Undeath curse

[Ivor_The_Mad]

I need a good curse of undeath to use on a person in my party. In the dungeon i'm running the characters will have to travel to an island of undead ruled my the merciless Shathra, a young silver shadow dragon. Once the characters steal what they need from him he curses one of them as they leave. I need a good curse to use. So far I have: The character can't go on land... and thats it. I want it to be annoying for the PC but not fatal, I also wan't a way to remove it and if its not removed when the PC dies they are resurrected as a wight under the dragons control. Sorry if its a lot to ask but can any one fill in the HUGE gaps?

[the_brazenburn]

I need a good curse of undeath to use on a person in my party. In the dungeon i'm running the characters will have to travel to an island of undead ruled my the merciless Shathra, a young silver shadow dragon. Once the characters steal what they need from him he curses one of them as they leave. I need a good curse to use. So far I have: The character can't go on land... and thats it. I want it to be annoying for the PC but not fatal, I also wan't a way to remove it and if its not removed when the PC dies they are resurrected as a wight under the dragons control. Sorry if its a lot to ask but can any one fill in the HUGE gaps?

The person has disadvantage on all Stealth, Deception, and Sleight of Hand checks.

[Emay Ecks]

Possible curses:
-You could do something with Shadows (from the monster manual) pursuing the cursed character and being attracted to them. This could show itself in random encounters at night with several shadows trying to sneak into camps to attack the cursed party member, or shadows joining the enemy side in most combat scenarios (and using the fight as a distraction to try to drain the PC).

-The party member could register as undead for spells. The degree of danger and severity is up to you, as this can just mean the PC might not be able to attune to some magic items, and paladins might freak out upon scanning the party. Or if you really want it to hurt, it could mean the party member can't be healed through spells (as they don't affect the undead).

-The character could have decaying undead flesh, giving them disadvantage on charisma checks (like the contagion spell) and possibly a vulnerability to radiant damage (this probably won't actually amount to anything, but giving players a temporary vulnerability scares the heck out of them).

-You could give them sunlight sensitivity. Their body begins to turn into one of pure shadow. This one is really harsh, so I might give them a bonus with it like advantage on stealth in the dark, but it's all up to you.

Possible cures:
-Remove curse? The spell designed to remove curses?

-Drinking water from a sacred spring (and protected by a holy guardian. Man, it would sure suck to register as undead when approaching wouldn't it?)

-Must venture into the Feywild. Shadow dragons are formed in the Shadowfell, so maybe going into the polar opposite realm would remove their curse from you as they have no power there.

[A Fat Dragon]

Might I ask how they cannot go on land? Could be fun to play around with the specifics on that.

[Angelalex242]

A very famous curse stolen from Buffy the Vampire Slayer:

If you ever experience a moment of true happiness, you will immediately become deranged psychopathic Chaotic Evil. Like, Heath Ledger's Joker style Chaotic Evil.

[GorogIrongut]

I wouldn't give them a set of hard and specific negatives to it. I'd do it like this:
Said player is unable to encounter any other shadow besides their own without potentially being entangled by it. Whenever they touch a foreign shadow, on a roll of 1 on a d20, the player suffers a level of exhaustion as a portion of their soul is transported to the elemental plane of shadows. One level of exhaustion may be regained following 8 hours of straight sleep in which the player navigates their dreams to the border of the Realm of Shadows to reclaim the lost portion of their soul.
If the player dies with ANY portion of their soul in the realm of shadows, they change into a Bodak and are under the command of Shathra the Shadow Dragon.
If the player has lost more than two pieces of their soul to the Realm of Shadows, then they lose contact with the world at large. They have difficulty tasting food. There is no joy in adventure. No reward that appeals. Their emotions, goals and outlook on life become bleak and gray.

To remove this curse the player must consume the egg of a fire dragon.

So back to the mechanics of my idea... Initially the player will view it as a mere inconvenience... until they finally roll that 1 on a d20. And all the sudden things will start to get real and dangerous. The player will of a need become paranoid about being around... anything. For fear of touching it's shadow. During the evening they will have to surround themselves in light so as to avoid shadows if at all possible. They will constantly be balancing the risk/reward of safety in the here and now and the potential of part of their soul being taken.

The best part about it is that the odds of it occurring are slim, but the consequences quickly become severe. The downside is that you will have to constantly remind the player to tell you how careful they're being... what lengths they're going to to avoid shadows.

[Sigreid]

Disadvantage on all social checks due to uncontrolled outbursts.

Inability to speak or knowingly let slide a lie or half truth.

[Lord8Ball]

Curse 1
1. player gets the ability of the zombie to roll con saves to prevent death; however, they roll death saving throws at disadvantage or have none altogether.
2. The player slowly transforms more and more into an undead creature and as a result, gains resilience and physical stats at the cost of mental degradation over a period of time(think stages). The only way to stall this decay are potions given by a higher entity or castings of gentle ripose.
3. As the player transforms into an undead he/she gains the ability to hold their breath underwater for extended periods of time.
4. In the more severe stages of the transformation the player is seen as an undead by other entities of similar nature and is not targeted unless made out to be hostile.
5. You have to make peace with the originator of the curse to be free of it.
curse 2
1. Your shadow is acting up and being an ass trolling your everyday life with spite and hauntings.

[Ivor_The_Mad]

Might I ask how they cannot go on land? Could be fun to play around with the specifics on that.

It is ineffective if... They got a jar of dirt... they got a jar of dirt and guess whats inside it?

[Garfunion]

Becoming Intangible
Each week after the curse has been applied, the target gains one level of exhaustion as their physical form dissipate (becomes ghost-like). These levels of exhaustion can not be remove until the curse has been lifted.

[JackPhoenix]

Obvious ways to remove the curse would be returning the stolen object(s) (What is it, anyway? The curse may be tied to that) or killing de-animating the dragon.

PotC-style curse isn't original, but turning to undead at night (or under other circumstances) could be interesting... not under the player's control, basically make it lycanthropy... they awake in the morning only to find out all the havoc they did during the night. It doesn't have to be physical change... perhaps they spawn shadows when they fall asleep, or something.

[EternalPrime]

I suggest looking through the list of epic boons in the DMG and reversing their effects to make a list of curses.

[Ivor_The_Mad]

Obvious ways to remove the curse would be returning the stolen object(s) (What is it, anyway? The curse may be tied to that) or killing de-animating the dragon.

The item is a 4 inch long crystal of Taaffeite. With magical scrying properties.

[Sigreid]

The item is a 4 inch long crystal of Taaffeite. With magical scrying properties.

They get dark vision...only dark vision. They can no longer see with any light sources at all.

[Ivor_The_Mad]

Also one other thing. Im looking more for fluff that hinders the player and not necessarily harms them. Im thinking I might use some of the suggestions like giving the player disadvantage to Cha and some of the stuff GorogIrongut came up with. Along with changing their alignment with out them telling the rest of the party while trying to hinder their progress.

Edit: I was also thinking of adding sunlight sensitivity and, tell me if this is too cruel but I want to make it so the character loose the benefit of rests and be stuck at 2 levels of exhaustion.