Cursed Items

[lostpike]

Has there any mention of cursed items? I always thought they added an unknown element to the game.

I remember playing a few games and always being afriad to pick up magic daggers as they always seemed cursed!

 

[Byronic]

Afraid not, they don't fit within the the 4E philosophy. Although I'm hoping that it will come in the upcoming Tome of Treasures together with the mechanics on how to find out that an item is cursed without using them.

If not I'm sure to add them in somehow.

 

[Doc Eldritch]

They seem to currently be gone from 4e, probably under the idea that anything that hinders the PCs is not fun.

I must admit however, that I used very few cursed items as a GM. Many were just kind of silly, others seemed to have no real purpose. When I do use cursed items however, they were special. Something like the Cursed Blade of Baron Ilharp, that makes its wielder stronger in battle, but makes him less able to see any solution to a problem aside from violence (done by applying penalties to any task he tries to talk his way out of/deal with diplomatically). Something like that is neat, and gives the PCs a hook to try to find a way to remove the curse from the weapon, rather than just throwing it away (or uncursing the target so they can throw it away).

 

[lostpike]

Or how about intelligent items? They also were a huge part of the world especially Forgotten Realms. (Cushinibon and C--- Claw)

 

[Byronic]

Of course there are cursed artifacts. I don't quite remember the wording but the Hand of Vecna is somewhat cursed. I'm not sure many Good characters would want one at least.

 

[generalhenry]

intelligent items are in the DMG

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Maybe they'll come up with something better than "sticky anti-McGuffins" in the Magic Item Compendium.

I hated most 3.x cursed items, even as a DM. They had little reason to exist. Most "cursed" items would be something like a malfunctioning healing potion. While I could picture an evil cleric deliberately making such an item as a final "screw you" to whoever beat him in his lair, it makes almost no sense for them to be found in random treasure (except accidentally).

 

[Imaro]

Maybe they'll come up with something better than "sticky anti-McGuffins" in the Magic Item Compendium.

I hated most 3.x cursed items, even as a DM. They had little reason to exist. Most "cursed" items would be something like a malfunctioning healing potion. While I could picture an evil cleric deliberately making such an item as a final "screw you" to whoever beat him in his lair, it makes almost no sense for them to be found in random treasure (except accidentally).

I never made them so common that they where everywhere, but I could definitely see one being wielded by an enemy who has no choice. IMHO, cursed items were one of the few things that made magic in D&D dangerous and unpredictable. I often pictured them as the items created by those whose goals far exceeded their actual skill, or, like Stormbringer, sentient and malevolent on a certain level. I mean the one ring was found in mud by hobbits, because it that location served it's purposes.

 

[jadrax]

The Disease rules could be used to represent simple curses.

 

[Imaro]

The Disease rules could be used to represent simple curses.

I think the problem is that all you have to do to determine what a magical item does is examine it for a few minutes. Once you know the item is cursed why on earth would you use it? I guess a DM could lie to their players, but I'm not sure how well that will go over... unless you state it at the beginning of a game. Of course at this point your basically rewriting the rules of magic items.