Currently running Dragon of Icespire Peak and my players (three 3rd level pcs) are about to go through the Temple of Abbathor in the Dwarven Excavation quest. Reading ahead I found it a little disappointing that the gem they find at the end just disintegrates when taken, and this being a temple to a god of greed would make it the perfect opportunity to introduce them to a greed-themed cursed item, possibly one the Abbathorian priests would have used as a relic. I've brainstormed a lot about how to balance the item's pros and cons, and think I found a nice solution. Here's my latest draft:
Gemstone of Greed Requires attunement by a spellcaster, cannot be unattuned to. The palm-sized gemstone glows a faint green light, and when identified reveals an aura of enchantment magic. Holds 1d3 charges of the Suggestion spell, regains charges every next dawn. Curse of Greed: When the gem is attuned to the bearer they become compelled to grasp tightly to it as if an iron vice, and no amount of willpower or strength from them can overcome this urge. Casting Remove Curse on the gem removes attunement and destroys the curse, allowing the bearer to drop the now completely mundane 15 gp gem. Anyone attempting to assist the bearer to remove the gem by force must make a DC 30 Strength check, but the bearer must take 2d8 bludgeoning damage as a result of the compulsive resistance. A successful roll releases the gem which becomes unattuned, but still contains its magical property and curse.
Is this a good enough balance so that the players don't just get annoyed with it? Is this too harsh of a curse to give a pc this early in the game? Is there anything I should change about the description of the item at all? Any further advice or brainstorming will be greatly appreciated, thank you.
Let's make it sentient. With an inteligience that speaks to the holder. The sentient being an old dragon spirit. Dragons are greedy. Allow it to detect items of value with a certain mile radius. (Set a value that will interest your party) An arrow shows up on the gem like a compass pointing the direction of the valuable item. The more valuable the item, the brighter the glow. Allow the holder to have advantage on appraisals. Allow the holder to cast, adjust appraisal, suggestion, command, charm, give the holder a boost in charisma skills.
And yes, the holder does not want to let it go. But will keep it safe. But every down moment, at the bar, at the campsite, he has it in his hand admiring it. The sentient being inside will help him to a degree, because he wants to use the holder. The sentient will be nice to him, give him good advice on upcoming battles, maybe tell him of a trap. The sentient being will convince the holder, he is good for him, he is his friend, til the end. (chucky). You want to convince the party or holder that the gem is valuable and useful for the party.
But here is where it gets fun.
Have the item cast suggestion on the holder - to take (steal) a valuable item. The less valuable then the DC is lower. I would use charisma save but could use wisdom. At a certain level of value basically have the save unmakeable. Then the holder will not just be brash and take the valuable, but he will work out a plan with the gem on how to steal it.
for example. A guy notices a nice expensive coat a guy is wearing. The gem holder fails the save, and begins talking to the guy about it and how nice it is. Asks where he got it from. Asks if he could try it on to see how he would look in it. Then is reluctant to give it back, but does. The party may notice the odd behavior.
Middle of a battle, the gem notices or convices the holder to go to the treasure room, leave the battle, give him a save of course.
Couple things to think about: Remove Curse won't be available to your party until 5th level at the earliest, unless there's an NPC that can do it for them. A DC 30 Strength check is literally impossible for PCs below 13th level, unless there's some magical effect that lets them exceed the Strength cap (and this assumes they get to use Proficiency). So your players are gonna be stuck with this thing for a while.
Let's look at its actual effects, as well. So the character attuned to it must clutch it tightly at all times; in practice, what does this mean? They can't use one hand? Suggestion is a pretty powerful spell; a spellcaster might just choose to live with the loss of one hand in exchange for 1d3 free Suggestions per day.
I would make the item a little more annoying, but make it easier to pass around the party. Instead of requiring a DC 30 Strength check to pry it from the current holder, just use a contested Strength (Athletics) check; when it changes hands, have the gem automatically, instantly attune to the new holder (a non-caster can't use the item's spells while attuned to it; they just get the curse). I would also force the holder to pass an easy Wisdom save, maybe DC 11, to part with any of their gold for any reason. The save occurs each time they try to spend gold in a day; if they pass, nothing unusual happens. If they fail, they are overcome with a hoarding urge and can't willingly part with anything of value they possess until the next dawn, even if the gem is taken from them. Maybe they can take some psychic damage to bypass this, it's up to you. Look at Geas for an idea about how to set up the compulsion. (Just bear in mind 5d10 psychic damage can easily kill a 3rd level PC outright, so adjust that down if you use it)
I should also mention that my players' pcs are a Cleric, Wizard, and Druid, and so they all have reasonably high WIS ability scores. I had been working on an idea before that involved the gem making the bearer eat an amount of gold as components for casting the spell, but couldn't think of a good way to incorporate the feature in a way that wouldn't end up in them just throwing the item away or not using it. I want the item to have a very "covetous" feeling about it, hence the grasping compulsion, like it physically won't let the bearer release it.
I had a thought about how I could give the item a semi-sentience, make it more annoying, and keep the covetous aspect of the curse all at the same time. Here's what I have:
Curse of Greed: When a caster attunes to the gem, they are compelled to latch tightly to it. When the bearer of the gem would normally attempt to persuade, decieve, or intimidate another creature that can understand them, the bearer must make a DC 15 WIS save. On a fail, the bearer instead casts one charge of the Suggestion spell and also take 2d8 bludgeoning damage as a result of their compulsive grip growing painfully tighter around the gem.
The gem still can be removed and unattuned to the same way as written before, but with a lower STR DC. I feel like this gives a little less agency to the player and more to the item seemingly controlling them through their greed in a very give-and-take way.
Currently running Dragon of Icespire Peak and my players (three 3rd level pcs) are about to go through the Temple of Abbathor in the Dwarven Excavation quest. Reading ahead I found it a little disappointing that the gem they find at the end just disintegrates when taken, and this being a temple to a god of greed would make it the perfect opportunity to introduce them to a greed-themed cursed item, possibly one the Abbathorian priests would have used as a relic. I've brainstormed a lot about how to balance the item's pros and cons, and think I found a nice solution. Here's my latest draft:
Gemstone of Greed
Requires attunement by a spellcaster, cannot be unattuned to.
The palm-sized gemstone glows a faint green light, and when identified reveals an aura of enchantment magic.
Holds 1d3 charges of the Suggestion spell, regains charges every next dawn.
Curse of Greed: When the gem is attuned to the bearer they become compelled to grasp tightly to it as if an iron vice, and no amount of willpower or strength from them can overcome this urge. Casting Remove Curse on the gem removes attunement and destroys the curse, allowing the bearer to drop the now completely mundane 15 gp gem. Anyone attempting to assist the bearer to remove the gem by force must make a DC 30 Strength check, but the bearer must take 2d8 bludgeoning damage as a result of the compulsive resistance. A successful roll releases the gem which becomes unattuned, but still contains its magical property and curse.
Is this a good enough balance so that the players don't just get annoyed with it? Is this too harsh of a curse to give a pc this early in the game? Is there anything I should change about the description of the item at all?
Any further advice or brainstorming will be greatly appreciated, thank you.
Let's make it sentient. With an inteligience that speaks to the holder. The sentient being an old dragon spirit. Dragons are greedy. Allow it to detect items of value with a certain mile radius. (Set a value that will interest your party) An arrow shows up on the gem like a compass pointing the direction of the valuable item. The more valuable the item, the brighter the glow. Allow the holder to have advantage on appraisals. Allow the holder to cast, adjust appraisal, suggestion, command, charm, give the holder a boost in charisma skills.
And yes, the holder does not want to let it go. But will keep it safe. But every down moment, at the bar, at the campsite, he has it in his hand admiring it. The sentient being inside will help him to a degree, because he wants to use the holder. The sentient will be nice to him, give him good advice on upcoming battles, maybe tell him of a trap. The sentient being will convince the holder, he is good for him, he is his friend, til the end. (chucky). You want to convince the party or holder that the gem is valuable and useful for the party.
But here is where it gets fun.
Have the item cast suggestion on the holder - to take (steal) a valuable item. The less valuable then the DC is lower. I would use charisma save but could use wisdom. At a certain level of value basically have the save unmakeable. Then the holder will not just be brash and take the valuable, but he will work out a plan with the gem on how to steal it.
for example. A guy notices a nice expensive coat a guy is wearing. The gem holder fails the save, and begins talking to the guy about it and how nice it is. Asks where he got it from. Asks if he could try it on to see how he would look in it. Then is reluctant to give it back, but does. The party may notice the odd behavior.
Middle of a battle, the gem notices or convices the holder to go to the treasure room, leave the battle, give him a save of course.
Couple things to think about: Remove Curse won't be available to your party until 5th level at the earliest, unless there's an NPC that can do it for them. A DC 30 Strength check is literally impossible for PCs below 13th level, unless there's some magical effect that lets them exceed the Strength cap (and this assumes they get to use Proficiency). So your players are gonna be stuck with this thing for a while.
Let's look at its actual effects, as well. So the character attuned to it must clutch it tightly at all times; in practice, what does this mean? They can't use one hand? Suggestion is a pretty powerful spell; a spellcaster might just choose to live with the loss of one hand in exchange for 1d3 free Suggestions per day.
I would make the item a little more annoying, but make it easier to pass around the party. Instead of requiring a DC 30 Strength check to pry it from the current holder, just use a contested Strength (Athletics) check; when it changes hands, have the gem automatically, instantly attune to the new holder (a non-caster can't use the item's spells while attuned to it; they just get the curse). I would also force the holder to pass an easy Wisdom save, maybe DC 11, to part with any of their gold for any reason. The save occurs each time they try to spend gold in a day; if they pass, nothing unusual happens. If they fail, they are overcome with a hoarding urge and can't willingly part with anything of value they possess until the next dawn, even if the gem is taken from them. Maybe they can take some psychic damage to bypass this, it's up to you. Look at Geas for an idea about how to set up the compulsion. (Just bear in mind 5d10 psychic damage can easily kill a 3rd level PC outright, so adjust that down if you use it)
I should also mention that my players' pcs are a Cleric, Wizard, and Druid, and so they all have reasonably high WIS ability scores. I had been working on an idea before that involved the gem making the bearer eat an amount of gold as components for casting the spell, but couldn't think of a good way to incorporate the feature in a way that wouldn't end up in them just throwing the item away or not using it. I want the item to have a very "covetous" feeling about it, hence the grasping compulsion, like it physically won't let the bearer release it.
I had a thought about how I could give the item a semi-sentience, make it more annoying, and keep the covetous aspect of the curse all at the same time. Here's what I have:
Curse of Greed: When a caster attunes to the gem, they are compelled to latch tightly to it. When the bearer of the gem would normally attempt to persuade, decieve, or intimidate another creature that can understand them, the bearer must make a DC 15 WIS save. On a fail, the bearer instead casts one charge of the Suggestion spell and also take 2d8 bludgeoning damage as a result of their compulsive grip growing painfully tighter around the gem.
The gem still can be removed and unattuned to the same way as written before, but with a lower STR DC. I feel like this gives a little less agency to the player and more to the item seemingly controlling them through their greed in a very give-and-take way.