The Cursed One subclass seeks to offer the sorcerer class a subclass that centers the character and their story rather than the accomplishments of those who came before them. A Cursed One sorcerer can come about, like all other sorcerers, either through the family line, in the case of a curse placed on a bloodline, or through happenstance by being in the vicinity of a cursed ritual. The difference is that it’s much easier for the player to come up with a backstory that directly involves their character as an active participant in the reason for their sorcery. It also immediately asks the players many questions to help them in the process of creating a character: Who placed this curse on them? What is the nature of the curse? Why were they cursed in the first place? These are all questions that can lead the sorcerer’s player to create a compelling character from the start. This subclass is also explicitly devised for characters who serve as phylacteries for the Hierarch, the Pointy Hat sorcerer lich.

Mechanically, the Cursed One sorcerer borrows the video game convention of a playable class that must inflict damage on themselves to unleash the true potential of their character build. This is done to reflect the flavor of the subclass, but also to offer the player a challenge and encourage a high-risk, high-reward playstyle. The sorcerer is, along with the wizard, the class with the lowest hit point total in the game, so using their ability to transform hit points into metamagic uses puts the sorcerer in great danger, but allows them to use their signature ability much more liberally than other sorcerers. The Cursed One subclass plays with this, allowing the user to use the damage dealt to other creatures instead of their own hit points, but for a steeper cost. It also gives the sorcerer even more versatility by offering spells that they haven’t learned (or prepared, if using 2024 rules), including the use of warlock spells, all at the cost of their own hit points.

The Curse

As a Cursed One sorcerer, you have been inflicted with a curse that is the source of your sorcerous magic. Talk with your GM to outline the specifics of this curse and how it affects your character. You may choose to have the curse actually negatively affect your character mechanically, or leave it only for flavor. You can roll on the table below to choose a curse or help you create your own.

d8

Curse

1

You are transformed into a beastly humanoid, more animal than person. Your previous species is completely unrecognizable now.

2

You are cursed with constant bad luck, the hands of fate conspiring to put you in distress. Your GM may use the bad luck table on the Jinx species for ideas as to how your bad luck manifests.

3

Your once-beautiful appearance has been twisted into a grotesque caricature, the mere sight of your face scaring children.

4

You carry a spirit or another ethereal presence within you. Only you can hear their voice, and they often urge you to do things you wouldn’t or shouldn’t do.

5

Your touch is putrid, spoiling food, fouling water, and blighting the natural world around you if you stay too long in the same place.

6

You are cursed to be forgotten. The moment you leave someone’s sight, their memories of you become progressively blurrier, until they forget about you given enough time.

7

No matter how honest and transparent you are, your words, actions, and attitude always seem suspicious and deceitful. You are seen as two-faced and untrustworthy by anyone who meets you.

8

You are unable to deny help to anyone who asks you for it, no matter how small or how big the request and no matter how inconvenient it might be.

 

Cursed Spells

Starting at 3rd level, you learn an additional spell when you reach certain levels in this class, as shown in the Curse Spells table. The spell counts as a sorcerer spell for you, but it doesn't count against the number of spells you know.

Level	Spell
3rd	Bane, Inflict Wounds, Blindness/Deafness, Silence
5th	Bestow Curse, Slow
7th	Confusion, Polymorph
9th	Contagion, Dominate Person

Magic Maledict

Beginning at 6th level, you can draw on the vitality of your foes instead of your own to power up your magic. If you have dealt damage to a creature during your last turn without using a metamagic option, you may use that damage instead of your own hit points to use a metamagic option during your current turn.

If you are using another creature’s hit points instead of your own, one sorcery point corresponds to an amount of hit points equal to your sorcerer level. You cannot use more than one metamagic option per turn using another creature’s hit points other than your own, and you must use the damage dealt to a creature during your previous turn.

Additionally, as a bonus action, you can use sorcery points to heal yourself for a number of hit points equal to half your sorcerer level per sorcery point used. You can do this immediately after falling unconscious as a free action.

Cursed One

When you choose this origin at 3rd level, you have been inflicted with a curse that has permanently changed you intrinsically. Much like a curse placed on a magic item, your curse cannot be dispelled through common curse-breaking methods such as the spells Remove Curse or Greater Restoration.

 

You can use the power of your curse to power up your magic at the cost of your own vitality.

You can sacrifice hit points instead of a sorcery point to use one of your metamagic options. One sorcery point corresponds to a number of hit points equal to half your sorcerer level, rounded up. You cannot sacrifice temporary hit points in order to use this feature.

Maliferous Casting

At 14th level, your control over the curse that ails you allows you to transcend the limits of magic and metamagic. You can sacrifice a number of your own hit points equal to your sorcerer level, or a number of another creature’s hit points equal to double your sorcerer level, provided you have inflicted damage to that creature in your last turn for with a number of hit points equal or greater to your sorcerer level as outlined in your Magic Maledict feature, to use a metamagic option you do not have access to. You cannot sacrifice temporary hit points in order to use this feature.

Additionally, you can sacrifice a number of hit points equal to your sorcerer level, or a number of another creature’s hit points equal to double your sorcerer level, provided you have inflicted damage to that creature in your last turn for with a number of hit points equal or greater to your sorcerer level as outlined in your Magic Maledict feature, to cast a spell from the sorcerer or the warlock spell list you do not know (or have not prepared, if using 2024 rules). When you do so, you must also spend a spell slot of the corresponding level to the spell you wish to cast. You cannot sacrifice temporary hit points in order to use this feature.

 

Malefice

At 18th level, as an action, you unleash the curse that has afflicted you onto others in a burst of dark magic. Select a number of creatures up to your proficiency bonus within 30 feet of you. The affected creatures are afflicted with the following effects:

The affected creatures are under the spell Bestow Curse. You choose the nature of the curse when you use this feature.
The affected creatures have disadvantage on their next attack roll or saving throw.

Additionally, the momentary release of the curse reinvigorates you and your magic. As part of the same action, you can cast a spell, on which you can use a metamagic option without expending sorcery points or sacrificing hit points.

Once you use this action, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest, unless you spend 7 sorcery points to use it again.