Hey guys! So I was thinking about creating a cursed longsword, which has its creator soul binded to it. A rather egoistic high elf, who was forced to create a magic weapon long ago. He knew, that the capturers going to kill him, when he finishes the sword, so he made some tricks to live on and cause some trouble.
When a player picks up the sword, its intelligence is dropping to 1, but its charisma rising up to 20. Basically he becomes an adorable idiot. The player cannot throw the weapon away (the elf's soul doesn't let), and cannot put the curse to someone else (the sword after the first touch is harmless to others). Plus the high elf's soul can communicate to its surroundings trough telepatics. I was thinking about that the cursed player due to Intelligence 1, cannot speak, but can communicate with the sword, so it can speak for the player. I think it can make some hillarious RP situation. And if the player wants to get rid of the curse, he/she either die with it, or need to return the sword to the forge where it was created, and where the high elf's corpse is lying.
I would be very happy if you could tell me your toughts! :) And sorry for my possible grammar mistakes, english is not my primary language :)
Even Zombies have an Intelligence score of 3. A score of 1 is way too low for the character to continue functioning in any meaningful way, except as a vegetable. It is cool to use magic items as an adventure hook but that doesn't sound like a very fun adventure for the player in question, if they are essentially no longer in control of their character.
It might be more interesting, probably, if the sword would prevent the user to speak on its own, and everything be filtered by the item (systemically imposing to the player some changes to what he wants his character to say) and prohibit the user to ever say clearly or write that the sword is cursed and is controlling his communications.
An INT of 1 is impossibly low for a creature to function, it basically prevents basic autonomous body functions.
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
Well I know that INT 1 is too low in normal conditions, but in magical terms, we can explain that the sword doesn't let you think straight or speak, but that doesn't mean it lets you die in a vegetable form. It needs the player to wield it, so the elf can "live on". Plus if I max out one ability (in this case, the Charisma), I have to lower one onto minimum, because if I doesn't balance it out, the players won't see this as a curse, more like a cool bonus, with some changes in RP. The curse itself still can be of use for example in interrogation, or persuasion due to a 20 charisma, but the setbacks make you think trough the remove of the curse. (I have to say, that my players are in 1st and 2nd levels, but they are going to search trough an ancient temple, so a CHAR 20 is a major buff)
Though I have to admit, fromshus can be right about the fun part. However I was never intented to take the controll from the cursed player. If we set aside the INT 1, and say thats it is not from natural causes, but magical, the player can move and battle as before, the only problem he/she will got is the speaking and the memory. He can ask the sword to tell the others what he thinks about, the question is that will the sword do it, and if it tells the same or alter it? (like LeK said with the filtering).
Well I know that INT 1 is too low in normal conditions, but in magical terms, we can explain that the sword doesn't let you think straight or speak, but that doesn't mean it lets you die in a vegetable form. It needs the player to wield it, so the elf can "live on". Plus if I max out one ability (in this case, the Charisma), I have to lower one onto minimum, because if I doesn't balance it out, the players won't see this as a curse, more like a cool bonus, with some changes in RP. The curse itself still can be of use for example in interrogation, or persuasion due to a 20 charisma, but the setbacks make you think trough the remove of the curse. (I have to say, that my players are in 1st and 2nd levels, but they are going to search trough an ancient temple, so a CHAR 20 is a major buff)
Though I have to admit, fromshus can be right about the fun part. However I was never intented to take the controll from the cursed player. If we set aside the INT 1, and say thats it is not from natural causes, but magical, the player can move and battle as before, the only problem he/she will got is the speaking and the memory. He can ask the sword to tell the others what he thinks about, the question is that will the sword do it, and if it tells the same or alter it? (like LeK said with the filtering).
If the INT 1 is only for RP purposes, and does not really have any other systemic impact (for example effectively lowering any INT based skill or Saving throw roll) then I'd say you can safely take it out and go for the filtering option. If, on the other hand, the INT 1 score would also effectively lower all rolls involving INT, it's a hell of a drawback to get a +5 in CHA, as it would make any roll below a 15 a 10 or less, basically making it impossible for the player to surpass most INT-based checks and saving throws (assuming this will be used by a more combat-oriented character rather than an academic one, so no proficiency in INT-based skills or saves).
To be clear, I do not mean to come off as rude or anything, just expressing my concerns from a systemic point of view. To make an example, if you decided to use the "roll 4d6, choose the best 3" for the Abilities generation, taking into account race bonuses, one could have 20 in a stat from the get go, but it would be impossible to have any ability lower than 3 (if we do not consider the malus to INT the Orc race from Volo's would get), and that's still a -4, which is bad enough as it is (and I have never seen four 1 being rolled at once, while I certainly have seen plenty triplets of 6 in my time). A -5 (aside from all that would normally imply having an ability at 1) seems like a steep price to pay for the benefit (as cool as a +5 in anything sounds).
As the general philosophy of 5th edition seems to be getting rid of imposed maluses, I think the "filtering" solution is the most desirable one.
(Disclaimer: I understand you already took into consideration the INT 1 might not be that good, I am just expressing further "explanation" as to why this kind of tradeoff does not sound as the best option :) )
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
Yes, we used the 4d6, take the worst out method, so your point is more than valid. I want to hold on the INT drawback, but i see now, that a -5 modifier is a bit over the moon :D . Maybe a -3. It means that the INT is reduced to a 4, which is still pretty low for the traditional character creating, but maybe more reasonable due to its curse origin. In practice I imagine this as the sword sucks out the players knowledge and the ability to speak.
For example the cursed player looks at a letter and tries to do a history check. He/she has a hard time because the sword makes the toughts swirling in his/her head (-3 modifier). Let's say even with these conditions our hero nails the ability check and finds out that the letter was mentioning some extremely important dude. But the second part of the problem is that he/she cannot speak, the words just don't come out in any meaningful way. So the player tells the sword (in fact, the egoistic high elf spirit) trough their telepatic connection to be so kind and share the knowledge. If the elf pleases, he do so, but if he doesn't care or doesn't want this knowledge to be known, he either alter it, or wont say a thing.
(As a matter of fact, as I was writing this example, I tought of that this "mute" can be played around a bit with writing. With an INT 4, I wouldn't say that the cursed one can write a novel, detailing it's toughts, but some simple words, with a childish style. Or there is the rouge's secret sign language, or something like that.)
In the other hand, in a Charisma based scenario the people either find the cursed one adorably dumb/feel sorry for it, or the sword do some telepatic mindf*ck to frighten someone (or something similar) :D So here would come the +5 modifier.
By the way, I am far from thinking you rude, in fact I am very happy that I can share my idea, and you are kind enough to point out it's flaws. This way I can tweak it a bit, so when I drop it on the party, it will be a (more or less) positive experience :D .
For this item... will you be voicing the elf? Will he? I only see those two as options, and I see a big problem with both. On one hand if you're voicing it, the player will feel like they're no longer playing the character, even if they "tell you" what they want to say first. On the other hand if they voice the elf, chances are that they just won't. Or they'll not take anything out of what they say ever, since they are usually of a mind /not/ to be affected by cursed items as much
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I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
This is an item that most definitely needs to end in the hands of an experienced and good roleplayer. I think attaching to the item itself a list of things the elf spirit would not allow the user to communicate (such as "I am under a curse", "I am being controlled", "Elves sux" [;P], that sort of stuff) or that he would likely shift (like boasting on how powerful the sword is after a combat, or praising elven craftmaship at any occasion and despising dwarven culture and aesthetic taste, any number of things, really).
In my opinion, as the spirit does not seem to be evil, but just a troublemaker, most of what the character wants to say can go, and a few guidelines on how the spirit would switch certain messages should be enough to maintain the idea, and provide a funny roleply challenge for an experienced player. You would obviously not give this to a completely new player.
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
I'd agree, and I'd also say it should be a willing experienced player. This kinda could be seen, in a certain light, as removing whatever personality the player worked to develop for their character, essentially ending their role-playing. I personally wouldn't want to have a character that I made be reduced to a talking sword that I had to role play as
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I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
I can see your concerns, and I agree the player HAS to agree, but consider this: couldn't it actually make it even more interesting, from a RP standpoint? I mean, the sword is not controlling the mind of the character, only the information he is able to relay to others via speech or writing, the character is still in posses of his faculties and personality and whatnot.
Let's see for example the situation in which the party is dealing with a dwarf for payment on a completed quest. The haggling is going well but it's taking long-ish, so the player with the sword might decide the elven spirit might be getting fed up, and bursts out some injuring word at the dwarf, who gets upset, pays the characters the bare minimum and then proceeds to go away, leaving the party baffled, possibly slightly angry and with the cursed character unbelieving of what just happened and in need to find a way to try and convince the others he was not his intention. This is RP right there, and it's not the player RP-ing the sword, it's the player weaving the sword "impositions" (to which, again, he would HAVE to agree with) into his character interpretation.
I apologize in advance if the comparison I am going to make offends anyone, but try to think of it as the character suddenly developing the cursing version of Tourette, and having little control on when that would come up (which the player still has, to an extent).
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
I think I might've misread the original post, I was thinking that the character was no longer able to speak, and that the sword was speaking for them. If it's the way you say, where the sword limits or interposes speech, then I agree with you
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I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
I now realize I might have overstepped the intended workings of the original post in my example... The original post indeed seems to veer on the sword being the one doing the talking, with its telepathic capabilities, but I have the impression that would give away immediately that something is not right with the newly acquired weapon.
[sarcastic example incoming]"Hey, Jack has been talking a tad strange and only telepathically since he got that sword... I wonder if he ate something strange."[sarcastic example off]
More interesting and subtle would be for the sword to take be able to take control of his speaking/communicating capabilities more or less at will, as that would make it longer for the other players to think the sword might be the cause and possibly look for a de-curse.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
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Hey guys! So I was thinking about creating a cursed longsword, which has its creator soul binded to it. A rather egoistic high elf, who was forced to create a magic weapon long ago. He knew, that the capturers going to kill him, when he finishes the sword, so he made some tricks to live on and cause some trouble.
When a player picks up the sword, its intelligence is dropping to 1, but its charisma rising up to 20. Basically he becomes an adorable idiot. The player cannot throw the weapon away (the elf's soul doesn't let), and cannot put the curse to someone else (the sword after the first touch is harmless to others). Plus the high elf's soul can communicate to its surroundings trough telepatics. I was thinking about that the cursed player due to Intelligence 1, cannot speak, but can communicate with the sword, so it can speak for the player. I think it can make some hillarious RP situation. And if the player wants to get rid of the curse, he/she either die with it, or need to return the sword to the forge where it was created, and where the high elf's corpse is lying.
I would be very happy if you could tell me your toughts! :) And sorry for my possible grammar mistakes, english is not my primary language :)
Even Zombies have an Intelligence score of 3. A score of 1 is way too low for the character to continue functioning in any meaningful way, except as a vegetable. It is cool to use magic items as an adventure hook but that doesn't sound like a very fun adventure for the player in question, if they are essentially no longer in control of their character.
It might be more interesting, probably, if the sword would prevent the user to speak on its own, and everything be filtered by the item (systemically imposing to the player some changes to what he wants his character to say) and prohibit the user to ever say clearly or write that the sword is cursed and is controlling his communications.
An INT of 1 is impossibly low for a creature to function, it basically prevents basic autonomous body functions.
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
Well I know that INT 1 is too low in normal conditions, but in magical terms, we can explain that the sword doesn't let you think straight or speak, but that doesn't mean it lets you die in a vegetable form. It needs the player to wield it, so the elf can "live on". Plus if I max out one ability (in this case, the Charisma), I have to lower one onto minimum, because if I doesn't balance it out, the players won't see this as a curse, more like a cool bonus, with some changes in RP. The curse itself still can be of use for example in interrogation, or persuasion due to a 20 charisma, but the setbacks make you think trough the remove of the curse. (I have to say, that my players are in 1st and 2nd levels, but they are going to search trough an ancient temple, so a CHAR 20 is a major buff)
Though I have to admit, fromshus can be right about the fun part. However I was never intented to take the controll from the cursed player. If we set aside the INT 1, and say thats it is not from natural causes, but magical, the player can move and battle as before, the only problem he/she will got is the speaking and the memory. He can ask the sword to tell the others what he thinks about, the question is that will the sword do it, and if it tells the same or alter it? (like LeK said with the filtering).
If, on the other hand, the INT 1 score would also effectively lower all rolls involving INT, it's a hell of a drawback to get a +5 in CHA, as it would make any roll below a 15 a 10 or less, basically making it impossible for the player to surpass most INT-based checks and saving throws (assuming this will be used by a more combat-oriented character rather than an academic one, so no proficiency in INT-based skills or saves).
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
Yes, we used the 4d6, take the worst out method, so your point is more than valid. I want to hold on the INT drawback, but i see now, that a -5 modifier is a bit over the moon :D . Maybe a -3. It means that the INT is reduced to a 4, which is still pretty low for the traditional character creating, but maybe more reasonable due to its curse origin. In practice I imagine this as the sword sucks out the players knowledge and the ability to speak.
For example the cursed player looks at a letter and tries to do a history check. He/she has a hard time because the sword makes the toughts swirling in his/her head (-3 modifier). Let's say even with these conditions our hero nails the ability check and finds out that the letter was mentioning some extremely important dude. But the second part of the problem is that he/she cannot speak, the words just don't come out in any meaningful way. So the player tells the sword (in fact, the egoistic high elf spirit) trough their telepatic connection to be so kind and share the knowledge. If the elf pleases, he do so, but if he doesn't care or doesn't want this knowledge to be known, he either alter it, or wont say a thing.
(As a matter of fact, as I was writing this example, I tought of that this "mute" can be played around a bit with writing. With an INT 4, I wouldn't say that the cursed one can write a novel, detailing it's toughts, but some simple words, with a childish style. Or there is the rouge's secret sign language, or something like that.)
In the other hand, in a Charisma based scenario the people either find the cursed one adorably dumb/feel sorry for it, or the sword do some telepatic mindf*ck to frighten someone (or something similar) :D So here would come the +5 modifier.
By the way, I am far from thinking you rude, in fact I am very happy that I can share my idea, and you are kind enough to point out it's flaws. This way I can tweak it a bit, so when I drop it on the party, it will be a (more or less) positive experience :D .
For this item... will you be voicing the elf? Will he? I only see those two as options, and I see a big problem with both. On one hand if you're voicing it, the player will feel like they're no longer playing the character, even if they "tell you" what they want to say first. On the other hand if they voice the elf, chances are that they just won't. Or they'll not take anything out of what they say ever, since they are usually of a mind /not/ to be affected by cursed items as much
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
This is an item that most definitely needs to end in the hands of an experienced and good roleplayer.
I think attaching to the item itself a list of things the elf spirit would not allow the user to communicate (such as "I am under a curse", "I am being controlled", "Elves sux" [;P], that sort of stuff) or that he would likely shift (like boasting on how powerful the sword is after a combat, or praising elven craftmaship at any occasion and despising dwarven culture and aesthetic taste, any number of things, really).
In my opinion, as the spirit does not seem to be evil, but just a troublemaker, most of what the character wants to say can go, and a few guidelines on how the spirit would switch certain messages should be enough to maintain the idea, and provide a funny roleply challenge for an experienced player. You would obviously not give this to a completely new player.
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
I'd agree, and I'd also say it should be a willing experienced player. This kinda could be seen, in a certain light, as removing whatever personality the player worked to develop for their character, essentially ending their role-playing. I personally wouldn't want to have a character that I made be reduced to a talking sword that I had to role play as
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
I can see your concerns, and I agree the player HAS to agree, but consider this: couldn't it actually make it even more interesting, from a RP standpoint? I mean, the sword is not controlling the mind of the character, only the information he is able to relay to others via speech or writing, the character is still in posses of his faculties and personality and whatnot.
Let's see for example the situation in which the party is dealing with a dwarf for payment on a completed quest. The haggling is going well but it's taking long-ish, so the player with the sword might decide the elven spirit might be getting fed up, and bursts out some injuring word at the dwarf, who gets upset, pays the characters the bare minimum and then proceeds to go away, leaving the party baffled, possibly slightly angry and with the cursed character unbelieving of what just happened and in need to find a way to try and convince the others he was not his intention. This is RP right there, and it's not the player RP-ing the sword, it's the player weaving the sword "impositions" (to which, again, he would HAVE to agree with) into his character interpretation.
I apologize in advance if the comparison I am going to make offends anyone, but try to think of it as the character suddenly developing the cursing version of Tourette, and having little control on when that would come up (which the player still has, to an extent).
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
I think I might've misread the original post, I was thinking that the character was no longer able to speak, and that the sword was speaking for them. If it's the way you say, where the sword limits or interposes speech, then I agree with you
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
I now realize I might have overstepped the intended workings of the original post in my example...
The original post indeed seems to veer on the sword being the one doing the talking, with its telepathic capabilities, but I have the impression that would give away immediately that something is not right with the newly acquired weapon.
[sarcastic example incoming]"Hey, Jack has been talking a tad strange and only telepathically since he got that sword... I wonder if he ate something strange."[sarcastic example off]
More interesting and subtle would be for the sword to take be able to take control of his speaking/communicating capabilities more or less at will, as that would make it longer for the other players to think the sword might be the cause and possibly look for a de-curse.
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games