D&D 5E What if a curse isn't a curse?

[ccs]

I think this is a bad idea. Players get dominion over their characters, the DM gets the rest of the world. Here you're trespassing on their domain, on who their character really is.

If true, then the players should consider such things before having their characters drink out of MY magic fountain.

 

[GSHamster]

If true, then the players should consider such things before having their characters drink out of MY magic fountain.

The magic fountain doing stuff to them is fair game, it's the world acting on the character and changing them. But that's different than the DM overriding the player's original vision, and "restoring" another one.

 

[ccs]

The magic fountain doing stuff to them is fair game, it's the world acting on the character and changing them. But that's different than the DM overriding the player's original vision, and "restoring" another one.

You do realize that as the DM I'm the one controlling the effects of the fountain as well as the reasons it does xyz to {PC}, right?

 

[Quartz]

I am assuming, for the moment, that you've got player okay on this*.

This, of course, is a must.

 

[aco175]

You do realize that as the DM I'm the one controlling the effects of the fountain as well as the reasons it does xyz to {PC}, right?

You should also realize that the players are there to play the game with you and there to watch you tell a story. It should be ok to do things but not force things. This is similar to the story where everyone is taken prisoner and forces that on the players to make the game fun- but for whom is the question. I would suggest that it be done with care.

 

[ccs]

You should also realize that the players are there to play the game with you and there to watch you tell a story. It should be ok to do things but not force things. This is similar to the story where everyone is taken prisoner and forces that on the players to make the game fun- but for whom is the question. I would suggest that it be done with care.

You missed my point.
Wich was that the fountain doesn't do anything to them. I do. Though the fountain. The fountain? Or anything else that's not a PC? Only exists & has any effect - good/bad/otherwise/none because I, the DM, decided it does.
So saying that it's fair game for the fountain to do something to them is the same as saying it's fair game for the DM to do something to them. And yet you object to the DM doing stuff....

 

[nevin]

I like it. I think some are overreacting to the perceived loss of control. As long as removing the curse provides some benefit or at least no negative affects it's no worse than finding out your mother is really your birth mothers chamber maid who spirited you away just before the massacre. I've done similar things to player's, I have seen DM's who get so into thier story that they try to force players into roles they have no desire to fill. As long as the player has the ability to make choices without DM railroading them to a plot point it'll be fine. I've got an NPC in my world that was a PC who ignored every clue, plot hook and push by the DM to find out who his real parents were. He simply didn't want to know. Frustrated me greatly but both me and players had a great campaign.

 

[Eltab]

"Congratulations, nobody-turned-King-claimant Arthur, every knight in the kingdom (and the current king-by-right-of-battle) want to kill you now" is no fun.

Discovering you bear the family heirloom birthmark that indicates you have a claim to an old abandoned / conquered fief on the borderland, which you could liberate and rehabilitate (plus a half-dozen potential rivals or allies, a.k.a. your cousins) can be fun.