Return of the Cursed Magic Item?

[el-remmen]

How do you mean by flavor? If it's only about the background story, you can as well just give out a normal mundane item, like I said.
In the end, it's only a worthless mundane item.

A mundane item is not "cursed," so I don't see what you are getting at. Yes, you can add a cool backstory to a mundane item, but we are talking about making cursed items more interesting by their role in the story.* As for "worthless," that is what I mean by flavor - how "worthless" is defined your game.

If it becomes central to some mystery or some series of events that inform some central goal of the PCs, then it is certainly not worthless to me.



* I am using the term "story" very loosely here, b/c I think the story is whatever happens to happen in the game - not some proscribed series of events.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

Lets not forget that cursed weapons, once upon a time, magically found their way to your hand when the fighting started. This was, originally, to prevent PCs from simply not using the -2 sword without a Remove Curse, but allowed for some neat scenarios ("I'll accept the -2 penalty to have the sword pop into my hand when I attack the Duke.....").


RC

Harkon Lukas used that trick too.

 

[DandD]

That may have been before. Now, you have to draw it manually, and you can only draw the -2 Cursed Sword, even if you wanted to pull out a bow and arrows. In 3.5, it really is only a hindrance in every way possible.

 

[jester47]

Some of the 3.5 cursed items are no fun. But some of the properties that are really just quirks to limit the magic of a weapon are kind of cool. I like the 3.5 idea that a magic item can come out not quite right or get weird over time as the magic gets older. The 3.5 cursed items also allow a DM to intro magic weapons earlier. "You have a +1 sword, but it only works when the moon is more than half full." Etc.

 

[Engilbrand]

I liked the Magic Item Compendium, and I'm glad that they've stated that's their base for 4E magic items. Most of those gave interesting abilities. Some of them even had their own "curses". Think of the Sorceror set that powered you up by damaging you and taking blood. Bonus with penalty.
I also liked one or two from the Weapons of Legacy. Some of those were closer to cursed than anyone would want, but a few did some pretty neat things.
I've never really been in a game with a cursed item that I can think of. Maybe the choker that actually chokes when it's put on. Cursed items like that make sense to make.
The best part about MIC was that they had realized that only giving pluses or minuses was lame. I don't want a +5 sword or a -5 sword. I want an interesting sword that can do something. Even the Belt of Gender Swapping would be interesting.
I like the idea of axe that puts you in a rage when certain conditions are met.
What about an earring that makes you go deaf whenever combat is on. Normally, that would suck. But what about the strategic use of cursed items? Putting something like that on before fighting a banshee wouldn't be a bad idea. The belt is great for espionage missions. Mechanical stuff can be lame. Flavor drawbacks can ALWAYS create something useful, even if it wasn't intended. Except the -2 sword. That just sucks.

 

[Tuzenbach]

Lets not forget that cursed weapons, once upon a time, magically found their way to your hand when the fighting started. This was, originally, to prevent PCs from simply not using the -2 sword without a Remove Curse, but allowed for some neat scenarios ("I'll accept the -2 penalty to have the sword pop into my hand when I attack the Duke.....").


RC

Again, 28 years of playing & I never thought of this! Amazing!

 

[ThirdWizard]

A mundane item is not "cursed," so I don't see what you are getting at.

Even a non-magic item could be considered "cursed" for story reasons. The duke who missed at just the wrong time is about as likely with a mundane weapon as a -1 weapon (and it isn't that different than a +1 weapon). So, the back story could just as easily be attributed to either sword. There's nothing special about the -1 modifier it gives.

I've always maintained that a real cursed item is one that makes the player say "Maybe it would be worth it..." Something that gives a benefit and a penalty, something that is tempting to use even though the player knows that he shouldn't, but maybe... just maybe...

In my experience, a cursed item with no benefit (and most with benefits) will never be used. They'll get identified, dropped in the trash pile in the PCs' stronghold, and promptly forgotten.

 

[see]

I like the idea of devils manufacturing cursed items and spreading them around on the Material Plane as a plot to make the plane easier to conquer.

Of course, specialized items work better for this than straight -2 swords . . . but if -2 swords are cheaper enough to make, they may get made anyway. Maybe there's a hellish form of steel that just needs to be forged to become a cursed weapon . . . .

 

[Haffrung Helleyes]

4E should probably treat cursed items as a challenge/monster, rather than treasure.

And I have to say I also love the idea of a tree in limbo that grows cursed -1 sword for Slaads to hand out to low-INT fighters. That's classic.

Ken

 

[sckeener]

I like the idea of devils manufacturing cursed items and spreading them around on the Material Plane as a plot to make the plane easier to conquer.

Personally I'd rather have useful items that have drawbacks...such as the +3 Long sword that has a special purpose to kill gnomes.

or maybe something akin to Dungeon #149 War of the Wielded by Michael Kortes where intelligent magic weapons are still fighting a war long since dead.