D&D 5E Cursed Items and Identify

[delericho]

- an evil wizard
- a mad wizard
- an incompetent fumbling wizard

All good.

Or it's left over from the Ancient Empire, and over that time the magic has degenerated and the item has thus become cursed.

Or the item belonged to a powerful and evil wizard, and when he was finally slain his hate was so powerful that it 'infected' his items which became cursed. (Of course, a particularly cruel DM could therefore introduce a %age chance that the villain the PCs are fighting now is going to cause a retributive curse on his items when he's eventually slain...)

Or the item is simply a trap for those who would rob from the tomb of the pharaoh. There's some precedent for that in the real world...

 

[SilverBulletKY]

Would the Paladin spell Detect Evil & Good reveal if an item is cursed?

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

I don't think so. A cursed item isn't evil or good.

 

[dwayne]

this is a misnomer as the cursed items are never created as intended they started out to be the item they identify as but due to the creation process something went wrong and oops you have a botched magic item. And due to the magic once used its bound to the person because of the failed creation process. Hence why they are known as cursed magic items and also why once some one uses them they them selves are not usally fully aware and is up to there friends to save them. Had a person who had a cursed berserk sword took the whole group top subdue him to cast remove curse, he almost killed the thief, aww fun times .

 

[Sigbjorn_86]

In literature and myth, cursed items are often created to bring the prideful down a peg. Alternately they may be corrupted when someone uses an item for evil. And of course a recurring theme is when mortals create items out of hubris. See the Silmarils in The Silmarillion.

 

[Sadrik]

I thought that the cursed components should come out of the items themselves and become adders to the other items. For instance, the devouring bag and the berserker axe have good unique qualities to them. The compulsions and things added onto them are the bad stuff though.

 

[Nefzyflin]

The impulse to do harm for its own sake is alive and well in our own society. It's no stretch to believe that powerful arcanists with no moral checkpoint would do the same in a D&D campaign.

Yes.

A computer virus could be considered a modern day curse. As to why people create them?... Because they can.

A spell needs to be created... Norton Anti Curse !

Nef

 

[AmerginLiath]

Who creates cursed magic items, and why?

Folks keep pointing out how many years it takes, by the book, to create many magic items (especially the powerful ones). There are certainly shortcuts that a desperate mage can take, usually involving bargains of the sort that a warlock may be more familiar with. Of course, the creator might not get all the details in the process...

(As for the issue of discovering curses, I'd allow for researching items during downtime – since all magic items should have something distinguishable about them – with Arcana/History/Religion as appropriate to learn that something might not be kosher. But, if you find a mysterious magic helmet in the bowels of an ancient dungeon and opt to put it on without doing your due diligence, your pride takes its chances!)

 

[delericho]

I thought that the cursed components should come out of the items themselves and become adders to the other items. For instance, the devouring bag and the berserker axe have good unique qualities to them. The compulsions and things added onto them are the bad stuff though.

Yep, I like this. The more items we get in this vein, where they have good effects but some nasty side-effects, the better, IMO.

 

[Blackbrrd]

Who creates cursed magic items, and why?

Sauron, to take over the world.

Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne,
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie,
One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them,
One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.