Just wanted to get a few opinions from a few others. I know that there's plenty of magic items that aren't cursed, and that some players may know what a certain magic item is and how it's not supposed to be cursed. Do you think it's fair to add curses to existing magic items for more flavor?
Totally fair, and encouraged. Basic game mechanics and major world dynamics should be consistent, but specific campaign content, such as magic items, monsters, and locations don't exist until the DM introduces them to the game. The statblocks and item descriptions are a resource to inspire DMs, not limit them.
Heck, curses need not be that severe either. Could be as simple as "You cannot unattune to this item until [condition]" ... that condition could be dropping to 0 HP, convincing another character to attune to it, or something similar.
Alternatively, could be something as simple as "When attuned to this item, you must make a WIS saving throw before attacking [creature type]" or something. Curses can be very innocuous. I recommend using them specifically to go against metagaming, as Lyxen said.
Nah. Sounds like a really bad idea. There is a reason cursed items are largely absent from 5e magic items: it is an un-fun, flawed design that punishes players for finding magic items.
I did something along these lines for a Curse of Strahd campaign that I ran. I created and/or altered some various magical items so that they potentially had some sort of flavored/thematic drawback to using them. Basically, I created what I referred to as "tainted" items, which weren't cursed by the official rule concept but could still cause some trouble for the user.
A couple examples of items that I used:
Ring of the Black Cat: Magical ring that provided the user a +1 bonus to all saving throws (akin to a stone of luck). However, whenever the user rolled a natural 1 on a d20 roll, something bad happened based on misfortune finally catching up with them. I don't normally treat natural 1 results as a critical failure, so the ring somewhat caused those to happen.
Amulet of Accelerated Arcana: Up to three times per day, a spellcaster attuned to this amulet can use it to cast a spell that has a casting time of 1 action as a bonus action instead (akin to the quicken spell metamagic feat). However, each use had a cumulative 25% chance of causing the caster to gain a level of exhaustion, so 25% with the first use, 50% with second use, and 75% with the third use.
Items weren't technically cursed, so players could stop using them at any point (i.e., didn't need a remove curse spell). Drawbacks just balanced out some of the strengths and helped add some flavor and story to these magical items that had been tainted by being in Barovia.
Just wanted to get a few opinions from a few others. I know that there's plenty of magic items that aren't cursed, and that some players may know what a certain magic item is and how it's not supposed to be cursed. Do you think it's fair to add curses to existing magic items for more flavor?
What does 'fair' mean here? Technically what you're doing is you're creating a new custom magic item (it's an X, except...). If the PC has some ability that lets them create magic items (generally not an issue other than artificer infusions) it would be unfair to add curses to those items without prior agreement with the player that that sort of thing is going to happen, but GM-generated magic items can be whatever you want.
Nah. Sounds like a really bad idea. There is a reason cursed items are largely absent from 5e magic items: it is an un-fun, flawed design that punishes players for finding magic items.
A friend of mine was telling me a story about his campaign where a character was awarded a +1 shield, not knowing it would come back to him (Mjolnir style) no matter what if he tried to leave it. (It had some other minor detriment as well, can't remember exactly what.) In their telling, that shield was the most fun part of the entire campaign, attempting to find ways to keep it from coming back and constantly failing, to uproarious results.
Personally, cursed items are very fun for me, as just getting power, power, power via more magic items gets old after a while.
I did something along these lines for a Curse of Strahd campaign that I ran. I created and/or altered some various magical items so that they potentially had some sort of flavored/thematic drawback to using them. Basically, I created what I referred to as "tainted" items, which weren't cursed by the official rule concept but could still cause some trouble for the user.
A couple examples of items that I used:
Ring of the Black Cat: Magical ring that provided the user a +1 bonus to all saving throws (akin to a stone of luck). However, whenever the user rolled a natural 1 on a d20 roll, something bad happened based on misfortune finally catching up with them. I don't normally treat natural 1 results as a critical failure, so the ring somewhat caused those to happen.
Amulet of Accelerated Arcana: Up to three times per day, a spellcaster attuned to this amulet can use it to cast a spell that has a casting time of 1 action as a bonus action instead (akin to the quicken spell metamagic feat). However, each use had a cumulative 25% chance of causing the caster to gain a level of exhaustion, so 25% with the first use, 50% with second use, and 75% with the third use.
Items weren't technically cursed, so players could stop using them at any point (i.e., didn't need a remove curse spell). Drawbacks just balanced out some of the strengths and helped add some flavor and story to these magical items that had been tainted by being in Barovia.
I did something along these lines for a Curse of Strahd campaign that I ran. I created and/or altered some various magical items so that they potentially had some sort of flavored/thematic drawback to using them. Basically, I created what I referred to as "tainted" items, which weren't cursed by the official rule concept but could still cause some trouble for the user.
A couple examples of items that I used:
Ring of the Black Cat: Magical ring that provided the user a +1 bonus to all saving throws (akin to a stone of luck). However, whenever the user rolled a natural 1 on a d20 roll, something bad happened based on misfortune finally catching up with them. I don't normally treat natural 1 results as a critical failure, so the ring somewhat caused those to happen.
Amulet of Accelerated Arcana: Up to three times per day, a spellcaster attuned to this amulet can use it to cast a spell that has a casting time of 1 action as a bonus action instead (akin to the quicken spell metamagic feat). However, each use had a cumulative 25% chance of causing the caster to gain a level of exhaustion, so 25% with the first use, 50% with second use, and 75% with the third use.
Items weren't technically cursed, so players could stop using them at any point (i.e., didn't need a remove curse spell). Drawbacks just balanced out some of the strengths and helped add some flavor and story to these magical items that had been tainted by being in Barovia.
Those are brilliant! I love them and that's a great idea! Thank you!
More modestly, in my Avernus campaign, I track corruption points obtained by adventurers when using hellish weapons, as they know that they send souls down to the Styx. This will make any bargaining for their souls much more interesting when the time comes, but for now they have had only hints.
Thanks, Lyxen, and I love the idea that you've been tracking corruption in your Avernus campaign. I haven't been going that route in my current Avernus campaigns, but I've done similar in previous campaigns by borrowing from some of my old 2e/3e Ravenloft materials. Always enjoyed the corruption paths that could occur when players were doing "evil" things, and I especially enjoyed that these paths were supposed to be personalized to the individual and that individual's sins.
A little disappointed in myself for not thinking about adapting something like that for DiA, since it would have been especially prominent while navigating through part of the Nine Hells. Will have to keep that in mind for the near future, so thank you for some inspiration this morning!
Those are brilliant! I love them and that's a great idea! Thank you!
You're very welcome, Tim, and thank you for the compliment! Hope that the ideas prove useful for you or at least provide some inspiration for your own "tainted" items.
Thanks for all the great information. As far as curses go, I think I was going more along the lines of minor inconveniences as curses. Like a belt of giant strength that had a curse that prevented the wearer from using 'normal' weapons (primarily meant for a tavern brawler) by having them teleport 5 ft away when they held it. Or a plant-themed sword of life stealing that requires watering with blood once a day or else it wilts and becomes unusable until it is watered. Small curses like that basically, not the kind that prevents the user from parting with it all the time too.
Be careful with effects like the "teleportation curse". That's the kind of thing that could be exploited to glitch through walls, if you're not careful.
Good point. I might just make it so weapons always slip from their hands, like they're trying to grab a hold of water or something. Or have it teleport back to their belt or wherever they're carrying it.
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Just wanted to get a few opinions from a few others. I know that there's plenty of magic items that aren't cursed, and that some players may know what a certain magic item is and how it's not supposed to be cursed. Do you think it's fair to add curses to existing magic items for more flavor?
+1 for Lyxen's response.
Totally fair, and encouraged. Basic game mechanics and major world dynamics should be consistent, but specific campaign content, such as magic items, monsters, and locations don't exist until the DM introduces them to the game. The statblocks and item descriptions are a resource to inspire DMs, not limit them.
Heck, curses need not be that severe either. Could be as simple as "You cannot unattune to this item until [condition]" ... that condition could be dropping to 0 HP, convincing another character to attune to it, or something similar.
Alternatively, could be something as simple as "When attuned to this item, you must make a WIS saving throw before attacking [creature type]" or something. Curses can be very innocuous. I recommend using them specifically to go against metagaming, as Lyxen said.
Nah. Sounds like a really bad idea. There is a reason cursed items are largely absent from 5e magic items: it is an un-fun, flawed design that punishes players for finding magic items.
I did something along these lines for a Curse of Strahd campaign that I ran. I created and/or altered some various magical items so that they potentially had some sort of flavored/thematic drawback to using them. Basically, I created what I referred to as "tainted" items, which weren't cursed by the official rule concept but could still cause some trouble for the user.
A couple examples of items that I used:
Items weren't technically cursed, so players could stop using them at any point (i.e., didn't need a remove curse spell). Drawbacks just balanced out some of the strengths and helped add some flavor and story to these magical items that had been tainted by being in Barovia.
What does 'fair' mean here? Technically what you're doing is you're creating a new custom magic item (it's an X, except...). If the PC has some ability that lets them create magic items (generally not an issue other than artificer infusions) it would be unfair to add curses to those items without prior agreement with the player that that sort of thing is going to happen, but GM-generated magic items can be whatever you want.
A friend of mine was telling me a story about his campaign where a character was awarded a +1 shield, not knowing it would come back to him (Mjolnir style) no matter what if he tried to leave it. (It had some other minor detriment as well, can't remember exactly what.) In their telling, that shield was the most fun part of the entire campaign, attempting to find ways to keep it from coming back and constantly failing, to uproarious results.
Personally, cursed items are very fun for me, as just getting power, power, power via more magic items gets old after a while.
Those are brilliant! I love them and that's a great idea! Thank you!
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I barely use any RaW magic items. Homebrew as much as you want to. Your campaign will be better for it.
Thanks, Lyxen, and I love the idea that you've been tracking corruption in your Avernus campaign. I haven't been going that route in my current Avernus campaigns, but I've done similar in previous campaigns by borrowing from some of my old 2e/3e Ravenloft materials. Always enjoyed the corruption paths that could occur when players were doing "evil" things, and I especially enjoyed that these paths were supposed to be personalized to the individual and that individual's sins.
A little disappointed in myself for not thinking about adapting something like that for DiA, since it would have been especially prominent while navigating through part of the Nine Hells. Will have to keep that in mind for the near future, so thank you for some inspiration this morning!
You're very welcome, Tim, and thank you for the compliment! Hope that the ideas prove useful for you or at least provide some inspiration for your own "tainted" items.
Thanks for all the great information. As far as curses go, I think I was going more along the lines of minor inconveniences as curses. Like a belt of giant strength that had a curse that prevented the wearer from using 'normal' weapons (primarily meant for a tavern brawler) by having them teleport 5 ft away when they held it. Or a plant-themed sword of life stealing that requires watering with blood once a day or else it wilts and becomes unusable until it is watered. Small curses like that basically, not the kind that prevents the user from parting with it all the time too.
Be careful with effects like the "teleportation curse". That's the kind of thing that could be exploited to glitch through walls, if you're not careful.
Good point. I might just make it so weapons always slip from their hands, like they're trying to grab a hold of water or something. Or have it teleport back to their belt or wherever they're carrying it.