PDA

View Full Version : Resolving a bad luck curse



Raine_Sage
2013-10-07, 09:47 PM
So I've been playing around with a character concept for awhile but I'm having trouble so I thought I'd ask around here.

I have a human fighter who was cursed with bad luck. If she stays in one place for more than a month things start going wrong for her. The longer she stays the worse it gets and the more people around her are affected by it. So let's say at first chair legs might break when she tries to sit down, wagons lose wheels, lightning makes a tree fall on her house etc.

The only way she knows to keep her luck from literally catching up with her is to keep moving. So she became an adventurer because it's a high mobility job and it lets her hunt for clues about how to un-jinx herself at the same time.

The problem is I have no ideas for either what caused her luck to turn so sour, or how she might get rid of it. I've been thumbing through the monster manuals but in the meantime was wondering if there might also be a good non-creature source.

JoshuaZ
2013-10-07, 10:35 PM
Backstory doesn't need as specific mechanics. Familial curse? Maybe her mother when pregnant angered a local witch or wizard? For that matter, something like this is within the actual mechanics of Greater Bestow Curse.

It may be that she doesn't know where the bad luck comes from, just knows that it is there. This would be a potentially even more frustrating position to be in, knowing such a problem is there but having no way to deal with it.

Fable Wright
2013-10-07, 10:58 PM
Promethean: the Created by White Wolf has a vaguely similar concept for the titular Prometheans known as their Wasteland, which causes stuff like storms, cause hauntings, and generally screw with the environment. It's caused by their artificial essence imposing itself on the nearby surroundings. The only way to eliminate the effect is to, in essence, make their own soul out of the essence that animates them.

Applying that to your character, maybe they were born without a soul, and their parents turned to magical rites to give their only child a magical replacement/prosthetic soul. Unfortunately, their lack of a real soul causes them to become the universe's chew toy, as the divine protection inherently protecting mortals, based on their souls and faith, doesn't apply to them. The longer they stick around, the more others' misfortune is redirected to them. Leaving means that bad luck from the locals can't follow them around anymore; the next place they settle down, bad luck starts forming a new groove around the character. The obvious way to fix this, obviously, is to earn/forge your own, brand new soul.

Berenger
2013-10-08, 09:59 AM
You have a) a fighter b) cursed with bad luck c) which prevents her from going home or settling down?

Are you familiar with the Odyssey? :smallamused:

Lord Torath
2013-10-08, 10:22 AM
Ever see the movie Holes? The main character's great-great grandpappy got help from a witch, but forgot to do the service he promised. His descendants are cursed with bad luck until one of them completes the required service.

mucat
2013-10-08, 02:31 PM
If you have a GM who doesn't mind an extra story-crafting "assignment" -- and who you trust to do a good job with the hook you hand them -- then it could work fine for you to start play with no idea, IC or OOC, what caused the curse. The GM can invent a secret cause, and reveal clues gradually over the course of the campaign.

RochtheCrusher
2013-10-08, 03:18 PM
If you happen to have a goddess of luck, travel, and goodness (such as Avandra from D&D) handy, then perhaps your family was in power someplace and oppressing the people... particularly those passing through. They control the food and water supply, and charge people an arm and a leg for it, say.

For this, the Goddess of Luck and Travel cursed them all. Their luck is only awful when they try to put down roots or stay together, as each act of wandering appeases her for a time.

If your character was of a sufficiently young age at the time, he might be only minimally responsible... such as by keeping silent or not going out of his way to smuggle things to poor travellers.

Edit:

As for resolving the curse... perhaps the character will continue to be cursed until he is either oppressed himself (in a meaningful fashion that makes him understand) or until he saves the life of a (non-PC) traveller at personal cost.

Couronne
2013-10-08, 03:47 PM
Perhaps it's some sort of secret test of character and the way to break the curse is to stick around and deal with the consequences instead of perpetually 'running away'.

Amaril
2013-10-08, 05:13 PM
Perhaps it's some sort of secret test of character and the way to break the curse is to stick around and deal with the consequences instead of perpetually 'running away'.

That would make sense if the curse was placed on her by a god of community or loyalty like Moradin, in contrast to Roch's idea about Avandra or some similar god. Either could work, and both would be really great as hooks.