D&D 5E How Would You Run Dragon Sickness?

[embee]

I'm nearly at the end of my campaign wherein the players are expected to kill a dragon, meaning that there will be a dragon hoard.

I'd like to curse it with "Dragon Sickness" from The Hobbit (or at least have the risk of it being cursed with it). One of the party has "greedy for gold" as a flaw and I'm thinking this would work out as a good fit, especially as he hasn't really roleplayed it out.

How would you run it? Would you run it?

Pro: Removing the curse could be a good sidequest.
Con: Could create intra-party fighting.

 

[Dioltach]

Could also use the fate of Edmund from Voyage of the Dawn Treader, where upon sleeping on a dragon's hoard, got polymorphed into a dragon (though I suspect most would consider that a power up...). [could be modified to a form of lycanthropy that is triggered by the sight/touch of gold instead of the full moon...]

Obligatory nitpick: it was Eustace, not Edmund.

And the way to make it really a curse is to turn the PC into a dragon, but their age doesn't change. So, "Yay, I'm a dragon, fear me! Wait, what does "Juvenile" mean?"

 

[Oofta]

In my campaign there are curses and other negative things that can't be solved by a simple spell. So I would have everyone make wisdom saves with increasing DC the longer they hold the gold. The implementation of how the curse works is tricky though, and it depends on your players.

I would have them become obsessive with protecting the gold, not actually spending any but just making certain that it was safe. Some of this would probably be secret notes with suspicion of others trying to steal your share ... or trying to steal someone else's share. I generally don't support PVP, so I'd try to resolve this portion of the arc fairly quickly. The group should recognize what's going on, but solving it will be difficult.

Maybe the gold needs to be dropped into the void or a volcano, maybe they need to find a McGuffin to break the curse. You could also have some NPCs involved who have been exposed to the gold for a longer period of time or came into contact with it long ago and had to flee. Have the NPC slowly turn into a dragon - was the original dragon actually a just greedy person initially?

In any case I wouldn't make it too debilitating, with my group they'd have fun with the RP aspects of it. Just have dreams of gold, with con saves to see if they slowly become exhausted and so on. But I would never make it as simple as a remove curse spell. If the spell is cast it should be one of those "that should have worked" moments, or perhaps it helps but doesn't remove it entirely.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

From the Incite Greed spell from AcqInc:

When in presence of an object or hoard worth 100 gp or more, the target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against a DC 15 or be charmed by the object until the effect ends. While charmed in this way, a creature can do nothing but use its movement to approach the source of the effect in a safe manner. While an affected creature is within 5 feet of of the item, it cannot move, but simply stares greedily at the treasure present.

At the end of each of its turns, an affected target can make a Wisdom saving throw. If it succeeds, this effect ends for that target

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Indeed... “There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.”

Obligatory nitpick: it was Eustace, not Edmund.

And the way to make it really a curse is to turn the PC into a dragon, but their age doesn't change. So, "Yay, I'm a dragon, fear me! Wait, what does "Juvenile" mean?"

 

[Seramus]

Touching the gold fills them with a sense of lethargy. It's a slow thing, not even really kicking in until they've scooped several large piles. Everything is just so exhausting, and they want to lie down and take a nap. But where to sleep? Honestly... that pile of coins seems nice.

If enough of them fail their saving throws, they end up curling up and taking a nap. There is no negative consequence to this, except they are roused awake when the next adventuring party stumbles into the room, eyes alight with greed, X amount of time later.

 

[MattW]

Possibility #1 Use Economics and the (real world) curse of Mansa Musa. This devout man's pilgrimage to Mecca introduced SO MUCH gold into the economy of the Middle East that it caused a decade of hyper-inflation.

Gold only "works" if it is rare. If you introduce the contents of Smaug's hoard into a medieval economy, gold's value will crash. Gold will become little more than a pretty yellow metal.


Possibility #2 Hoarding gold becomes a holy act. "SPEND gold? Are you mad! Gold isn't for spending... It's beauty would be corrupted if it was used for sordid commerce. Gold must be preserved.... Protected.... Worshipped..."

The players have all this gold. But they have to make a saving throw to actually spend it. And if anyone fails, they have to fight the blasphemous fools who want to give it away in exchange for some junk that isn't gold.

 

[GuyBoy]

I probably wouldn’t “run it” myself. I’m lucky enough to DM a great group of role players and I’d just speak aside with one of them to role play it. I actually remember in the Northlands campaign, the skald character ( played by The Sword) roleplayed extreme greed by looting the gold from a temple, situated on a crumbling iceberg, by gathering treasure together on a blanket and attempting to drag it across the cracking ice to their boat, much to the fury of the other characters.