These items are
cursed in that they usually grant a powerful effect at a price. Most
of these are supposed to be slightly more interesting then the
Roguelike style “cursed means -2 and also you can't take it off
lol”
[1] Waveblade
– Magic Sword +2
Stats-
(2d6 +2) Damage +1 to Initiative, Move Thru
This is a powerful
magic sword enchanted with the magic of water and the strength of the
waves. The weapon is curved with a beautiful blue handle, and has a
golden decorative hilt that mimics a spraying, foaming ocean wave.
Its slashes sing and the blade always feels slick; like metal just
washed and dabbed with a towel but not yet fully dried to the air.
Whatever system
for initiative you use in your game, make the character wielding this
blade get a +1 to the roll, or add it to their chance to avoid being
surprised, or to go first by that many units. Secondly, whenever this
weapon is used, the character holding it can move through spaces
occupied by other units with their attack; a combination of knocking
them aside with a rush of force and a sort of liquid-like agility to
slip between tight spaces while maintaining control. Those holding
this blade are also known to be able to glide on thin sheets of
water, kicking up a wake behind them with each flashy sword strike.
However, the
Waveblade has a cost. Every time it rolls maximum damage on either
(or both) of its dice, the DM marks a secret tally count for each
character who uses the Waveblade.
At 3 marks
or less, nothing unusual happens.
At 4 to 7
marks, the character will feel woozy after each battle where they
acquired at least one mark.
At 8 to 9
marks, the character feels water pooling in their shoes after a
battle where they acquired a mark. They must make a saving throw or
lose 1d2 points of Strength as their body feels weaker.
At 10 marks
or more, the character must make a saving throw after a battle where
they acquired a mark, and on failure they die. Their body liquefies
and turns to pure water, their belongings and the sword falling to
the ground in a wet heap. On a successful save, they lose 1d4 points
of Strength.
[2]
Black Ring
This is a magic
ring, made of a dark black metal. It is engraved with nothing and
socketed with no gemstone; the ring is as smooth and exact of a craft
as it can get. Once placed on a finger, the ring magically binds
itself to the wearer; even if the ring is removed or destroyed a
black brand appears around that finger which symbolically represents
the ring. There is no way to remove the curse of the ring, unless you
cut off the finger which bears the sooty blemish. The powers of the
ring remain even for those who wear the ring or who are marked by it;
as long as that finger remains.
As long as you are
marked by the Black Ring, you gain protection at a price. You first
feel the call of the void beneath us all; the dark realms beyond the
blackest infinities where unformed beings live. These places, the
“dark place”, the outer realms, whatever they are called- you can
feel their calling. This grants a sense of unease, but also a sense
of security. Any failed save or die saving throw you make or any
banishment spell you suffer from instead drops you firmly into the
black infinity. After 1d6 turns, you will be returned to where you
disappeared from the nearest shadowy corner or pool of water. Each
turn you spend in the black infinities causes you a permanent lose of
1 Wisdom, but you may gain Terrible Knowledge from the whispering of
the beings in that cold place.
Secondly, you gain
a strange compulsion to cover your body totally when you sleep,
preferably behind closed and locked doors in windowless rooms. This
is because your body loses form when you sleep; the entire area or
space instead is filled with a deep and supernatural darkness which
is your sleeping form. Any assassins sent to kill you in your sleep
will just find a dark room. The darkness that is your sleeping body
also acts on its own accord in self defense; those who try to disturb
the darkness will take 1d6 damage per round they remain within it; it
is a hungry shadow that pulls away pieces and sends them to the black
infinities, a bottomless void. This also means that light of any kind
will damage you while you sleep, though as long as there is a shadowy
corner for the darkness to retreat to your physical form will not be
harmed. If the room you are sleeping in is fully lit and uncovered,
you disappear with the last shadow and never return.
[3]
The Prick
The tiny metal
needle is greenish at the base, giving the impression of some kind of
tarnish, but is clean at the tip. The needle is incredibly sharp and
can be stabbed through chainmail or leather, but iron plates or
better armor will stop it. It deals no damage on a hit, the wound it
leaves is so fine as to only ever drip a single drop of blood. It
won't even wake up sleeping people stuck with it.
The Prick has two
powers. Firstly, any wound made by it never heals. This is a very
minor wound, the person with the wound will only bleed a single drop
of blood once every day at most, but it simply refuses to fully scab
over and be gone. This means that any creature that can smell blood
like a shark or monsters that can sense injured people will be able
to smell this person from a long way away, even if they are at full
hit points. Secondly, spells or magical effects (such as necrotic
gas) that requires an entry into the body from a wound or that deals
damage to wounded beings can be used against them.
Second, the bearer
of the prick gains an unspoken connection to the people he stabbed
with it. Their blood flows through his veins now. By stabbing
yourself with the prick, you can make invisible streams of blood and
life energy flow from your victims into yourself from any distance.
This only takes a tiny amount of life from each person you stabbed,
only a droplet of blood, but together they can form a mighty ocean.
If anyone stabbed by the prick dies, you can no longer channel their
blood. This power requires a turn to use and can only be used once
per day.
If you stabbed 1
to 9 people, you gain no benefit beyond a slight feeling of euphoria.
If you stabbed 10
to ~50 people, you heal +1d4 hit points. The life energy is being
stolen, but is so minor from each victim they will barely notice.
If you stabbed
~100 people, you heal +1d6 hit points and count as being fed for that
day, no longer requiring a ration.
If you stabbed
~250 people or more, you heal +1d8 hit points, don't need to eat that
day, and restore 1 point of any damaged attribute.
Since the wounds
caused by this cannot be healed, you only need to stab someone and
get away with it to later drain them. However, every person you stab
with this has a tiny amount of their blood mixed with yours; your
mind and body alter in subtle ways. If you have stabbed ~75 people or
more, you gain a random mutation. If you have stabbed over ~200
people, you gain a mental instability; delusions, weird fetishes or
phobias, amnesia, false memories, alternate personalities, etc. This
is from all of the life energy of radically different lives then your
own entering your body at all times.
Also, if you lose
the Prick, you can no longer use its power to channel, but the
instability from all the beings you have drawn blood from remain in
you. Just as unhealing as the wounds the needle caused, so to you are
unable to remove the traces of the minds and souls of other beings
from yourself. Even if you massacred every single person you drew
blood from, their blood would still be within your veins.
[4]
Blue-Gold Bangle
This is a golden
bangle of a specific alloy, with a blue tint. It is a smooth, simple
ring of metal with no ornamentation. It is wide enough to be worn on
the wrist of most medium/human sized races, around the neck of most
small races, or around the thumb or big toe of large races. If a race
is described as having a heavy or thick tail, then they can probably
wear it there too.
Putting the bangle
around your wrist or on the body part of choice has two effects. The
first is that you feel a tingling sensation in that limb, and can now
make attacks by that limb strike ghosts, intangible spirits, or other
beings that can only be struck by magic. Weapons or spiked armor on
that body part will work under this effect, but not if the weapon is
held in the opposite hand or what have you. Secondly, the blue gold
bangle starts to turn you into a ghost. Every time you put the bangle
on or off, or each consecutive week you wear it, you lose -1 maximum
hit points. Your body becomes slightly less tangible and your life
force is slowly drained away. If you can find a holy man, he can take
the amulet off your arm without you losing a hit point- this
encourages people to keep it on longer and risk having it tick down
every week until they can find a holy man.
[5]
Magic Doll
It's a doll in a
red dress. Carved from wood and painted, it appears as a medium
quality toy with little ornamentation, but is quite valuable. Anyone
who knows what this doll is will pay you 2,500c for it.
If this doll is played with by a child with a congenital illness or terminal disease, they will die peacefully in their sleep the following night.
[6]
Bottled Spirit
Within this small
glass bottle is a tiny, writhing spirit-fire. The pale blue flame
hints at the presence of the spirit within. When the bottle is opened
or smashed, the spirit is freed. It will answer one question or
perform one favor for the person who opened the bottle. It can answer
questions about the spirit world or physical things; it can do this
by flying to a place to check something out and then return to report
on its findings- acting as an indirect form of scrying. It can also
simply share knowledge about the spirit realm, such as the
destination of a dead person's soul and where they ended up, or if
they are still trapped as a ghost in the physical world.
Once this exchange
is complete, the spirit is freed and will leave. But it is bound by
an ancient law to arrange that the person who opened the bottle be
trapped inside one themselves upon their death. The opener will end
up as a spirit in a bottle after they are killed or die of old age,
but cannot exchange information until the bottle is opened, meaning
their friends may free them in kindness not realizing then they are
marked to become the next bottled spirit as well.
[7]
Fantastic Classic
The fantastic
classic is a mix of herbs, vegetables, and a bitter honey-like spread
sold in a small metal tin. It is magically enchanted. Anyone who eats
something with this spread, such as some bread or dipping in some
vegetables, will proudly declare how good it is, and will gladly give
it to anyone who asks for it or share it. It actually tastes awful,
it's just magically enchanted so you'll say how good it is. Everyone
wants to get rid of it, hence why they'll share it so readily.
[8]
Gremlin Stick
These sticks are
nothing more then common wooden sticks, but all were once claimed to
be used to beat a gremlin out of a house or workshop. The gremlin
stick seemingly exudes an aura of chaos around it from then on; small
mechanical latches will open, buttons will be pressed in, levers
switched and safety binds pulled free. These magical effects will
happen when not observed, simply having the stick in the same
building or leaning against its outer walls will cause these minor
annoyances and accidents to happen. Some people say that is the only
reason people get to see gremlins at all; they reveal themselves to
be beaten and as a side effect can mess up people's work by proxy.
The Gremlin
Stick's magical aura can be ended by just burning or getting rid of
the stick, though it is hard to figure out why everything is going
haywire for no reason. The chaos caused by the stick can however be
focused; any place with deadly mechanical traps or complex machinery
used to keep away intruders will instead have their traps reset
automatically. Many dungeons have gremlin sticks stuck within their
depths for this reason, hidden among a pile of cobweb covered wizard
staves or hidden under a pile of ashes from long dead fireplaces.
[9]
Spear of Voyage –
Magic Spear +1
Stats-
1d8+1 Damage, Disjointment on 1 in 6
This
is a magic spear, painted with a purple pattern along the head of the
spear, and a long tattered yellow tassel from an ancient desert nomad
tied around the neck. It is a magical weapon with decent killing
potential, but its most unique feature is its disjointment. The spear
is an interdimensional tool; different magical realms that exist in
side with our can be pierced by the spear; the 'veil' between realms
being punctured like a lung or heart. Upon striking a creature, there
is a 1 in 6 chance that this spear can shunt them away into another
realm. Creatures will automatically return their own realm if they
are alien origin, OR will send them to the most dangerous realm for
them if they are not. Striking humans with this will likely shunt
them into the netherrealm or other places of dark, negative energy.
Nature beings may be sent to opposing elemental planes, where as
golems and the lifeless will instead be sent to the depths of the
astral realm.
This
spear is infamous. While this powerful ability makes it formidable,
as being shunted means at minimum a journey through a strange and
dangerous land far from home, which often results in death or
permanent exile from your dimension, the spear itself is infamous for
its curse. The moment the spear is touched, that person will become
lost for the rest of their life. They will not be able to return
home, and will be constantly set on paths into uncharted places or
strange lands of which they will know no comfort. Anything from the
weather, politics, to plain bad luck will constantly interrupt their
journey, any map they carry or consult will have its ink fade away to
nothing, meaning that for the rest of their life they will be lost.
[10]
Bad Gammon
This
cursed game board is similar to a popular game in your setting. The
case of this is an old, dark and luxurious hardwood with ivory
playing pieces and well balanced dice. If the owner of this board
challenges someone to a game on it with something on the line,
they'll always win. The dice can't be detected to be fake or
weighted, the board itself has no secret levers or traps, it's just a
magical board that always lets its owner win in the game.
However,
every time you use this board you become more cocky and less
cautious. For every 5000c worth of money or equivalent goods you
steal from others by using the magic board, you lose -1 Wisdom score.
This works best if Wisdom modifier = saving throw bonus to all saving
throws. This represents that the person using the board has thrown
all caution to the wind off their incredible “luck” and starts to
become complacent. Eventually, it will catch up with you.
#9 is my absolute favourite, it's so classical and mythic
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