Can you disarm a cursed weapon?

[inexorabletruth]

So, the only way 2 ways I know to remove a cursed item is to either die, or use Remove Curse, ditch the item, and never touch it again.

So, obviously if you're wielding a cursed sword and someone disarms you successfully, you won't lose the sword. But what happens?

Does the disarm fail?

Does it succeed, but then the sword reappears back in the owner/victims sheath? If so, how soon? Immediately?

Does the sword reappear back in the owner/victims hand? If so, is there a wait time for it to reappear in the owner/victims hand?

Does the cursed sword accept the new owner and curse the person who succeeded in the disarm attempt?

To clarify, this is an unarmed disarm attempt. A wizard is cursed with a Berserking sword. Her friend (who doesn't know the sword is cursed) is trying to disarm her without hurting her, so he's coming in unarmed ( and succeeded), which would normally result in the sword ending up in his hand. But it's a cursed sword... so I don't know how that works.

[Thedez]

Were I in your shoes, I'd rule it as still being thr Wizard's, but if the wizard tries drawing anything else, well, wlecome to round two.

[inexorabletruth]

So, instead of disarming, it breaks the rage, and allows her the option to sheathe her sword?

[hamishspence]

Does the cursed sword accept the new owner and curse the person who succeeded in the disarm attempt?

This is what I would go with. You can't voluntarily discard the cursed item - but there's no obvious reason why someone else couldn't forcibly take it off you.

[InvisibleBison]

I think you're mistaken about the nature of cursed items. Looking over the SRD page (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/cursedItems.htm), there's nothing saying that cursed items in general are difficult to get rid of. Only the cursed -2 sword has that property. Disarming someone armed with a bererking sword would work exactly the same as disarming someone armed with an uncursed weapon.

[hamishspence]

I think you're mistaken about the nature of cursed items. Looking over the SRD page (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/cursedItems.htm), there's nothing saying that cursed items in general are difficult to get rid of. Only the cursed -2 sword has that property. Disarming someone armed with a bererking sword would work exactly the same as disarming someone armed with an uncursed weapon.

And a few others (loadstone, gauntlets of fumbling, etc) but it is true that not all are specifically called out as difficult to remove).

[inexorabletruth]

Oh wow! I've always played it as though cursed items required remove curse or stronger to remove.

But after re-reading it, I can see that you're correct. They could just drop the sword. Thanks for the help!

[magic9mushroom]

There's actually a sidebar in the DMG on cursed items that says this:


Don't give out a lot of cursed items that characters can't get rid of in any way - that only becomes annoying to players. While some cursed items are meant to hassle the players a little, too much annoyance detracts from fun game play. Once a player has figured out that her character has a cursed item, most of the time she should just be able to rid herself of it.

Most cursed items don't need Remove Curse to be removed, and a lot of them are actually still good items so you don't need to. The only ones you need Remove Curse for are Delusion (you are mind-controlled into not realising it's cursed until RC is cast) and a few of the specific cursed items (though in a couple of cases even that won't work and you need Limited Wish).

The cursed -2 sword (one of the aforementioned ones that requires Limited Wish) actually has a pretty poor write-up, because there's no reason given for why you can't throw the sword away or smash it (unlike the Loadstone, which simply reappears on your person if you do either).


In the case of a berserking sword, there's no "sticky" effect, so there's no particular reason it couldn't be taken away or destroyed (though the person who went berserk isn't going to drop it willingly).

[Crake]

Oh wow! I've always played it as though cursed items required remove curse or stronger to remove.

But after re-reading it, I can see that you're correct. They could just drop the sword. Thanks for the help!

That's not quite correct, once the sword is drawn, they cannot just drop the sword, they continue attacking until they're unconscious or dead, or everyone within 30ft is dead.

The issue with the party member disarming the wizard is that now they're going to go berserk, and I assume they're far more competent with a blade than the wizard is.

[magic9mushroom]

That's not quite correct, once the sword is drawn, they cannot just drop the sword, they continue attacking until they're unconscious or dead, or everyone within 30ft is dead.

The issue with the party member disarming the wizard is that now they're going to go berserk, and I assume they're far more competent with a blade than the wizard is.

Only if they use it in battle. It's not automatic upon picking up the sword.

[Crake]

Only if they use it in battle. It's not automatic upon picking up the sword.

Except they're disarming it from the wizard that they're currently in battle with

[Segev]

In terms just of handling cursed items that you can't be rid of, they primarily force themselves to be what you draw when you go to pull out a thing. This actually has the somewhat funny but definitely curse-like property that you can have multiple people cursed with it at the same time.

Let's examine the -2 cursed sword, which forces you to draw it every time you go for a weapon. If you and your best friend both are cursed with it, when you try to draw any weapon, it appears in your hand. Now, your friend tries to draw a different weapon, and, lo, he pulls forth the -2 cursed sword! Since he now has it, it must have slipped from your fingers. Should you then try to draw a weapon, it vanishes from his grasp and appears in your hand as you pull it forth.

A large number of people cursed by the same sword would mean that they'd all need Quick Draw to have ANY weapon on hand - or spend a move action every turn drawing it - as long as others also are in need and keep trying to pull weapons.

Funny and a bit silly? Sure. But also most definitely a curse.