I am running Princes of the Apocalypse, and my players had an encounter with a lich. Considering it was at level 3, it was obviously supposed to be noncombat, and so after many failed deception (obviously) checks, I let all but one party member escape. (they rolled a 1 on initiative) The rogue used invisibility (level 4: shadow touched) to save the downed party member, but at the last second, they failed a stealth check and I told them the lich placed a curse on them. (I wanted some kind of consequence for this encounter beyond "take a long rest and full heal")
tldr: what would be an interesting curse for a lich to give that wouldn't become the focus a campaign?
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"Nothing goes over my head. My reflexes are to fast: I would catch it."
"I cannot comment on an ongoing investigation."
"Well of course I know that. What else is there? A kitten?"
"You'd like to think that, Wouldn't you?"
"What do you mean? An African or European swallow?"
Do you have more details about this lich? What are its goals and aims? The curse could be something that compels the character to further some goal of the lich’s.
Or, if the lich is just kind of mean, something like, the character can’t be healed magically. So they still get hp back during a long rest, and they can spend hit die during a short rest, but spells and potions don’t work on them. They can be stabilized if they hit 0, but then you just have to wait for them to wake up. It’s something they can probably deal with if they play it smart. But also a good reason to find a cleric and get rid of it.
It depends on how you want to handle resolving the curse. If you want to tacitly say, "okay, now you should go do this to break the curse" then you want a more immediately notable effect; giving the player a permanent Poisoned condition is gonna pinch hard- perhaps a bit more particularly on a Rogue- without outright debilitating them or putting them on a knife-edge of dying. Or possibly a permanent level of Exhaustion, if this is a character who doesn't make many attack rolls or you want to avoid seriously impairing a Rogue's Sneak Attack. If you want this to hang around for a while then something closer to Xalthu's example might be better; something that will be felt but that doesn't seriously impair the player's ability to act over an extended period. Maybe a -1d4 to ability checks (just checks, not saves or attacks) using one particular ability as an alternative- could even gradually scale the dice up if this is gonna last into later tiers of play.
tldr: what would be an interesting curse for a lich to give that wouldn't become the focus a campaign?
Every time the rogue tells a lie, they begin hiccupping or sneezing uncontrollably for the next minute, giving them disadvantage on any CHA checks during that time
If you don't want it to have any immediate mechanical effect, then the curse could be that when the character dies, their heart becomes petrified and suitable to be used as a phylactery. (Which could make revivfying them interesting...)
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Do you have more details about this loch? What are its goals and aims? The curse could be something that compels the character to further some goal of the lich’s.
According to the campaign book,
the lich isn't really evil, and only took the potion of lichdom in the end to save their life. It also says the lich is no longer interested in feeding souls to its phylactery, but I was running it that they were beginning to cast imprisonment anyways (he already had the body) when the rogue saved the party member. The lich's only real ambition is to steal his brother's body from the Samular Knights, so I suppose I could do something similar to conflicts with magic items to compel the rogue to get it.
Do you have more details about this loch? What are its goals and aims? The curse could be something that compels the character to further some goal of the lich’s.
According to the campaign book,
the lich isn't really evil, and only took the potion of lichdom in the end to save their life. It also says the lich is no longer interested in feeding souls to its phylactery, but I was running it that they were beginning to cast imprisonment anyways (he already had the body) when the rogue saved the party member. The lich's only real ambition is to steal his brother's body from the Samular Knights, so I suppose I could do something similar to conflicts with magic items to compel the rogue to get it.
You could always say the way to break the curse is to get the brother’s body. Of course, that doesn’t help with what the curse is.
I'm just your everyday dungeon master. Ignore that jar full of souls. And those bones in the corner are just props, don't worry. I'm definitely NOT a lich. Definitely.
Exhaustiveness. While the cursed creature has any Exhaustion levels, finishing a Long Rest doesn't reduces the creature's Exhaustion level unless it succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw.
The rouge is permanently affected by the zone of truth spell
Why would you curse their makeup, though
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
If they are on the move/traveling, they have to rest more frequently to let the cursed individuals expel liquid. That in turns slows the speed of the character a bit (aka minus 5 feet of speed) and leaves something on the ground that a tracker can notice.
The cursed character has an unpleasant smell that briefly emits from them at random times.
When trying to be stealthy and/or anytime a creature can hear the stomach rumbling. Give the nearby creature a roll to see if they understand the source of that rumble.
e.g. So if trying to be stealthy, roll a % dice to see if the stomach rumbles (5%). Then another roll (INT saving) if the creature recognizes that noise/smell.
I have decided that at every long rest, they have to make a constitution saving throw. If they fail dc10, than they don't lose any exhaustion, and if they fail dc13, they gain one level of exhaustion. The curse will be broken if the rogue steals the lich's brother from the Samular Knights and returns it to the lich, and this should be interesting due to one party member being a member of the knights.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Nothing goes over my head. My reflexes are to fast: I would catch it."
"I cannot comment on an ongoing investigation."
"Well of course I know that. What else is there? A kitten?"
"You'd like to think that, Wouldn't you?"
"What do you mean? An African or European swallow?"
I have decided that at every long rest, they have to make a constitution saving throw. If they fail dc10, than they don't lose any exhaustion, and if they fail dc13, they gain one level of exhaustion. The curse will be broken if the rogue steals the lich's brother from the Samular Knights and returns it to the lich, and this should be interesting due to one party member being a member of the knights.
Thats really cool, and pretty risky. Even with the low DCs. Each fail give them a -2 on the next one and 6 fails=death. I hope they don’t have to travel far to find those knights — and then come back. Make sure to tell the party about the ticking clock.
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*my players stop reading*
I am running Princes of the Apocalypse, and my players had an encounter with a lich. Considering it was at level 3, it was obviously supposed to be noncombat, and so after many failed deception (obviously) checks, I let all but one party member escape. (they rolled a 1 on initiative) The rogue used invisibility (level 4: shadow touched) to save the downed party member, but at the last second, they failed a stealth check and I told them the lich placed a curse on them. (I wanted some kind of consequence for this encounter beyond "take a long rest and full heal")
tldr: what would be an interesting curse for a lich to give that wouldn't become the focus a campaign?
Homebrew spell: dominance
Extended signature
Do you have more details about this lich? What are its goals and aims? The curse could be something that compels the character to further some goal of the lich’s.
Or, if the lich is just kind of mean, something like, the character can’t be healed magically. So they still get hp back during a long rest, and they can spend hit die during a short rest, but spells and potions don’t work on them. They can be stabilized if they hit 0, but then you just have to wait for them to wake up. It’s something they can probably deal with if they play it smart. But also a good reason to find a cleric and get rid of it.
It depends on how you want to handle resolving the curse. If you want to tacitly say, "okay, now you should go do this to break the curse" then you want a more immediately notable effect; giving the player a permanent Poisoned condition is gonna pinch hard- perhaps a bit more particularly on a Rogue- without outright debilitating them or putting them on a knife-edge of dying. Or possibly a permanent level of Exhaustion, if this is a character who doesn't make many attack rolls or you want to avoid seriously impairing a Rogue's Sneak Attack. If you want this to hang around for a while then something closer to Xalthu's example might be better; something that will be felt but that doesn't seriously impair the player's ability to act over an extended period. Maybe a -1d4 to ability checks (just checks, not saves or attacks) using one particular ability as an alternative- could even gradually scale the dice up if this is gonna last into later tiers of play.
Every time the rogue tells a lie, they begin hiccupping or sneezing uncontrollably for the next minute, giving them disadvantage on any CHA checks during that time
If you don't want it to have any immediate mechanical effect, then the curse could be that when the character dies, their heart becomes petrified and suitable to be used as a phylactery. (Which could make revivfying them interesting...)
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
According to the campaign book,
the lich isn't really evil, and only took the potion of lichdom in the end to save their life. It also says the lich is no longer interested in feeding souls to its phylactery, but I was running it that they were beginning to cast imprisonment anyways (he already had the body) when the rogue saved the party member. The lich's only real ambition is to steal his brother's body from the Samular Knights, so I suppose I could do something similar to conflicts with magic items to compel the rogue to get it.
Homebrew spell: dominance
Extended signature
You could always say the way to break the curse is to get the brother’s body. Of course, that doesn’t help with what the curse is.
The rouge is permanently affected by the zone of truth spell
Certified lover boy, certified dungeon master. WOP WOP WOP WOP!
I'm just your everyday dungeon master. Ignore that jar full of souls. And those bones in the corner are just props, don't worry. I'm definitely NOT a lich. Definitely.
The lich's curse could be something like this:
.
Why would you curse their makeup, though
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
As a curse, Permanent Food Poisoning.
If they are on the move/traveling, they have to rest more frequently to let the cursed individuals expel liquid. That in turns slows the speed of the character a bit (aka minus 5 feet of speed) and leaves something on the ground that a tracker can notice.
The cursed character has an unpleasant smell that briefly emits from them at random times.
When trying to be stealthy and/or anytime a creature can hear the stomach rumbling. Give the nearby creature a roll to see if they understand the source of that rumble.
e.g. So if trying to be stealthy, roll a % dice to see if the stomach rumbles (5%). Then another roll (INT saving) if the creature recognizes that noise/smell.
I have decided that at every long rest, they have to make a constitution saving throw. If they fail dc10, than they don't lose any exhaustion, and if they fail dc13, they gain one level of exhaustion. The curse will be broken if the rogue steals the lich's brother from the Samular Knights and returns it to the lich, and this should be interesting due to one party member being a member of the knights.
Homebrew spell: dominance
Extended signature
Thats really cool, and pretty risky. Even with the low DCs. Each fail give them a -2 on the next one and 6 fails=death. I hope they don’t have to travel far to find those knights — and then come back. Make sure to tell the party about the ticking clock.