Cursed Items

[JackSmithIV]

I never really liked cursed items, not because of the curse per se (though screwing players isn't something I like too much either), but because they are usually really, really boring. I like cursed items that provide both benefits and drawbacks; makes much it much more interesting IMO.

I completely agree. I love the idea, and a lot of DM's seem to like them, but I find that the execution is often just a whole lot of frustration. I try to emulate the effect by making the drawback of the item completely plot-oriented, or any other way I can avoid drawbacks that are just senseless penalties. A dagger is more likely to be foreboding or threatening to wield to a player if it makes their skin tough and dark, or makes NPCs afraid or paranoid around him than if it occasionally deals them damage at the worst possible time or confers other similar penalties. At least that's what I've found. It's probably just a stylistic thing.

 

[T. Foster]

I like the statistical occurence of cursed magic items in OD&D Supplement I: Greyhawk:

Wand/Staff/Rod - 0% chance of cursed
Misc. weapon - 3% chance of cursed
Potion - 7% chance of cursed
Scroll - 10% chance of cursed
Armor - 12% chance of cursed
Sword - 16% chance of cursed*
Misc. magic - 35% chance of cursed*
Ring - 48% chance of cursed
Overall - 13% chance of cursed

*plus aligned items that aren't cursed per se but may still have negative effects on characters of other alignments

With these percentages, you'd better bet players will think long and hard before trying on every random "magic ring" they happen across...

 

[Oni]

Wow, who knew that nearly 50% of all magic rings were cursed.

 

[the Jester]

Two are listed in the DMG. If I were to use cursed items, that's probably the model I'd follow.

They are? Where?

Or are you referring to artifacts?

 

[T. Foster]

Wow, who knew that nearly 50% of all magic rings were cursed.

It was only in OD&D. In AD&D the likelihood of cursed rings dropped to 20% and in the D&D Expert Set it dropped to 16%. OD&D was more of a high risk-high reward game than later versions -- note that they also decreased the likelihood of finding a ring of wishes from 5% in OD&D to 4% (B/X) and 3% (AD&D), and lowered the maximum number of wishes per ring from 24(!) in OD&D to 8 in AD&D and 4 in B/X.

 

[Larrin]

I had a DM that seemed to subscribe to the 50% of ALL magical items should try and kill the player....and he disliked the indentify spell, he felt part of the fun was finding out how items worked by using them.

Basically we'd find 2-6 magic items and stare at them, not willing to touch them because we knew that while the non-cursed ones would be really good....it just wasn't worth it. They weren't fun curses that you could live with if you had to either, there were more "the jeweled belt slips off you waist and starts strangling you". Basically cursed item = death narrowly averted by DM saying 'okay fine, you get it off his neck just in time'.

After that, I really have no desire for cursed items in games, certainly RANDOM cursed items. If its plot based or sort of a trap, fine, but finding treasure in general shouldn't make the PC's cringe at their impeding doom.

 

[malraux]

They are? Where?

Or are you referring to artifacts?

The later. But describing those as cursed items fits about as well as anything.

 

[the Jester]

The later. But describing those as cursed items fits about as well as anything.

Feh, they aren't cursed, they're uppity.

 

[Angrydad]

A Bag of Devouring can quickly become a secret weapon in a PC's arsenal. One rogue so armed can easily sneak up on an unsuspecting humanoidish enemy, slip the bag over the victim's head, and voila. No more bad guy head.

 

[Orius]

Wow, who knew that nearly 50% of all magic rings were cursed.

Tolkien.

Myself, I really like using cursed items as a DM. Not so much the instant-kill cheese, but the annoying as hell stuff. Swords of berserking, backbiter spears, bags of devouring and stuff like that. And of course, my absolute favorite, the girdle of masculinity/femininity. I had this treasure horde once guarded by an ethereal filcher that was loaded down with cursed items. The players thought they hit paydirt at first, and then put on the girdle, got a few stats zapped from cursed scrolls (I use cursed scroll the old school way, just glance at them and you're cursed), and then some of the players assumed the whole lot was cursed.