Verfluchter Gegenstand

Cursed items are rarely of the “zap, you’re dead” variety. Instead, they often appear as various forms of negative effects ranging from the merely inconvenient to the truly burdensome. Many cursed items also mix both benef i cial and baneful effects and may therefore force a player into a diff i cult choice. If a cursed item or effect is desired, roll d% and consult the table below. The listing of specif i c cursed items included later in this section provide some examples of these effects in use.

table of common Item curses d% curse 01-15 Delusion 16-35 Opposite effect or target 36-45 Intermittent functioning d% curse 46-60 Requirement 61-75 Drawback 76-90 Completely different effect 91-00 Substitute specif i c cursed item

Delusion

In the user’s mind the item is exactly what he or she believes it to be when picked up or used. The device actually is a mundane item with powerful deception magics placed upon it and absolutely no special powers. The user is absolutely convinced this item is a benef i cial magical item of some sort and only a remove curse will allow him or her to be convinced otherwise.

Opposite effect or target

These items are normally benef i cial items that malfunction under certain circumstances, causing damage to the user, or, to a different target instead of the in-tended target. They can also take the form of a weapon or item that appears to grant an attack and damage bonus but instead inf l icts a penalty. Once the cursed nature of the item reveals itself the user may sometimes be able to discard it. At other times a strong compulsion is placed upon the user and he or she will not be able to rid him- or herself of it except by means of a remove curse spell.

Intermittent functioning

Intermittently-functioning items tend to fall into three broad categories: unreliable, intermit-tent, and uncontrolled. Unreliable items have a small chance of malfunctioning or not functioning at all each time they are activated, usually a natural 1 on a d20. Uncontrolled items, on the other hand, have an unfortunate tendency to activate at completely random times. On a roll of 1 on 1d20 the item will activate at some random point during the day. Dependent items must have a specif i c condition or situation met or they will not function. A table of possible situations is included be-low for GM inspiration. Feel free to modify and add to this list as need dictates.

d% Situation 01-05 Day 06-10 Night 11-15 Temperature above freezing 16-20 Temperature below freezing 21-25 Above ground 26-30 Below ground 31-35 Within 10 ft of a goblinoid monster 36-40 Within 10 ft of an elf 41-45 Within 10 ft of a cleric 46-50 Within 10 ft of a magic user 51-55 Wielded by a spellcaster 56-60 Wielded by a non-spellcaster 61-65 Wielded by a specif i c alignment (determined randomly) 66-70 Wielded by a specif i c sex (determined randomly) 71-75 Underwater 76-80 At least 10 miles from a major body of water 81-85 In direct sunlight 86-90 Out of direct sunlight 91-95 User must be wearing metal armour 96-00 User must not be wearing any armour at all

Requirement

Some items have a requirement that must be met before being rendered usable. This is not a simple com-mand word, which is considered to be a normal requirement for most magic items. Instead, the item requires a specif i c sort of condition to be met to trigger its function. Some require-ments are a one time type of event; others are monthly, daily, or even per usage or continuous. To inspire the GM, a list of requirements are included, but in order to provide the right fl avour to the cursed item, the requirement should always fi t the specif i c item and should never be determined randomly. Character must only eat meat, or, must become a vege-• tarian. Character must sleep twice as much as normal.• Character must undergo a quest to prove his or her wor-• thiness to the item. This is a one time requirement only, and item functions normally thereafter—unless it changes ownership. Character must sacrif i ce a gem worth at least 100 gp to • item daily. Character must sacrif i ce 2,000 gp worth of magic items • weekly, including at least one magic item of the same type (for example: wand, dagger, ring) as the cursed item. Character must serve a particular deity, or swear allegiance • to a noble house. Character may not carry or possess any other magic items, • including weapons and armour. Character must change his or her name to a specif i c name • dictated by the item. If the ego of the particular item is very strong, the name may potentially be embarrassing to the user. (GM: have fun with this one) Item will only work for a specif i c class. • Item will only work for an individual with a 16 or better • charisma, or other randomly determined ability score. Item will only work for a character of name level or above.• Item must have a jewelled scabbard or holder when not • in use. Character must permanently sacrif i ce some of his or her • life energy in the form of a point of constitution to the item in order to activate it. This can be a one-time requirement only—or the item could require a point of constitution for each use. Item must be cleansed in holy water daily.• Item must slay an opponent daily.• Item must be completely immersed in lava at least once • per lunar month. Item must be used in every 24 hour day, or it will cease to • function forever for that user. If a weapon, the item must draw blood daily. Once drawn • in combat it will not allow the user to change weapons or put it away until used in a successful attack upon an opponent. A specif i c spell must be cast upon the item daily. Suggestions • include bless/curse, detect evil/good, protection from evil/ good, chant, detect magic, mending

Drawback

This describes items that usually mix a benef i -cial effect or effects with a negative drawback of some sort. Drawbacks may operate continually or may only be activated when the device is used, or held. The effects of a drawback re-main as long as the item is retained. A table is included below. Again, it is stressed this is a template only and the GM should use this as an inspiration only to his or her unique needs. d% drawback 01-05 User’s hair grows 1 foot longer and changes to an un-natural colour, and cannot be changed thereafter. 06-10 Character grows a non-prehensile tail. 11-15 Temperature around user of item is noticeably warm-er/cooler than ambient temperature. 16-20 User’s teeth turn black. 21-25 User’s skin changes to an unnatural colour and/or begins glowing the dark. 26-30 User grows a tattoo of an obscene word on forehead. 31-35 User changes sex (one-time effect). 36-40 User’s appearance changes to that of a random demi-human or humanoid race, checked daily. 41-45 Character is aff l icted with a random disease with ob-vious symptoms, that cannot be cured. 46-50 Item whines and sulks constantly when not being used. 51-55 Item is bright pink or bright orange and constantly sings silly songs parodying its owner out loud. 56-60 User becomes obsessed others are trying to steal the item from him or her. 61-65 User becomes obsessed he or she will lose or damage the item. 66-70 User’s alignment changes (one-time effect). 71-75 User loses a level. If dual or multi-classed, player loses one level from each class (one-time effect). 76-80 Character’s vision is blurred, imposing a -2 penalty to attacks and saves. 81-85 Character must save vs spells daily or take -1 to all at-tack and damage rolls for that day. 86-90 Character must save vs spells daily or suffer a -4 re-duction to his primary skill for that day. 91-95 User’s charisma is reduced to 3 until he or she man-ages to rid him- or herself of the item. 96-00 User’s height increases/decreases by 6 inches (deter-mine randomly, one-time effect).

Specific cursed Items

Following is an offering of examples of cursed items. First is a table to allow random selection when generating treasure, followed below by the item descriptions. Detect magic spells will yield misleading results when deter-mining the aura and strength of a cursed item. Identify spells are marginally useful, with a 1% chance per spell caster level of correctly identifying the true properties of a cursed item, otherwise the false result indicated in the description of that particular item will be reported. d% Item 01-05 Amulet of Inescapable Location 06-07 Armour of Arrow Attraction 08-10 Armour of Rage 11-13 Bag of Devouring 14-17 Boots of Dancing 18-22 Bracers of Defencelessness d% Item 23 Broom of Animated Attack 24 Cloak of Poisonousness 25 Crystal Hypnosis Ball 26-27 Dust of Sneezing and Choking 28-33 Flask of Curses 34-38 Gauntlets of Fumbling 39 Helm of Opposite Alignment 40-44 Incense of Obsession 45-49 Mace of Blood 50-52 Medallion of Thought Projection 53 Necklace of Strangulation 54-55 Net of Snaring 56-58 Periapt of Foul Rotting 59-63 Potion of Poison 64-73 Ring of Clumsiness 74-75 Robe of Powerlessness 76-80 Robe of Vermin 81 Scarab of Death 82-86 Spear, Cursed Backbiter 87-91 Stone of Weight (Loadstone) 92-96 Sword -2, Cursed 97-99 Sword of the Berserker 00 Vacuous Grimoire