Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Umbacano May 05, 2015 7:53:27	Hi         I am running a HotDQ campaign since October (yes we move slowly) and now the players are inside Castle Naeythar. Since I was always fond of the Greek Mythology and the relations between gods and mortals, I usually attempt to bring some effects of the gods into the campaigns i run. Also because the players are always complaining they never get enough magic items, I decide to introduce some challenges, to help them out.          By pairs the players will receive missions from their deities to perform certain tasks. I will attempt to place the players competing for the favors. If one player´s god wants an item saved or protected, the other players god would want the item destroyed.        I know this will create some PVP but I also believe it will also force the players to more active RPG instead of simply slay the monster, collect the loot. The missions are of course optional. If the players don’t want to do it, they simply can ignore them. The only drawback is that if they refuse, in the long run their gods would simply ignore them, in times of need and they will not receive the magic artifact as a reward of finishing the god´s task.     My question is the following. Two players have received a task of recovering a long lost cursed necklace of Beshaba by the respective deities. If their faith is strong and they endure long enough the cursed item penalty, their gods would transform the item into a good one. Now what should be the curse of a Beshaba artifact?    First, i though something that would give disadvantage to saving throws or that made natural "20" into natural "1". Then i figured that would be a too mechanical penalty with little room for roleplaying. I google the net in search of Beshaba Dogmas. I found out that most Beshaba Clerics promote the saying "That too much luck is bad luck".    Then i got a completely different idea. Why not give the player with the necklace extreme good luck and terrible bad luck to the rest of the party. Beshaba would love it! So i got these two final options:       A) The player with the necklace has advantage on ALL saving throws but every ally PC and NPC in line of sight as disadvantage on saving throws.     B) Every time the player with the necklace is the target of a magic spell or effect with a saving throw, it deflects the attack to the nearest ally NPC or PC in a 60 feet radius. Both option are giving extreme luck to the necklace wearer but terrible luck to their companions, In the end, in roleplaying it simply helps to create a sense of despair to the player because, everybody would try to avoid him as the plague casting him aside and in the end simply causing misery and sadness, just as Beshaba would want it.   What do you guys think of this?         A)
#2 transcendantviewer May 05, 2015 15:43:50	The only problem I foresee with this item is the question of "If this item is so potent, what's stopping every thief in the multiverse from hunting it down and ruling everything?" A potent Spellcaster and spy could "Ally" themselves with their enemies, then just shower them with Fireballs until everyone's dead. Then they just defeated their greatest foes in an afternoon, thus succeeding in their plans unopposed.
#3 transcendantviewer May 05, 2015 15:46:01	Hell, such an item would allow dieties to overthrow and slay each other with such ease, the multiverse would fall to complete and utter chaos. Just form an alliance with the dieties, create the Artifact, then slay all of them in one fell swoop. Now, only one god remains and they have complete dominion over all of reality, unopposed.
#4 Varden_Khol May 05, 2015 17:10:27	I like to have cursed items add Flaws to a character. For example, a cursed dagger that grants the Bond: "I will never part with this blade" and the Flaw: "My blade hungers for human blood."   This way, it is up to the player to decide when the curse affects them and takes the fallout along with inspiration. But the curse will never become a punishment. I'll remind them that it's there but it's up to them how it manifests.   If you want to have it turn into a useful item later on then you could set a number of times the Flaw needs to be used.
#5 BRJN May 05, 2015 17:27:01	Tangent: There is a thread in the Forgotten Realms forum about a curse from Beshaba.  You might get ideas from there that are not going to launch all of your Party against the one guy with the "lucky trinket".   While wearing Beshaba's cursed necklace... - You are compelled (as a Geas) to find some old rotted dead thing, hack off a chunk, and toss it into a certain town's well.  With luck, you won't get sick.  With more luck, nobody will see you trying to poison their well. - Somebody else offended Beshaba even more than you did.  You have to find them and attack them, as a "Random Encounter".  You have as much information as if you cast Locate Object or Locate Person.  Their bad luck, having total strangers just show up and try to kill them on sight. - You go into a local casino and James Bond is at the Blackjack table playing cards.  You feel a strange compulsion to sit down and bet about half your total GP. - Whenever you walk under a tree with a bird's nest, it takes a dump.  Splat.  Maybe the bird has good aim... - Go into the market and buy a dozen eggs.  One is not right (you can smell it).  Give the eggs away to beggars; no way to tell ahead of time which guy is going to get a tummyache. - If anybody in town has the least little sniffle, you catch a cold.  It won't go away on its own; you have to give it to somebody else. - When your group faces off against enemies, they target YOU first.  But don't worry - like a Halfling, you get to re-roll any '1's on every d20 roll you make. - You must trash some merchant's shop, like the Pirate Bad Reputation background feature. - You have to take advantage of somebody else's act of charity (diverting the resources into some third party's not-needy hands), or your own acts of charity turn out - publicly - to enable willful bad behavior by a flagrantly selfish person.