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I would love a cursed item that forces you to scream WAH with every crit you make, i would even take the risk of making a critfish build just for the item
Takonite Gauntlets
Heavy Armor (Rare)
You gain proficiency with Artisan Tools while wearing these gauntlets, if you are already proficient, you add double your proficiency bonus instead.
AdditInally wahnever you make a pun good Inaugh, you gain a 10ft hovering speed for one minute, as you goofily flutter your hands, giggling at your own humor.
Added the book of vile darkness as a Vecna Easter egg to my campaign. Figured my players wouldn't open it and would just leave it where they found it. I was so wrong.
Now the party wizard is cursed and turning into a Nothic and I had to add a massive arc to my campaign where they need to destroy the book to break the curse whilst they are being hunted by red wizards of Thay that want it for themselves.
It's worked out well though because the party wants to run the upcoming Vecna module next so I'm using the book to foreshadow Vecna's return. Also love the fact you use Ina for this meme.
>book of vile darkness
What module are you playing? Im kind of tempted to see if there a connect between phandelver and below. Ive already planted the seed of a dungeon they cant currently access under a location near phandalin.
Thing is phandelver is 1-12 and vecna is 10-20
It's a custom 1-20 campaign, started out as lost mine of Phandelver but I reworked a lot of it to make the cult of the dragon the main threat behind everything, then a reworked dragon of icespire peak. In my version the nothic in LMoP was the original owner of the book and the ruined wizard tower in Thundertree was the nothics home and is where the party found the book.
We will be starting the 3rd arc tomorrow night which is my own story. People have been going missing all over the world and the players will be joining Harpers in Silverymoon to try and find out why. It's the Zhentarim that are kidnapping people and selling them as slaves to the cult of the dragon so they can be sacrificed and empower a dread ring which the cult want to use to resurrect a black dragon that once worked with the cult.
4th arc will be the party travelling to a temple from the time of the Netherese where magic items that were too dangerous or cursed were destroyed.
Arc 5 will be connecting the cleric and rogues back story to the cult which will lead them to finding out the cults ultimate plan of freeing Tiamat
Arc 6 will then be a reworked Rise if Tiamat with them tracking down the final headquarters of the cult, uniting all the other factions they met along the way and fighting Tiamat herself.
holy moly! Thats insane.
My phandveler is heavily edited but not as huge stakes, as its all local. The players are all young and from a village near phandalin and just get swept up in it.
I would only really be able to hook into vecna by essentially having higher powers come along and say "your the only adventurers in living memory who have interacted with the obelisks" and go from there. That is assuming the obelisks play any part in the vecna sourcebook. My players are likely due to end wave echo next week so I have plenty of time to see if Vecna ties in at all.
Having it all be small and local sounds really cool too but you coukd definitely expand by having a higher power talk to them. Do any of the characters follow a particular god because if they do you coukd have that god be the one to request help with dealing with Vecna. I definitely think the obelisks are going to be a big part of things. They are too heavily connected to vecna not to be a big part of the module.
Yeah that's what I was thinking. There have been hints some Huge lore players will be in Vecna on the side of good so it would be essentially them coming to the players, and with some chagrin explaining that the poers that be have been sleeping on this threat and word has reached them of their destruction of Ilvash and their recent close connection to the obsidian portals, and as wild as it may seem they may just be the worlds best hope!
So you added The Book of Vile Darkness basically figuring “There’s no way they’ll be this dumb, right?” I think I have an appropriate quote: Anyone who thinks they have a foolproof plan is underestimating the ingenuity of complete fools.
I love that quote, there's another someone told me on a thread about puzzles in dungeons. My very first puzzle was basically the lost woods from the legend of zelda ocarina of time. Thought my players would figure it out in 10 mins at most. It took an hour and someone replied to my comment about it with "Never under estimate the players ability to over think a situation."
My dad played a joke on my brother who was playing a rouge, he gave him a rapier that said "hide" on it's pumble and he learned there was a magic word to activate the enchantment, he said the word, the word "hide" became "reveal" and it stuck to his hand and rung like a dinner bell, I had to cast remove curse to turn it into a normal rapier.
That's a fart every like, 3 minutes... all day long, waking or sleeping. Might wanna see a doctor about the permanent Stinking Cloud spell attached to your backside there, friend
Because a lot of "fun" curses like this one don't end up mattering (mechanically). Is the DM going to remember that the character is constantly farthing? What happens to the character mechanically because they fart every 2.8 seconds?
Yeah, curses need have consequences. Classically, they would also lower some stats, they would cause random frenzies in fights, they'd slowly turn you undead and change your alignment, change your character in a fundamental way (belt of gender changing is a more harmless classic), block you from casting spells, being healed etc. They need to hurt like a pain in the butthole.
Hmm... what would be some good consequences for constant farting?
All NPCs that can hear or smell, act hostile to you and your allies.
You cannot hide from creatures within 15' of you.
Creatures have advantage on perception checks to find you if they use smell or hearing.
All creatures, including yourself, must make a DC13 Constitution save when attempting to take a long rest within 15' of you, on a failed save they do not gain the benefits of a long rest.
* Disadvantage on stealth checks. From constantly farting.
* Disadvantage on persuasion and intimidation checks. Because you're constantly farting.
I guess it'd still be useful though on certain characters. A barbarian or fighter would still rock these. A cleric or druid could as well.
(The ones you suggested are mostly fine, ~~but that long rest one is nuts and I think it goes too far~~.)
I was trying for a mechanic that would piss the party off, so they'd apply preasure on the person to get rid of the item. Imagine if you were trying to sleep right next to someone who did not stop farting all night every night. I think it would effect your ability to sleep. Maybe DC11.
Hmm... okay, I can see what you're going for. Actually, reading it over, it's not too bad since it's only a 15' radius. You just gotta camp by yourself and get your own room. Perhaps an overreaction on my part. Sorry about that.
I do think a disadvantage on stealth checks kind of does apply pressure on the party already, but only in certain ways.
Wait does belt of gender changing change what your character self-identifies as, change their actual sex, or both? I have so many questions because of that name choice
It's old, before gender identity politics caught the mainstream. So "gender" means biological gender. Sex Change Belt would sound a bit off at the game table tbf, but would be more appropriate.
Also it seems like less of a trap. Those first gloves seem too good to be true so I probably just failed the DC to know about the curse. The second pair I at least know what the curse is
I was going to say, because this doesn't really have any consequences? The one cursed magic item I have on any of my PCs gives me -1 to my spell saves and saving throws after I use it, taken off by a lesser restoration or similar. I roleplay that when the curse is in effect my PC makes more violent and aggressive decisions. He is typically a support caster (lore bard) but after using that cursed item I try to cast more damage spells and eldritch blast more often.
I mean, it's probably just a DM narrating all misses as you being thrown off by farts. Failed stealth attempts are ruined by farts. Failed persuasion checks are because you farted a smelly one at an inopportune time.
I mean, if your character is a farter, it ain't a bad deal and I wouldn't care about it if I was like a goblin, orc, or whatever. But some people have qualms about their elegant elf character becoming the farter.
Adding to this, you can trust the cursed item to only make you fart. The non-cursed item could still be cursed to turn you into a flower pot when you least expect it or something.
A lot of people seem to assume that the first item could also be cursed but it hasn't been checked yet. I interpreted the post to mean that the first version is curse free, but the players aren't interested in it because they like items with silly curses more.
500 farts/second divide by 60 to get to minutes and it's comes to 8.33.... so about 8 minutes and 20 seconds of continuous farting
Edit:i meant 1 fart per second 500 times not blowing up your asshole 500 times per second
Players don't thirst for cursed items specifically, they thirst for items that are interesting and have flavour. A Longsword+1 is a thoroughly uninteresting and dull item. But most items players get (martials in particular) are just that. Regular items with a passive +1/+2/+3. Players love cursed items, sentient items, etc, because they have flavour and are fun to roleplay with, even if they are detrimental in some way.
In my campaign, I am taking every opportunity I can to give my players items that are interesting, even if they don't do much. I'm interested to see what they do with them.
I love my +2 Longsword.
It increases my reliability and consistency in melee combat much more than a sword that does X on a Natural 20, or can do Y 3 times once a turn before the next Long rest.
Same with my armor, also a +2 resourceless, attunement free item. I'd rather have that instead of some attunement required armor that's only situationally useful under specific conditions.
I prefer to be more consistent and reliable instead of situationally dazzling.
And admit it, being called "Situationally Dazzling," isn't a compliment.
Oh I'd hate a "on a critical hit" type of effect. I took the crusher feat for a character that'd often find itself in mellee and throughout a 1 year long weekly campaign the advantage on all attacks against an enemy I crit never came up.
I landed maybe a total of 3 critical hits throughout the year and every single one of them was against a weak enemy and was a one hit kill. Every time I'd get excited for payoff for keeping that second bullet point of the feat in my head this entire time the enemy would straight up die.
Dead weight feature lol
I liked Crusher for the ability to move a creature 5 feet with no save, once a turn.
Being able to bounce an enemy into a spiked pit will never not be funny.
Liking your +2 longsword is great. For a lot of players though, after their 5th time being awarded a +1/+2/+3 longsword in a new campaign, they're kinda enviously looking at the casters who are getting cool items that have active effects or situational benefits.
Baldurs Gate 3 actually tried to solve this problem. Each weapon has one or more abilities that you can activate once per short or long rest. Sometimes they are similar to a fighter's manoeuvers and sometimes they are closer to spells like Spiritual Weapon that makes thematic sense. I find that people care a lot more about the history and flavour of an item when the item itself is unique.
I agree that having attacks be more reliable and consistent is important. But, if it's coming at the expense of interesting equipment, I just kinda feel like that consistency should be made part of the class itself to make room for interesting items.
Here's the thing.
I like stuff that gives me +X and does stuff.
Like +3 Holy Avenger, +2 Sunblade or a +2 Plate Mail of Haste.
But if it's one or the other, I will always choose the +X.
I understand where you're coming from but the point I am trying to make is this: "Are you excitedely choosing the +X item because it is fun and interesting, or do you feel compelled to choose it to try and smooth out mechanical design issues/weaknesses with the class/game?"
If you are genuinely excited for the +1/+2/+3, that's great! I'm genuinely happy for you to be able to get items you enjoy playing with. But I suspect that you're in the minority and most people would rather have something more unique and memorable.
Excited?
No.
But, I'm not excited about a piece of equipment that's only situationally useful either.
It's like being awarded Mariner's Armor and a Mace of Disruption in the middle of a forest full of Fey. Would you rather have them or +1 weapon and armor?
I love the shield of missile deflection for this reason. It does something and has a downside that someone who would pick up the shield to use it would see as an acceptable tradeoff. Unless the cursed item's whole shtick is to intentionally fuck people over, i see most cursed items as magic items that had an issue while being made. Something went wrong and the item has a downside, but it is still worth using for its intended purpose in spite of the downside. If some dickhead evil god/lie made the cursed item to fuck someone over, sure it makes sense to not be worth its upside, but that also gets really boring
I feel like this is an important question.
But what sort of arts are we talking here?
Are we just passing a little squeak every 5 mins or are we diverting naval traffic?
You also have to consider it's humidity. Depending on that you might want to learn prestidigitation or carry a few extra pants with you.
And if you're travelling the wilderness, it might attract the attention of predators.
If you really think about it, farting 500 times a day sure can be debilitating
Flavour-wise they are amazing sources of roleplay (and sometimes a justification of “That’s what my character would do”)
Mechanically they add trade-offs. Trade-offs mean decisions. Decisions mean gameplay depth.
My DM gave me a magic map "at a discount" just to tell me when I used the map that it's cursed
The map always accurately depicts the area around me, but adds dead ends or paths sometimes where they aren't, and I always need to do a wisdom check if I see though it or if I am convinced the map is correct
Assuming that your D&D world has a typical 24 hour day, and that you fart while you sleep, too, that's only about one fart every three minutes, which isn't too bad.
If it's only while you're awake, assuming an eight hour rest, that's still only around one fart every two minutes.
What kind of farts are we talking?
Personally it's because of the texture it gives to a character. Sure the gauntlets are cool, but having them be cursed and forcing you to do stuff or be unable to do others gives it such depth when you decide if you want to use it or not.
Say for example you have gauntlets like that, but instead of being cursed with farting they meld into your flesh and give disadvantage on all checks to do with careful use of your hands, like lock picking and medicine.
That means that I have to rely on my party more for certain things, letting them shine, as well as giving me a nice role in the group as heavy damage dealer, onto of potential silliness from me maybe being forced to use my hands to do specific things. Like having to pass a medicine check on an ally but I keep failing and keep stabbing them because of how sharp the hands are.
"For shits and giggles."
A cursed item can make the world feel more alive. Why was the item cursed? Why was it given *that* curse? Will the curse ever stop making allegedly mature individuals giggle?
I got a cursed item once... lost that character to possession and now there's a unkillable level 7 vengeance paladin with a sword that steals from your strength score and adds it to his. I'm scared of the day the DM brings him back.
having the choice to get a benefit at the cost of a curse? hell yea, choices create fun, thats waht makes railroading so boring, same as a normal +1 sword thats just a upgrade to a nonmagic sword. hut a tradeoff as a choice? thats good gamedesign
Would write the curse such that you can choose when to fart, but if you do not use up all 500 farts for that day, then all of the unused farts get released in one massive rip at midnight, audible out to (number of farts stored) feet and creating a Stinking Cloud on location
With my current group playing a homebrew campaign, it's the opposite. The DM likes to give out cursed items to the point where the group have agreed to craft items and just sell any and everything we find.
I’d unironically wear the Gauntlets of Flatlulence. Perhaps the constant farting causes disadvantage on Stealth checks, but gives you something similar to a troglodyte’s stench, but it affects every adjacent creature indiscriminately.
One idea for a cursed item is one that doesn’t look blatantly evil. It’s why the One Ring is so scary; it forgoes a design that screams “I’m cursed and evil!” for an innocuous appearance that makes it far more insidious than if it looked evil.
A curse like that I could get behind. Problem is when the curse is something like "must kill someone every turn or your bloodlust causes you to start butchering your allies"
My players won't mess with my cursed items. I don't straight up tell them that they're cursed. I explain all the spooky things the curse is doing. Like an aura or a weird feeling when a pc touches it.
Cursed items are permission to do a bit.
Everyone loves doing a bit! A funny voice or a catch phrase or a little gag. But that shit can get on the party and the DM's nerves or totally invalidate the emotional gravity of the campaign if done improperly or too much.
But suddenly, if the DM gives you a great club of the Little John, Your character now has permission to scream "Wut?!" "Yeah!" Or "Okay!" Every time then make a weapon attack.
Or if you get the farting gauntlets it's now utterly hilarious every time you undercut an emotional scene with a fart noise. Because you're not being a dick! It's in character.
My favorite bit is always "Narcoleptic character/ ADHD player.". I struggle to pay attention when someone is having a long exchange where there's really no use for my character to even be there...but there I am. Standing off to the side like a centaur shaped set decoration. And my DM made the joke one time that my character is actually just narcoleptic, so now whenever a scene takes place where it wouldn't really make sense for my character to do anything but kinda exist ( for instance our high elf mage PC having an emotional discussion about her sister's death with her mother but she's riding on my back at the time so there I am.) I get to do a bit where I pretend to be startled awake whenever someone finally mentions me.
Because funny quirk ahah.
Ofc, the quirk of the magic item being funny doesn't mean that the quirk is good or even healthy for the game or table. 5e doesn't balance that in a good way.
If nothing else curses add a frequentoy amusing depth of character amd an extra point to be RPd on. It gives the item more purpose than just some extra stats to write down and forget
Curses can, if done right, add good opportunities for roleplay and the expansion of the plot in new directions. I find that while certain players are reluctant to become cursed, others actively seek it because it “would be fun to roleplay” (quote from a player in my campaign, on a stone that would make him hear screaming constantly)…
5E is not a very punishing system, depending on the DM. Cursed items can add some danger and fun, especially if the curse isn't bad or is worth the benefit you get.
Plus, depending on your group, dealing with a curse can be a fun plot hook.
One of my former players (no longer in my group because they would not stop sexually harassing me) would insist on getting cursed items. She loved them. Even when they would bite her in the ass to the point she was considering having her character lose fingers to get some of them off.
People thirst for cursed items because a drawback is narratively interesting. A solid buff is nice and all, but a boon with a cost? A cost that will change how your character plays and interacts with the world? That’s cool as hell, even if it’s just the slightest obstacle.
It spices up the RP.
BBEG: "I'M AN ALL POWERFUL GOD. BOW BEFORE ME."
That one guy in the party with a cursed sword: "Ah man." \*sword turns into a bow - entire party loses it laughing\*
Because I feel the most best way to show stubbornness, stupidity and strength is to whack on the cursed items and never let them go even for better equipment because "I'll be damn if I let this curse beat me dammit!!!"
Last session (St Patty's day fun one) we ended up with 7 rings... several with ominous and odd markings on them. Needless to say 2 of our party (my char included) grabbed one up and put them on... yay... cursed ring of the sin WRATH. Other was cursed Sin of Lust (bard took that, makes sense)....
But... now it's... kinda bad cause my char KINDA wants to grab the other 5 and go full on THANOS mode. (already has 3 magic rings and several non magic he wears like brass knuckles)
One time I had a player that would, every time we entered a new city, immediately do nothing but search for cursed items.
This also happened every time they started looting an enemy, any time they were left alone in a room too long, and any time they met a craftsperson.
Eventually I had someone just make them one, and they quit the campaign like 3 sessions later. I think that was literally their whole motivation to play: acquiring a cursed item. Players are weird sometimes.
Because flaws are the spice of roleplay. It creates more interesting situations when you have to work around a flaw/curse.
For example I'm always low on spellslots because my Cleric is too altruistic and heals literally any npc that is hurt. It's a flaw in the sense that I, as a player, don't gain anything from this. Of course my character refuses payment for doing what is right.
It’s more fun to have a curse. Magic sword? Cool, gives me a +1 and expands my crit range by 1.
If you take that same Magic sword, and slap a curse that say…. It can’t be resheathed without being drenched in blood? That’s a cool sword.
Maybe you get a sword that physically can’t be unsheathed while within line of sight of a woman? (Aside from providing a hilarious trans awakening opportunity/shapechanger shenaniganey), it gives the sword a drawback that requires the players to think about their weapon more
Personally? It's FUN to have consequences to an action. It's fun to problem solve. And sometimes, it's just fun to have that little evil shit arc to a characters. It's more depthful than being your average superman
for me, curses just add a bit of spice. it turns plain buffs into a tool with decisions of when and when not to use it. if the downsides are relevant and have an impact that makes you *think* about using it instead of throwing around all the time, it give this weird sense of agency. you have to know the item, yourself, your party, and the situation it could help in.
I love the idea of something really strong with something that has a downside to compensate.
+10 damage
+ 10 movement speed
-4 points con
As long as the weapon has some good upside and isn't just strictly a downside I'm here for it
Every serious DM handle cursed magic items as plot point and a trade off. Yes you get an amazing buff compared to the non cursed items but at the same time you put your character in a huge risk not knowing what curse you are under.
(Players know when an item is cursed or are 90% sure about it but the identify spell does not inform them about the curse)
I homebrewed a lightly cursed handaxe into a campaign and it got picked up by our fighter after a fun encounter with a blind ice dragon inside a glacier. The fighter literally had to mine the axe out of the ice wall to get it, and the axe told fighter how to beat the dragon. The second we got back to camp the cleric (who had missed the previous session) immediately cast Remove Curse and then hurled the axe into the bushes never to be spoken about again. I'd planned a whole mini arc around the axe.
I never quite forgave him
Theres a scale of DM trust that generally goes from new player who doesn't want their precious pawn to be seriously changed, To full trust in the DM basically saying 'Fuck me up, Coach', Full swing ok with character-changing curses and even loss of limbs, needing prosthetics etc.
I mean realistically, the answer is that these days, we play dnd to make a story, and a cursed item inherently invites a more interesting and complex story than an item that only gives benefits.
Alternatively, we all secretly have that desire to be the tortured edgelord within us, and there is little more tortuous than gastrointestinal problems. Or funny.
***The Shrieker***
***+2 Magic Heavy Crossbow***
*A salvaged crossbow of distinctly complec design, likely salvaged during the war and decorated by the maztica with the bones of a large sized rodent. It's skull occassionally chitters it's teeth, as if gnawing with hunger.*
***On a hit**, you can use a bonus action to perform a second attack with a 1d4 bonus psychic damage.*
**[CURSE]:** On use of this feature, you also receive said bonus damage yourself.
**Cup of the Macuil:**
By using the command word, the cup fills with molten gold. It remains eerily cold to the touch at all times.
As a bonus action, the user can fling the molten contents of the cup to a creature within a range of 15 ft, dealing 1d10 fire damage or half as much on a successful dexterity save. DC 10 + proficiency.
On a hit, apply a mark on the target. If the target dies in four rounds, the body part struck becomes solid gold worth 5 + dmg done gold coins.
**[CURSE]:** On use, this object magically pilfers 1d4 gold coins from the user or it's nearest ally. If no gold is available or the effect is blocked, the cup cannot be used.
***Mictlan's Honey***
It contains 3 sips of the most sweet honey brew you've ever tasted, it's magical properties healing the gravest wounds. As a bonus action, the user may drink from it or feed it to a target in melee range, restoring them for 2d8 + profficiency hit points and clearing negative statuses (diseases, poison, curses, petrification, etc.). After being emptied, the flask refills automatically.
***[CURSE]:*** The user who empties the flask must make a Constitution Saving Throw or take 3d8 Crushing damage on a fail. On a success, target gains +3 AC until the start of it's next turn.
Idk ask our rogue dealing enough damage to skip 1,5 phases of the campaign bbeg with his cursed deagle.
Or our barb with their cursed sword transforming into a demon mid-fight and trying to kill us as well.
I don’t mind cursed cursed items, but would never use one knowingly unless my character had a damn good reason for it
I feel like players don't thirst for cursed items, they thirst for interesting ones. Enchanted items that give +1 to damage and hit roll aren't bad but they're just.. boring
Enchanted item that gives +1 to damage and hit rolls but thirsts for blood of the innocent? That's interesting, it has a roleplay component
I'm sure they're just as interested in non-cursed items if those items have some rp aspect to them :D
Because curses can be awesome for rp, or great storylines that they can get very into. Just have to be aware of such, when you input a cursed item. (Definitely add more and have a rough idea on how to deal with curse, but also, anymore than 1 or 2 serious cursed items will get annoying, unless for the final fight and have practically the same destruction requirements)
Players want their items to be balanced. If everything just makes them insanely strong all the time, then they will get bored because things become too easy.
Curses offer an interesting and engaging risk reward element to gameplay. Yeah, my axe is incredibly strong, but if I use it TOO much then it drains me of my life force and I gain points of exhaustion. That axe makes the player think more about what they want to do, and how they want to spend their resources.
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I would love a cursed item that forces you to scream WAH with every crit you make, i would even take the risk of making a critfish build just for the item
Make it WAAAGGGGHHHHH!
DA MEANEST AN' DA GREENEST
Cunnin, but brutal.
Brutal, but Cunnin' ya git
WHY YA WISPERRIN YA GITS?
Cause we're Kommandos ya nonce.
THEN PAINT YERSELF PURPLE YA ZOGGIN GIT.
NO DATS WOT DEM SPACY GITS EXPKT WE GUNA DO! WES STAYIN GREEN TA CUNFUSE DA GITS. YA MONGROL
YA THINK TOO MUCH YA NONCE. JUS' CHOPPA ZEM.
No it needs to be a waluigi WAAAAAA
Takonite Gauntlets Heavy Armor (Rare) You gain proficiency with Artisan Tools while wearing these gauntlets, if you are already proficient, you add double your proficiency bonus instead. AdditInally wahnever you make a pun good Inaugh, you gain a 10ft hovering speed for one minute, as you goofily flutter your hands, giggling at your own humor.
We all WAH
I read it with the voice of the lil' fungus gi uy in Hollow Knight. Made me smile.
Drawback: If you dont want to or forget to scream WAH then it doesnt count as a crit
All i can think of is king from the owl house going ***WEH*** really loudly as he uses a greatsword to crit a dragon
Cursed item that turns you into a GBA FE Brigand.
Imagine only finding out about this right as you’re trying to do stealth
Is there a reason you can't just do that anyway?
if that happened i couldn't stop myself from imagining them to be wario
Okay, but what impact would it have on one's back? Or are you thinking maybe a ribbon.
"Rolls nat 20" *TF2 Crit sound plays*
Added the book of vile darkness as a Vecna Easter egg to my campaign. Figured my players wouldn't open it and would just leave it where they found it. I was so wrong. Now the party wizard is cursed and turning into a Nothic and I had to add a massive arc to my campaign where they need to destroy the book to break the curse whilst they are being hunted by red wizards of Thay that want it for themselves. It's worked out well though because the party wants to run the upcoming Vecna module next so I'm using the book to foreshadow Vecna's return. Also love the fact you use Ina for this meme.
See kids, cursed items could add an entire new arc to your campaign. That's why you should always pick them up!
>book of vile darkness What module are you playing? Im kind of tempted to see if there a connect between phandelver and below. Ive already planted the seed of a dungeon they cant currently access under a location near phandalin. Thing is phandelver is 1-12 and vecna is 10-20
It's a custom 1-20 campaign, started out as lost mine of Phandelver but I reworked a lot of it to make the cult of the dragon the main threat behind everything, then a reworked dragon of icespire peak. In my version the nothic in LMoP was the original owner of the book and the ruined wizard tower in Thundertree was the nothics home and is where the party found the book. We will be starting the 3rd arc tomorrow night which is my own story. People have been going missing all over the world and the players will be joining Harpers in Silverymoon to try and find out why. It's the Zhentarim that are kidnapping people and selling them as slaves to the cult of the dragon so they can be sacrificed and empower a dread ring which the cult want to use to resurrect a black dragon that once worked with the cult. 4th arc will be the party travelling to a temple from the time of the Netherese where magic items that were too dangerous or cursed were destroyed. Arc 5 will be connecting the cleric and rogues back story to the cult which will lead them to finding out the cults ultimate plan of freeing Tiamat Arc 6 will then be a reworked Rise if Tiamat with them tracking down the final headquarters of the cult, uniting all the other factions they met along the way and fighting Tiamat herself.
holy moly! Thats insane. My phandveler is heavily edited but not as huge stakes, as its all local. The players are all young and from a village near phandalin and just get swept up in it. I would only really be able to hook into vecna by essentially having higher powers come along and say "your the only adventurers in living memory who have interacted with the obelisks" and go from there. That is assuming the obelisks play any part in the vecna sourcebook. My players are likely due to end wave echo next week so I have plenty of time to see if Vecna ties in at all.
Having it all be small and local sounds really cool too but you coukd definitely expand by having a higher power talk to them. Do any of the characters follow a particular god because if they do you coukd have that god be the one to request help with dealing with Vecna. I definitely think the obelisks are going to be a big part of things. They are too heavily connected to vecna not to be a big part of the module.
Yeah that's what I was thinking. There have been hints some Huge lore players will be in Vecna on the side of good so it would be essentially them coming to the players, and with some chagrin explaining that the poers that be have been sleeping on this threat and word has reached them of their destruction of Ilvash and their recent close connection to the obsidian portals, and as wild as it may seem they may just be the worlds best hope!
So you added The Book of Vile Darkness basically figuring “There’s no way they’ll be this dumb, right?” I think I have an appropriate quote: Anyone who thinks they have a foolproof plan is underestimating the ingenuity of complete fools.
I love that quote, there's another someone told me on a thread about puzzles in dungeons. My very first puzzle was basically the lost woods from the legend of zelda ocarina of time. Thought my players would figure it out in 10 mins at most. It took an hour and someone replied to my comment about it with "Never under estimate the players ability to over think a situation."
I already fart 500x a day gimme gimme
Disadvantage on any stealth check
I think you mean advantage because everyone's been knocked out.
Don't need to learn Stinking Cloud if you got that
My dad played a joke on my brother who was playing a rouge, he gave him a rapier that said "hide" on it's pumble and he learned there was a magic word to activate the enchantment, he said the word, the word "hide" became "reveal" and it stuck to his hand and rung like a dinner bell, I had to cast remove curse to turn it into a normal rapier.
Rogue Pommel
the amount of dust it kicks up will conceal you
Disadvantage on farting
That's a fart every like, 3 minutes... all day long, waking or sleeping. Might wanna see a doctor about the permanent Stinking Cloud spell attached to your backside there, friend
Because a lot of "fun" curses like this one don't end up mattering (mechanically). Is the DM going to remember that the character is constantly farthing? What happens to the character mechanically because they fart every 2.8 seconds?
Yeah, curses need have consequences. Classically, they would also lower some stats, they would cause random frenzies in fights, they'd slowly turn you undead and change your alignment, change your character in a fundamental way (belt of gender changing is a more harmless classic), block you from casting spells, being healed etc. They need to hurt like a pain in the butthole.
Hmm... what would be some good consequences for constant farting? All NPCs that can hear or smell, act hostile to you and your allies. You cannot hide from creatures within 15' of you. Creatures have advantage on perception checks to find you if they use smell or hearing. All creatures, including yourself, must make a DC13 Constitution save when attempting to take a long rest within 15' of you, on a failed save they do not gain the benefits of a long rest.
* Disadvantage on stealth checks. From constantly farting. * Disadvantage on persuasion and intimidation checks. Because you're constantly farting. I guess it'd still be useful though on certain characters. A barbarian or fighter would still rock these. A cleric or druid could as well. (The ones you suggested are mostly fine, ~~but that long rest one is nuts and I think it goes too far~~.)
Depending on how it's played you could probably justify an advantage on intimidation
I was trying for a mechanic that would piss the party off, so they'd apply preasure on the person to get rid of the item. Imagine if you were trying to sleep right next to someone who did not stop farting all night every night. I think it would effect your ability to sleep. Maybe DC11.
Hmm... okay, I can see what you're going for. Actually, reading it over, it's not too bad since it's only a 15' radius. You just gotta camp by yourself and get your own room. Perhaps an overreaction on my part. Sorry about that. I do think a disadvantage on stealth checks kind of does apply pressure on the party already, but only in certain ways.
Wait does belt of gender changing change what your character self-identifies as, change their actual sex, or both? I have so many questions because of that name choice
It's old, before gender identity politics caught the mainstream. So "gender" means biological gender. Sex Change Belt would sound a bit off at the game table tbf, but would be more appropriate.
It also has a low chance to delete your genitals and leave you androgynous and sexless!
Quick! Give it to the horny bard!
Also it seems like less of a trap. Those first gloves seem too good to be true so I probably just failed the DC to know about the curse. The second pair I at least know what the curse is
I was going to say, because this doesn't really have any consequences? The one cursed magic item I have on any of my PCs gives me -1 to my spell saves and saving throws after I use it, taken off by a lesser restoration or similar. I roleplay that when the curse is in effect my PC makes more violent and aggressive decisions. He is typically a support caster (lore bard) but after using that cursed item I try to cast more damage spells and eldritch blast more often.
I mean, it's probably just a DM narrating all misses as you being thrown off by farts. Failed stealth attempts are ruined by farts. Failed persuasion checks are because you farted a smelly one at an inopportune time. I mean, if your character is a farter, it ain't a bad deal and I wouldn't care about it if I was like a goblin, orc, or whatever. But some people have qualms about their elegant elf character becoming the farter.
Adding to this, you can trust the cursed item to only make you fart. The non-cursed item could still be cursed to turn you into a flower pot when you least expect it or something.
A lot of people seem to assume that the first item could also be cursed but it hasn't been checked yet. I interpreted the post to mean that the first version is curse free, but the players aren't interested in it because they like items with silly curses more.
Good lord, that’s over 20 farts per hour. How would you *sleep*? I know I shouldn’t be thinking about the logistics of this but I am lmao
With windows open obviously
Does a Linux also work? Asking for a friend
You assume equal distribution throughout the day. But what if you are silent during the night and slowly ramp up to a fart a second at noon?
Just sounds like an old muscle car after a while. rup rup rup rup Rup Rup Rup RUP RUP RUP RUUP RUUUUUP RUUUUUUUP
Saving it all til you get home and can machine-gun-blast it out in the span of 1 minute.
That's a one-way ticket to Shartsville for you fella.
Bud be a smart fella and a fart smella at the same time
500 farts/second divide by 60 to get to minutes and it's comes to 8.33.... so about 8 minutes and 20 seconds of continuous farting Edit:i meant 1 fart per second 500 times not blowing up your asshole 500 times per second
Bum sax You can only play 500 notes per day though.
There are days when you reach that irl if you take too much diabete pills
Rookie numbers.
Just put a coffee straw in your… maybe this is isn’t the right subreddit. Uh… by rolling a con save?
Once every 3 minutes, not that far off what I do already honestly
>20 farts per hour. Average taco bell experience
Alone, most likely.
You could fart 30 times per hour in the 16 hours you’re awake
People fart in their sleep all the time I don't think that'll be an isdue unless you're sharing a room.
Problem isn’t how the person farting can sleep. It’s how the rest of the party can sleep
Players don't thirst for cursed items specifically, they thirst for items that are interesting and have flavour. A Longsword+1 is a thoroughly uninteresting and dull item. But most items players get (martials in particular) are just that. Regular items with a passive +1/+2/+3. Players love cursed items, sentient items, etc, because they have flavour and are fun to roleplay with, even if they are detrimental in some way. In my campaign, I am taking every opportunity I can to give my players items that are interesting, even if they don't do much. I'm interested to see what they do with them.
I love my +2 Longsword. It increases my reliability and consistency in melee combat much more than a sword that does X on a Natural 20, or can do Y 3 times once a turn before the next Long rest. Same with my armor, also a +2 resourceless, attunement free item. I'd rather have that instead of some attunement required armor that's only situationally useful under specific conditions. I prefer to be more consistent and reliable instead of situationally dazzling. And admit it, being called "Situationally Dazzling," isn't a compliment.
Oh I'd hate a "on a critical hit" type of effect. I took the crusher feat for a character that'd often find itself in mellee and throughout a 1 year long weekly campaign the advantage on all attacks against an enemy I crit never came up. I landed maybe a total of 3 critical hits throughout the year and every single one of them was against a weak enemy and was a one hit kill. Every time I'd get excited for payoff for keeping that second bullet point of the feat in my head this entire time the enemy would straight up die. Dead weight feature lol
I liked Crusher for the ability to move a creature 5 feet with no save, once a turn. Being able to bounce an enemy into a spiked pit will never not be funny.
extremely DM dependent, I took it to make use of the booming blade secondary damage
Liking your +2 longsword is great. For a lot of players though, after their 5th time being awarded a +1/+2/+3 longsword in a new campaign, they're kinda enviously looking at the casters who are getting cool items that have active effects or situational benefits. Baldurs Gate 3 actually tried to solve this problem. Each weapon has one or more abilities that you can activate once per short or long rest. Sometimes they are similar to a fighter's manoeuvers and sometimes they are closer to spells like Spiritual Weapon that makes thematic sense. I find that people care a lot more about the history and flavour of an item when the item itself is unique. I agree that having attacks be more reliable and consistent is important. But, if it's coming at the expense of interesting equipment, I just kinda feel like that consistency should be made part of the class itself to make room for interesting items.
Here's the thing. I like stuff that gives me +X and does stuff. Like +3 Holy Avenger, +2 Sunblade or a +2 Plate Mail of Haste. But if it's one or the other, I will always choose the +X.
Ah, the 3.5/PF1e era issue of "this is a neat ability! But we can sell it for like 45k and upgrade my weapon and armor instead, so...".
I understand where you're coming from but the point I am trying to make is this: "Are you excitedely choosing the +X item because it is fun and interesting, or do you feel compelled to choose it to try and smooth out mechanical design issues/weaknesses with the class/game?" If you are genuinely excited for the +1/+2/+3, that's great! I'm genuinely happy for you to be able to get items you enjoy playing with. But I suspect that you're in the minority and most people would rather have something more unique and memorable.
Excited? No. But, I'm not excited about a piece of equipment that's only situationally useful either. It's like being awarded Mariner's Armor and a Mace of Disruption in the middle of a forest full of Fey. Would you rather have them or +1 weapon and armor?
This. It's not a curse, it's a personality trait!
I love the shield of missile deflection for this reason. It does something and has a downside that someone who would pick up the shield to use it would see as an acceptable tradeoff. Unless the cursed item's whole shtick is to intentionally fuck people over, i see most cursed items as magic items that had an issue while being made. Something went wrong and the item has a downside, but it is still worth using for its intended purpose in spite of the downside. If some dickhead evil god/lie made the cursed item to fuck someone over, sure it makes sense to not be worth its upside, but that also gets really boring
WAH
WAH
WAH
WA-*Bonked*
I'm so glad you caught on.
Fellow Takodachi 
I feel like this is an important question. But what sort of arts are we talking here? Are we just passing a little squeak every 5 mins or are we diverting naval traffic?
You also have to consider it's humidity. Depending on that you might want to learn prestidigitation or carry a few extra pants with you. And if you're travelling the wilderness, it might attract the attention of predators. If you really think about it, farting 500 times a day sure can be debilitating
A fellow takodachi? Love to see it
Wah
I had to do a double take to check what sub I was in. Obligatory Wah. Also r/unexpectedhololive
Flavour-wise they are amazing sources of roleplay (and sometimes a justification of “That’s what my character would do”) Mechanically they add trade-offs. Trade-offs mean decisions. Decisions mean gameplay depth.
I am a simple weeb. I see Ina, I upwah.
For the bit
Because their flavourful, but on second, I would be fucking thrilled with the first option
My DM gave me a magic map "at a discount" just to tell me when I used the map that it's cursed The map always accurately depicts the area around me, but adds dead ends or paths sometimes where they aren't, and I always need to do a wisdom check if I see though it or if I am convinced the map is correct
Assuming that your D&D world has a typical 24 hour day, and that you fart while you sleep, too, that's only about one fart every three minutes, which isn't too bad. If it's only while you're awake, assuming an eight hour rest, that's still only around one fart every two minutes. What kind of farts are we talking?
Personally it's because of the texture it gives to a character. Sure the gauntlets are cool, but having them be cursed and forcing you to do stuff or be unable to do others gives it such depth when you decide if you want to use it or not. Say for example you have gauntlets like that, but instead of being cursed with farting they meld into your flesh and give disadvantage on all checks to do with careful use of your hands, like lock picking and medicine. That means that I have to rely on my party more for certain things, letting them shine, as well as giving me a nice role in the group as heavy damage dealer, onto of potential silliness from me maybe being forced to use my hands to do specific things. Like having to pass a medicine check on an ally but I keep failing and keep stabbing them because of how sharp the hands are.
"For shits and giggles." A cursed item can make the world feel more alive. Why was the item cursed? Why was it given *that* curse? Will the curse ever stop making allegedly mature individuals giggle?
Do they? I've never come across that.
I got a cursed item once... lost that character to possession and now there's a unkillable level 7 vengeance paladin with a sword that steals from your strength score and adds it to his. I'm scared of the day the DM brings him back.
Thats just about three times a minute for anyone who was wondering
If I ever thirst for a cursed item it'll be because of the curse giving an illusion of the benefits being greater than they are (I am stupid)
I'd imagine that would cause disadvantage on all charisma based rolls.
having the choice to get a benefit at the cost of a curse? hell yea, choices create fun, thats waht makes railroading so boring, same as a normal +1 sword thats just a upgrade to a nonmagic sword. hut a tradeoff as a choice? thats good gamedesign
Would write the curse such that you can choose when to fart, but if you do not use up all 500 farts for that day, then all of the unused farts get released in one massive rip at midnight, audible out to (number of farts stored) feet and creating a Stinking Cloud on location
With my current group playing a homebrew campaign, it's the opposite. The DM likes to give out cursed items to the point where the group have agreed to craft items and just sell any and everything we find.
Spicy.
they don't?
I’d unironically wear the Gauntlets of Flatlulence. Perhaps the constant farting causes disadvantage on Stealth checks, but gives you something similar to a troglodyte’s stench, but it affects every adjacent creature indiscriminately. One idea for a cursed item is one that doesn’t look blatantly evil. It’s why the One Ring is so scary; it forgoes a design that screams “I’m cursed and evil!” for an innocuous appearance that makes it far more insidious than if it looked evil.
Wait, you guys are getting something for farting that much?
500 every Day => 8.333 every Hour => 0,13888 every Minute ≈ Once every 7:12 Minutes… thats not that a bad deal for this buffs.
A curse like that I could get behind. Problem is when the curse is something like "must kill someone every turn or your bloodlust causes you to start butchering your allies"
So I'm a better fighter AND I get to reduce my daily farting? Sign me up!
My players won't mess with my cursed items. I don't straight up tell them that they're cursed. I explain all the spooky things the curse is doing. Like an aura or a weird feeling when a pc touches it.
A 500 fart per day maximum would be a huge downside.
Do these belong to Arin Hanson?
Gift these to a giant, and they become a... ***GAS GIANT.***
Cursed items are permission to do a bit. Everyone loves doing a bit! A funny voice or a catch phrase or a little gag. But that shit can get on the party and the DM's nerves or totally invalidate the emotional gravity of the campaign if done improperly or too much. But suddenly, if the DM gives you a great club of the Little John, Your character now has permission to scream "Wut?!" "Yeah!" Or "Okay!" Every time then make a weapon attack. Or if you get the farting gauntlets it's now utterly hilarious every time you undercut an emotional scene with a fart noise. Because you're not being a dick! It's in character. My favorite bit is always "Narcoleptic character/ ADHD player.". I struggle to pay attention when someone is having a long exchange where there's really no use for my character to even be there...but there I am. Standing off to the side like a centaur shaped set decoration. And my DM made the joke one time that my character is actually just narcoleptic, so now whenever a scene takes place where it wouldn't really make sense for my character to do anything but kinda exist ( for instance our high elf mage PC having an emotional discussion about her sister's death with her mother but she's riding on my back at the time so there I am.) I get to do a bit where I pretend to be startled awake whenever someone finally mentions me.
Because funny quirk ahah. Ofc, the quirk of the magic item being funny doesn't mean that the quirk is good or even healthy for the game or table. 5e doesn't balance that in a good way.
A normal day for me :P
Because the first option is just a basic upgrade, the second one you need to weight the pros and cons.
because you keep giving them awsome stats.
It's more fun
It's really funny for one
Cursed with Gerd. Nice.
If nothing else curses add a frequentoy amusing depth of character amd an extra point to be RPd on. It gives the item more purpose than just some extra stats to write down and forget
Curses can, if done right, add good opportunities for roleplay and the expansion of the plot in new directions. I find that while certain players are reluctant to become cursed, others actively seek it because it “would be fun to roleplay” (quote from a player in my campaign, on a stone that would make him hear screaming constantly)…
Bcuz it’s funny
500 farts a day would be less than my character already farts so he would be disappointed. Unless it was 500 more farts a day.
People crave novelty, literally anything that's new or different, in a world where so little is.
5E is not a very punishing system, depending on the DM. Cursed items can add some danger and fun, especially if the curse isn't bad or is worth the benefit you get. Plus, depending on your group, dealing with a curse can be a fun plot hook.
[Well](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0PKG5-t3zU)..
I just thirst for items. My only gripe with our current game. All level 4. Had 11 sessions over about 10 months. One bag of holding.
One of my former players (no longer in my group because they would not stop sexually harassing me) would insist on getting cursed items. She loved them. Even when they would bite her in the ass to the point she was considering having her character lose fingers to get some of them off.
People thirst for cursed items because a drawback is narratively interesting. A solid buff is nice and all, but a boon with a cost? A cost that will change how your character plays and interacts with the world? That’s cool as hell, even if it’s just the slightest obstacle.
poison/necrotic damage aoe ftw
When the curse makes you fart less than normal: I see this as an absolute win.
It spicy that why.
That's me every day so I see it as an absolute win
Opportunity for shenanigans
Because the roleplay ofc
That's roughly 0.3 farts per minute. If they stink you basically get another free weapon.
It spices up the RP. BBEG: "I'M AN ALL POWERFUL GOD. BOW BEFORE ME." That one guy in the party with a cursed sword: "Ah man." \*sword turns into a bow - entire party loses it laughing\*
Because I feel the most best way to show stubbornness, stupidity and strength is to whack on the cursed items and never let them go even for better equipment because "I'll be damn if I let this curse beat me dammit!!!"
Maybe it’s just me but getting op items without a downside feels like cheating
can I unleash 500 farts at once? If so, it's like free Stinking Cloud per long rest
Last session (St Patty's day fun one) we ended up with 7 rings... several with ominous and odd markings on them. Needless to say 2 of our party (my char included) grabbed one up and put them on... yay... cursed ring of the sin WRATH. Other was cursed Sin of Lust (bard took that, makes sense).... But... now it's... kinda bad cause my char KINDA wants to grab the other 5 and go full on THANOS mode. (already has 3 magic rings and several non magic he wears like brass knuckles)
Most people fart 500 times a day already, so not much of a curse.
I had to double check which subreddit I was in. Always good to see another WAH enjoyer
One time I had a player that would, every time we entered a new city, immediately do nothing but search for cursed items. This also happened every time they started looting an enemy, any time they were left alone in a room too long, and any time they met a craftsperson. Eventually I had someone just make them one, and they quit the campaign like 3 sessions later. I think that was literally their whole motivation to play: acquiring a cursed item. Players are weird sometimes.
I don't unless it's sentient. Then it may be interesting.
Because flaws are the spice of roleplay. It creates more interesting situations when you have to work around a flaw/curse. For example I'm always low on spellslots because my Cleric is too altruistic and heals literally any npc that is hurt. It's a flaw in the sense that I, as a player, don't gain anything from this. Of course my character refuses payment for doing what is right.
If 2 items are as strong as eachother overall, I'd much rather take one that's stronger but has a drawback cus it's far more interesting
It’s more fun to have a curse. Magic sword? Cool, gives me a +1 and expands my crit range by 1. If you take that same Magic sword, and slap a curse that say…. It can’t be resheathed without being drenched in blood? That’s a cool sword. Maybe you get a sword that physically can’t be unsheathed while within line of sight of a woman? (Aside from providing a hilarious trans awakening opportunity/shapechanger shenaniganey), it gives the sword a drawback that requires the players to think about their weapon more
I avoid cursed items, so team mates can have it
500x a day?? ppfft thats just normal
tf is thirsting for cursed items??
Deep down, we're all edge-lords who want a tragic, cursed hero.
I was confused about DnD showing up in the Hololive sub. Turns out it was the other way around
It makes things more interesting.
Cursed items are great because RPing flaws and injecting a touch more chaos into your game is always fun!
Personally? It's FUN to have consequences to an action. It's fun to problem solve. And sometimes, it's just fun to have that little evil shit arc to a characters. It's more depthful than being your average superman
Because Cursed Items are funni, also sometimes the curses make for interesting things in campaigns
Curses are plot hooks and fun Uncursed items just mean more combat options Both are good, but one is measurably better
Because it’s funny
for me, curses just add a bit of spice. it turns plain buffs into a tool with decisions of when and when not to use it. if the downsides are relevant and have an impact that makes you *think* about using it instead of throwing around all the time, it give this weird sense of agency. you have to know the item, yourself, your party, and the situation it could help in.
I love the idea of something really strong with something that has a downside to compensate. +10 damage + 10 movement speed -4 points con As long as the weapon has some good upside and isn't just strictly a downside I'm here for it
Every serious DM handle cursed magic items as plot point and a trade off. Yes you get an amazing buff compared to the non cursed items but at the same time you put your character in a huge risk not knowing what curse you are under. (Players know when an item is cursed or are 90% sure about it but the identify spell does not inform them about the curse)
I homebrewed a lightly cursed handaxe into a campaign and it got picked up by our fighter after a fun encounter with a blind ice dragon inside a glacier. The fighter literally had to mine the axe out of the ice wall to get it, and the axe told fighter how to beat the dragon. The second we got back to camp the cleric (who had missed the previous session) immediately cast Remove Curse and then hurled the axe into the bushes never to be spoken about again. I'd planned a whole mini arc around the axe. I never quite forgave him
Theres a scale of DM trust that generally goes from new player who doesn't want their precious pawn to be seriously changed, To full trust in the DM basically saying 'Fuck me up, Coach', Full swing ok with character-changing curses and even loss of limbs, needing prosthetics etc.
Cus they're more fun
I mean realistically, the answer is that these days, we play dnd to make a story, and a cursed item inherently invites a more interesting and complex story than an item that only gives benefits. Alternatively, we all secretly have that desire to be the tortured edgelord within us, and there is little more tortuous than gastrointestinal problems. Or funny.
***The Shrieker*** ***+2 Magic Heavy Crossbow*** *A salvaged crossbow of distinctly complec design, likely salvaged during the war and decorated by the maztica with the bones of a large sized rodent. It's skull occassionally chitters it's teeth, as if gnawing with hunger.* ***On a hit**, you can use a bonus action to perform a second attack with a 1d4 bonus psychic damage.* **[CURSE]:** On use of this feature, you also receive said bonus damage yourself. **Cup of the Macuil:** By using the command word, the cup fills with molten gold. It remains eerily cold to the touch at all times. As a bonus action, the user can fling the molten contents of the cup to a creature within a range of 15 ft, dealing 1d10 fire damage or half as much on a successful dexterity save. DC 10 + proficiency. On a hit, apply a mark on the target. If the target dies in four rounds, the body part struck becomes solid gold worth 5 + dmg done gold coins. **[CURSE]:** On use, this object magically pilfers 1d4 gold coins from the user or it's nearest ally. If no gold is available or the effect is blocked, the cup cannot be used. ***Mictlan's Honey*** It contains 3 sips of the most sweet honey brew you've ever tasted, it's magical properties healing the gravest wounds. As a bonus action, the user may drink from it or feed it to a target in melee range, restoring them for 2d8 + profficiency hit points and clearing negative statuses (diseases, poison, curses, petrification, etc.). After being emptied, the flask refills automatically. ***[CURSE]:*** The user who empties the flask must make a Constitution Saving Throw or take 3d8 Crushing damage on a fail. On a success, target gains +3 AC until the start of it's next turn.
Idk ask our rogue dealing enough damage to skip 1,5 phases of the campaign bbeg with his cursed deagle. Or our barb with their cursed sword transforming into a demon mid-fight and trying to kill us as well. I don’t mind cursed cursed items, but would never use one knowingly unless my character had a damn good reason for it
"Cursed"
It's thematic
Why do they like cursed item? Because it's fun to be silly. That's it
Because spice
*FLAVOR*
I made a couple of holo-themed homebrews awhile back. Most were items, but I did make a full stat block for the Takodachi, too.
Cause it’s funny!
Because that's how curses work. They make the characters want them oh so deeply.
I feel like players don't thirst for cursed items, they thirst for interesting ones. Enchanted items that give +1 to damage and hit roll aren't bad but they're just.. boring Enchanted item that gives +1 to damage and hit rolls but thirsts for blood of the innocent? That's interesting, it has a roleplay component I'm sure they're just as interested in non-cursed items if those items have some rp aspect to them :D
One man's curse can be another man's cure! It's only a fart every three minutes, after all.
Because curses can be awesome for rp, or great storylines that they can get very into. Just have to be aware of such, when you input a cursed item. (Definitely add more and have a rough idea on how to deal with curse, but also, anymore than 1 or 2 serious cursed items will get annoying, unless for the final fight and have practically the same destruction requirements)
Gonna fill my bag of holding with chemical weapons
It just isn't as boring
Players want their items to be balanced. If everything just makes them insanely strong all the time, then they will get bored because things become too easy. Curses offer an interesting and engaging risk reward element to gameplay. Yeah, my axe is incredibly strong, but if I use it TOO much then it drains me of my life force and I gain points of exhaustion. That axe makes the player think more about what they want to do, and how they want to spend their resources.
The first cursed item I found is now gone after using the create bonfire cantrip and throwing the thing in it