Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Talisman 04-04-08, 12:01 AM	A thought occured to me today: Often, in mythology, folklore, and fantasy stories, the gods levy curses upon us hapless mortals. All the gods do this, even the "nice" ones, although the sins they punish and the nature of the curse varies widely. Undeath is a popular option, but I have a hard time seeing a good-aligned deity in D&D deliberately creating another horror-spawning undead (more likely to murder the deity's followers than their enemies). Likewise with disease. So I though we could get some ideas for appropriate divine curses for ALL the D&D deities. Here a couple to get started. - Nerull: Nerull exults in death, and curses followers who refuse to kill when necessary, who go out of their way to promote life (such as having children), or who attempt to cheat death by prolonging their lives. Nerull often curses the victim as a plague carrier - the character contracts a horrific and viruliant disease, suffering the full symptoms - but the disease will not kill them. However, no one else is so protected, and anyone coming in contact with the carrier is exposed to the disease. - Erythnul: God of Savagery, Erythnul punishes followers who show mercy (a sign of weakness), or who spare potential victims without a very good reason. He often transforms them into lycanthops - werewolves and weretigers are favored - but with absolutely no control over or memory of their beast-form. Such curse victims typically go feral once a month and ravage their neighbors; the victim may figure out the nature of their curse after a while, but has no true memory of it. - Pelor: Pelor is not known for his curse-slinging, but he occasionally punishes sadistic followers who extract payment for their healing with pain, or who knowingly suffer the undead to exist. One cursed by Pelor suffers from a two-fold affliction. First, they can heal others by touch - a minimal amount, such as 1d4 hp once per day, but an unlimited number of people. However, they themselves are utterly immune to magical healing - even their own. Only natural healing restores them. This curse means little to common folk, but is devestating to adventurers. Add more! And feel free to use FR deities, Eberron deities, or whatever...if they're very obscure, note what their schtick is. If you've got an idea for an already-posted deity, share it!
Talisman 04-08-08, 08:32 PM	Bump? Anyone else?
Bloodsoul 04-08-08, 11:28 PM	I like those curses Aphrodite had in Deites and Demigods. Make a guy impotent for eternity? Ouch.
TimelordSimone 04-11-08, 11:28 AM	Olidammara Inflicts minor curses from time to time, seemingly for his own amusement. Often curses of the kind that seem to be a great boon... at first. A favourite of his, for mortals that have really annoyed him, is to lay down a curse which makes everyone the character meets incredibly attracted to them... except the object of their affection. :D (Okay, so I shamelessly stole the idea from an episode of Buffy. It'd still be funny.)
gravenhurst 04-22-08, 11:21 PM	I had Ohgma (god of knowledge) "The Binder, Patron of All bards" from 1st E Deities & Demigods, put any mortal challenger into a pretzel position if they lost a wrestling match against him.:mad: Ahto (god of the seas and waters) a Finnish deity, would curse defilers of the sea to only breath water, while they away from water, thus the recipient must incase their head in a bucket of water that may evaporate, splash out till they got to a large pool of water, and then they would have to placate the god under water till he relented. At that time the recipient can only breathe air and now the victim must swim out to gulp in air. Whoa to a non-swimmer!:weep: Bast (cat goddess) of Egypt, would polymorph or majic jar failed suitors into a nipple ring to hang and jingle till it was torn off in love making!:eek: Zeus (god of the air) "ruler of the gods" would curse victims with being a conduit for electricity; until they ground themselves they could fry on the spot!:P Furies in Hades torturing crime comitting victims until they repented.:eek: A Prometheus example? A Fire god could bind an air creature to be tortured by fire, turning them into steam with no escape! Or a Shark god having a cursed victim having there innards chewed out or nibbled by sea creatures while they try to gasp for air just barely submerged in water.:( How about polymorphing a victim into the shod of a gods steed so they feel the crushing wait everytime the beast steps down.:mad: I had Hruggek (god of bugbears) drown cursed victims in a river of blood, that came from the River Styx!;) Thor (god of thunder) "Norse god" would leave imprints of his hammer in a challengers body.:eek: In 1stE Unearthed Arcana, the elven god of mischief and change, Erevan Ilesere would curse non-conforming elves the colour green - his favorite colour - till they admitted he was the mischiefiest of all!:D Other ideas are polymorphing a victim into an anvil of a smith god. They feel every smash of the hammer and the burn of the heat!:cool: From 1stE Fiend Folio, the Aleax, was a physical vengeance of certain gods. They would be invisible to all except the victim and they would be a duplicate of them and they would have to fight to the death; wining the fight you take the Aleax's place in the realm of the deity!
itreeby 05-03-08, 09:37 AM	kinda off topic but... II Kings 2:23-24 "23 From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. "Go on up, you baldhead!" they said. "Go on up, you baldhead!" 24 He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the LORD. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths.' :eek:
Talisman 05-03-08, 03:39 PM	Seems a little extreme...
turalisj 05-03-08, 05:09 PM	I like those curses Aphrodite had in Deites and Demigods. Make a guy impotent for eternity? Ouch. No, make a guy eternally horny but he can never feel pleasure :P