bestow curse against skill usage

[Bad Paper]

I, wizard, am forced to cast Bestow Curse on my party's rogue to prevent him from constantly picking my pocket.

"<sigh> yes, rogues are thrilling, woo hoo, now give me back my wand"

I'm thinking a curse on using Sleight of Hand against me only.

Since my curse is extremely limited in scope, how huge of a penalty can I assume he gets? Are we talking like -20? Higher? Lower?

[The DM and I run each others' games, so we tend to work out rules like this together, for consistency.]

 

[Len]

I don't know what curse would be appropriate, but I would just use a standard spell, such as Magic Missile or Phantasmal Killer. Or ask the paladin in the party to solve the problem.

 

[Bad Paper]

I don't know what curse would be appropriate, but I would just use a standard spell, such as Magic Missile or Phantasmal Killer. Or ask the paladin in the party to solve the problem.

paladin? <shakes head in pity> You think we have a PALADIN?

we have a cleric of wee jas, so i'm not concerned that the lawful cleric will remove the curse. the barbarian has no idea what's going on.

I just did some math, extrapolating from the craft-magic-items rules. If bestow curse can add -6 to one ability score, then that's "worth" 36000gp, which is "worth" the square root of 360 in one skill check, which is a -19 penalty. Not bad, but I don't want to penalize *all* his Sleight of Hand checks, just those against me. Let's pretend that limiting the scope that way will bump up the penalty by 50%. that would be worth a -28 penalty on SoH checks.

What if that 50% is wrong? Comments? If it's too strong, I'll call it -25. If it's too weak, I'll call it -30.

 

[Andre]

I would approach it from another perspective. Instead of focusing on giving the rogue a minus to his roll, consider making it something he doesn't want to do to start with.

Curse: Each time the target of the curse attempts to take something from you without your express and prior permission, the target of the curse must make a Will save (equal to original DC of the bestow curse spell). Failure prompts the target of the curse to give you the most valuable magic item he/she owns as a gift, expecting nothing in return. Further, the target of the curse can never attempt to take any such "gift" item back, with or without your knowledge. The victim of the curse will know what actions prompted the curse and can, therefore, avoid the curse by leaving you alone.

 

[Scion]

while that curse sounds like fun it might be a bit powerful for its level but, if the dm is up for it then something of that nature will be much more appropriate than a massive penalty.

Personally, I would probably go with something similar, whenever he tries to use a skill against you (this will help against others just in case) then he has to make a save or become confused. Not as the spell, simply make up a new chart. The other curse would be one option of something to happen, dance randomly, strip off all equipment, set fire to himself, whatever. Make it fun!

or something as simple as whenever he tries to use a skill against you he starts whistling loudly. He may or may not even notice, but it is uncontrollable whistling, for as many rounds as the number he got on his skill check. That could be fun

 

[Len]

paladin? <shakes head in pity> You think we have a PALADIN?

Then get the barbarian to help. Give him something shiny in return for ensuring the rogue never pilfers again. If "Don't do that" didn't work, then neither will penalizing his pickpocket rolls, or keeping your stuff in a lockbox or whatever (he'll just try harder).

I like Andre's and Scion's ideas, but Magic Missile or a big sword is simpler. I mean, this is someone you're supposed to be travelling with and depending on? Shape up or ship out, I'd say.

 

[UltimaGabe]

I, wizard, am forced to cast Bestow Curse on my party's rogue to prevent him from constantly picking my pocket.

"<sigh> yes, rogues are thrilling, woo hoo, now give me back my wand"

I'm thinking a curse on using Sleight of Hand against me only.

Since my curse is extremely limited in scope, how huge of a penalty can I assume he gets? Are we talking like -20? Higher? Lower?

[The DM and I run each others' games, so we tend to work out rules like this together, for consistency.]

Since Bestow Curse can do things other than what's listed in the spell description (anything that's not more powerful than its suggestions), there's lots of potential for some interesting curses. (I've got an idea for one I've never gotten to use that's bound to make any group of PCs laugh their butts off if it were used- let me know if you wanna hear it.) What I'd do is suggest to your DM to allow you to make it so that the Rogue either always fails with the selected skill when opposing a skill of yours (if he thinks that's in line with the spell's description, which I believe it to be- it'll never be too powerful, in my opinion, since the worst that could possibly be done with it is making someone extremely gullible by making him fail Sense Motive checks, in which case you could possibly steal from him and do all sorts of stuff, but eh, that can be dealt with in time) or just give him a penalty equal to double your caster level to the selected skill, but only when used against you (if he feels that's more in line with the power of the spell). Just my two electrum, anyway.

Edit: That is, only use this strategy if the stealing doesn't bother you. If it actually gets on your nerves- that is, if it's taking away from your enjoyment of the game- then I suggest following the others and tell him to stop it. If he doesn't, then tell your DM that he's not making it possible for you to play the game. D&D is about having fun- and if one person's fun is interfering with another person's fun, then that interference HAS to stop. If it seriously bothers you, then just tell him to stop. I first got the impression that it was just a friendly messing-around- if it is, then go with what I just suggested. But, like I said, if it's a problem, then stamp it out rather than finding a way around it.

 

[Sejs]

Kill the rogue and take his stuff.

And no, I'm not kidding.

You travel with someone who steals from you regularly and you just roll over and take it? Why? Personally, I'd give him a warning the first time it happened, and if it came up again, then somebody would be finding out that prestidigitation can make ground glass taste exactly like salt next time I made dinner.

 

[shilsen]

I'm with Len and Sejs. Cutting someone's hand off is usually a sufficient deterrent to stealing

 

[Darkness]

Well...

Bestow curse can give -6 to an ability score. That's like 6 Great [ability score] feats. (A penalty is not worth the same as a bonus, of course, but since I'm doing it for both stats, two wrongs make a right. )

Skill Focus gives +3 to a skill.

6*3=18

Maybe call it -20 and you're set.