Cursed items and passing attunement

[Segev]

Cursed items in 5e generally have rules that state that, once you have attuned the item, you can't unattune it without remove curse or the like. So you're stuck with the item consuming an attunement slot AND its curse.

Regular attuned items - say, Jack's Ring of Jumping that he is very fond of - can still be stolen. If Jill sleight of hands it off Jack's finger and absconds before he's any the wiser, she can spend a short rest attuning the ring; I believe that, even if Jack got the ring back, he'd now have to spend a short rest attuning it, himself, right? He has lost attunement to it? Or can both Jack and Jill be attuned to the ring at once, allowing them to pass it back and forth if they're on friendly terms?

Going back to cursed items, if Jack instead had a Berserker Axe, and it was making him flip out and kill people, could Jill (who is a significantly less-skilled warrior, being a rogue arcane trickster instead of a ranger) take the axe from him and attune it, herself, to break Jack's attunement to it and release him from the curse (at the price of getting herself afflicted)? Could Jill take the axe and sell it to someone else who doesn't know any better, tricking them into attuning it and lifting the curse from Jack that way?

[Tawmis]

I have house ruled that cursed items return to the person it's bound to within an hour.

To prevent Jack from saying, "Well I leave the axe on the ground with a note that says 'I am magic.'"

In hopes that someone else would pick it up.

The curse itself, returns to the cursed individual within the hour's time.

[Reach Weapon]

A creature's attunement to an item ends if the creature no longer satisfies the prerequisites for attunement, if the item has been more than 100 feet away for at least 24 hours, if the creature dies, or if another creature attunes to the item. A creature can also voluntarily end attunement by spending another short rest focused on the item, unless the item is cursed.


This axe is cursed, and becoming attuned to it extends the curse to you. As long as you remain cursed, you are unwilling to part with the axe, keeping it within reach at all times.

I think almost all your questions are unambiguously answered by the relevant text. The only mild wrinkle being that while breaking the curse breaks attunement, breaking attunement does not necessarily (or I believe at all, in any way) break the curse. (Although not having the Berserker Axe in your possession would render that curse inapplicable.)

[Segev]

I think almost all your questions are unambiguously answered by the relevant text. The only mild wrinkle being that while breaking the curse breaks attunement, breaking attunement does not necessarily (or I believe at all, in any way) break the curse. (Although not having the Berserker Axe in your possession would render that curse inapplicable.)

Hm, good point. Breaking the curse breaks attunement, but you can break attunement - and get somebody else attuned - without necessarily breaking the curse. That has its own potential.

[Melphizard]

Hm, good point. Breaking the curse breaks attunement, but you can break attunement - and get somebody else attuned - without necessarily breaking the curse. That has its own potential.

The perpetuation of the curse via its transfer to someone else seems a viable way of breaking one persons attunement. However, some magical items actively try to prevent this from happening, such as the Sword of Vengeance, which states, like many cursed items, "As long as you remain cursed, you are unwilling to part with the sword, keeping it on your person at all times."

[Keltest]

The perpetuation of the curse via its transfer to someone else seems a viable way of breaking one persons attunement. However, some magical items actively try to prevent this from happening, such as the Sword of Vengeance, which states, like many cursed items, "As long as you remain cursed, you are unwilling to part with the sword, keeping it on your person at all times."

Indeed. Stealing the item is a viable way to break the curse via the attunement rules, but also a lot harder than it sounds given that as long as they are cursed, the victim will do their best to hunt you down and get their item back.

[Chronos]

There's definitely an exception to the rules, here, but it's hard to tell which rule. The rules state that attunement is broken if anyone else attunes or if you're far away from the item for 24 hours. The rules also state that you can't break attunement to a cursed item. So, does that mean that it's impossible for anyone else to attune to it, or for you to be far from it for 24 hours? Or does it mean that those things are still possible, but that they don't break your attunement?

The "someone else attuning to it" case would be fairly easy to resolve either way, but the "more than 100 feet away for 24 hours" is more difficult. Some cursed items will explicitly teleport back to you if you're separated from them; that's straightforward enough... but many don't say that. Do other cursed items have that property, too, even though it's not specified? Is there some sort of magical tether that connects you and the item, such that either can't move more than 100' from the other, like hitting a spherical forcefield at 100'? Or maybe you can, but you drag it along behind you?

I think it's simpler to say that you can separate the item and the cursed person, but that doing so just doesn't break attunement (which means you still suffer from whatever the curse is, but now you're not gaining whatever beneficial properties, if any, the item has, and you're going to have a harder time being rid of the curse, because you don't have the item handy to cast Remove Curse on). And given that, I think I would also rule that someone else attuning the item is possible but doesn't remove attunement, either, which means that you can end up with multiple people all attuned to the same item, and all cursed.

[Keltest]

There's definitely an exception to the rules, here, but it's hard to tell which rule. The rules state that attunement is broken if anyone else attunes or if you're far away from the item for 24 hours. The rules also state that you can't break attunement to a cursed item. So, does that mean that it's impossible for anyone else to attune to it, or for you to be far from it for 24 hours? Or does it mean that those things are still possible, but that they don't break your attunement?

The "someone else attuning to it" case would be fairly easy to resolve either way, but the "more than 100 feet away for 24 hours" is more difficult. Some cursed items will explicitly teleport back to you if you're separated from them; that's straightforward enough... but many don't say that. Do other cursed items have that property, too, even though it's not specified? Is there some sort of magical tether that connects you and the item, such that either can't move more than 100' from the other, like hitting a spherical forcefield at 100'? Or maybe you can, but you drag it along behind you?

I think it's simpler to say that you can separate the item and the cursed person, but that doing so just doesn't break attunement (which means you still suffer from whatever the curse is, but now you're not gaining whatever beneficial properties, if any, the item has, and you're going to have a harder time being rid of the curse, because you don't have the item handy to cast Remove Curse on). And given that, I think I would also rule that someone else attuning the item is possible but doesn't remove attunement, either, which means that you can end up with multiple people all attuned to the same item, and all cursed.

It seems pretty straightforward to me. You cant end attunement, but that doesnt mean attunement cant be broken or ended by another source. An item can be stolen or removed from you unless the item specifically says otherwise. Most of the time the only protection against this is that the cursed character wont allow it to happen and will attempt to retrieve the item.

[RSP]

you're going to have a harder time being rid of the curse, because you don't have the item handy to cast Remove Curse on).

You don’t need the item to cast Remove Curse: casting RC on the cursed individual removes all curses. For reference:

“At your touch, all curses affecting one creature or object end. If the object is a cursed magic item, its curse remains, but the spell breaks its owner’s attunement to the object so it can be removed or discarded.”

[greenstone]

I rule it that once cursed, a creature stays cursed until the curse is removed.

If Conan attunes to an axe of berserking then he is now cursed. If Juma somehow takes the axe and spends an hour attuning to it then Conan is no longer attuned to the item. However, both Conan and Juma are cursed.

[Samayu]

I rule it that once cursed, a creature stays cursed until the curse is removed.

If Conan attunes to an axe of berserking then he is now cursed. If Juma somehow takes the axe and spends an hour attuning to it then Conan is no longer attuned to the item. However, both Conan and Juma are cursed.

The rules support this interpretation. The part about attunement states how attunement can be ended, but the part about the curse doesn't say anything about the curse ending with attunement.