My players tend to just pick things up willy-nilly after a fight. What kind of cursed armor can I give him (is from a grave-knight type character)? Also how will they be able to get past the curse?
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The armor (which can't be removed) makes the wearer feel no pain, even allowing them to fight through broken bones or torn muscles. Because of this, the wearer is oblivious to how much damage he's taken (the GM would track his HP).
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Armour of paranoia. Grants a +3 infernal bonus to sense motive, unfortunately it also tends to cast suspicion on those who bear no ill will but are of different alignment to the wearer.
This armour identifies as +3 Full Plate.
If a character exceeds the DC to identify the armour by 10 they identify it as THE ARMOUR OF TOTAL PROTECTION, which gives a +1 Armour Bonus, +1 Shield Bonus, +1 Natural Armour Bonus, +1 Deflection Bonus and +1 Dodge Bonus. These bonuses stack with any other bonuses (even if they normally wouldn't), making this an extremely protective suit of armour.
If a character exceeds the DC to identify the armour by 20 they notice the spelling error (the armour of TOTALL protection). This seemingly innocuous mistake has long lasting ramifications for anyone who dons the armour. Not only do the bonuses from this armour NOT stack with any other bonuses you might have, but after attuning the armour (wearing it for 1 hour) the owner forfeits any of these 5 armour types from any other source.
For example: Someone attuned to this armour wouldn't receive any benefit from a Ring of Protection +2, even though normally the larger bonus would be the one that applies.
These penalties apply even when the armour is not worn, making the wearer almost completely dependant on this armour for any protection (although the armour does provide +14 AC, so it's not all bad).
If the owner has a bonus to AC that is not an Armour bonus, Shield bonus, Natural Armour bonus, Deflection bonus or Dodge bonus, that AC bonus applies - even if the armour would normally prohibit such a bonus (except for normal Dex bonuses. As full plate the wearer has a max Dex bonus of +1).
For example a Monk's AC bonus from Wisdom would still apply even though wearing armour would normally cause a Monk to lose that ability.
The armour also has no Arcane-Spell-Failure chance associated with it, although there is no way for a character to find that out - Identifying the armour with magic will not tell you, only by trying to cast and succeeding would a character (or player) ever guess this.
Once the armour has attuned to a character, it can only be un-attuned by either killing the character or destroying the armour.
To destroy the armour the attuned character must destroy each of the following items: An Amulet of Natural Armour +1, a +1 suit of armour, a +1 shield, a +1 Ring of Deflection and a +1 Belt of Incredible Dexterity (these items total 10 000 gp in enhancement bonuses).
When you destroy each of these items, the armour loses the associated bonus and penalty.
For example if the character attuned character destroys a +1 Ring of Protection the armour would lose the +1 deflection bonus, but the character could then receive deflection bonuses from other sources as normal.
This one's not all bad, but for high level play people would hate it. It's also probably great for some characters, but they're likely not the characters who would wear full-plate.
My players tend to just pick things up willy-nilly after a fight. What kind of cursed armor can I give him (is from a grave-knight type character)? Also how will they be able to get past the curse?
According to the Beastiary, a Graveknight is an undead that, while it has an undead body, is actually tied to it's armor. So you can destroy the moving corpse inside, but as long as the armor still exists, the body will regenerate itself.
Rejuvenation (Su): One day after a graveknight is destroyed, its armor begins to rebuild the undead horror’s body. This process takes 1d10 days—if the body is destroyed before that time passes, the armor merely starts the process anew. After this time has elapsed, the graveknight wakens fully healed.
So making it cursed is super easy. Bits of corpse spontaneously appear inside the armor whenever it isn't being worn. If it is being worn, you can have the wearer effected with one of any effects to simulate the regrowth. Like make the wearer fatigued, sickened or nauseous as bits of bone and rotting meat grow in to their flesh. Removing the armor would require them to deal a cerain amount of damage to cut themselves free as the undead bits growing into them have bound them to the armor.
They wouldn't need a remove curse to get rid of it, but I'm pretty sure having and undead growing into you would drive home the idea of 'don't pick that up, you don't know where it's been.'
He's confused for a bit, then it dons on him what the issue is.
DAWNS on him (unless you really mean the armor equips itself on him).
The armor cannot be removed; the PC has to sleep in it.
I'm a big fan of this, admittedly. Just "cannot ever be removed" is a wonderfully flavorful curse. After the first night, you're fatigued. After the second, you're exhausted. Maybe on subsequent nights, you're so tired you can't get a good night's rest (and therefore can't do things that rely on that, such as prepare spells).
The only way out is to actually destroy the armor. Which means now you lose that magical full plate...
The armor stinks. I mean, grants Stench ability constantly, but for him grants Aid bonus naturally (maximized temp hp when he wakes).
So, it is a really useful armor, but no one wants to be near him.
As long as the character wears the armor (which cannot be removed) they gain a trait of the dhsampir:
Negative Energy Affinity: Though a living creature, a dhampir reacts to positive and negative energy as if it were undead—positive energy harms it, while negative energy heals it.
It would be a really nasty surprise if they are unable to identify the curse, and a well intended cure spell kills them.
Getting past the curse could just take some extra planning from the healer (if there is one), they would just need to prepare (or learn for spontaneous healers) a few inflict X spells.
The armor cannot be removed; the PC has to sleep in it.I'm a big fan of this, admittedly. Just "cannot ever be removed" is a wonderfully flavorful curse. After the first night, you're fatigued. After the second, you're exhausted. Maybe on subsequent nights, you're so tired you can't get a good night's rest (and therefore can't do things that rely on that, such as prepare spells).
The only way out is to actually destroy the armor. Which means now you lose that magical full plate...
This is an interesting side effect of not being able to remove armor. A possible work around however is to have the armor enchanted with the Restful special armor property, which allows the wearer to sleep in any armor and has other benefits. It's actually REALLY good. >.>
If this is grave knight armour it comes with its own automatic curse. When the Grave knight comes back into existence it absorbs anyone wearing the armour into itself, killing them.
What if its intelligent, cannot be removed, and is very very very annoying. As an item it doesn't need to sleep and can talk all night :)
What if its intelligent, cannot be removed, and is very very very annoying. As an item it doesn't need to sleep and can talk all night :)
Indeed. A lack of sleep *can* kill you.
And then the original owner can claim 'eminent domain' and 'habeas corpus' all in one.
There should be some warnings, I'd think, but... let the punishment fit the crime, as it were.
It turns ethereal every once in a while, which is happening only at the start of a serious fight, leaving the character unarmored. Let's say it is a flat chance of 1 in 6.
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Maybe the grave knight was killed by drowning, and the armor is attracted to water. Treat any body of water as though it has a Magnetic Field. Make them regret not putting ranks in swim.
Also, the sidebar on Grave Knights has some information on turning into the grave knight if you take its armor.
I was considering posting something along those lines and thought much better of it based on a very informative panel at GenCon that Crystal was at...
The best curses give the wearer a reason to consider wearing the armor despite the flaws.
- Intelligent armor with a high ego and a special purpose to defeat a common religion or race not represented in the party. It is quiet and seems great until they go into town and it starts puppeting the character to attack it's hated foe.
- Dwarven-Made Armor that needs to be in contact with the ground. You get a bonus on bull rush or checks to keep your balance, but a penalty on jumping and swimming. It gives a bonus to climb stone and earth, but a penalty to anything else. It has SR against magic that lets you fly or levitate or otherwise leave the ground.
- Armor that provides 12+Level spell resistance that cannot be turned off and acts as nondetection. Spells that penetrate have their duration halved. When the armor is completely removed, the SR drops by 1 point per minute. If the wearer is under the effect of any spell when the armor is donned, the caster must penetrate the SR or it is dispelled.
- Armor that provides the user with the cold or fire monster trait - immunity to one type of damage, but vulnerability to the other. (not for use in campaigns that feature one type of foe)
- Living armor. It has lower ACP and higher Max Dex, but it needs to be fed and watered. And it's a picky eater or has special dietary requirements.
- Weak-point armor. The armor doesn't provide any bonus on critical confirmation rolls, but gives the wearer +5 to confirm criticals.
- Champion's armor. This armor is really impressive. +2 enhancement bonus to Charisma and +5 to intimidate or to bluff rolls to appear powerful. Enemies must make a will save based on 10+ 1/2 the character's hit dice + higher of Charisma or Strength or they will attack the wearer preferentially.
Edit: I was going to comment on the removed post, but ninja'd by moderation.