Bestow Curse

[Ozmar]

Hey, thanks for the ideas guys, these are great! I particularly like the one where "The target is treated as the undead with regard to spells and effects."

I also just found an article in Dragon 348: "Bestowed Curses" - variant curse effects for Bestow Curse and Bestow Greater Curse.

I think I'm going to have fun with this spell.

Ozmar the Cursed

 

[Infiniti2000]

Which ones?

I won't discuss them all, but I agree with Cheiromancer on some of these (comments below). You have to be careful about not making the curse more powerful than higher level spells. Also, you need to balance it at the lowest level available, not the highest. Using 4th-level wizard spells as a comparison is not fair. For example, if the spell were Clr 3, Src/Wiz 9, you should not balance the spell as 9th-level.

frank: "The cursed character and all his allies suffer critical failures on natural 1's & 2's"
Since when does a saving throw by you affect how other people fare? Especially considering that "all his allies" could be thousands of creatures. So, if I want to affect the superpowerful Archmage, I'll just target his cook.

Sejs: "Anyone the target kills will rise as free-willed undead after a certain period of time has passed (a week, a day, on the next full moon, whatever). All affected should return as the same general type of undead - zombies, shadows, etc, and all remember who it was that is responsible for their return."
How's that a curse to a necromancer? Forget about those expensive animate dead spells, just bestow curse yourself and get free undead to infect a town! Mindless undead remember nothing, so you can forget about that caveat (forget, get it? tee hee)

WarlockLord: "The slave curse: Subject must obey your every whim, or one of the above comes into effect."
Almost as good as dominate monster, a 9th-level spell!

 

[Darmanicus]

I think I'm going to have fun with this spell.

Ozmar the Cursed

SOOOO jealous, I don't get this spell for another 4 levels

 

[Darmanicus]

Rooted: The target's lower limbs seem to grow into the ground, rooting it to the spot. The target cannot move for the duration of the spell however may cast spells, shoot and defend itself normally etc.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Rooted: The target's lower limbs seem to grow into the ground, rooting it to the spot. The target cannot move for the duration of the spell however may cast spells, shoot and defend itself normally etc.

... which, of course, is permanent.

 

[frankthedm]

frank: "The cursed character and all his allies suffer critical failures on natural 1's & 2's"
Since when does a saving throw by you affect how other people fare? Especially considering that "all his allies" could be thousands of creatures. So, if I want to affect the superpowerful Archmage, I'll just target his cook.

When you are cursed with ill fortune, others should avoid you. I'll admit the affected number should be no more that caster level in allies within long range so thanks for catching that one.

 

[Notmousse]

Curse of slipping - Subject's feet (or boots) constantly exude a foul smelling greasy substance which forces the subject to make a Balance check against DC 15 + Caster Level or fall prone every size hours (obviously does not happen while already prone such as sleeping, but getting up in the morning's a bit harder).

Curse of sneezing - Whenever speaking for a prolonged time (such as casting a spell with a verbal component longer than one full round), the subject must make a Fortitude save (DC 20) or be interruped by a fit of sneezing (ruining the spell).

 

[Darmanicus]

... which, of course, is permanent.

As are the other effects are they not?

And can it not be dispelled?

However let's try again........

Blah blah blah blah.......reducing your movement to just 5ft/round?

I just thought a movement stopper or hinderer would be a cool idea.

 

[Infiniti2000]

When you are cursed with ill fortune, others should avoid you. I'll admit the affected number should be no more that caster level in allies within long range so thanks for catching that one.

Maybe they should, but they should not suffer the same fate without a saving throw. You're making it into a multiple target effect, save for the original target, no save for all others and that is completely unacceptable IMO. I'd be okay with some sort of affect-others curse, like maybe a transfer (if someone helps you then they get a save or also be affected, perhaps with a +N bonus or something).

I just thought a movement stopper or hinderer would be a cool idea.

Your idea is a good one. I just thought that the "duration" aspect of the curse was misleading. I wasn't sure if you realized it was permanent. However, I think limiting the target to 5ft of speed (in any medium) would be a better choice (not just per round, 5ft speed is a far simpler mechanic). Less powerful by necessity IMO, but not terribly so. The target will still not be able to take 5ft-steps, for example.

 

[Sejs]

Sejs: "Anyone the target kills will rise as free-willed undead after a certain period of time has passed (a week, a day, on the next full moon, whatever). All affected should return as the same general type of undead - zombies, shadows, etc, and all remember who it was that is responsible for their return."
How's that a curse to a necromancer? Forget about those expensive animate dead spells, just bestow curse yourself and get free undead to infect a town! Mindless undead remember nothing, so you can forget about that caveat (forget, get it? tee hee)

The base idea is that those who are killed by the target return as (generally low-power)undead that are speciffically gunning for their killer. Ignoring other targets, singlemindedly coming for you.

As for the mindless caveat? Bah, humbug. If you really want to split hairs, just term it as the only command they've been given is to hunt down the target and revenge themselves upon him.

If successful, they deanimate/keel over/whatever.

It's not intended to be beneficial in any way. Heh, of course that's not to say someone wouldn't try to work the numbers and cast it on themselves, hoping to get free undead minions. But that's not how it would or should play out.