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Tuesday, January 27, 2015

d20 Curses


Step 1 - Get cursed.

You can get cursed by a witch, a fairy, or your familiar.  They'll usually tell you what the curse is.  "I curse thee, oaf, with the curse of Doom!" but not all the details.  You suffer from the curse, exactly as described.

Give them the most appropriate curse, or just roll a d20.

Step 2 - Get the curse identified.

Talk to a different witch, fairy, or familiar and they'll be able to give you the details, as well as what it takes to lift the curse.  You can also go to your local church.

Each curse can be lifted by doing a specific action, usually related to what provoked the curse in the first place.  Like if you were too stingy to give to an old beggar lady, she'll curse you to be bad with money forever.

Step 3 - Get the curse lifted.

You can either (a) do the specified action, or (b) get a high level cleric at the church to lift it.  Clerics will expect a favor in return, either a large donation or the retrieval of some McGuffin from the local death hole.

d20 curses
1 Dog hatred. They will attack you, if given half a chance. Cured by living as a dog for 1 year, or doing 1 dungeon "as a dog". 11 Delicious. Monster that enjoy eating people will prioritize attacking you. Can be cured by eating an entire manticore.
2 Will never find love. No one wants to sleep with you. Cured by helping 2 other people fall in love. 12 Dreamlessness. Reduce all XP gained by 5%. Immune to bad dreams. Cured by insanity.
3 Doomed. Will automatically save the next save vs death. Cured by the touch of a wight. 13 Bad with money. 20% chance to lose all money when entering city (thievery, taxes, etc). Cured by sacrificing your most valuable possession.
4 Blinded. Cured by cutting out your tongue. 14 Crippled. Movement is halved. Cured by spending 1 month in a desert without moving more than 5'.
5 Babies cry when you are nearby. -2 to all Reaction rolls when you are in a party (all, not just babies).  Can be cured by having a baby within wedlock and treating it well. 15 Breakage. Treat all your equipment as shoddy quality. Cured by giving all of your possessions to the poor and doing a dungeon naked (except 1 item).
6 Foggy eyes. Cannot see more than 30'. Cured by serving a crone for 1 year. 16 Curse of bad luck. -2 to Save. Can be cured by sacrificing a bull atop a mountain.
7 Nightmares. Only get restful sleep 60% of the time when sleeping. Cured by sleeping alone in a dungeon or other dangerous place. 17 Cursed to die in a fire. Fire does double damage. Cured by killing a dragon, or serving one for 1 year.
8 Hiccups. Always fail stealth checks. Never surprise anyone. Cured by suffering a genuine fear effect (doesn't count if cast by friends). 18 Moon curse. Turn into an (NPC) werewolf 1 random night during the week of the full moon. Cured by drinking hemlock (save vs poison or die).
9 Grim hearted. Can never benefit from positive morale or positive emotion effects. Cured by helping a bunch of children (big donation to an orphanage, saving children slaves, etc) 19 Crops and animals do not thrive when sharing a property with you. No fruit, no milk, etc. Cured by planting 1000 trees by hand.
10 Mute. Cannot cast spells. Can be cured by plucking out an eye and sacrificing it to a god. 20 Sour Milk. 50% chance that food turns rotten when you put it in your mouth (chance of wasting a ration). Cured by fasting for 2 weeks.

2 comments:

  1. "Doomed. Will automatically save the next save vs death. Cured by the touch of a with" Did you mean "Will automatically fail the next save vs death"?

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  2. Fire curse seems weak compared to the others. How about 2x damage instead of +1 per die? You want something that might affect PC behaviour, in this case to make them genuinely afraid of fire.

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