Although cursed items in 4e are still around, they seem to have lost their game-ruining panache. I think fun and heroism are a great part of the 4e philosophy, however I’d like to see cursed items make their way back to the table. An easy way to inroduce cursed items without punishing your plaers is to entice them to choose cursed items for themselves! If you said, “Mike, you’re crazy! No player would ever consciously choose a cursed item,” I would agree when discussing an all-negative, traditional cursed item like The Boots of Dancing or the Necklace of Strangulation.
So, how can we get characters to consciously choose a cursed items instead of springing it on them like nasty Christmas? My answer is through “semi-cursed” items. These items provide both a boon and penalty to the character. This gives the player a chance to accept the penalties in exchange for the item’s power or flavor.
Here are a few suggestions that could fit in any campaign. None of these have been play-tested and are therefore either under or over-powered. I haven’t mentioned it, but you can turn any of these into a real cursed item by making a Remove Affliction [DDI] ritual required to remove it.
- Magnetic Armor – Magnetic Armor can be any heavy type. It’s magnetic properties creates an Zone 1 aura around the wearer. Any basic melee or ranged attacks (even from non-metal weapons) targeted in that zone instead target the wearer. For any such attack the wearer receives no armor bonus to AC. Daily * Minor action, close burst 1: push all creatures up to the armor’s bonus squares. This armor might be chosen by a defender or body guard to protect allies at the expense of oneself.
- Double-Edged Sword – This sword has a blade for a hilt. The sword does 3d6 damage, which the user takes half of, and it cannot be reduced in any way. Critical Bonus 1d8 per plus. This weapon does a lot of damage, but at the price of having to spend a bit of the wielder’s life to do it.
- Thundering Boots – These boots propel the wearer forward with a thunderous shockwave. The boots inflict a -10 penalty to Stealth checks, -5 to all perception check to allies within 5 squares, and the wearer must use his full movement if he moves more than half speed, due to out-of-control acceleration. In exchange, the wearer increases his speed by 1 and gets +2 to charges or bull rushes, the wearer can push the target of a charge 1 square or knock prone the target of a bull rush.
- Helm of Stupidity – The helm is shaped like a dunce-cap, but is made out of thick metal. The wearer takes a -4 penalty to Int, but gets a +2 stubbornness bonus to Will defense and a +2 bonus to AC.
- Elixir of Irrationality – This consumable potion lasts until the end of the encounter or the user chooses to make a saving throw and passes. Instead of taking choosing what actions the character takes, he uses his move action to move towards a random target within his speed, and spends a standard action to perform a basic melee attack with a +4 attack bonus, and extra 2d6 damage. The character does not get a minor action, and this does not override any effects that prevent moving or attacking.
Another way to make cursed items attractive is to make one of the magic items in a set a cursed item. The character will still get the completion bonus for a set at the expense of the cursed item’s penalty.
If you wanted make these a little more old-school, require some Arcana checks to determine the items’ true nature. The check first might uncover the positive effect, and second to find out the negative effect. Alternatively when the character puts on the item, make the negative effect immediate and the require an Arcana check to discover how to activate the boon.
Not a bad take on cursed items. I heard recently on the Dungeon Master Guys podcast that yet another good method is to use artifact synergy rules. The item won’t hurt you while you’re doing what it wants you to do, but the further you stray from its goals, the worse it affects you. The only thing I’d suggest is that the curses it bestows remain in effect as long as the bearer has the item, it getting rid of the item requires a ritual.
Think of the One Ring from Lord of the Rings. As long as you work toward its agenda, you can slide it on and become invisible, but as soon as you stray, its will begins to consume you. I’d suggest you take a -2 to defenses, later an additional -2 to Will, perhaps an enemy controller gets a free vs. Will attack that Dominates when it hits.
Just an idea.
Good post. I’m actually going to be implementing something along these lines in my game starting next session. I have a blog post coming about just that.
Wow this post gave me great ideas, I’ve been toying with the intention to create a cursed sword more in the lines of Frostmourne, a really powerful weapon that takes a toll on the one that wields it, but is still an alpha project, any suggestion of where i can find more information about cursed items?
I would not place these as cursed so much as flawed. They work . . . but not quite in the way they should. In other words, there is a cost to using them but that alone does not make them cursed.
@Opportunist,
Yeah synergies is another way to go about it. The advantage this has over artifacts is slightly less bookkeeping. Also I keep thinking Artifacts are all these super world-changing items.
@Papabaloo,
The Dungeon Master Guys’ recent podcast covered some more useful advice in regards to curesd items.
@Sean,
That’s a good point. Cursed usually implies some sort of malicious intent. Also we tend to think of cursed items as things that you can just remove. Requiring the Remove Affliction is one way to make items cursed in 4e. However, in my experience cursed items either came up randomly or were dirty tricks of the DM, and were usually fun for awhile but then turned into a drag. The 4e design philosophy seems to stay away from permanent or hard to get rid of penalties (level drain, ability damage, etc).