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Has their ever been any official word on how to price known cursed items with things like intermittent function and dependent function? I'm looking into it as a way to potentially give out items at reduced prices and add more thematic mechanics to items but want to see if any metrics have been dropped before I start.
Stunning oneself for 5d4 rounds and possibly taking 3d6 CON damage sure sounds like a nice idea.
This is a good question imo. It feels like some cursed items could actually be pretty useful, for example:
Dust of sneezing and choking
This fine dust appears to be dust of appearance. If cast into the air, it causes those within a 20-foot spread to fall into fits of sneezing and coughing. Those failing a DC 15 Fortitude save take 3d6 points of Constitution damage immediately. Those who succeed on this saving throw are nonetheless disabled by choking (treat as stunned) for 5d4 rounds.I wish I could buy this all the time
Back in 1st edition, I had a friend who had a character who went out of his way to collect these. He also had the 1st edition version of this item:
Necklace of Adaptation
This necklace is a heavy chain with a platinum medallion.
The magic of the necklace wraps the wearer in a shell of fresh air, making him immune to all harmful vapors and gases (such as cloudkill and stinking cloud effects, as well as inhaled poisons) and allowing him to breathe, even underwater or in a vacuum.
RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32
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Stunning oneself for 5d4 rounds and possibly taking 3d6 CON damage sure sounds like a nice idea.
My 20 Con dwarf would love to risk 3d6 Con damage to no-save incapacitate an entire enemy group for 5-20 rounds. There's a reason you can't buy this stuff. No save AoE stun is just a very bad idea to give out, even if it also affects the user.
Stunning oneself for 5d4 rounds and possibly taking 3d6 CON damage sure sounds like a nice idea.Yep, definitely no possible way to avoid being in the cloud yourself.
The first thing that popped into my head was letting a summon do the delivery for you. But there are just so many ways.
A telekineticist would absolutely love these.
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I was thinking more along the lines of things like +2 axes that only get their boon after killing a target or mwk scimitars that become +1 flaming during the heat of the summer. Those feel like thematically evocative additions to the standard +blank weapons of the world but I want to figure out how you would price that in the current setup.
That sounds more like you want Scaling magic items
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I've had some discussions with James Jacobs about this very subject. Which is also why you should keep your eyes open for Call to Arms: Cursed Items that I am writing for Fat Goblin Games. I present new methods for crafting, pricing, new cursed properties and CLs for existing properties, new cursed items of all power levels, new methods for removing curses, semi-intelligent cursed items, and more.
I'm a huge cursed item fan and absolutely hate how they are treated from D&D and PF (well, most games in general).
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That sounds more like you want Scaling magic items
Nahh that's a scaling increase in power, with cursed items the interest comes from being able to reduce the price of magic items while at the same time reducing their reliability in interesting and narratively evocative ways. A lot of times it's boring to just get a +1 scimitar for the 40th time but having my party find say a scimitar of Sarenrae that bursts into flames and holy might in the heat of the desert sun really adds something to the experience. Also it gives me room to make vanilla magic items like weapons and armor more scarce, valuable, and interesting if you can have markets full of these sorts of items. Now +1 goes from something that you can just find at a magical item shop to the things nobles can afford, built by master craftsmen for those who can afford weapons and armor unbound by the many rules and clauses magic usually brings to the table.
I've had some discussions with James Jacobs about this very subject. Which is also why you should keep your eyes open for Call to Arms: Cursed Items that I am writing for Fat Goblin Games. I present new methods for crafting, pricing, new cursed properties and CLs for existing properties, new cursed items of all power levels, new methods for removing curses, semi-intelligent cursed items, and more.
That sounds like it will have a space on my bookshelf.
I always make it a point to have a cursed item vendor in games I run who will sell you any item you could possibly want, cheaper than it costs to make it. But is always horribly, horribly cursed. Sometimes they give in to the temptation, and the results are fun.
I do note that pricings are usually unmentioned in cursed items, so I'd imagine it's your discretion as to whether you allow them to be bought or not, and the price that they should be.
If it's a 'bad' curse that simply makes the item effectively useless (Such as only working when you have red and blue hair), I'd probably recommend its buying price as if it were a normal item, but players sell it for at most half its normal value.
If it's something like the dust of sneezing and choking, it should always be sold as an item that is very strong, or not at all.
Basically, price your items as badly as possible for your players.
I do note that pricings are usually unmentioned in cursed items, so I'd imagine it's your discretion as to whether you allow them to be bought or not, and the price that they should be.
If it's a 'bad' curse that simply makes the item effectively useless (Such as only working when you have red and blue hair), I'd probably recommend its buying price as if it were a normal item, but players sell it for at most half its normal value.
If it's something like the dust of sneezing and choking, it should always be sold as an item that is very strong, or not at all.
Basically, price your items as badly as possible for your players.
Glad it sounds interesting!
I do address pricing, and James mentions that it is indeed why there's no prices attached to cursed items, there are no CL's assigned to them and the current crafting system doesn't have a way to support it. In CtA: Cursed Items there will be a strict method by CL to apportion cost/price and also some less strict methods that involve doubling or halving cost/time based on the effects.
The biggest thing I do harp on though is open communication with the players. Cursed items don't have to be life threatening, or even serious, but they can be fun and flavorful...but some folks just don't want them as they feel it is a screw by the GM.
I had a character who commissioned a Bag of Devouring. She used it as a chamber pot on those long dungeon crawls.
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I gave a cursed ring of invisibility to a player once. He thought he was invisible and no amount of anyone telling him he was not would convince him. The curse made him just ignore/pretend he didn't hear anyone talking to him while he was wearing the ring if there was any indication that they saw him. Otherwise, it worked just like any other ring of invisibility in that he could take it off (but he couldn't give it away, it's HIS ring...) and after attacking he would be 'visible' again, because that's how a real ring works :D