Alternate Curses

[Dog Faced God]

The Bestow Curse spell indicates that you may come up with your own curse. Anyone have anything cool? Here are a few of mine:

Bane of Prestidigitators
25% chance that all spells cast have the opposite of the desired effect (charm spells anger the target; damaging spells like Fireball heal people, or fire in the wrong direction; Invisibility makes the target glow as if affected by the Light spell etc.).

Tourret's Curse
Make a will save to avoid shouting out a stream of profanities when attempting to move silently.

Violent reaction to Violence
Every time you touch up a weapon make a fortitude save. If you fail, you have an allergic reaction to the weapon (still need cool ideas for 'allergic reactions'). Every feat you've taken with the weapon (weapon focus, improved critical etc.) penalizes your saving throw by 1.

 

[Corwin]

I recently had my major villain nail the group bard with a bestow curse that took his voice away.

Let's just say... the player wasn't too happy.

 

[trentonjoe]

How about a balance check (15) for every 5' step in combat.

Lotta wasted partial actions.

I stand up.

 

[Caliber]

Allergic reactions, lets see ...

Stuffy head, blurry eyes, sinus pain, sneezing, troubled breathing, hives, itchiness, rashes. Think of someone allergic to cats. Now substitute weapons for cats.

Maybe when his friend Bob draws his sword he can't help but start sneezing?

 

[fba827]

curse of non-creativity ?

I like this thread and have been trying to think of a good one to add (all i can think of are really boring and obvious ones).. so, consider this a friendly one-time bump.

(I really have been trying to think of a good one to add.. and am enjoying reading these others )

 

[trix]

Deathbane Curse

Deathbane Curse
Curse Basic: Target looses 5 con.

Curse Trigger: If the player kills someone, or someone is killed as a result of the players direct action or indirect action / (or non-action), the curse is triggered. One cannot trick the curse into "not" triggering, because the player knows when s/he is deviously killing someone.

Curse Effect: The players post magically adjusted strength is reduced to 6 for the next 48 hours.

Notes:

If a player has an adjusted strength of 18 (16+2 due to some item), the players strength is reduced to 6, not (6+2) 8.

Some use case notes:
Eg:

Player sets a trap, kills something... the curse is triggered.

Player sets a trap, something starves to death... the curse is triggered.

Player is in combat, kills something, the curse is triggered.

Player is in combat, does not kill anything, but his allies do, the curse is triggered (he was an active part in the death of something).

Player is in a bar where there is a brawl, player does not take part in the brawl... something dies, the curse is not triggered. The player is not actively involved.

Player is in a marketsquare, and steals something. Someone else is caught and accused, eventually put to death. The curse is triggered as the players non-action to "release" the accused.

Note: The trigger is related to the knowing guilt of the subconcious. As such, the curse wouldnt work on a truely evil being of malice.

---

Curse Setting:

Typically developed by priests and mages to cripple those who might escape from trial or as a curse upon those killing whoever cast the curse.

Curse Removal:

If the caster of the curse was killed by the curse target, then the curse _cannot_ be removed except by some Miracle or extremely notable action.

-Tim

 

[AEtherfyre]

Re: Deathbane Curse

Deathbane Curse
Curse Basic: Target looses 5 con.

Curse Trigger: If the player kills someone, or someone is killed as a result of the players direct action or indirect action / (or non-action), the curse is triggered. One cannot trick the curse into "not" triggering, because the player knows when s/he is deviously killing someone.

-Tim

Eh.... I don't know about this one. Especially considering the situations in which Bestow Curse is going to be inflicted, it's much worse than the normal -6 to a single stat. Much worse.

 

[Dog Faced God]

I like it for a higher level version of the spell. I've been trying to figure out a way to work a Blood Curse ala Amber (powerful curse chanted out at the time of death that is very difficult to remove, and much more powerful than just Bestow Curse). This seems to fit the bill as far as power goes, but is still to specific to really be a Blood Curse.

 

[Zirnike]

ooo... curses...

Curse of ichiness. Whenever wearing more than a light set of clothes, target becomes itchy, giving a -2 dex and -2 attack rolls (and damage)

Curse of Pig Latin. Obvious... I would say spellcasters can cast spells with a concentration check.

(obligatory) The Curse (not just for women anymore)

Curse of Thought. On the first round of combat (or the first round after the person was cursed), he must plan out his actions. Character must hold action until the last enemy has gone.

Curse of Poor Sleep. -1 to everything next day, will save to negate for a night... might prevent memorization. Won't work on elves.

Curse of Truth. Target must always tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. (had this one done to me by a mage on the suggestion of another PC. First thing I did was turn to him 'You're an idiot')

Curse of Lies. (this could be even WORSE)

Curse of Sweat. Whenever target is stresses, sweats profusely. Target uses more water (desert campaign, anyone?), and must make a Dex check on any miss of his weapon or slip and drop it.

Curse of Rust. If target has any metal weapons/armor/etc., he must spend at least one full hour (2 hours for a lot of metal, like breastplates) caring for and oiling the metal items, or suffer appropriate penelties as armor binds, preventing free movement, and weapons become dull.

Curse of Fate: 10% higher chance of 'bad' random encounters (no additional gypsies offering trading, for example... unless they rob him blind)

Want more?

 

[Caliber]

Sure! Those were pretty nifty!