I am VERY new to D&D, and writing my first adventure for my players (my family members). I am wanting them to go to a dungeon that has been cursed long ago by a Wizard or Warlock or some magical NPC of old, in which the dungeon does not allow magic until the curse is lifted. I’m guessing to have this lifted the PCs must find a statue holding an orb that must be destroyed in order the lift the curse. (I’m planning to have a few mobs spawn when someone touches the orb and maybe a trap as well). After they defeat this mob and escape the trap, is it cool to just have them like shatter the orb and wham! All magic is usable again? Or is there a better way to go about this? Or is it just a stupid idea to begin with hahaha?
Help me out! We have only played a little bit of homebrew and nothing outside what few adventures we’ve done like Death House and a bit of LMoP, so we are super noobs. :)
Literally half the playable classes are magic dependant and only 4 classes don't have spells by default. So an area that prevents magic is going to be un-fun for a few players.
You could alter magic in a weird fun way, so casters aren't useless, but are still inconvenienced.
I'm going to be starting a new story arc in my homebrew world that involves magic being affected. Rather than making the casters ineffective, magic is lost/blocked, I'm going to make it so magic is waning. There will be a small chance of failure to cast a spell, every time they cast a leveled spell there is a 5% chance that it will fail, this chance of failure increases by 5% per level. Cantrips will be unaffected, but as they level up, a 5th level spell will have a 25% chance of failure until they find the cause of this issue.
I love DxJxC's suggestion! Use the rules for Wild Magic Sorcerers where every time a spellcaster casts a spell of 1st level or higher they have to roll a d20 and if they roll a 20 a Wild Magic Surge happens. Make the d100 roll behind the DM's screen so that if the roll calls for an instant death of the players you can "adjust" the roll so that they're not killed. And don't tell them what you're doing or what's happening, make them roll the d20 and tell you the result. And when they get to the inner sanctum where the orb that they need to smash is located, make Wild Magic Surges happen when they roll a 19 or 20 on a d20.
As stated above, many classes are magic dependant and would be basically useless in that dungeon. It's equivalent to creating a dungeon where weapons don't work and everyone without magic can only punch enemies. You run the risk of your magic characters just refusing to go there.
You could create something where magic behaves differently however. Maybe every time you cast a spell it triggers a wild magic surge. That can cause interesting and sometimes undesireable effects, but at least the spell they were trying to cast happens as well so they can feel useful.
Smashing an orb is a fine way to end it if you want it self contained. You could also require a ritual that the magic characters could perform while the weapon characters defend them. Or maybe the orb can't be easily smashed and requires special reagents or a unique location to destroy if you want to make it a longer quest.
Thanks! I was going to make this have a warning at the entrance, and basically have it happen very quickly, just as a little twist, but I can totally see that it might be less fun for them this way. I will do this instead if I choose to go ahead with this lol.
I love DxJxC's suggestion! Use the rules for Wild Magic Sorcerers where every time a spellcaster casts a spell of 1st level or higher they have to roll a d20 and if they roll a 20 a Wild Magic Surge happens. Make the d100 roll behind the DM's screen so that if the roll calls for an instant death of the players you can "adjust" the roll so that they're not killed. And don't tell them what you're doing or what's happening, make them roll the d20 and tell you the result. And when they get to the inner sanctum where the orb that they need to smash is located, make Wild Magic Surges happen when they roll a 19 or 20 on a d20.
I love this idea! Thanks so much for the quick replies!! :)
Smashing an orb is a fine way to end it if you want it self contained. You could also require a ritual that the magic characters could perform while the weapon characters defend them. Or maybe the orb can't be easily smashed and requires special reagents or a unique location to destroy if you want to make it a longer quest.
Oh, I like this, too. I knew you all would have great ideas for me.
You could have the curse based on light or a creature or time.
Light - the more/less light there is, the more/less magic works.
Creature - a friendly NPC goes along to help or guide the party. He always pulls out his "good luck charm" in combat or whatever, and when he does, it activates the Orb.
Time - Magic slowly increases and decreases based on how long the party is in the dungeon.
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"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?"
You may also want to take a look at Matt Mercer's optional corruption rules since they are free and only two pages long. It's a good way to build up the dread in cursed and corrupted areas.
Certain landscapes house deeply evil places or artifacts that corrupt the very nature of people who spend time around them. Sites where the presence of such terrible wickedness can slowly twist and infect the physical forms of even the most holy of creatures. Unhallowed or cursed locations that erode the drive and will of those that linger. When sleep comes to those that stay, it's this period of vulnerability that invites the darkness in. This ruleset, heavily inspired by and condensing many elements of the Heroes of Horror Taint rules, allows you to have this dark influence slowly infect your adventuring party, helping build tension as they traverse the shadowed lands.
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"Not all those who wander are lost"
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I am VERY new to D&D, and writing my first adventure for my players (my family members). I am wanting them to go to a dungeon that has been cursed long ago by a Wizard or Warlock or some magical NPC of old, in which the dungeon does not allow magic until the curse is lifted. I’m guessing to have this lifted the PCs must find a statue holding an orb that must be destroyed in order the lift the curse. (I’m planning to have a few mobs spawn when someone touches the orb and maybe a trap as well). After they defeat this mob and escape the trap, is it cool to just have them like shatter the orb and wham! All magic is usable again? Or is there a better way to go about this? Or is it just a stupid idea to begin with hahaha?
Help me out! We have only played a little bit of homebrew and nothing outside what few adventures we’ve done like Death House and a bit of LMoP, so we are super noobs. :)
Literally half the playable classes are magic dependant and only 4 classes don't have spells by default. So an area that prevents magic is going to be un-fun for a few players.
You could alter magic in a weird fun way, so casters aren't useless, but are still inconvenienced.
I'm going to be starting a new story arc in my homebrew world that involves magic being affected. Rather than making the casters ineffective, magic is lost/blocked, I'm going to make it so magic is waning. There will be a small chance of failure to cast a spell, every time they cast a leveled spell there is a 5% chance that it will fail, this chance of failure increases by 5% per level. Cantrips will be unaffected, but as they level up, a 5th level spell will have a 25% chance of failure until they find the cause of this issue.
I love DxJxC's suggestion! Use the rules for Wild Magic Sorcerers where every time a spellcaster casts a spell of 1st level or higher they have to roll a d20 and if they roll a 20 a Wild Magic Surge happens. Make the d100 roll behind the DM's screen so that if the roll calls for an instant death of the players you can "adjust" the roll so that they're not killed. And don't tell them what you're doing or what's happening, make them roll the d20 and tell you the result. And when they get to the inner sanctum where the orb that they need to smash is located, make Wild Magic Surges happen when they roll a 19 or 20 on a d20.
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As stated above, many classes are magic dependant and would be basically useless in that dungeon. It's equivalent to creating a dungeon where weapons don't work and everyone without magic can only punch enemies. You run the risk of your magic characters just refusing to go there.
You could create something where magic behaves differently however. Maybe every time you cast a spell it triggers a wild magic surge. That can cause interesting and sometimes undesireable effects, but at least the spell they were trying to cast happens as well so they can feel useful.
Smashing an orb is a fine way to end it if you want it self contained. You could also require a ritual that the magic characters could perform while the weapon characters defend them. Or maybe the orb can't be easily smashed and requires special reagents or a unique location to destroy if you want to make it a longer quest.
Thanks! I was going to make this have a warning at the entrance, and basically have it happen very quickly, just as a little twist, but I can totally see that it might be less fun for them this way. I will do this instead if I choose to go ahead with this lol.
I love this idea! Thanks so much for the quick replies!! :)
Oh, I like this, too. I knew you all would have great ideas for me.
You could also use the chart from the wand of wonder. Between that and wildmagic, there aught roll be enough weirdness.
What was the Tooltip that wasn't found? I'm interested to see what's on the chart you were referring to.
You could have the curse based on light or a creature or time.
Light - the more/less light there is, the more/less magic works.
Creature - a friendly NPC goes along to help or guide the party. He always pulls out his "good luck charm" in combat or whatever, and when he does, it activates the Orb.
Time - Magic slowly increases and decreases based on how long the party is in the dungeon.
"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
Sorry, my auto correct screwed me. Wand of wonder. I fixed the original post too.
You may also want to take a look at Matt Mercer's optional corruption rules since they are free and only two pages long. It's a good way to build up the dread in cursed and corrupted areas.
"Not all those who wander are lost"