Cursed Items

[warcabbit]

First: Bestow Curse and Feeblemind: Nasty combo.

Second. Cursed items. Recently, I ran into a Periapt of Health +4 and, what, for some odd reason, I deduced before I got someone to Analyze Deowmer and nat-20 the rolls, a curse. Foul Rotting. I mean, that's just nasty.

Now. I'm in a low magic campaign. I mean _low_. The characters are 12th level, they have +1 melee weapons, some have +1 armor. Not all have both or either.
This thing is a treasure beyond compare.

How do you ditch curses? Will Remove Curse work? How can you tell if Remove Curse worked or not?

How do you tell in the future if an item's cursed?

I looked at the DMG and it's really rather scanty on any rules. Right now, the DM's position is, "Well... put it on and find out!" Considering it takes a spell nobody in the party has to remove it... and the party _is_ more powerful than any good NPC... little hesitant here.

 

[kreynolds]

The general guidline is that you can't find out if an item is cursed without putting it on or trying it out. For instance a -4 longsword might detect as a +1 longsword, no matter what spell you use to analyze it. But that's kinda the whole point to cursed items. They are hard to detect. However, you might want a cursed item to be indentifiable, in which case your player's might never even give it a second glance, in which case you probably wasted your time making the item.

The other category of cursed items are those that actually grant a benefit. For instance, a suit of armor that grants a +4 bonus to strength might also grant a -4 penalty to constitution. These items give you a good reason to hang onto them, but they also give you a good reason to get rid of them.

As far as an item actually cursing you, cursed items follow a basic theme; they may bestow a curse upon you, but the curse isn't usually that bad. For instance, it's pretty rare that you will ever run into a cursed item that bestows Geas/Quest upon a character, as that is an awfully powerful curse.

In the end, it all depends on what kind of game you run. Items that bestow a curse upon a character, even if the character gets rid of the item, are pretty much controlled by the DM and are created/designed to fit within certain situations or are made to cater to a given storyline. It's your call.

 

[strongbow]

There is a spell in Oriental Adventures called Detect Curse that can detect whether an item is cursed or not. OA also includes Detect Disease. These are two great spells that should have been included in the PHB. Detect Disease is 0 level and works like Detect Poison does. Detect Curse is 3rd level, and has a 25 GP Material Component. That's all I can post without violating copyright restrictions, if I haven't already.

A kind DM will allow these spells into his/her campaign. For mean DMs, the inclusion of these spells can justify throwing more diseases and cursed items at the party. So you have a case both ways for your DM. A DM might allow the appropriate class to research these spells as well.

So here is a potential solution---from a WOTC product. Have fun, and may you not become a pile of putrid, steaming goo.

BTW, Detect Curse can make for some funny scenarios. Have you ever seen a paranoid party describe in great detail how they loot their enemies corpses, but don't touch or put anything on? It's truly hilarious.

<Paranoid PC 1> I make a lasso with my rope to pick up the magic sword, and put it in the bag of holding.

<Paranoid PC 2> No! Wait! Don't do that! Then we'll have to touch the sword to get it back out of the bag of holding!

<DM> Too late, the sword is now in the bag of holding.

Later on, back at camp, and time to Identify the magic loot.

<Paranoid PC 2> How are we going to get the sword out?

<Paranoid PC Wizard 3> I have an idea. <Passes note to DM that says, "I cast suggestion on the fighter to take the sword out of the bag of holding"

<DM rolles saving throw> Well, the fighter feels a sudden urge to take the sword out.

<Paranoid Wizard 3> In the meantime I cast Invisibility. I don't want to be the first to die if it's another Cursed Sword of Beserker Fury.

Ah, the entertainment of a paranoid, ridiculous, and metagaming party.

 

[strongbow]

double post

 

[Al]

First- Bestow Curse and Feeblemind isn't that bad: Bestow Curse can't lower a stat below 1, and since FM will take you to 1 anyway, it's not a highly effective combo. Try Feeblemind + Int poison.

Second- Remove Curse sometimes works for items, but not always. The munchkin will peek in his DMG to see how to dispose of it. The roleplayer has other options. A high Knowledge (arcana) will shed some light, as may in-game research or the like. Once you know about a curse, a 12th level party should be able to muster the resources to shrug it off- unless it's *really* *really* nasty.
As for telling whether an item is cursed or not, it's generally tricky. Detect Magic and the like will generally not work, and some are even warded against Analyse Dweomer and such like. If it's a very potent item, Bardic Lore may give some indications. Otherwise, you can only try it and see. Perhaps a Dominated enemy can be your guinea pig...

 

[warcabbit]

The Bestow Curse / Feeblemind thing.

Bestow Curse, with the -4 Saves effect.

Feeblemind. -4 save if an arcane caster... -8 total. It's a bit brutal.

 

[Victim]

But since Bestow Curse requires an unpenalized Will save in the first place, you're often better off just leading with Feeblemind.

Augury, Divination and Commune type spells might be useful. "Is putting on X ring good or bad?" "WOEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" "umm, nobobdy get within 20ft of that ring." Since the spells aren't directed against the item, it should take incredibly strong magic to ward against them.

Our group has a cursed Bag of Holding that makes the person carrying the bag think anything within is his rightful property. We spent an entire session dealing with it because we placed all the treasure in the bag. The wizard and my cleric nearly had a fight when I tried to get money for making items and argued with him. It took the entire session to subdue him and set everything straight. We still have the Bag too.