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"You place a curse on the subject. Choose one of the following.
–6 decrease to an ability score (minimum 1).
–4 penalty on attack rolls, saves, ability checks, and skill checks. Each turn, the target has a 50% chance to act normally; otherwise, it takes no action.
You may also invent your own curse, but it should be no more powerful than those described above."
Bestow Curse is such an amazing spell with so much capability it's truly incredible! All you need is a little imagination. Please post any and all non-standard curse ideas that you may have!
Please note that this is NOT a place to argue whether or not you think a given curse suggestion is legitimate or broken. Everyone's game is different, and what might not be fine for your group might be perfectly fine for another. If you absolutely must decry someone's idea, do so ELSEWHERE.
I'll start:
* Curse a barbarian so that he is emotionally destitute and wholly unable to feel anger, happiness, or any other strong emotion.
* Curse a bard so that he is mute and unable to play an instrument without damaging it beyond use (strings snap, bites down too hard on wind instruments, etc.)
* Curse a cleric so that every time he speaks of his deity/faith and/or prays he speaks blasphemy instead the intended words. Also, make it so his holy symbol burns him like holy water against undead.
* Curse a druid so that he suffers from severe agoraphobia (fear of open spaces) and becomes a permanent shut-in.
* Curse a weapon-focused fighter to always fumble and drop his weapons whenever he attempts to draw them/pick them up.
* Curse a monk so that they cannot walk at all (0 ft. movement speed), effectively making them a cripple forced to take the crawl action.
* Curse a paladin so that he is wholly unable to tell the truth ("I am a very bad man who brings innocent people to injustice!"). Also, see cleric.
* Curse a ranger so that his bow string always breaks or he always fumbles one of his two (or both of his) weapons. Also, curse him so that he perceives his favored enemies (if you know them) as some other type of creature, causing him to use the wrong tactics against them. Also, see druid.
* Curse a greedy rogue so that all valuable items look like worthless bobbles and vice versa. Also, make him always tell the truth, or sing loudly when he tries to sneak. Also, make him always miss his mark when making precision attacks (dealing normal damage instead).
* Curse a sorcerer so that they suffer from severe self-esteem issues.
* Curse a wizard with illiteracy.
* Curse a person to be blind, deaf, and mute (with multiple castings)--so that he can't tell anyone he is cursed.
* Curse a person so that they are wholly unable to swallow even remotely solid foods--watch as they suffer and starve to death slowly.
* Curse a person so that they can no longer bend their arms and legs at the elbow/knee joints, causing them to walk around with a strange "tin soldier" like gate.
* Curse a womanizer with Shallow Hal syndrome so that they perceive all physically attractive girls as ugly and vice versa.
* Curse a master orator with Turret's syndrome so that they must blurt out at least one curse with every breath when talking.
* Curse a liar into always telling the truth.
* Curse a thief so that he cannot pick up anything that he attempts to steal (it always slips out of his grasp).
* Curse someone to smell so offensive as to keep people from coming within ten feet of them.
* Curse a pervert to always mistake somebody's sex until the worst possible/most critical moment.
* Curse a dwarf so that ale and other alcoholic beverages tastes like bland water--or something far nastier.
* Curse an aquatic creature with severe aquaphobia (fear of water). We actually did this to a giant squid once--it clamored up our ship's mast to get away from the water and remained there as we rowed into port (with several amazed harbor citizens staring at the odd sight in awe). Whenever it reached down for a sailor snack, we simply sprayed it with a bottle of water like it was some kind of misbehaving cat. The squid eventually dragged itself inland and died on its own.
* Curse a scarred barbarian who takes pride in his battle history with flawlessly smooth skin.
* Curse a person who took a Vow of Poverty with an uncontrollable greed.
Just to name a few...
"You place a curse on the subject. Choose one of the following.
–6 decrease to an ability score (minimum 1).
–4 penalty on attack rolls, saves, ability checks, and skill checks. Each turn, the target has a 50% chance to act normally; otherwise, it takes no action.
You may also invent your own curse, but it should be no more powerful than those described above."Bestow Curse is such an amazing spell with so much capability it's amazing! All you need is a little imagination. Please post any and all non-standard curse ideas that you may have!
I have always wanted to do this. I will come back and check the thread to see what anyone comes up with.
Six months and no one can come up with any ideas?
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It's hard to accidentally make something more powerful than "50% chance of losing your turn entirely." That's pretty potent.
Then again, this is why I judge the quality against the other effects.
I agree that RP ones are awesome, but nothing that would automatically cut off a character from the ability to function in combat at all (such as always dropping their weapon, since most classes can't fight unarmed).
One fun one I did to a thieving NPC once: Cursed them so that if they committed an evil act, all food was tasteless until they performed a good act of equal or greater magnitude. With a second curse (on the same condition) I had their body's sexual preferences be the opposite of their mind's. Commit an evil act? No jollies for you. Then I made a third curse that prevented the first two from being removed (until this third curse was itself removed, of course; it just made it take extra castings and thus money).
I'm going to go against your request in the OP and comment that many of your curses appear to be many times more powerful than the original examples. The others appear to have only role play consequences (these I'm 100% in favour of).
Curses to me are typically best when they are creative fluff that generates one of the original 3 effects.
Many times more powerful than losing half the actions you ever take for the rest of your life???
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Many times more powerful than losing half the actions you ever take for the rest of your life???I'm going to go against your request in the OP and comment that many of your curses appear to be many times more powerful than the original examples. The others appear to have only role play consequences (these I'm 100% in favour of).
Curses to me are typically best when they are creative fluff that generates one of the original 3 effects.
To be fair, you lose them before you take them (so no wasted resources), but it doesn't prevent you from doing any time-sensitive work effectively.
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I realize this is a threadjack, but am I the only one who thinks the permanent duration on Bestow Curse is too much?
It requires a MELEE touch attack AND a saving throw AND needs to beat spell resistance AND only effects one target.
I'd say its duration and the ability to make up your own curses are the only thing it has going for it.
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It requires a MELEE touch attack AND a saving throw AND needs to beat spell resistance AND only effects one target.
I'd say its duration and the ability to make up your own curses are the only thing it has going for it.
Ok, good point.
Getting back on track though, I do think some of your "clever curse" ideas are actually worse than losing 50% of your actions, since some of them make the character unable to take any worthwhile action.
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Curse a spellcaster to be Mute. Verbal components = no.
Curse a cavalier to be shunned by all animals. Steed = no.
Curse a Monk with vertigo. Half movement, and acrobatics checks every round to stay standing (take 10 out of combat).
Curse a dragon with Acrophobia. Flying = no.
Curse a vampire with claustrophobia. Return to coffin = no.
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Curse a troll with pyromania.
Make a character so unwilling to put any loot down that they remain permenently at max load.
Alternatively, kleptomania. They must steal every valuable they see, no matter how unwise.
Wizard dyslexia, Every spell subject to the scroll mishaps table.
Compell the barbarian to never put down his two-handed weapon, ever.
The sorcerer forgets which spells he can cast.
Bard becomes tone deaf.
witch is afraid of animals (including her familiar)
-Curse a thief with the inability to lie
-Curse a fighter so that he gets shaken at the sight of blood
-Curse a monk with the fear of coming into contact with other beings
-Curse a bard so that all he can sing is uninspiring songs
-Curse your paladin with an inability to tell right from wrong
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* Curse someone so that they are constantly overloaded, as per the encumbrance rules (lose Dex mod to AC and can only move 5 feet as full round action).
* Curse someone with unstoppable crying, imposing a penalty on Perception checks and granting all others concealment against him.
* Curse someone so their age category increases by one step (young to middle-aged, middle-aged to old, old to venerable).
We once cursed an evil wizard( we beat him up, even though he was like 6 levels higher) so every time he said an vocal, he began to stutter.. our GM did'nt allow muting him.. but: no spellcasting for him either way.. ;)
RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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Awesome ideas! Here's a few more:
- Curse the melee character so her feet stick to the ground (1/2 movement speed). If you want to be really cruel, don't let her take 5' steps, either.
- Curse someone so that she grows gills and has difficulty breathing out of water. Character is fine for a number of minutes equal to her CON mod. After that, she is Fatigued for a number of hours equal to her CON mod. After that, she is Exhausted for the same number of hours. Past that, she begins to drown.
- Curse a creature's hide/shell/scales to become soft and unprotecting. Reduce Natural Armor by 4 points.
- Curse a character with cloven hooves. Aside from the roleplay issues, the character takes a -8 penalty on Acrobatics checks and moves at 1/2 speed for the first couple days, until she learns how to walk on them. (I did this to a Druid in my game, and we decided that the "deformity" carried over to her Wild Shaped forms as well. Her owl had actual horns, her cat had a devil's tail, etc.)
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*curse an inquisitor to forget the tennents of his/her faith
*curse someone to say the worse insult they can think of when they meet an authority figure for the first time
*curse someone to lose a finger any time they put a ring on it*
*curse someone to have eyebrows that distractingly crawl all over their face
*curse a rogue (or any stealthy character)to always emit a shrill sound
For a great multiple curse use look up the short story "I have no mouth and must scream"
Admittedly the phrase "no more powerful than those described" is open to a LOT of interpretation
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*Curse a stealthy character to emit a bright light from their head at all times
*Curse any class that loves heavy armor to fear metal and dragonhide
*Curse someone in a high magic setting to fear any magic
*Curse someone to be horribly racist
*Curse someone to fall in love with everyone they meet
*Curse someone to scream whenever they fall asleep (that needs rules for the sleep deprivation that will follow)
*Curse someone to only be able to use cursed objects
*Curse someone to only be able to think up new curses
*Curse someone to have no creativity at all
*Curse someone to play "the ground is lava" at all times
*Curse someone to have to pretend they are insane at all times
*Curse someone to see everyone as their identical twin
*Curse someone to think everyone they meet is a doppelganger or changeling
*Curse a paladin, cleric, or chaotic barbarian to be the opposite alignment
*Curse a summoner hate outsiders
*Curse someone to think their teeth are trying to kill them
*Curse someone to convert to a new religion every morning
This is fun!
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Curse an RPG player to only be able to speak quotes from monte python
Curse an RPG player to only be able to speak quotes from monte python
And jonnythm wins the internet.
What are you going to do now? :D
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I read most of these but then got lost in my own thoughts and so:
curse the rogue to think he is a barbarian
curse the fighter to think he is a wizard
et al were the types of curses I thought of at first to mix PC's up
then there are curses that others wouldn't be able to pick up on:
curse of insomnia (starts to hallucinate after a bit)
curse: everyone is a GOOD GUY (a monster attacks and your character tries to use diplomacy for its first action?!?!?!)
curse: everything weighs more than it actually does (a 5lb hammer weighs 50lbs... not huh)
curse: you are not who you think you are... (we've all seen the movies of a SUIT meeting up with gangsters and trying to ACT like a 'G' but totally failing. Your character totally is that character)
and then there are easy curses like:
curse: bodily functions constant
curse: lose clothing at like level per day type thing... Character says "I swear I had like 5 pairs of pants, and now I have none... WTF?"
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curse: lose clothing at like level per day type thing... Character says "I swear I had like 5 pairs of pants, and now I have none... WTF?"
once a day, a random magic item goes missing. (returns the next day, but another random magic item goes missing)
Many times more powerful than losing half the actions you ever take for the rest of your life???I'm going to go against your request in the OP and comment that many of your curses appear to be many times more powerful than the original examples. The others appear to have only role play consequences (these I'm 100% in favour of).
Curses to me are typically best when they are creative fluff that generates one of the original 3 effects.
It's not that they're more powerful, but uninteresting from a roleplaying perspective, or just frustrating. A lot of the ones you suggest are basically "lose the majority of your major class abilities". In pathfinder, your class is pretty much 90% of your character, so losing 75% of that is a huge deal. You're basically telling the player, you can't do anything until someone else decides to help you.
I'd find it more interesting to take things about the character/class and exaggerate them. For instance a paladin character who is always looking to "save the children" should constantly see the innocent young of what he's fighting, or constantly have opportunities to save children that just never work out (they always fall off the ledge just as he gets there).
A cleric of a god who encourages proselytizing should begin every combat with a sermon, constantly trying to get converts, even in situations where it will obviously fail or cause them problems. Or when he hears people talk about his god, he only hears blasphemy.
Most of the original options are either a modifier to dice, or the dreaded 50% lost actions, but most of yours are guaranteed failures or lost abilities.
Cursing a barbarians rage so that they see something important from their past every time, either to make them sad or even more angry would work too. If the player hesitates or shows sadness, they should end their rage. If they are worked into a frenzy, they should describe how they continue to waste rounds of rage even after combat is over.
Bestow Curse should present a tray of bad choices to the player, but they should still have choices and options of what to do.
Curse people to become obsessed with figuring out the fly speed of a coconut-laden swallow.Curse an RPG player to only be able to speak quotes from monte pythonAnd jonnythm wins the internet.
What are you going to do now? :D
An African swallow or an English swallow?
Curse a Cleric to think his allies are part of the Judean People's Front (doesn't have to be Holy Grail always ;) ). On a more serious note, curse someone to be uncomfortably hot in the barest of clothing. Hilarious, and keeps the AC low on the humanoid types.
Dot for interest!
Cursed with clumsiness; 50% of the time the character tries to quickly draw something, the character instead drops it and every round the character tries to move more than their base speed 50% of the time the character falls prone.
Six months and no one can come up with any ideas?
I actually meant to come back to this one the first time around. life happens i guess
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An African swallow or an English swallow?Curse people to become obsessed with figuring out the fly speed of a coconut-laden swallow.Curse an RPG player to only be able to speak quotes from monte pythonAnd jonnythm wins the internet.
What are you going to do now? :D
Part of the curse is trying to figure that out.
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I realize this is a threadjack, but am I the only one who thinks the permanent duration on Bestow Curse is too much?
It requires a MELEE touch attack AND a saving throw AND needs to beat spell resistance AND only effects one target.
I'd say its duration and the ability to make up your own curses are the only thing it has going for it.
I like bestow curse, but I've never had to get into melee range to deliver it. That's what spectral hand is for.
Reach spell is plus one level but would also work.
Curse a ranger to be afraid of his own shadow.
Curse a rogue so he cannot steal.
Curse a rouge so cannot lie.
Curse a mount to not allow a rider.
Curse: Causes a male character to become female and vice versa.
Curse: Insomnia: The player must make a fortitude save and a will save to be able to sleep.
Curse: Restless legs: The player's legs dance all night during his/her sleep. The sleep is not restful unless the player's legs are bound.
Curse:Clumsiness: Whenever a player makes a skill check, his ability scores count against his check instead of for it.
Curse: Eye Switch: The player's eyes switch places, for the next 72 hours he will have optical input from the right eye going to his left and vice versa. Any activity that the player does will be at a -3 (Because things never have a negative 3)
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On a side note I am planning on introducing a cursed magic item into my campaign.
The potion label will say: "Drink for ultimate power." It will also say "Do not drink this."
Drinking the pot will give someone a +2 Physical appearance bonus (Permanent) as well as a sex change (Also permanent)
There are a few other effects but that is the major one.
Dotting. Some of these are just fantastic.
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One I thought of as a Chelish option for control of prisoners / slaves;
Curse a slave bodyguard to take nonlethal damage equal to any lethal harm suffered by their owner. Whenever their owner is suffering from lethal damage, the sensation of shared pain is magnified and distracting, causing them to suffer the sickened condition. If their owner is killed while the curse is in effect, they also become staggered, and neither the staggered nor sickened condition end until the curse is broken or the master is returned to life.
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RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
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I just might curse myself with +6 strength. That's no more powerful than a -6 strength penalty.
Actually, that reminds me of a "beneficial" curse that was very helpful in combat. The Party was fighting a Sea Hag, so the Cleric bestowed a curse on her to make her incredibly beautiful.
I ruled that doing so effectively nullified her Evil Eye and Horrific Appearance abilities. It also made her hopping mad, particularly when all the PCs started giving her pick-up lines in the middle of combat!
Curse someone to have to roll from this table every morning.
Am I the only one who sees many of these as potential character personality disorders? I may steal some of these to spice up my rp'ing... Also, Curse someone to have multiple personality disorder? Probably too powerful, but they'd have to have 2 or more character sheets they must choose from randomly each in game day... Could be fun...
Curse a vampire with claustrophobia. Return to coffin = no.
This:-)
Curse someone with an overwhelming sexual attraction to oozes.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Some Visionary style curses.
"By what creeps, what crawls, by what does not, Let all that grows recede and rot!" Curse person to do 4d6 damage to plant/animal life a round per touch.
"Wings of steel shall ride the breeze. Invade the air, the land, the seas!" target is constantly surrounded by metal insects, suffers the distraction effect of the swarm (check every round, DC = Curse DC)
"Flay the flesh, lay bare the bone. Upon this field, let grief be sown!" Does 4d6 points of damage per touch to loved ones.
"By nature's hand, by craft, by art, What once was one now fly apart!"
Does 4d6 damage to objects, bypassing hardness. This includes anything he touches (including his own gear/clothes, bedroll, etc. Never able to take shelter, use a tool, wear clothes, etc)
"Oh mist-filled pits, dark, dank, unclear, Touch all before me with frost-fingered fear!" Target gains a permanent fear aura, can't be turned off. (DC = Curse DC)
Curse: Causes a male character to become female and vice versa.
Can this spell actually, physically transform someone? If so, why not "Curse" them to become a frog or a newt or something? This seems to be hedging into the realm of "Polymorph Other." (Does that still exist?)
Perhaps a simpler solution would be to curse a male character to *believe* he is female, and feel compelled to dress accordingly and vice versa?
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Found a fun one: Curse a classed character with amnesia, so that they lose all of their class abilities, feats, and skill ranks. It's even in the RAW, thanks to the Sanity and Madness rules from the GameMastery Guide.
That's a pretty awful.curse to put on anyone.
Anyone else STILL think some of my previous curse ideas are unbalanced when compared to this official option?
EDIT:
A lot of the ones you suggest are basically "lose the majority of your major class abilities". In pathfinder, your class is pretty much 90% of your character, so losing 75% of that is a huge deal. You're basically telling the player, you can't do anything until someone else decides to help you.
I can curse someone so that they flat out lose ALL of their class abilities (yes, 100%). It seems the designers thought it a balanced option. See the above link for proof.
Am I the only one who sees many of these as potential character personality disorders? I may steal some of these to spice up my rp'ing... Also, Curse someone to have multiple personality disorder? Probably too powerful, but they'd have to have 2 or more character sheets they must choose from randomly each in game day... Could be fun...
You can do that while keeping within RAW. See the above link. :D