Cursed Items

[Chester]

OK, I'm not sure if I'm interpreting cursed items correctly.

Unless otherwise noted, are there no saving throws for cursed items? It's just remove curse or the like?

For instance: a ring of invisibility that forces the possessor to discard/destroy a magical item every day, or a sword that changes the owner's alignment. Does it just happen, is there a will save involved, etc?

How do you handle cursed items in your campaigns?

[Keneth]

No save.

And most people don't use cursed items. They're kinda like sunder rules—we acknowledge that they exist, but there's an unwritten agreement that they're never gonna be used unless there is a significant benefit to it.

[Chester]

What about cursed scrolls? For instance, the party is retrieving a scroll case for a dragon; the dragon plans to read some cursed scrolls that will significantly age him. Can the party identify the cursed scroll? Is the scroll disguised as something else? Is the only way to find out if the party reads the scrolls?

[Forrestfire]

It's a possibility, but it really seems like a bit of a **** move.

In my campaigns, my preferred method of introducing "cursed" items is ones that have a fun drawback. I like intelligent items for this sort of thing, since they're characters that are fun to roleplay, and the "curse" may not be one at all. For instance, one of my players has a sword with a fairly high ego score. It's a fairly powerful item, except for some awkward situations that might arise from its personal views. In this case, the sword considers itself a "Warrior's Weapon," and refuses to kill enemies that won't fight back. On the flipside, it also refuses to spare enemies who have not surrendered, giving them a "warrior's death" instead, if the player fails the ego check. So far it's been a lot of fun to RP.

[Keneth]

Cursed items can be identified like any other items, it's just harder.

In 3.5 it works like this:

A simple detect magic spell yields a misleading aura and strength, often indicating that the item is a noncursed item of similar sort. An identify spell only has a 1% chance per caster level to reveal a cursed item’s true properties, including the cursed aspect. Analyze dweomer reveals the true nature of a cursed item.

In Pathfinder it's slightly easier:

Identifying Cursed Items: Cursed items are identified like any other magic item with one exception: unless the check made to identify the item exceeds the DC by 10 or more, the curse is not detected. If the check is not made by 10 or more, but still succeeds, all that is revealed is the magic item's original intent. If the item is known to be cursed, the nature of the curse can be determined using the standard DC to identify the item.

Also, dragons being magically aged to increase their own age category is cheesy as hell. Making dragons immune to aging effects should be a common house rule for every DM in my opinion.

[CIDE]

It's a possibility, but it really seems like a bit of a **** move.

In my campaigns, my preferred method of introducing "cursed" items is ones that have a fun drawback. I like intelligent items for this sort of thing, since they're characters that are fun to roleplay, and the "curse" may not be one at all. For instance, one of my players has a sword with a fairly high ego score. It's a fairly powerful item, except for some awkward situations that might arise from its personal views. In this case, the sword considers itself a "Warrior's Weapon," and refuses to kill enemies that won't fight back. On the flipside, it also refuses to spare enemies who have not surrendered, giving them a "warrior's death" instead, if the player fails the ego check. So far it's been a lot of fun to RP.

I love this idea. I want to use this now if that's alright. I never thought of that. Helps me reduce my cursed item usage (which I do announce before a campaign starts). Cursed items being in a campaign world is not something you surprise a player with. Let them know before character creation or nix the concept until next time.

[CrazyYanmega]

Fun cursed items are great. I have a player that I gave a cursed Rod of Wonder. It is stuck to his arm, but can be turned into a tattoo if he needs his hand. Also, if he dies, his soul is trapped within the Rod. There are about 4 personalities in there, some of which are beneficial, others not so much.

-Gobbldygook is the goblin the rogue killed to get the rod. He enjoys trying to provoke the rogue.

-Orin is a monk, and he is very calm and helpful. He can select a power that would be beneficial to the situation 3/day if he is the bonus personality of the day.

-Lori is a commoner, with nothing but gloom and bad luck. If the rogue tries to use the rod while she is the bonus personality, the worst possible power for the situation will activate.

-Zarrish is a powerful ancient red dragon. Once per month, if he is the bonus personality of the day, he can be summoned to assist for 1000 gp a round.

-Irruqu is a mad wizard who created the rod. If he is the bonus personality of the day, the rod will activate randomly.

[Necroticplague]

No save.

And most people don't use cursed items. They're kinda like sunder rules—we acknowledge that they exist, but there's an unwritten agreement that they're never gonna be used unless there is a significant benefit to it.

I see cursed items used fairly frequently, actually. Cursed swords made of something hard to break have been used as backup weapons frequently, I've seen quite a few use dust of choking and sneezing, I've seen a scarab of death used very creatively by undead party members (hey, it says LIVING creatures can't carry it for more than a minute...), and even bags of devouring used to deal with artifacts. And then the grappler realized he could cram people into the bag and easily beat its check to avoid getting eaten.

Although I do agree with some earlier suggestions, most 'curses' imposed by DMs that I've seen are just negative personality traits of intelligent items. Which are then promptly fixed by casting spells on its till its too dumb to have an ego score high enough to do anything. Kinda like Excalibur from Soul Eater.

[Keneth]

There are always cursed items that can be used relatively safely. I was more referring to the kind that doesn't have any uses beyond giving them to an enemy via beguiling gift (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/b/beguiling-gift) or similar methods.

And all that assumes you are aware of the item's nature to begin with. Giving a purely debilitating item to a party that can't identify a cursed item, much less get rid of it, is a douche move.

[Hurnn]

They are not a bad option to give your BBEG if you want to give them a strong item but don't want to risk the players getting it. For example I gave a +3 flame burst hvy mace that permanently changed your alignment to NE to an evil cleric, who didn't mind the curse, he was evil anyway. I gave a fighter BBeg a suit of missile attraction plate, pumped his melee AC pretty good did leave him vulnerable to being shot but his goal was charge into close combat asap to mitigate the ranged threat.

[Windstorm]

I deal with them the same way I do nasty traps: plenty of warning unless you're being very very silly. Its actually a great place to leverage the rule that most magic items actually do have a discernible glow, and that can tell you if something is a hazard to pick up just like a snake tells you if its poisonous.

that said; don't throw them around like candy. Most cursed items are the same rarity as a minor artifact, and you're unlikely to come across them over the course of most adventures.