There are quite a few cursed items out there and the description and effects are right there for all to see. I honestly wish that DDB would add a spoiler tag type of thing that hides the description until you open it, like a lot of forums have (a player may still open it but at least they have the option to play it right).
How do you guys work with this? I was thinking to just homebrew duplicate the item without the curse rider/effects, hope that the curse activates sooner rather than later (because I'm going to forget about it otherwise) and tell them what happened/happening and depending on when they realize that is wrong tell them to swap out the item for the curse variant in the builder/equipment section.
Do you hand out enough cursed items that it's so hard to keep track ? I would really just hand out the item it's disguised as in DDB, and would keep a note. If I forget the first (few) times, I'd just say the curse awakened randomly.
You could even use the "private notes" section of the campaign interface on DDB.
I'm going to start running Tales of the Yawning portal and I know that there area few cursed items later on and just preparing myself for them. We strictly use Dndbeyond for everything so whatever and however it's done on the site is how we will be doing it. Good idea on private notes. Will use that.
To be honest, I actually don't have the portal module on the site but looking at the stuff I do have unlocked -- the things in the DMG - that I've looked at - Armor of Vulnerability, Berserker Axe and Demon Armor, among other things. All of these things say CURSED> then what happens. Some outright say the PC realizes the curse when equipping or after attuning to the item, some are more vague.
Because I don't have it on the site, I will be homebrew creating the unique items in the campaign and for example, things like the Stone of Ill Luck which is a cursed luck stone actually recommends giving the character a regular luck stone and the DM should secretly modify all saves.
but something like the Bracelet of Rock Magic which grants you to immunity to petrification and allows you to cast Flesh to Stone.. and the curse gives an advantage if cast on a creature with an affinity to stone (such as stone giants and dwarves) the target actually has advantage on the save and if they make the save they actually reflect it back onto the caster (to which you have disadvantage on and a turned instantly)....
Something like this, I want to have an 'oh snap! What happened!' type of reaction if they even happen to cast it on that specific creature instead of reading the description and explicitly avoiding those types ---- unless they figure it out or cast identify or something which is completely fair but if they just pick up a random item and use it willy nilly there should be an unknown to any consequences
I handle player knowledge vs character knowledge in this way: I let the player know they are crossing a line into using their player knowledge for character knowledge in such a way as to encourage them to role play their character. If circumstance in the adventure calls for giving their character a hint of what it is then I do so.
For example, i introduced into a campaign an item which if not of evil assignment could wield the item but it a player did eventually the item would change their alignment to evil. While i didn't object if the players chose to wield it I did vaguely hint that the item was abnormal and felt strange the longer one held onto it.
The longer the players have a cursed item the more likely they should notice hints about it. The worse the curse the more likely and how quickly they begin to notice. To avoid player knowledge don't let them know what cursed item they have and keep out and who is relevant to it and only let the players know a physical description of it unless that in itself reveals exactly what it is.
Something like this, I want to have an 'oh snap! What happened!' type of reaction if they even happen to cast it on that specific creature instead of reading the description and explicitly avoiding those types ---- unless they figure it out or cast identify or something which is completely fair but if they just pick up a random item and use it willy nilly there should be an unknown to any consequences
Of course, that's the whole point of cursed items, that "oh snap" moment ;) Beyond carefully taking notes, or being a bit more lax with the trigger, I don't think there's any great solution. You would indeed need to homebrew the non-cursed version of the items on DDB to not spoil the surprise, which does suck a bit. It would be cool to have a version of those items ready to hand out with the Curse part redacted.
I print out all my own magic item cards, so cursed items simply have a normal copy and a "DM's Copy" which gets stuck to my dm screen once the item is handed out. I know this doesn't resolve your issue of DND Beyond, but this is how I operate.
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There are quite a few cursed items out there and the description and effects are right there for all to see. I honestly wish that DDB would add a spoiler tag type of thing that hides the description until you open it, like a lot of forums have (a player may still open it but at least they have the option to play it right).
How do you guys work with this? I was thinking to just homebrew duplicate the item without the curse rider/effects, hope that the curse activates sooner rather than later (because I'm going to forget about it otherwise) and tell them what happened/happening and depending on when they realize that is wrong tell them to swap out the item for the curse variant in the builder/equipment section.
Do you hand out enough cursed items that it's so hard to keep track ? I would really just hand out the item it's disguised as in DDB, and would keep a note. If I forget the first (few) times, I'd just say the curse awakened randomly.
You could even use the "private notes" section of the campaign interface on DDB.
Click to learn to put cool-looking tooltips in your messages!
I'm going to start running Tales of the Yawning portal and I know that there area few cursed items later on and just preparing myself for them. We strictly use Dndbeyond for everything so whatever and however it's done on the site is how we will be doing it. Good idea on private notes. Will use that.
To be honest, I actually don't have the portal module on the site but looking at the stuff I do have unlocked -- the things in the DMG - that I've looked at - Armor of Vulnerability, Berserker Axe and Demon Armor, among other things. All of these things say CURSED> then what happens. Some outright say the PC realizes the curse when equipping or after attuning to the item, some are more vague.
Because I don't have it on the site, I will be homebrew creating the unique items in the campaign and for example, things like the Stone of Ill Luck which is a cursed luck stone actually recommends giving the character a regular luck stone and the DM should secretly modify all saves.
but something like the Bracelet of Rock Magic which grants you to immunity to petrification and allows you to cast Flesh to Stone.. and the curse gives an advantage if cast on a creature with an affinity to stone (such as stone giants and dwarves) the target actually has advantage on the save and if they make the save they actually reflect it back onto the caster (to which you have disadvantage on and a turned instantly)....
Something like this, I want to have an 'oh snap! What happened!' type of reaction if they even happen to cast it on that specific creature instead of reading the description and explicitly avoiding those types ---- unless they figure it out or cast identify or something which is completely fair but if they just pick up a random item and use it willy nilly there should be an unknown to any consequences
I handle player knowledge vs character knowledge in this way: I let the player know they are crossing a line into using their player knowledge for character knowledge in such a way as to encourage them to role play their character. If circumstance in the adventure calls for giving their character a hint of what it is then I do so.
For example, i introduced into a campaign an item which if not of evil assignment could wield the item but it a player did eventually the item would change their alignment to evil. While i didn't object if the players chose to wield it I did vaguely hint that the item was abnormal and felt strange the longer one held onto it.
The longer the players have a cursed item the more likely they should notice hints about it. The worse the curse the more likely and how quickly they begin to notice. To avoid player knowledge don't let them know what cursed item they have and keep out and who is relevant to it and only let the players know a physical description of it unless that in itself reveals exactly what it is.
Of course, that's the whole point of cursed items, that "oh snap" moment ;) Beyond carefully taking notes, or being a bit more lax with the trigger, I don't think there's any great solution. You would indeed need to homebrew the non-cursed version of the items on DDB to not spoil the surprise, which does suck a bit. It would be cool to have a version of those items ready to hand out with the Curse part redacted.
Click to learn to put cool-looking tooltips in your messages!
I print out all my own magic item cards, so cursed items simply have a normal copy and a "DM's Copy" which gets stuck to my dm screen once the item is handed out. I know this doesn't resolve your issue of DND Beyond, but this is how I operate.