Cursed Items

When an impious person curses their adversary, they curse themselves. (Sirach)

If you curse a person, there will be two graves. (Japanese proverb)

Cursed items are magic items with a potentially negative influence on the character.

Cursed items are almost never intentionally created; rather, they are the result of poor workmanship, inexperienced craftsmen, or the lack of adequate components or broken pacts with some Patron.

The Narrator can request an Arcana check with a DC equal to 10+days spent building the magic item in case of particularly complex items or if there were problematic situations in creation, and if the check fails, roll on the following table to determine the type of curse the item possesses.

A curse can also manifest as a result of negative or extreme emotional influences involving an object.

Common Item Curses

\%	Curse
01-15	Deception
16-40	Opposite Effect or Target
41-50	Intermittent Functioning
51-65	Requirement
66-90	Drawback
91-100	Completely different effect

Cursed items are identified like any other magic item with only one exception: unless the Arcana check to identify the item exceeds 35 or the spell Identify is cast with a Magic Check and obtains a magic critical, the curse is not detected. If the check is below 35 or without a magic critical, all that is revealed is the original purpose of the magic item.

If it is known that the item is cursed, the nature of the curse can be determined using the standard DC for identifying the item.

Curse not death: A curse is always a particular inconvenience, not used randomly. Think carefully about the cursed items you will let the characters find because they will ask you many questions and you should be ready.

The curse doesn’ **t need to be excessive and limiting; it can very well be ridiculous or peculiar, make sure it is characterizing. The character shouldn’ **t feel (unless you want them to) eternally condemned; use the opportunity to build new adventures and group spirit.

Removing Cursed Items

While some cursed items can be simply put down, others exert a strong compulsion on the owner to keep them at all costs. Others reappear even if abandoned or it is impossible to throw them away.

These items can only be removed after the Remove Curse spell is cast on the character or the item.

The Dispel Magic spell is useless for removing a curse; only a Greater Dispel Magic with 3 Critical Magic Successes may be sufficient.

If the item was cursed through the Bestow Curse spell, or if the Narrator decides that the item has a particular curse, then a counterspell check (p. ) must be made between the one casting Remove Curse and the DC of the item’ **s curse.

If the counterspell check succeeds, then the item can be removed in the next round, and the curse remains and strikes again if the item is used/worn another time.

Each cursed item has its own method to be destroyed, from being thrown into an active volcano, to being struck by the Thunder god’ **s hammer (or Patron…), or devoured by a colossal Sand Worm if not struck by the breath of a red dragon and a gold dragon simultaneously…

If the DC of the curse is not indicated, casting the Remove Curse spell is sufficient.

Common Effects of Cursed Items

The most common effects of cursed items are the following; the Narrator can invent new particular effects for specific cursed items.

Deception

Whoever uses the item continues to believe that it is what it first appears to be, but in reality it has no power, apart from that of deception. Whoever uses it is mentally pushed to believe that it works and cannot be convinced otherwise except with the use of Remove Curse.

Opposite Effect or Target

These cursed items tend to have malfunctions that in some cases generate effects diametrically opposed to those desired by their creator, while in other cases they tend to hit whoever uses them instead of someone else.

The category of magic items with opposite effects also includes weapons that inflict penalties to Attack Rolls and damage, instead of bonuses.

The most interesting thing is that these items might not even be a disadvantage for those who possess them.

Since a character should not immediately know what the bonus or effect of a magic item is, they should not become aware of the nature of its curse either. Once they find out, to free themselves from the item, the Remove Curse spell will be necessary.

Intermittent Functioning

Intermittent items function exactly as they should, when they work. Determine if the item is Unreliable, Conditional, or Uncontrollable.

Unreliable

Every time the item is activated, there is a 5\% chance that it will not work.

Conditional

This item works only in certain situations. To determine which ones, choose an activation condition or consult the table below.

Uncontrollable

An uncontrollable item tends to activate randomly. Roll a d\% each day. With a result of 01–05, the item spontaneously activates at some point during the day.

\%	Situation
01-03	Temperature below freezing
04-05	Temperature above freezing
06-10	During the day
11-15	During the night
16-20	Exposed to sunlight
21-25	In absence of sunlight
26-34	Underwater
35-37	Out of water
38-45	Underground
46-55	On the surface
56-60	Within 3 meters of a type of creature
61-64	Within 3 meters of a race or type of creature
65-72	Within 3 meters of a spellcaster
73-80	Within 3 meters of a Follower or Devotee of a specific Patron
81-85	In the hands of a non-spellcaster character
86-90	In the hands of a spellcaster character
91-95	In the hands of a creature with a particular Trait
96	In the hands of a creature of a particular gender
97-99	On non-sacred days or during particular astronomical occurrences
100	More than 150 km from a certain place

Requirement

Some items have much more difficult requirements to meet in order to function. To make the item in question function, it might be necessary to satisfy one of the following conditions:

The character must eat twice the normal amount.
The character must sleep twice the normal amount.
The character must complete at least one specific mission.
The character must sacrifice (destroy) a value equal to 100 gp of precious objects or materials per day.
The character must swear loyalty to a particular noble or their family.
The character must abandon all other magic items.
The character must be a Follower or Devotee of a specific Patron
The character must have a minimum number of ranks in a particular skill.
The character must sacrifice part of their vital energy (1 point of Constitution permanently) the first time they use the item.
The item must be purified with Holy Water of a specific Patron every day.
The item must be bathed in at least half a liter of blood (animal or humanoid) per day.
The item must be used to kill a living creature per day.
The item must be used at least once a day, or it stops working for its current owner.
When wielded, the item must draw blood (only weapons). It cannot be set aside or changed with another item until it has landed a hit.

The requirements depend on the convenience of the item that should never be determined randomly. An intelligent item with a requirement often imposes its own requirement through its personality.

If the requirement is not met, the item stops working. If it is met, the item usually works for a full day before having to satisfy the requirement again (though some requirements need to be satisfied only once, others once a month, and still others continuously).

Drawback

Items that have drawbacks usually have positive effects on those who use them, but also have negative aspects. Although sometimes the drawbacks only come to light when the items are used (or held in hand, in the case of objects like weapons), they usually remain present until the character gets rid of the item in question.

Unless otherwise indicated, drawbacks remain active for as long as the item remains in the character’ **s possession. The DC of the Saving Throw to avoid these effects is equal to 10 + DC of the curse (if you have not established the difficulty, set the Saving Throw, usually on Will, at DC 25)

Curses: The list is an example to randomly generate effects on the item’ **s owner. Take inspiration and be creative! However, don’ **t make a curse render it impossible to play the character; rather, it should be experienced as an opportunity to try something different. Never throw a cursed item randomly into the treasure pile; always think about what might happen and what consequences will be generated. A cursed item always requires a high level of attention and planning from the Narrator

Table: Effects of cursed magic items

\%	Drawback
01-02	The character’ **s hair grows 2.5 cm per hour.
02-04	The character’ **s nails grow 1 cm every 8 hours
05-06	The character’ **s height decreases by 5d10 cm
07-09	The character’ **s height increases by 5d10 cm
10-11	The temperature around the object is 5° C colder than normal.
12-13	The temperature around the object is 20° C colder than normal.
14-15	The temperature around the object is 5° C warmer than normal.
16-17	The temperature around the object is 20° C warmer than normal.
18-20	The character’ **s hair color changes.
21-23	The character’ **s skin color changes.
24	The character’ **s hair color changes every hour
25	The character’ **s skin color changes every hour
26	Ram-like horns grow on the character’ **s head
27	Moose-like antlers grow on the character’ **s head
28-29	The character now bears a distinctive mark (a tattoo, a strange luminescence, etc.).
30-32	The character’ **s gender changes every day at dawn.
33-34	The character’ **s race or species changes.
35	The PC is affected by a randomly determined Disease, which cannot be cured.
36-39	The object constantly emits unpleasant sounds (laments, curses, insults…).
40	The object has a ridiculous appearance (gaudy colors, shape, glows with a pink halo, etc.).
41	A small, blue unicorn, visible only with magic, always flies around the Character giving useless advice and making stupid jokes.
42	Every day you are seized by a sudden desire and ability to crochet for at least 1 hour.
43-45	The character becomes extremely possessive of the object.
46-49	The character has an uncontrollable fear of losing the object or of it being damaged.
50	A Trait is replaced
51	The character’ **s metabolism changes and becomes exclusively carnivorous
52	The character’ **s metabolism changes and becomes exclusively vegetarian
53-54	The character must attack the creature closest to them (5\% chance each day).
55-57	The character is Stunned for 1d4 rounds each time the object serves its purpose
58-60	The character becomes deaf
61-64	Maximum Hit Points are permanently reduced by 10 (remaining with a minimum of 1).
65	Maximum Hit Points are permanently reduced by 20 (remaining with a minimum of 1).
66-68	The PC acquires a random Phobia.
69-71	Will ST every day at dawn with Intelligence mod or suffers 1 permanent Intelligence damage.
72-74	Will ST every day at dawn or suffers 1 permanent Wisdom damage.
75-77	Will ST every day at dawn with Charisma mod or suffers 1 permanent Charisma damage.
78-80	Fortitude ST every day at dawn with Strength mod or suffers 1 permanent Strength damage.
81-83	Fortitude ST every day at dawn with Dexterity mod or suffers 1 permanent Dexterity damage.
84-85	Fortitude ST every day at dawn or suffers 1 permanent Constitution damage.
86-89	The PC begins to speak of themselves in the third person.
90-92	Saurovalli, dogs, and domestic cats become hostile.
93	A Patron will do everything to kill you.
94	The PC is teleported 10d100 Km away every day at dawn.
95	The character is transformed into a random creature of a specific species (5\% chance each day).
96	The character is transformed into a specific creature (5\% chance each day).
97	The character can no longer use magic items or Spells with level above 5
98	The character can no longer use magic items or Spells with level above 3
99	The character can no longer use Spells
100	Roll twice