap charms are sold by practitioners on the street that can imbue this curse.

Simple Bad Luck: The subject receives a -1 luck penalty to all attack rolls, ability checks, skill checks and saves.



A more insidious version of the curse, of approximately equal level to the standard 'Bestow Curse' offering -4 to all checks and saves, but with the potential to do far more damage if left untreated. DMs may not actually wish to bother telling their players they are under this curse until they figure out something is wrong for themselves.

Gnawing Misfortune: The subject immediately receives a -1 luck penalty to all attack rolls, ability checks, skill checks and saves. Every week, this penalty increases by -1 until the curse is removed.



An even more subtle curse, this takes with one hand and gives with the other. Some characters may even find the additional toughness to be a boon... up to a point.

Tough Luck: The subject immediately receive a -1 luck penalty to all attack rolls, ability checks, skill checks and saves. Every week, this penalty increases by -1 until the curse is removed. At the same time, the subject's maximum HP increases by 1d8 and he gains that many HP to match. This effect is cumulative with each -1 penalty inflicted by the curse, so that at a -5 penalty the subject has 4d8 additional hitpoints. These last only so long as the curse does - when the curse is cured the extra hitpoints go away as well.




And an old favourite...


These bottles of 'love potions' are sometimes mixed in with standard love potion stocks by mistake or malicious intent, but were originally made in large stocks and marketed as 'the sure path to true love'. The potions were an immediate success, bought by rich troubled lovers, husbands and gentlemen seeking to impress rich young women in the droves. Unfortunately, the mass rioting that broke out a week later and brought the city government to its knees was sufficient to not only have the entire line stopped, shattered and locked away in a very dark place but to have the brewers permenantly 'transported' to a faraway desolate country where they instead employed their skills in producing flavoursome alcoholic beverages.

The potions come in three flavours, weak (with 10 charges), strong (50 charges) and permanent (automatically affects any suitable victims in sight) priced at 17,000gp, 53,000gp and 94,000gp respectively for those intending to buy them deliberately. Unfortunates who have bought them by mistake have sometimes bought them for as little as 300gp from second hand apothecaries who simply thought they were a stronger variant.


Tainted Love: Upon imbibing the potion, the subject is immediately blessed with +10 to Bluff and Diplomacy, lasting until the curse is lifted. In addition, any Medium-sized humanoid who looks upon him must succeed at a Will save (DC 17) or apparently become fond of him as the charm person spell, apparently becoming actually enamoured if of the same race, kind and of correct sexual orientation.

However, these subjects are actually subject to compulsion as per the spell dominate person and are compelled to love the subject and show their love frequently and vigorously, regardless of whether or not the subject wants them to. They are compelled to be jealous of anybody else presuming to love or in any way be fond of the subject, as well as suffering a compulsion to be extremely unhappy and depressed if kept away from him for an extended period.

The effect lasts 9 days, after which the victims are freed from their compulsion. They may, however, end up looking upon the subject and falling victim to the curse all over again. The curse will affect a number of individuals equal to the number of charges it has. The permanent curse does not force victims into the compulsion permenantly, but can quite easily re-snare a victim who has been lifted of the curse. Victims who successfully make their will save cannot be affected for 24 hours thereafter.

icke
2006-12-31, 05:37 AM
Here's one of my favorite:

The direction mixer:
Every time the target of this curse does not think carefully about it, she has a 50% chance to mix up left and right, up and down or forwards and back. She is not aware of the curse to begin with, but each with each incident goes a wisdom check(DC 15) to recognize the situation. Once aware of her situation, a target can take a move action and a DC 15 concentration check to eliminate the penalty each time it could apply.

Except the fun at cross roads this one is a killer in combat, either taking away half the victims' actions or letting her hack and slash out in arbitrry directions. I stongly suggest to use this one on very tolerant players only...

sigurd
2006-12-31, 04:01 PM
Tougher mathematic curse -- Character looses 1 for every five in the role after the first.

1-5 - no curse = blame yourself
6-10 = 5-9 (-1)
11-15 = 9-13 (-2)
16-20 = 13-17 (-3)

15 & 16 both become 13

This could scale with their bonuses if you feel really mean.

icke
2007-01-01, 01:17 PM
Tougher mathematic curse -- Character looses 1 for every five in the role after the first.

1-5 - no curse = blame yourself
6-10 = 5-9 (-1)
11-15 = 9-13 (-2)
16-20 = 13-17 (-3)

15 & 16 both become 13

This could scale with their bonuses if you feel really mean.

what do You do on a natural 20, negate their critical hit chance or keep the crit chance of the die and just modify the roll? I'd advise the latter, otherwise it's too tough.

Anyone any more funny in-game curses?

Green Bean
2007-01-01, 01:54 PM
Curse them so that they can tell the future, but that no one will ever believe them. (gotta love the classics)

Or maybe any plant matter that they touch turns to ash. Sure, it's great if you're fighting treants, but a few months later, BAM!, scurvy

Roderick_BR
2007-01-01, 02:35 PM
Voices in my head
From time to time, the DM rolls those random events for dungeons. "hearing voices, screams for help, people laughing", or something, to see if the character randomly hears something that is not there.
At first it won't bother him, but after a while, he'll start to worry if he should turn away from the fight to help a wounded friend that just asked you to help him, or if he'll waste fighting time to see his friend without any problem, that'll just look back and say "what are you looking at? pay attention to the battle"
He just won't know if something he hears is true or not. He'll have to constantly ask people "did you hear that?"
This is a minor one, just to distract.

Critical Fumble
This is a more serious one. EVERY failed roll, is automatically a critical failure.
This one is for DMs to have fun.

mabriss lethe
2007-01-01, 10:43 PM
Vampiric Luck: You can reroll any die result and choose the better of the two. However, every time you attempt this, the GM will randomly target one of the character's friends or loved ones. Each reroll results in a rash of dangerously bad luck to them. If it's another PC, then their next roll will automatically fail on anything except for a natural 20. If it's not someone present during the encounter, then some randomly generated atrocity will find its way to the target.

Callos_DeTerran
2007-01-01, 11:10 PM
Well this isn't a curse that benefits the target but it endeared me to it once I saw it in Dragon magazine.

Choose one of the target's class features (ex. sneak attack, rage, spellcasting). As long as the curse remains the class feature can no longer be used. A rogue can no longer sneak attack, barbarians can't rage, wizards/druids/clerics/sorcerers can't cast spells, etc. etc.


I love that verison of Bestow Greater Curse. You only need it to work once on that pesky archmage/Iniate of the Sevenfold Veil/Fate Spinner...and then he's pratically a commoner with a magical pet and some neat class features.

The_Werebear
2007-01-02, 12:37 AM
The Spreading Curse
When this curse is cast, pick any effect from the Bestow Curse list. The victim isn't afflicted by it, but anyone they touch who isn't attacking them suffers the effects of it. They too spread the curse in the same manner as the original victim. Once the original victim is cured, all others they touched are cured.

Sniper's favorite.
The victim attacts arrows like a magnet. Every ranged attack fired at a target within 15 feet of the victim veers towards the victim instead. These shots suffer no miss chance from concealment or invisbility, and the victim suffers a -10 penalty to Armor Class against ranged attacks.

Lifeblind
All living things and their immidiate posessions are invisible to the victim. He can hear them, but he can't see them. This includes plant matter. There are some benefits(see the undead hiding behind the tree), but more drawbacks(not seeing his living ally about to stab you in the head)

Devil's Tongue
The victim can't speak a word of truth. Every word that comes out of his/her mouth is a direct and deliberate falsehood.

Rot
The victim smells like a decomposing trash heap. He/she takes a -5 penalty to charisma based checks. Food rots or spoils instantly at a touch. Metal slowly rusts or corrodes over a few days of contact.

Mad Bloodlust
The victim is incapable of dealing any damage but lethal damage. If the victim sees, smells, or tastes blood of any living thing, or suffers damage, he or she goes into a Rage(as a barbarian), attacking the closest living thing. This lasts until someone can make a DC 20 diplomacy check to calm them, a DC 25 intimidate check to cow them, or there are no living things left.

Collin152
2007-01-02, 09:23 PM
Mad Blodlust.... isnt that a class feature of the Frenzied Berserker? :smalltongue:

The_Werebear
2007-01-02, 11:37 PM
Mad Blodlust.... isnt that a class feature of the Frenzied Berserker? :smalltongue:

Sort of... Except it will also trigger if they order a rare steak.

Shazzbaa
2007-01-03, 12:50 AM
Devil's Tongue
The victim can't speak a word of truth. Every word that comes out of his/her mouth is a direct and deliberate falsehood.

This one would be mad hard to roleplay. ^^; You'd have to be careful not to accidentally say something that's true.

However, it appeals to me greatly because of the difficulty of getting rid of it:
*cursed character goes to a temple to have curse removed*
Cleric: Do you need anything?
Cursed: No! I don't need your help! Wait -- crap!
Cleric: Um... is something wrong?
Cursed: No, nothing's wrong. Please, I don't need your help. ARRG!

Bwahaha! :smallbiggrin:

So what would happen to a Devil's Cursed character in a Zone of Truth? Struck mute?

The_Werebear
2007-01-03, 12:52 AM
So what would happen to a Devil's Cursed character in a Zone of Truth? Struck Mute?

That, or their head explodes.

Shazzbaa
2007-01-03, 01:49 AM
Suddenly wondering, could a victim of the Devil's Tongue thing get away with just being a really bad liar?

"No, I don't need healing, because I'm definitely not at 3 HP or anything."

"I don't see any traps over that door. Certainly not a deadly poison trap that's just about to trigger. You shouldn't get the rogue to disarm it, since it's not there and all."

"No, I'm totally not under a curse that's preventing me from telling the truth, and I definitely don't want you to remove it. Um, seriously."

mabriss lethe
2007-01-03, 02:15 AM
haunted:
Always a favorite of mine. You've got a relative who'd not quite as dead as he should be. This is some famous ancestor noted for great and heroic deeds and now his soul has returned from whatever reward awaited it to nitpick and deride your every personal choice so that you'll be great hero "Just like I was."
The only way to get the old coot to leave you alone is to surpass the legend of your ancestor in some fashion or another

Simius
2007-01-03, 07:19 AM
if there's devil's tongue, then how about:

demon's tongue
Everything you try to say sounds rude and insulting. You take a -10 penalty on persuade and diplomacy checks. If you talk to strangers, they will immediately dislike you. Friends will think it is a very bad pratical joke, and you will have a hard time convincing them otherwise with your newly-found speech impediment.

This curse could also be a lot of fun to the victim, because c'mon: who wouldn't want to insult his comrades without taking the blame?

Altair_the_Vexed
2007-01-03, 08:12 AM
While we're on the curses of speech:

Bitter tongue
The target is unable to speak save in a bitter and sarcastic tone. -5 to CHA skill checks involving speech.
e.g.:
Ally: Right guys, we know they're in here and invisible. I'll get my bow ready, Target, you open the door and hide ready to sneak attack, Wizard, you cast Invisibility Purge.
Wizard: Check.
Target: Oh, that's such a great idea. I'm so glad you're with us, Ally.
Ally: What's wrong with it?
Target: Gods! Nothing's wrong with it. It's perfect! We'd all better do what you say cause you're so clever.

mikeejimbo
2007-01-03, 09:39 AM
Possibly even worse than Devil's Tongue

Angelic Tongue
Everything the target says must be complete and total truth; the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

Ultimatum479
2007-01-03, 09:51 AM
Some of these would probably work well as Flaws instead.

Shazzbaa
2007-01-03, 11:59 AM
Oh, I do love curses that impede one's ability to communicate. That's the problem with curses, they're too easy to get rid of (remove curse! Now you're fine!), but it ceases to be so easy when you can't convince anyone you HAVE a curse in the first place. :smallbiggrin:

As per Angelic Tongue: The whole truth? So you can't evade or just not answer? Sucks!
"Hey guys. I need you to remove a curse that's forcing me to tell the truth about everything."
"Huh. Hey, before we do that, I've got some questions for you."
"Crap!"

EDIT: just thought of this...Another variation you could do on "Devil's Tongue" would be to give someone a huge bonus to bluff checks, but make it impossible to tell the truth. So even if they lied really, really poorly... everyone would still believe them.

vanyell
2007-01-03, 12:10 PM
for the original devils tongue

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0327.html

unfortunatly it's been done

Roderick_BR
2007-01-03, 01:01 PM
One funny speech impendment one:
Speech Impendiment: Stammering
The victim can't talk well, stammering all the time. He takes twice the time to talk to someone, in an irritating way, giving him -2 in Diplomacy, Bluff and Intimidation checks (how to be intimidating if they can't stop laughing?) In combat, everytime you need to say something to someone else, you take a default action, instead of a free action.
"H-Hey, J-j-j-ack, loooook be-behi-" *boom* "to-too late..."
Add +%20 to spell failure

Now, a cool one:
Aging Curse
The character ages incredible fast! One year for each month. If he don't do something fast, he'll start feeling the effects of old age (phisical Abilities reducion), without the bonuses (mental Abilities increase are based on his real age).

Collin152
2007-01-03, 01:08 PM
Ooh! Devilishly fiendish! I like aging effects! Most permanent death there is!

XtheYeti
2007-01-03, 01:50 PM
Here's a fun one for a party with a bard that uses his bardic music in battle.

"Just gatta dance"- Any time the character hears any kind of music, from huming to an orcastra they must begin to dance. This is especial bad in battle because the character must move atleast 10 feet per round and change facing. The dance makes it hard to concentrat and all caters must make a consentration check of dc20+spell level. All mele attacks made by the curesed recieve a -2 to hit and there is a 20% chance that the character will step back while trying to attack(which mans he auto misses) and all ranged attack take a -4 to hit

This thing could piss some people off

Iituem
2007-01-03, 06:44 PM
The Cassandra Complex
Must be bestowed by a Greater Deity (rank 16+), cannot be removed saved by a deity of equal or greater rank.

The subject receives an insight into any major events relating to the portfolio(s) of the deity who cursed them, up to one week in the future. However, should they tell anyone anything of their precognitions, nobody will believe them (even after they have been consistently right in them). There is no save to this - it is a divine, mind-affecting enchantment which cannot be counteracted by anything short of divine intervention by a deity of equal or higher rank.

The torture of the Cassandra Complex is to be able to tell the future... but never have anyone believe your predictions.

Glooble Glistencrist
2007-01-04, 12:20 AM
Tasty Touch:
All metal that comes touches the target (or his or her clothing) has a 50% chance of turning into Gingerbread. Magic Items get a will save to avoid this affect. This may be useful against an enemy sword but it really sucks for your own armor.

Curse of Accidental Healing:
If the target scores a critical hit and fails to confirm it, roll damage as normal but the creature being hit heals that much damage instead.

Curse of Apparent Nudity:
What ever the character is wearing when the curse is bestowed becomes invisible, making the target appear naked. The target can not, however, actually get remove any of the clothing. They must appear nude, but not be nude, until the curse is removed. Any additional clothing that is added vanishes within one round.

Sorry my names aren't very creative...

Deus Mortus
2007-01-04, 12:37 AM
The Cassandra Complex
Must be bestowed by a Greater Deity (rank 16+), cannot be removed saved by a deity of equal or greater rank.

The subject receives an insight into any major events relating to the portfolio(s) of the deity who cursed them, up to one week in the future. However, should they tell anyone anything of their precognitions, nobody will believe them (even after you have been consistently right in them). There is no save to this - it is a divine, mind-affecting enchantment which cannot be counteracted by anything short of divine intervention by a deity of equal or higher rank.

The torture of the Cassandra Complex is to be able to tell the future... but never have anyone believe your predictions.

But you can still act on it, so it's more of a blessing then a curse, sure you can't tell anyone, but you couldn't before but now atleast you know and can prepare for it.

For example a deity of fire gives you this curse and because of it you know a volcano will go off tomorrow while you're party si out venturing near it, now you can either buy enough fire immunity pots for everyone (sell them for big bucks if you're evil ;) ) or simply make sure they won't be able to go...

Or you could just tell them no, because your pinky toe tickles and that always spells disaster, sure the first few times they won't believe you, but after that they will be worshipping it...

Glooble Glistencrist
2007-01-04, 01:20 AM
One more because nudity is funny:

Clothesblind:
The target cannot see clothing. Everyone else appears to naked to him or her. Sure, at first you might not want to get rid of it - especially if there's a sexy rogue in your party. Then you run into the half-Orcs...
Not to mention the fact that you can't tell how much armor, if any, an opponent is wearing. And you might get distracted easily. On the plus side, you get a +10 on spot checks to see through a disguise.

Shazzbaa
2007-01-04, 03:46 AM
The Cassandra Complex
The torture of the Cassandra Complex is to be able to tell the future... but never have anyone believe your predictions.

Some things work better in stories than roleplay, and I think this is one of them. If you were dishing it out to PCs, then, well, one of them would always know the future. If it was an NPC's curse, the PCs would have a hard time completely disregarding the obvious fact that this person's predictions always come true, even if they were trying REALLY hard not to metagame. ^^;

Iituem
2007-01-04, 06:42 AM
But you can still act on it, so it's more of a blessing then a curse, sure you can't tell anyone, but you couldn't before but now atleast you know and can prepare for it.

Or you could just tell them no, because your pinky toe tickles and that always spells disaster, sure the first few times they won't believe you, but after that they will be worshipping it...

In the case of the original Cassandra of Athens, she was in the rather unfortunate situation of -not- being able to do anything about it by simple virtue of being on the wrong side of the sea. However, if you wanted to adjust for viability, you could always put a compulsion into effect that prevented them from doing anything about it as well.

You'd sort of have to get the entire group disbelieving them regardless for this to work, but Shazzba may have a point. This one would be a lot easier to pull off in a story, unless you have a very good group of players around.

Glooble Glistencrist
2007-01-04, 11:43 AM
What if you could see the future, but half your predictions turned out to be completely false?

mabriss lethe
2007-01-04, 03:59 PM
What if you could see the future, but half your predictions turned out to be completely false?

That might go a long way toward explaining Pat Robertson.

mikeejimbo
2007-01-04, 04:37 PM
There's the classic curse where you can't feel anything.

Fizban
2007-01-04, 07:35 PM
Here's a random one:

Evolutionary Regression:
Target losses all opposable and/or prehensile appendages. Thumbs migrate across the hand, monkey tails become limb, and etc. You can't effectively wield weapons, spells with somatic components have a 50% failure chance, and it takes at least two appendages to try and pick something up (try duckt taping your thumbs down and see what happens).

Eighth_Seraph
2007-01-05, 12:27 AM
For those of us that are only very slightly easier to offend than I, try
changing the name to reflect a slow-action polymorph or something, Fizban.

mikeejimbo
2007-01-05, 12:40 AM
Interestingly, I've been collecting a variety of single-line curses.


"May you live in interesting times"
"May you lead an interesting life"
"May you find what you seek"
"May you achieve what you desire"
"May you obtain what you want"
"May you get what you wish for"
"May the gods grant you special attention"
"May you get what you deserve"
"May you have no regrets"
"May you never fear"
"May you be a hero"
"May you become great"

Collin152
2007-01-05, 12:53 AM
Some of those dont seem very... curse-ey. Being a hero? it takes a very stupid twist to make that one hurt.

mikeejimbo
2007-01-05, 12:55 AM
Some of those dont seem very... curse-ey. Being a hero? it takes a very stupid twist to make that one hurt.

I don't think it takes that stupid a twist. I think many of the people considered heroic die for their efforts.

And if you don't die, being a hero means being hounded by fans and people wanting you to do stuff like endorsements.

Oh yeah, the one I can't wrap my mind around right now is "May you have no regrets"

The_Werebear
2007-01-05, 01:44 AM
There's an intersting one

May you Get what you Wish for.
There are two effects to this curse, either of which may be chosen by the caster
1) Every word that comes out of the character's mind becomes a wish. There is no room for intepretation. Everythings is literal. Put this one on the most rash character.

2) The Character gets three wishes. Every wish comes true in the most horrific way possible though. For example, wishing to be left alone for a bit results in an Imprisonment spell. Or to be wealthy, every relative dying and you getting the money from their wills.

Machete
2007-01-05, 01:55 AM
The Fish Curse

This curse picks one thing the afflicted character enjoys doing such as smoking. Every time that character does that thing, a half rotten fish falls from nowhere and covers their eyes, blinding them. Removing the fish is a free action that requires a free hand as it is kind of stuck on with fish slime. The pschological effect of this is a -1 Morale penalty on all attack and damage rolls as well as all saves as per the spell "Doom".

Roderick_BR
2007-01-05, 05:45 AM
I don't know if someone already said it, but
Clumsy hands.
Everytime you pick something up, you have a 50% change of simply letting it fall. At first it will look like he has a grease effect on his hands, but it'll soon become obvious he's just too clumsy to hold things, at least untill he notices it's a curse.
A figther with this effect may get a bit paranoid, holding his weapon all day long, afraid to let it fall if he needs to pick it up before a fight. He also gets -4 on grapple checks.

A thought on the Cassandra Complex. To really be a curse, it need to visions of things he can't prevent or can do little about it. Like, he can foresee an orc attack. The local guard will not believe him, since the orcs haven't attacked in months. If he does get a group to halt the orc's attack, the people from the city will think it was just an adventuring group that happened to be in the way. No one will believe you *knew* it was going to happen.
"Good thing you were there. It gave us time to bring in the guard"
"I told you before, I knew it was going to happen"
"How? You found out their plans beforehand?"
"No, I had a vision that they were going to attack"
"Right... So, you run into orc armies all the time?"
"No, really, I foresaw it!"

Collin152
2007-01-05, 08:00 PM
Oh yeah, the one I can't wrap my mind around right now is "May you have no regrets"
Wee! Resisting arrest is fun!

mikeejimbo
2007-01-05, 08:13 PM
Yeah, I guess what I was thinking was that you wouldn't regret the things you've done, but that would only work if they were the kind of person who would feel bad for not feeling bad, and then that would be a regret. (I regret that I don't regret it)

Deus Mortus
2007-01-05, 10:38 PM
Yeah, I guess what I was thinking was that you wouldn't regret the things you've done, but that would only work if they were the kind of person who would feel bad for not feeling bad, and then that would be a regret. (I regret that I don't regret it)

Simple, they would no longer be able to do anything which has a risk of failure that they will regret, so they can't steal because the guard might notice, things like that, although it is best to cast this on someone with high wisdom who is able to say that he would regret doing nothing instead trying something and failing...

Collin152
2007-01-06, 07:24 PM
"Alright! I dont feel any guilt at all!"
Regret is very subjective.

Fredderf
2007-01-24, 05:56 PM
Curse of the Meek- Target must may a will save to enter combat (DC 15) on the grounds that they will probably only make things worse. This also effects the character in roleplaying as shown by their lack of confidence.
Curse of Haunting- The target is haunted consistantly by visions of those they have failed. When the DM feels it is appropriate the target must make a will save (DC ?) or be visited by images of the people he feels he has failed and be effected by a Scare spell.

Iituem
2007-01-25, 09:45 PM
Curse of Minor Misplacement: Each time the character reaches for an item in his backpack or similar container within which the items are not visible there is a 25% chance that he cannot find it. He must then spend a full round action attempting to struggle for the item, with a 10% chance of success. He can find the item with a 90% chance of success if he empties the entire container out and lays out each individual item, but this process takes 1 full minute. If he still cannot find it after this, or simply gives up looking for it, the item will reappear 1d8 x 10 minutes after he ceases to look for it. Should he begin looking for it again before this time elapses, he may make checks to find it again unless he took the full minute action to lay out the container (in which case he will not find it at all), but he will have to wait a new 1d8 x 10 minutes for the item's reappearance after he stops looking the second time.

An item successfully found will not be affected for another 24 hours.

Twisted.Fate
2007-01-26, 12:11 PM
Curse of Minor Misplacement: Each time the character reaches for an item in his backpack or similar container within which the items are not visible there is a 25% chance that he cannot find it. He must then spend a full round action attempting to struggle for the item, with a 10% chance of success. He can find the item with a 90% chance of success if he empties the entire container out and lays out each individual item, but this process takes 1 full minute. If he still cannot find it after this, or simply gives up looking for it, the item will reappear 1d8 x 10 minutes after he ceases to look for it. Should he begin looking for it again before this time elapses, he may make checks to find it again unless he took the full minute action to lay out the container (in which case he will not find it at all), but he will have to wait a new 1d8 x 10 minutes for the item's reappearance after he stops looking the second time.

An item successfully found will not be affected for another 24 hours.

Mean. But devilishly fun. Although I'd shorten the reappearance time to 1d6 x10 (But that's just me).

Icewalker
2007-01-26, 01:13 PM
I like the Devil's tongue curse, and you should have to try to make it completely beleiveable. I think the idea is that it isn't like oh, I can't tell the truth, it's that you have to attempt to deceive everyone whenever talking, so you can't convey truths by telling the exact opposites.

Another possible good one:
Blight
All plants within a certain radius of you wither and die. This isn't neccesarily a bad thing, so maybe it isn't a great curse, and it is similar to one mentioned above, killing all plant matter you touch, but this can be an intimidating boon for a villain. Bad guy strides into the room, all the flowers along the windows wither and crumble away...

rabish12
2007-01-29, 03:45 AM
How's this:

Accursed foresight: The recipient of this curse gains insight into the future, but becomes unable to tell anyone what he knows without dire consequences.

For DMs: If a player gains this curse, simply begin giving them little bits of information on what you intend to throw at them (being careful that other players don't hear it too, of course), preferably things that would be useful to the party and that won't occur for a while. Any time they they tell other characters what you've told them, cause those characters to die at a random point within the next hour (it'd be preferable if you didn't make it obvious to the players what caused it, possibly through a trap or similar happening). Any time that a character who knowingly has this curse tells others about it, those who find out die instantly.

Characters who die as a result of this curse cannot be revived by anything less than True Resurrection, just to make it really nasty.

Darkshade
2007-01-29, 03:54 AM
Curse of the Fool: you find it impossible to do the most simple mundane tasks. Any task that normally requires no roll now requires a roll with a 50% chance of success, from feeding yourself, to opening a door. This curse does not interfere with your ability to fight or cast spells, though you may find it occasionally difficult to figure out how to open your spellbook.

Deepblue706
2007-01-29, 03:56 AM
Curse of the Old: You suffer from arthritis (giving you a -2 to attack and damage rolls), and your loved ones cease contacting you.

Mewtarthio
2007-02-01, 12:14 AM
Sensitivity to Suffering: Whenever asleep or unconscious for at least ten minutes, the victim of the curse duplicates the power Sensitivity to Psychic Impressions, with one important difference: The victim is sensitive only to negative emotions. Fear, rage, grief, and similar strong negative emotions can be detected, and emotional pain will always be involved. Regardless of how long the victim sleeps or remains unconscious, the victim only picks up one such scene per sleep period or episode of unconsciousness. Unlike the psionic power, sleeping in one place for consecutive nights will allow the victim to pick up scenes further back in time, with one new scene each night. Conceivably, the victim could view scenes all the way back to the beginning of time (though obviously such scenes will be of limited utility, offering only archaic death and suffering). One particularly sadistic effect of this curse is that the victim's own thoughts on potential issues can drown out the psychic impressions left by various events: In effect, the victim will receive no scenes pertaining to anything that the victim is worried about (though, once the victim has largely forgotten the issue, these scenes may appear as normal to reopen the wound).

Fainting Sickness: Once per hour (except when the victim is unconscious), roll a d%. If it comes up "00," then d% minutes later the victim must make a Fortitude save (DC equal to the original cursing effect; 15 if the original effect allowed no saving throw) or collapse unconscious for fifteen minutes. The victim can be revived with a Heal check (DC equal to that of the Fortitude save) or simply allowed to recover normally. If the victim has gone at least sixteen hours without a full night's rest, then the victim will sleep normally after recovering from such an episode. Nothing prevents another person from awakening the victim normally at this point. The episodes of unconsciousness themselves are not sleep effects, and so they can affect any creature capable of becoming unconscious, including elves and other creatures immune to sleep effects (though obviously such creatures will immediately be restored to full consciousness after recovery and never run the risk of falling into normal sleep).

Collin152
2007-02-01, 11:15 PM
oooh! Sensitivity to suffering... a hook for a Vigilante charachter, perhaps?

Glooble Glistencrist
2007-02-02, 08:22 AM
Curse of Iambic pentameter:
You must speak only in Iambic verse,
That Shakespeare used in every speech he wrote.
This could prove a most devastating curse
If one less eloquent with it is smote.
Although the meter always must be done
The rhyming's just an added bit of fun.

The Lipogram Curse
You cannot employ, in your communication, that glyph which falls betwixt d and f. If you do, on any occasion on which that glyph is said, you gain 1d6 points of subdual hurt.

Shazzbaa
2007-02-02, 09:41 AM
The Lipogram Curse
You cannot employ, in your communication, that glyph which falls betwixt d and f. If you do, on any occasion on which that glyph is said, you gain 1d6 points of subdual hurt.
"You cannot say..."
And... uh... "falls amid?" ....uh....

Any curse that requires a thesaurus is quite evil indeed.

And it would take an awfully long time for anyone to figure out what was going on.
....especially the illiterate barbarian.

Glooble Glistencrist
2007-02-02, 10:55 AM
Ouch. I took 2d6 points of hurt.

mikeejimbo
2007-02-02, 12:40 PM
"Falls 'twixt." Or is that cheating?

Iituem
2007-02-02, 12:50 PM
How utterly dreadful that curse would be
If one were so bound for eternity
Imagine the pain and indignity
I question though; what is the penalty?

If one should cease one's intercourse in verse
Would one simply be smote? Or something worse?
Would they suffer in pain and agony
Much as in a sketch by Rick Emeree?

(Save that Rick Emeree is not yet born
So such comparison may not be drawn.)

What then the penalty of this dark hex?
For each time he slips, lose one point Reflex!
Weaker in mindset; just bring down his Will,
Or less Fortitude, no ale he shall swill.

Better, I think, as a price for this curse
Is that one becomes its mother in birth.
For each time you slip and miss out a beat
One other shall too this pestilence greet.
By slipping the tongue, one curses the town
And soon in its meters the people drown.

Maxymiuk
2007-02-02, 01:17 PM
How utterly dreadful that curse would be
If one were so bound for eternity
Imagine the pain and indignity
I question though; what is the penalty?

If one should cease one's intercourse in verse
Would one simply be smote? Or something worse?
Would they suffer in pain and agony
Much as in a sketch by Rick Emeree?

(Save that Rick Emeree is not yet born
So such comparison may not be drawn.)

What then the penalty of this dark hex?
For each time he slips, lose one point Reflex!
Weaker in mindset; just bring down his Will,
Or less Fortitude, no ale he shall swill.

Better, I think, as a price for this curse
Is that one becomes its mother in birth.
For each time you slip and miss out a beat
One other shall too this pestilence greet.
By slipping the tongue, one curses the town
And soon in its meters the people drown.

You are evil. And awesome.


Curse of the Lucky
I'd stay away from that guy if I were you. Everyone who tries to kill him ends up missing and hitting his friends instead.
Every attack or spell that targets you specifically has an automatic 50% chance of missing. The downfall is that if it does, it instead targets someone else at random. It seems like a great thing for a solo adventurer, until you realize that it only comes into effect when you're fighting alongside friends or companions.

Telonius
2007-02-02, 01:27 PM
Curse of "Almost!"
Whenever you threaten a critical hit, treat your target as having one level higher of Fortification. (No fortification = 25% miss chance, Light fortification = 50% miss chance, etc.)

Curse of Death's Snare
You can no longer successfully stabilize when you are dying. Another character must succeed on a heal check or heal you magically in order to stabilize you. This curse cannot be overcome by spending an action point to stabilize.

rabish12
2007-02-02, 05:25 PM
I've decided this thread needs more retro game references.

Simon's Curse:

During the day, this curse has no effect. However, as the sun goes below the horizon each day, the recipient of this curse immediately shouts "WHAT A HORRIBLE NIGHT TO HAVE A CURSE".

During the night, any damage done to the cursed character while outdoors and not within a town is doubled. In addition, when the cursed character is within a town 2d6 undead (DM's choice, best to make them a fair challenge) will appear in random positions throughout that town.

At daybreak, the cursed character immediately shouts "THE MORNING LIGHT HAS VANQUISHED THE TERRIBLE NIGHT", and all effects of the curse immediately cease. Any undead created by the curse instantly disappear, and the character begins taking normal damage again.

Dareon
2007-02-02, 05:50 PM
Roses fall from the cursed character's mouth every time he speaks. These roses are real in every way, including scent and thorns. They do not have enough force behind them to be usable as a weapon, and the thorns do not actually do any damage.

Sounds okay at first, at best a minor inconvenience, then the character starts talking in his sleep.

Want to make it worse? Make it rafflesia flowers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafflesia) instead.

Shazzbaa
2007-02-02, 06:06 PM
Roses fall from the cursed character's mouth every time he speaks. These roses are real in every way, including scent and thorns. They do not have enough force behind them to be usable as a weapon, and the thorns do not actually do any damage.

Sounds okay at first, at best a minor inconvenience, then the character starts talking in his sleep.

Want to make it worse? Make it rafflesia flowers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafflesia) instead.


This reminds me of that old fairy tale, where the wicked sister is cursed to have toads leap from her mouth every time she speaks, while the good sister is blessed (?!?) with gold coins falling from her mouth whenever she spoke.

As a young child, it was pretty clear to me that neither one was very desirable for the maiden in question. ^^;

mabriss lethe
2007-02-02, 11:25 PM
This reminds me of that old fairy tale, where the wicked sister is cursed to have toads leap from her mouth every time she speaks, while the good sister is blessed (?!?) with gold coins falling from her mouth whenever she spoke.

As a young child, it was pretty clear to me that neither one was very desirable for the maiden in question. ^^;


For some reason, my mind hit the gutter and wouldn't come up for air,...it had something to do with the phrase "opening her money maker" springing to mind. yes. I AM a bad man, but I share.

Toric
2007-02-03, 12:55 AM
Starkey's Shuffling Diminisher:
Upon receiving the curse and after every subsequent 8-hour rest, the victim rolls two d6. The result of the first roll inflicts a -2 penalty upon one physical stat (a result of 1-2 reducing Strength, 3-4 reducing Dexterity, 5-6 reducing Constitution) while the result of the second roll inflicts a -2 penalty upon one mental stat (1-2 reducing Intelligence, 3-4 reducing Wisdom, 5-6 reducing Charisma). These penalties accumulate by -2 for every 24 hours without an 8-hour rest. Each penalty is removed upon resting for 8 hours.

Skin Slivers:
The victim's body begins to sprout small, sharp spikes across its surface. These slivers inflict 1d8 piercing damage upon any creatures the victim touches (in addition to any damage from unarmed attacks) and tear clothing very quickly, requiring the victim's clothing to be repaired or replaced every 1d8 days.

TheOOB
2007-02-03, 01:25 AM
Curse of the Butterfingers
Every round you have a 25% chance to drop whatever you are holding due to the weak grip you have. In addition you suffer a -8 penalty on opposed disarm checks. Locking an item in locked gauntlets lowers this chance to 10% and reduces the penalty to -4.

cferejohn
2007-02-03, 01:36 AM
Starkey's Shuffling Diminisher:
Upon receiving the curse and after every subsequent 8-hour rest, the victim rolls two d4-1 (No, not 2d4-1). The result of the first roll inflicts a -2 penalty upon one physical stat (a result of 1 reducing Strength, 2 reducing Dexterity, 3 reducing Constitution) while the result of the second roll inflicts a -2 penalty upon one mental stat (1 reducing Intelligence, 2 reducing Wisdom, 3 reducing Charisma). These penalties accumulate by -2 for every 24 hours without an 8-hour rest. Each penalty is removed upon resting for 8 hours.



That should really be a D6 (where 1-2 is the first stat, 3-4 is the second, and 5-6 is the third). Otherwise, what happens when you roll a 0 (i.e. a 1)? Nothing is damaged is possible if you wanted to make it less mean. If you count 0 as 1, STR and INT get dinged twice as often as anything else...
-picky me

Toric
2007-02-03, 01:53 AM
Bleh, you're right. Didn't think of that.

Arakune
2007-02-04, 09:37 AM
The Beautiful Happy Flower Curse
Every time the subjects become happy by some way, roses will apper in his flesh, and current clothing that causes no warn on him, but the torns cause incredible pain to other people. The subjects also will always want to hug the nearby people, as if a compulsion spell was cast on him.
When he stop being especialy happy the roses simply vanishes.

Collin152
2007-03-14, 12:47 AM
Curse of ill Gained Power
This curse takes the form of an eldritch symbol that bonds to living flesh. As a move action, the bearer may increase their effective caster level by any amount. However, every round, starting as part of the move action activating the curse, the subjects ages 10 years per caster level so gained. Ending the curse is a free action.
So even keeping this up at minimum will age you a hundred years in a minute. But it's all self inflicted for the sake of power. Still trying to destroy the Elan possibility, apart from the fact I don't play them and it's up to the DM to allow this...

Jade_Tarem
2007-03-14, 04:52 AM
Goin' Squirrely Curse

Upon reception of this curse, the victim feels no effect other than a sudden lightening. However, whenever the cursed entity encounters an unintentional impact of any sort, the victim is treated as having a nearly negligable weight. The victim moves, involuntarily, 5 feet away from the source of the impact for every point of damage recieved from the given impact, and half as high. Unintentional impacts that do not do damage will send the victim back 20 feet per level of spell cast at him (only one with an impact, though) or 10 feet per caster level of any other magical effect. Subsequent impacts (resulting from the first) do not trigger this effect, but the victim takes falling damage as normal. Casting a spell while in midair in this fashion requires a concentration check as though you had just been struck. You are also treated as 3 size categories smaller for the purposes of strong winds. On the plus side, you have a +10 circumstance bonus to climb and jump checks. Remember - If the victim strikes an object in mid flight (thus halting horizontal motion) he takes half of the damage that he would from falling damage were he to fall the horizontal distance that he was supposed to fly.

Groundhog's Day Curse

Each day, at 6:00 a.m., there is a 50% chance that you will relive the previous day, with each event occuring exactly as it did before save for your interference. There is no chance to observe this effect in action as before 6:00 a.m. at some point you will be struck with the equivalent of a sleep spell that affects any number of hit dice and has no save. This may be a boon in some cases, as you keep all memory of your previous escapades during that day, and this curse may even raise you from the dead with no level loss. On the other hand, your luck is not required to be the same as it was on the previous iteration of the current day, so any action that you succeeded at due to exceptional luck may fail this time around. The same also applies for any horrendously bad luck as well, of course. Also, your party may get tired of you asking each morning what day it is.

Greater Groundhog's Day Curse

You become a weatherman who is trapped in Pohnksatoni, Pennsylvania and is forced to live the day of Feb 2, 1999 for ten years.

Nahal
2007-03-14, 03:30 PM
Midas Touch
One of the oldest, with a mild twist. Any item you touch is turned into gold. The clothing you were wearing at the time you received the curse is unaffected, but once removed it is affected as normal. Items retain their magical properties, if any. Once the curse is removed, anything you touched while under the effects of the curse returns to normal and the possessor of any object that reverts remembers exactly when and where they obtained it, and knows your location at the moment the curse is broken. This curse's touch effect is considered a supernatural ability.

Midas Touch, Greater:
As per Midas Touch, however your clothes worn at the time the curse takes hold ARE affected, and any magical items you touch turn into NONmagical gold until the curse is broken unless they succeed at a fortitude save (DC 16 plus CHA modifier).

Curse of the Cat:
The victim gains an Animal Companion, as per the druid class ability. However, this companion is always a seemingly ordinary housecat, with the following exceptions. Whenever a natural 1 or natural 20 is rolled in its presence (within 25ft plus 5ft per character level of the victim) something catastrophic happens. Perhaps the person making an attack roll sunders his weapon on a rock, or the wizard attempts to cast defensively and mucks up the casting just enough to hit his comrade with the spell he was aiming at the hobgoblin, or the rogue sneak attacks himself, etc. In addition, the cat generates a Wild Magic field within the same radius, forcing any caster to succeed on a caster level check (DC 10 plus victim's character level) or else have the spell or spell-like ability subjected to the wild magic effect if he attempts to cast within or into the affected area. These effects are supernatural in nature.

If the cat dies or is moved more than 1 mile from the victim, it reappears next to the victim 1d6 rounds later. However, so long as the victim is unconscious the cat temporarily ceases to exist.

There are only two known ways to be rid of the curse: The first is by a wish or similar magic, but bear in mind that the casting can be subjected to the wild magic effect.

The second is time: Every 24 hours after the curse takes hold the GM sectretly rolls a d20: if the die comes up 7 then catastrophic fubles only occur on natural 1 rolls for that day. The next time the die comes up 7, the catastrophic fumble rule is suppressed for the entire day. The third time, all supernatural effects are suppressedfor the day but the cat remains. The fourth time a 7 comes up, the cat doesn't come back and the curse is broken.