A pretty classic curse is simply bad things will happen. For example the sword tyrfing was cursed to kill the decedents of it's first wielder it did this by causing accidents, drawing evil people to it, manipulating people and always find its way back into the hands of the family. It was fairly subtle. In dnd you can replicate this kind of curse simply by pronouncing the curse by having a witch say it or something and then throwing in some extra encounters like thieves, mutinies and maybe a particular bad critical fail or two all involving the sword.
You could make it that the weapon is blessed to never miss, but cursed to not distinguish friend from foe. So every time he swings it, he will either hit the enemy, or the closest thing. That's not such an issue if he is amongst lots of enemies, but is a big issue if he's beside a friend and misses the enemy. Rolling a 1 could actually hit himself. If he waves it around too much it'll hit someone, even if it's a weird fluke of him losing his grips and the sword being flung at someone nearby.
This would be an example of an uncanny accident
Another pretty classic curse is haunting. This includes the possession of sentient weapon but could also be something like having a monster like a wraith pursue you
The sword abandons its owner in moments of dire need. Suffer a critical hit or fail a death save? The sword loses its magical bonus and denies you your proficiency bonus until you rest.
Curse of the Packleader Weapon (Requires attunement)
Weapon gains bonuses based on how many people are in your party. By yourself, +1. With one other ally, +2. With two or more allies, +3.
Curse: All your allies gain a penalty to AC and to hit equal to your weapons bonus to damage. Allies is determined by the DM, not the players. Curse does not affect wielder of the weapon. Curse does not show on Identify. At the end of every battle, everyone affected by the curse gets a free Survival check DC 15 minus the bonus of the weapon (so at +3, the DC = 12) to realize they were fighting with a penalty. An Arcana Check of DC 20 reveals the source of the penalty.
Once the weapon is attuned to you you cannot de-attune without using the spell Remove Curse. Penalty applies while attuned, even if you do not use the weapon.
"He who lives by the sword dies by the sword." If you kill someone with this sword, it will be your destiny to die by the very same blade.
A sentient sword who is a pacifist. It really wants to be reshaped into a plowshare so it can live a peaceful life, but it has such awesome bonuses to attacks no adventurer in their right mind would do that.
both are sentient. they bicker back and forth about whatever you want in terrible French accents. only the wilder can hear them
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Pronouns: Any/All
About Me: Godless monster in human form bent on extending their natural life to unnatural extremes /general of the goose horde /Moderator of Vinstreb School for the Gifted /holder of the evil storyteller badge of no honor /king of madness /The FBI/ The Archmage of I CAST...!
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Fun Fact: i gain more power the more you post on my forum threads. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
i have a trio of werebeasts a boar a tiger and a wolf with a warhammer khopesh (sickle sword) and longsword with the respective curses and the party werent told asd the veterans didnt want all of the other students to jump them for the weapons they kill the werewolf for being a rapist to one of their freinds i hope they do or else they die as i havenet played this yet if they pick it up bam instant curse if your spirit isnt like the creaututes no control you can chancge btu your alignment must change + your behaviour lets say pervy guy takes wolf hes fine he takes tiger or boar AHHHH
Not sure how much this would ruin or fit within your campaign, but personally, the first thing that came to mind:
Davy Jones's Cutlass: this sword can never be brought more than 30 ft. away from the ocean/sea/nearest body of water. While held, allows the wielder to walk on water as if it were solid ground.
Have the sword have a bonus to attack and damage everything but one category of monster, the "safe" monster. Have the sword be the only one the PC can use and it compels the PC to attack the "safe monster". The monster that is in the "safe" category would actually be healed by the attack. Have the "safe" category change at the full moon, after a specific number of long or short rests, or after killing X number of creatures.
Do not tell the PC how this works.
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A pretty classic curse is simply bad things will happen. For example the sword tyrfing was cursed to kill the decedents of it's first wielder it did this by causing accidents, drawing evil people to it, manipulating people and always find its way back into the hands of the family. It was fairly subtle. In dnd you can replicate this kind of curse simply by pronouncing the curse by having a witch say it or something and then throwing in some extra encounters like thieves, mutinies and maybe a particular bad critical fail or two all involving the sword.
This could for example include things like:
This would be an example of an uncanny accident
Another pretty classic curse is haunting. This includes the possession of sentient weapon but could also be something like having a monster like a wraith pursue you
The sword abandons its owner in moments of dire need. Suffer a critical hit or fail a death save? The sword loses its magical bonus and denies you your proficiency bonus until you rest.
Curse of the Packleader Weapon (Requires attunement)
Weapon gains bonuses based on how many people are in your party. By yourself, +1. With one other ally, +2. With two or more allies, +3.
Curse: All your allies gain a penalty to AC and to hit equal to your weapons bonus to damage. Allies is determined by the DM, not the players. Curse does not affect wielder of the weapon. Curse does not show on Identify. At the end of every battle, everyone affected by the curse gets a free Survival check DC 15 minus the bonus of the weapon (so at +3, the DC = 12) to realize they were fighting with a penalty. An Arcana Check of DC 20 reveals the source of the penalty.
Once the weapon is attuned to you you cannot de-attune without using the spell Remove Curse. Penalty applies while attuned, even if you do not use the weapon.
"He who lives by the sword dies by the sword." If you kill someone with this sword, it will be your destiny to die by the very same blade.
A sentient sword who is a pacifist. It really wants to be reshaped into a plowshare so it can live a peaceful life, but it has such awesome bonuses to attacks no adventurer in their right mind would do that.
both are sentient. they bicker back and forth about whatever you want in terrible French accents. only the wilder can hear them
Pronouns: Any/All
About Me: Godless monster in human form bent on extending their natural life to unnatural extremes /general of the goose horde /Moderator of Vinstreb School for the Gifted /holder of the evil storyteller badge of no honor /king of madness /The FBI/ The Archmage of I CAST...!
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Fun Fact: i gain more power the more you post on my forum threads. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
i have a trio of werebeasts a boar a tiger and a wolf with a warhammer khopesh (sickle sword) and longsword with the respective curses and the party werent told asd the veterans didnt want all of the other students to jump them for the weapons they kill the werewolf for being a rapist to one of their freinds i hope they do or else they die as i havenet played this yet if they pick it up bam instant curse if your spirit isnt like the creaututes no control you can chancge btu your alignment must change + your behaviour lets say pervy guy takes wolf hes fine he takes tiger or boar AHHHH
Not sure how much this would ruin or fit within your campaign, but personally, the first thing that came to mind:
Davy Jones's Cutlass: this sword can never be brought more than 30 ft. away from the ocean/sea/nearest body of water. While held, allows the wielder to walk on water as if it were solid ground.
Weapon of Warning...the bad guys. It sometimes telepathically tells enemies that the PC is nearby. Not all the time, just sometimes.
Fearlessness. The weapon will grant reckless attacks when it feels like it. Advantage to hit, For Everybody!
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
Have the sword have a bonus to attack and damage everything but one category of monster, the "safe" monster. Have the sword be the only one the PC can use and it compels the PC to attack the "safe monster". The monster that is in the "safe" category would actually be healed by the attack. Have the "safe" category change at the full moon, after a specific number of long or short rests, or after killing X number of creatures.
Do not tell the PC how this works.