The adventurers arrive in the village after three days of riding. It was a hard journey and the party was looking forward to a cold mug of ale and a fine meal in the local tavern. But something was obviously amiss in this village. It was summer time yet the trees here had no leaves. The fields had no crops. And the villagers were no where to be seen. Even the tavern seemed to be barren when they entered. This place must be cursed……..
Curses in Dungeons and Dragons can be the result of a magic item, scroll or the action of an NPC or monster. They can also be an important campaign element which can lead to adventures all on their own.
Curses in Dungeons and Dragons as a plot device
Curses do not have to be an affliction on your player characters to drive the action. Sometimes the curse may affect others and cause the adventurers to go on a quest to seek the cure. Perhaps some witch has cursed this village. Or some evil witch or wizard. Or perhaps the entire land is plagued. Some possible curses of this sort might include:
- Famine
- Drought
- Locust plague
- The prematurely aging king (from Lord of the Rings)
- The local villagers are turned into zombies or skeletons
- First born babies dying (From the Bible)
- Thinning (from the Stephen King Book of the similar name)
Curses in Dungeons and Dragons can come in the form of magic items
There are many cursed magic items in the various editions of Dungeons and Dragons. One who picks up and uses one of these devices is often stuck to the object whether they like it or not. Some great examples of cursed items are as follows:
- Rings of weakness, contrariness or delusions
- Bags of transmuting
- Bracers of defenselessness
- Gauntlets of fumbling
- Iron Flasks
- Necklace of strangulation
- Mirror of opposition
- Amulet of inescapable location
- Scarab of death
- Rope of constriction
- Backbiting spear
- Berserking sword
- Missile attracting shield
When one finds one of these items they are likely to test it in order to find any magical properties that it might have. Once these properties are discovered it is often too late to just discard the item. Sometimes a remove curse might solve the issue. In other times more complicated methods of disposal might be in order.
Obviously an identify spell could avoid this issue but wizards tend to be stingy with such spells. Rarely do they want to waste one on every potentially magic item that they come across. They would prefer to use those 1st level spells on magic missiles and such. Therefore cursed items often catch parties unaware until it is too late.
Curses In Dungeons and Dragons can be bestowed by scrolls
This was a common method of introducing curses in First Edition. One picked up a scroll and began reading it to determine who could use it. Some of the suggested curses in that edition for scrolls included:
- Reader is polymorphed into a monster of equal level which immediately attacks others nearby
- Reader is turned to liquid and drains away
- Reader and all within 20′ are teleported 200-1200 miles in a random direction
- Reader and all within 20′ are transported to another planet, plane or continuum
- Disease that is fatal to the reader in 2-8 turns (20 to 80 minutes) unless cured
- Explosive runes
- Or a randomly rolled spell affects the reader at 12th level of casting
And of course these scroll curses tend to hit the wizards and other spell casters the hardest as they are the ones most likely to read the scrolls they come written on.
Curses in Dungeons and Dragons can be the result of some non player character or monster
Gypsies are known to bestow curses from time to time. In Dungeons and Dragons they are referred to as the Vistani. Offending a Gypsy is inadvisable for this reason. Most people tend to give them a wide berth when their caravans come rolling through fantasy cities and towns. Often they are asked to camp outside of towns and villages. While some locals might like to have their fortunes read most do not trust these wandering people.
And of course hags, witches and crones are known to bestow curses. One should take great care when in the presence of such women. They are dangerous to cross. And even crossing them is not necessarily all that it takes to make them bestow a curse. Sometimes one is just a target of opportunity for them to show their anger at the world around them.
Artifacts in Dungeons and Dragons are often cursed
Artifacts and relics are powerful magic items in Dungeons and Dragons. But most come with curses and side effects. Using an artifact is often a risky proposition. When one is found it is wise to discard them quickly. They might be safe enough to use one or two times in desperate situations but using them consistently is likely to bring serious harm to the one in possession of it over the long term.
A list of possible curses to bestow on unsuspecting victims
This list is hardly exhaustive. There is an excellent reference work that I will link later for you in this article that is free to download and contains a great deal of curses for your players to……….enjoy…….
- Blindness
- Deafness
- Mute
- Thinning
- Gaining weight
- All food tastes horrible
- The adventurer smells so awful that others cannot stand within 20 feet or become nausous
- Any plant that the character touches dies
- No animal will come within 100 feet of the adventurer
- Dogs howl at the adventurer
- Weakness
- Loss of intelligence
- Loss of dexterity
- All gold possessed by the explorer turns to lead
- Undead are attracted to the adventurer
- Adventurer makes all saving throws at -2
- All to hit rolls are made at -2 by the adventurer
- The adventurer cannot control himself and sometimes randomly strikes an ally during combat
- The explorer can no longer tell the truth
- The adventurer cannot tell a lie
- The adventurer cannot speak in a whisper. Everything said by the adventurer comes as a shout
- The character is only able to speak in rhymes
- It rains wherever the character goes but only five feet around him or her
- Lycanthropy
- No words that come from the mouth of the adventurer can be understood. No spells will work. No one understands anything that they say.
Some Curse links that you might find useful
These are free resources which list curses that you might use in your games:
- 100 Curses Scrolls
- Another list of 100 random curses from DNDSPEAK
- A list of 40 DND Curses for 3.5 and other editions
- A list of curses from the Open Gaming Store
- Another list of 100 curses for DnD
There are probably many more sites and documents on the web involving curses but these should get you started. Please torment your players well with these.
If you enjoyed this article then perhaps you will enjoy these as well:
- Caverns of Thracia Review
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- Restormel Review
- The Dragon Crown Review
- Escape From Astigar’s Lair Review
- Hall of the Fire Giant King Review
- Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl Review
- Steading of the Hill Giant Chief Review
- Tegel Manor Review
- F’Deck Fo’s Tomb Review
- Operation Ogre Review
- Inferno Review
