[My Online Players Stay Out] Cursed Object Question

[Angelsboi]

My peeps STAY OUT!!!!!!























Ok. Now one of my PCs had a father who passed and left him everything he had. Butthe PC sold all of it off and kept a few valuable things, namely a WWI Luger.

Now everyone is gathering at the old Curious Goods shoppe that has been in probate for 13 years (the show ran from 1987 - 1990). The PCs have inherrited it.

Well i was racking my brain for something to throw at them and then i saw the PCs Luger. Is this balanced?

WWI Luger
Said to have been owned by Adolf Hitler himself, this luger was a key figure in several major and minor political murders. Lugers were given to officers in the war and thats where the curse wins.

Benefit
The Luger provides the holder with a Dominate Person spell 1/day (Will save DC 15) and with a +2 Enhancement Bonus to Charisma Checks.

Drawback
The Luger is thirsty. In order for the weilder to make use of the abilities, he must kill someone of authoritive or political power.

 

[RodneyThompson]

Hm; perhaps you should reconsider the drawback. Not that it's not a good one, I'm just not sure how well it fits the story. Perhaps instead the bearer permanently suffers a penalty to Charisma-based checks against a certain ethnic group (not necessarily Jews or non-Aryans, but any one depending on the wielder) and forces the players to make Concentration checks to not lash out at their enemies with violence.

 

[Angelsboi]

Maybe both?

I mean, the artifacts were utterly evil. Hell, the doll in the first episode killed people.

 

[Thomas Hobbes]

Maybe it shouldn't be "you must kill someone," but simply a liscence for you, as the DM, to push things in that direction. For example, after using the gun for a period of time (or after no time at all), [character] is walking down the street when he comes upon a political rally, or something to that effect. It doesn't have to be distasteful, although that might help. If he doesn't usually walk around armed, he suddenly realizes that there the gun is, in his pocket/holster. And then he catches a sudden glimpse of the person speaking at the rally as an unspeakable monster (a mind flayer, perhaps). Even if he doesn't open fire right then and there on the poor, human Charismatic 1, the gun can continue to mess with his head, continuing to drive him to murder this person, or another person.

I haevn't watched the movies in question, so I don't know how well this fits, but those're my thoughts.

 

[Angelsboi]

it was a TV Show.