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View Full Version : Little Black Book of Curses (Side Quest)



Caylris
2019-03-01, 05:56 PM
First of all, I am a bit of a lurker and this is my first ever post. I have been DMing for about 6 months and run a homebrew setting. I am still learning and making mistakes but my players enjoy themselves.

So I am going to put into my campaign a character that had cursed a group of people. He isn't necessarily evil, but definitely not good. One of my players was cursed by him and would like the curse broken. All of the curses are stored in a magical item that when broken will release all the people from their curses. I would like help from this awesome community to come up with some of these curses for me, be they serious, whimsical or even a blessing in disguise. The reason I want help is my ideas all tend to head in the same direction, so I would like some uniqueness. This is the format I would like:

Name:

Race:

Reason they were cursed:

What the curse was:

What you think would happen should the curse be broken:

The details will then be placed into a book which will be with the object. The players can read it then decide if the risk of breaking said curses are worth breaking their own. The players character is quite impulsive and may opt to do it regardless or do it before reading the book.

For example (a curse that is a hidden blessing):

Name: Gwendolyn Erana

Race: Human

Why they were cursed: The wizard saw this woman and thought that she was so hideous that even the sight of her offended him greatly.

Details of the curse: Incredible beauty.

What happens when broken: Gwendolyns beauty fades and her original looks are restored, she loses her job in the main city as a model of the latest fashions and is attacked by her fans due to the deception.

They can be more serious than that though. I do want some stuff that may have negative impacts if the curses are broken. I really want my players to have to think whether or not it is WORTH breaking all the curses.

Bulhakov
2019-03-01, 08:52 PM
Name: Sir Dredd

Race: Human

Reason they were cursed: Overzealousness in eradicating evil

What the curse was: The paladin must kill a santient evil creature or person once per day. Once he kills the victim he becomes immortal until the next dawn. If he fails to make the kill, he will rage like a barbarian until he kills the first living thing he sees (then the curse continues as usual) or dies trying.

What you think would happen should the curse be broken: The world will likely lose a legendary hero, known for slaying many evils (and occasional villagers). For the past few years he paladin learned to travel with a goblin or two chained up on a leash (as emergency victims).

paddyfool
2019-03-03, 06:27 AM
Name: Dar Kard

Race: Human

Reason they were cursed: A serial con artist, this man tried to cheat the caster and was found out

What the curse was: Dar Kard can never speak of his own volition; but his own tongue will tell on him if he tries to cheat or deceive anyone. He was forced into begging for a while, until he hit on a new business as a scribe; any clients who are aware of his past are also aware that the curse means he literally cannot cheat them. He's since become quite skilled at writing, since he always had a gift for telling stories and it's become his main means of communication.

What you think would happen should the curse be broken: He has about a dozen schemes in mind for how he might be able to use the knowledge he's gained of many people's private business through his trade to cheat them, but he's become a lot more wary of it due to the reflex anticipation of his tongue telling on him. Likely whatever future schemes he pulls will be a lot more subtle and cautious, with less risk of being found out.

Pauly
2019-03-03, 09:39 PM
Name: Stiltskin Grabstone

Race: Gnome

Reason they were cursed: Defective invention that didn’t deliver as promised.

Curse: Pathological fear of the ground.
Effect: walks on high stilts, lives in a treehouse, cannot go underground, going inside stone buildings is traumatic Suffers debilitating panic attacks if he directly touches the ground. Has become an expert inventor of climbing and lifting devices. Is estranged by the gnomes community for his inability to live like a normal gnome.

Action on curse being lifted: will head down underground as fast as possible and will refuse to willingly have any dealings with non-gnomes. His former customers will find it be very difficult to locate him.