Good curses

[Zen Master]

Ok ... I'm fumbling with an idea here: A party of cursed characters.

Now, just any curse will not do. They must be deep, somehow - it's not a question of dropping items 50% of the time, or of a penalty to con.

Here's one I thought of: Always wounded, never dead. The character with this curse - a melee character - can never be healed to full hitpoints. On the other hand he cannot die - when ever reduced to less than 0, he slowly regenerates to 1 hp.

Thusly, he is always in pain, never comfortable, a curse of suffering without end.

So ... any other suggestions? They must affect gameplay, ideally the core of the character, but without ruining the character for the player.

Any help is greatly appreciated =)

[LOTRfan]

I like this idea. A few suggestions (probably not what you are looking for, though)

Haunted- When ever the character sleeps, a Hashalaq Quori (or a Loumara, or other dream-associated Fiend) continually torments him/her. The character wakes up fatigued and is suffering nonlethal damage equaling 10 plus number of hours slept.

Attached to the Material Plane- A character is being able to withstand death for much longer than most (dies at -10 plus class level), but every time he/she is raised, she losses 2d4 health points (damage can be set higher or lower, DM's discretion). Possible Variant- Each time the character is raised, the number of die of permanent hit point drain increases by one.

[Keld Denar]

I like the idea of Maddening Whispers. Dark powers continuously whisper dirty, naughty secrets in your brain, and this tends to make you less than completely attentive. -6 on Spot and Listen checks, and a -2 or so on Initiative. In return for this, teetering at the brink of madness means you are less affected by "regular" people trying to influence you. You get a +2 (or more) bonus on will saves and maybe a +2 circumstance bonus on Intimdate checks?

Alternatively, Mr Icy-Hot. You are cursed with a mark from either Cania or Avernus take an extra point of damage per die of fire damage, but have Cold Resistance 5 (Cania). Or the reverse (Avernus).

[Tetrasodium]

unseen servant that steals things, poorly... for a paladin or similar.

[JoshuaZ]

One can also have curses which are things that could be a gift or a curse depending on how you look at it. For example, one could have a family with a curse that makes them very good at necromancy, so everyone in the family must as one of their feats at level 1 take Spell Focus(necromancy).

Another possible curse- you heal half as much as normal from all healing effects (whether magical or natural).

Note that you may want to look at Heroes of Horror. There's a section there on possible ways a raise dead spell could go wrong. Many of them could be adopted for a generic curse without too much effort.

[Thiyr]

I enjoyed a curse a friend of mine had for an NPC in his game. High level monk (which was not the curse. i mean, come on), who had a particularly big issue with undead. Got on the wrong side of Vecna, who promptly cursed him. He was turned into a lich, an abomination in his own eyes. Now he can't die unless he's destroyed his phylactery. No problem, right? Except this is Vecna we're talking about. He doesn't "respawn" near his phylactery. He knows nothing about his phylactery. He just eventually comes back once again as an abomination against everything he stands for.

From a mechanical standpoint, this is a huge boost for power for the most part, though I can see a few penalties to stack on, mostly in the Morale area of buffs and bonuses or something. That said, the non-mechanical part of that was quite interesting. Doesn't have to be lich, either. I have a character concept that was working similarly off of that concept for a dragon slayer who became a dragonborn through similar means, cursed never to die but in the pursuit of his goals. He can't kill himself, or let himself die, regardless how much he feels he must, as he represents the greatest of evils to himself.

[LOTRfan]

Dragon Magazine #348 has 36 different curses and the spell Greater Curse, in case you are interested.

[Ravens_cry]

Poor Haggler

Items cost 50% more, items sold bring in 50% less.

[Halae]

well, maybe not what you're looking for, but I had a character who was a prince of his home country, but he was cursed by an evil wizard for people to never recognize his face, even if they'd seen it before. while this could help a sneaky character, for someone who spends a lot of time in the spotlight of politics, this is a massive detriment. eventually, he got around it by wearing a bronze mask that had been made for him, as the wording of the curse made it so only his face caused forgetfulness. when he finally got the curse dispelled, he took the mask off for all his people to see, and they rejoiced to learn their king was not only charismatic, but also very attractive and distinctive (I rolled an 18, and being a sorcerer...)

[Zen Master]

Good suggestions so far - thanks to all =)

I had another one, but I'm uncertain of exactly how to make it work. I was thinking that one of the characters should be .... sort of dead. Not really dead, and not really undead either.

Basically, his heart has long since stopped beating, but he can remain alive as long as he does something - drains a con point from someone during the night, for instance. But it's not as solid as I want it to be. This would work best in a combined city/wilderness campaign - where at times it would be easy to hide, and at other times the character would have to drain group members or do without.

Another one I was doodling with but can't get exactly right isn't a curse - really. It's more of a prophecy. A monk (or monkish class) has been told by an ancient fortuneteller that with his dying breath he will tell his one true love goodbye. Now, the girl has died, but he is holding his last breath until he has avenged her death.

This, of course, effectively makes him mute - but he can utter a few words, as long as air remains in his lungs for those final words.

How would those work? Would they make for interesting character to play?

[Ravens_cry]

Eh, I would hate to play a character who couldn't say anything. In fact, I have, in away, when I had a paladin who knew only Common. Fine at first, but after a while I couldn't talk to anything as nothing knew Common. It sucked as I love talking to NPC's, it's half the fun for me. It's hard to be the merciful paladin who wants to give everything one more chance when I can't espouse the virtues of virtue.

[Zen Master]

Eh, I would hate to play a character who couldn't say anything. In fact, I have, in away, when I had a paladin who knew only Common. Fine at first, but after a while I couldn't talk to anything as nothing knew Common. It sucked as I love talking to NPC's, it's half the fun for me. It's hard to be the merciful paladin who wants to give everything one more chance when I can't espouse the virtues of virtue.

True. With such specialised characters it would be a fairly short campaign. But it's a way to make them unique and interesting - of course, it takes more than a curse, but still. It's a start.

[rakkoon]

I like language curses such as

1. Must always lie
2. Must always tell the truth
3. Every third word must be 'mutton'
4. Must talk in a very high voice
5. ...

[tiercel]

Prohibitions/taboos are always good -- all kinds of mythological monsters/casters have them, from the classic vampire can't-enter-dwellings-without-being-invited thing, or being unable to enter "holy"/consecrated/etc ground, being unable to willingly accept spells from allies (must save against buff/healing spells), may not attack/strike/kill certain types of creatures, unable to attack a creature that does not first attack the character, limited in number/type of magical items the character may use, etc.

[Malbordeus]

i levelled one on the party rogue once that read like a legal document with clauses and subclauses. the sort of it was -

if the cursed acted against the party or did something to the parties detriment they would (depending on severity, ranging from stealing a copper piece or being highly offensive, to trying to kill one of us) and there were mitigating factors involving owing up to being a prat or giving charity to a good aligned temple. the idea was that it would take several sessions for anything to manifest before the character realised something was very wrong, and then be really agravating when it got going.

- appearance would slightly alter, skin becoming pale, hair would change a minor shade towards something brighter
- a new feature would appear, a oddly coloured item of clothing, the shoes might get longer, or a flower appear in their pocket
- Finally the cursed characters appearance becomes that of a clown.

[Reis Tahlen]

You will be unable to help those you hold dear

Automatically fail the next roll made to help someone the PC care about.

You will lose what you cherish most

The PC "lose" his favourite item, companions, NPCs,... whatever TRULLY affect the character and the player.

You will be the cause of your allies downfall

The player "botches" a roll in a way that hurt someone, or cause ruin to someone (from a ranged attack which hit a companion, or a Diplomacy check which causes war between his ally and another country)

The face of your ennemy you will see, the love of your life you will destroy

The player is confronted to his worst ennemy. Upon killing it, he realizes he was, in fact, someone else he holds dear.

[dsmiles]

I like the idea of Maddening Whispers. Dark powers continuously whisper dirty, naughty secrets in your brain, and this tends to make you less than completely attentive. -6 on Spot and Listen checks, and a -2 or so on Initiative. In return for this, teetering at the brink of madness means you are less affected by "regular" people trying to influence you. You get a +2 (or more) bonus on will saves and maybe a +2 circumstance bonus on Intimdate checks?

I kind of like this one, but I would probably throw in a Knowledge bonus, for certain checks.

[Lysander]

Anterograde amnesia is a great curse. Particularly for a scholarly type like a wizard who craves additional knowledge. One curse could be that they forget everything they experience after 24 hours, or they forget everything that happened upon falling asleep. They could still learn new spells by scribing them in their spellbook, and skill increases like Spellcraft could be based on subconscious knowledge. It'd be a roleplay challenge, but could be very fun. They could have tattoos on their body like in Memento, or keep a detailed journal that they read fully each morning.