Curses!
Hello everyone, and welcome back to From the Workshop, where we at Necromancers of the Northwest seek to bring you new miscellaneous things to improve your game. In this installment we introduce 6 new curses, including curses with unusual effects, triggers, and cures.
Death Curses
These curses can be invoked by any creature with 10 or more ranks in Spellcraft, or by certain monsters immediately upon their death. Anyone who chooses to invoke a death curse upon dying irrevocably damages his or her soul, making it impossible to resurrect such a character without first using a wish or miracle spell to make them able to be resurrected. This means that, generally, only extremely vindictive characters invoke death curses. There is a certain amount of speculation that the use of a death curse could bar one from the afterlife, though there is no solid evidence on the subject.
Curse of Never-Ending Wounds
Type: Curse
Save: DC 20 Will negates
Frequency: 1/hour
Effect: The afflicted character gains 5 bleed damage; this damage may be cured normally. Due to the stress of this curse, the character is considered fatigued until the curse is removed. A remove curse spell does not cure a curse of never-ending wounds but allows the afflicted character a second Will save. A limited wish, wish, or miracle spell cures the curse of never-ending wounds outright.
Curse of Sickness
Type: Curse
Save: DC 20 Will Negates, Special to avoid effects
Frequency: 1/day, Special
Effect: Once a day, at midnight, the character must save or become infected by a disease (determined randomly from all available diseases the character is not already afflicted with). The character must save separately against each disease and must cure diseases separately from the curse of sickness. A remove curse spell does not cure a curse of sickness , but allows the afflicted character a second Will save. A limited wish, wish, or miracle spell cures the curse of sickness outright.
Hereditary Curses
Hereditary curses are passed down from one family member to another and are notoriously difficult to cure. Such curses always have some condition, typically something relevant to the family’s history that must be satisfied in order to remove such a curse. A wish or miracle spell cannot cure a hereditary curse directly, though they can reveal the condition that must be met to cure the curse in question. Characters who wish to begin the game with a hereditary curse should be allowed to take a bonus feat to make up for the curse’s detriment.
Curse of Hideous Appearance
Type: Curse
Save: none
Frequency: constant
Effect: The afflicted character is terribly repulsive to behold, suffering a -6 penalty on all Charisma-based skill and ability checks to interact with intelligent (INT 3+) creatures. Additionally, the initial attitude (see Diplomacy) of any intelligent (INT 3+) creature towards the afflicted character is reduced by one step from where it would ordinarily be.
Curse of Memory
Type: Curse
Save: DC 25 Will negates
Frequency: 1/ 1d4+2 days
Effect: The afflicted character loses his or her memory of the events of the previous day. The character is allowed a Will save each time to prevent memory loss, but this does not cure the victim of the curse itself.
Curse of Shades
Type: Curse
Save: none
Frequency: constant
Effect: The afflicted character and all his or her gear is only 20% real (and 80% illusory). Thus, he or she suffers -2 to all physical ability scores and a constant 80% miss chance as well as an 80% spell failure (for non-illusion spells). Though such characters avoid 80% of all attacks due to their illusory nature, most don’t consider the tradeoffs worth it.
Ordinary Curse
This is just a bonus curse, of the garden variety
Curse of Shrinking
Type: Curse
Save: DC 15 Fortitude negates
Frequency: 1/day
Effect: You reduce one size category until you are of fine size.