Curses
Curses are the result of an imbalance in the world, a foolish tilting of karma that brings misfortune down upon an incautious adventurer. Sometimes the result of careless actions, curses are at times believed to be a type of justice, the Fates balancing things back out after misdeeds send the world askew. Of course, it is just as likely for a foolhardy adventurer to find himself cursed after crossing a grumpy sorcerer or carelessly trying on a mysterious item of clothing.
Targets of Curses
Curses come in many flavors, some intentional, other accidental. Each has different requirements for lifting their afflictions. Curses can also affect a variety of subjects, from people to items to the land itself. The following are a few of the targets who can be afflicted by a curse.
Magical Items
Sometimes mages bend the realm of reality to infuse magical properties in an item. If this tricky process isn't done correctly, the items may come out twisted and wrong, attached to the wrong type of magic. These items are often disguised as beneficial items and are hard to dispense with once acquired. A Remove Curse spell will likely aid in taking cursed items off, but nothing short of a wish spell will actually lift these curses.
Creatures
Individuals can be cursed as well. Sometimes these curses are the punishment of the gods, the result of deeds that run afoul of some deity's divine will. Such curses are often hard to remove, as they require setting oneself right with the offended deity, usually through some sort of atonement or recompense.
Other times these curses can simply be laid at the whim of a witch or wizard. By comparison, these curses are fairly easy to remove and can be done entirely through magical means. People can also find themselves the recipient of cursed afflictions such as Lycanthropy. These can be cured, but usually only through a special process that helps root out the affliction and return the victim to normal.
Regional Curses
Land, tombs, bodies of water, or other terrain can be afflicted with curses that in turn bring misfortune to those who foolhardily pass through them. A battlefield scarred by traitorous bloodshed, a defiled tomb of a sacred priest, or a house marred by tragedy can all carry their own types of curses. Such curses often bear the signs of natural and supernatural aberrations--unusual weather, supernatural darkness, a lack of plant or wildlife, or haunting by supernatural beings. Removal of these curses can be tricky. Often the source of the curse itself must be dealt with. A wrong must be righted in some way, restitution made. Afterwards, at the source of the curse, a Remove Curse spell can seal this atonement, lifting the blight on the land. This is done in the same way arcane curses are lifted.
Mundane Items
Mundane items can also be attached to misfortune, usually through the Bestow Curse spell or other means. These items have no special magical quality, but they will bring a curse down upon anyone who possesses them. Usually these curses go undetected and it is difficult to identify the exact item carrying the curse itself, since these items do not register on a detect magic spell. However, unlike cursed magical items, mundane cursed items are easily taken care of with a Remove Curse spell.
Sources of Curses
Arcane Cursing (Bestow Curse)
Some people who run afoul of a magic user and receive a permanent affliction because of it, usually through the Bestow Curse spell. These curses can only be lifted by casting Remove Curse at a comparable level as the Bestow Curse spell. The caster removing the curse also needs to make a successful spell attack roll against the curse's DC. Bestow curse can also curse a mundane item, causing it to bring misfortune to any who possess it.
Magic Item Mistakes
Binding magic to physical objects is a tricky business that requires not only altering the fabric of reality but coaxing such magics to remain in existence permanently. This complicated process requires an experienced hand, though even with training, things can still sometimes go wrong. When a crafter misses his item creation check by 10 or more points the item becomes cursed. Sometimes this creates an entirely different item, usually one slightly more malevolent than intended. Other times the magic infused in the item is dark and twisted, punishing those who use it. Most often, cursed items appear normal and only through extensive use are their true natures revealed. Wearable items are often identified as cursed when the bearer attempts and cannot remove them. These items can only be removed after successfully casting Remove Curse. Short of a wish or miracle spell, there is no way to remove the curse from magic items.
Aberrant Behavior
Sometimes an individual's misdeeds incur the wrath of a divine or cosmic power. Out of divine justice, these individuals are inflicted with a scourge, a special curse that cannot be lifted until complete atonement and retribution is made. Only then can the curse be lifted with a Remove Curse spell. Scourges can be inflicted by a divine representative through the scourge spell, or by a deity itself.
Other more sinister aberrations also exist, though, usually created from some extreme and traumatic event--a child left to perish from the elements, a drowned lover, a stillborn baby cast out without a proper burial. These wronged beings often become cursed creatures who exist to bring retribution to those who harmed them. Usually, the only relief for such beings is peace to be found in the afterlife, though some afflictions do have complicated and effective cures.
Afflictions
While sometimes curses come about through foolish or unnatural behavior of the victim, some forms inflict themselves on the innocent or unwary. These cursed afflictions are in ways akin to diseases. Lycanthrope, mummy rot, and even vampirism fall under these categories.
Hexes
Witches have access to a variety of magic tricks called hexes. Some hexes can inflict small curses that inconvenience or weaken their foes. Hexes can sometimes be long-lasting, though usually they last a much shorter time than a traditional curse.
Creature Curses
Curses can be quite simple or complicated. What follows are some examples of different types of curses that affect creatures. These are listed in order that Bestow Curse must be cast at in order to inflict this curse. Cure lists any extra steps needed, aside from the standard remove curse spell.
Level 3 Curses
Babel
Effect: Your language becomes incomprehensible to anyone around you, though they can still piece together what you are saying with a linguistics check. This doesn't inhibit spellcasting or language-dependent arcane effect, just the comprehension.
Blight
Effect: You sicken an animal or plant, causing it to slowly die. Each day, the target must make a WIS saving throw or take 1 CON damage.
Cure: Level 3 Remove Curse
Clumsiness
Effect: The target takes 4 points of DEX damage.
Cure: The damage cannot be healed naturally but only after a remove curse is cast.
Daylight
Effect: The target's eyes are sensitive to normal light and is dazzled except in dim or dark conditions.
Faceblindness
Effect: When attacking a target that is next to an ally, there's a 50-50 chance you mistake your ally for the enemy, and vice versa.
Fatigue
Effect: The target gains level 2 fatigue.
Cure: The fatigue cannot be healed naturally but only after a remove curse is cast.
Foolishness
Effect: The target takes 4 points of WIS damage.
Cure: The damage cannot be healed naturally but only after a remove curse is cast.
Fury
Effect: Whenever the cursed individual is the target of an intimidation check, an argument, or other frustrating encounter, they must make a WIS save or burst into uncontrollable rage. While angry, the target cannot keep concentration or use any skill that requires Charisma, Dexterity, or Intelligence. The target can make a saving throw each round to attempt to end the fury.
Cure: To remove the curse the target must atone for any wrongs they committed while furious before casting remove
Illiteracy
Effect: The target struggles to read and must make a DC 20 Linguistics check each time they need to do so.
Ineptness
Effect: The target struggles to make successful skill checks, making them at disadvantage.
Lethargy
Effect: The target always goes last in the initiative order and makes all Dex saves at disadvantage.
Mental Fatigue
Effect: The target takes 4 points of INT damage.
Cure: The damage cannot be healed naturally but only after a remove curse is cast.
Ravenous
Effect: The target suffers from extreme hunger or thirst. Each hour he must make a WIS save or stop and eat.
Sickliness
Effect: The target takes 4 points of CON damage.
Cure: The damage cannot be healed naturally but only after a remove curse is cast.
Sinking
Effect: The target cannot float in water and sinks anytime they find themselves in it.
The Dark
Effect: The gains darkvision if they don't have it already, but they are blinded in dim or greater light.
Ugliness
Effect: The target takes 4 points of CHA damage.
Cure: The damage cannot be healed naturally but only after a remove curse is cast.
Unnatural Scent
Effect: The target gains an unnatural scent that unnerves animals. Wild animals are always hostile to you. Domesticated ones start as unfriendly. You gain disadvantage on all Animal checks.
Unlucky
Effect: The target is unlucky and must take disadvantage on all saving throws.
Unstoppable Bleeding
Effect: The target always takes 1d4 bleed damage each time it suffers piercing or slashing damage.
Weakness
Effect: The target takes 4 points of STR damage.
Cure: The damage cannot be healed naturally but only after a remove curse is cast.
Level 5 Curses
Fragile Weapon
Effect: Each time a non-magical weapon is used to do damage, make a saving throw for the weapon as if it were sundered with the same amount of damage.
Polymorph Creature
Effect: As per the spell of the same name.
Quest
Effect: As per the Quest spell.
Level 6 Curses
Aging
Effect: Each day the target of this curse makes a new CON save. If failed, he ages a year. Lost years remain after the curse is lifted though they can be brought back with a Greater Restoration, Wish, or Miracle spell.
Benevolent Spell Resistance
Effect: The target gains spell resistance equal to 14 + your character level, but only when the target of beneficial spells. This curse affects all beneficial spells, regardless of whether they are listed as having spell resistance or not.
Level 7 Curses
Agony
Effect: The target is constantly in extreme pain. They must make concentration checks each round that they are concentrating on a spell or doing other mental tasks. Each night, they must make a CON save to ensure they are able to benefit from a long rest.
Retribution
Effect: Whenever the cursed creature inflicts melee damage on another creature, it takes half the damage itself. This damage ignores vulnerabilities, resistances, and immunities.
Waterbreathing
Effect: The target cannot breathe air anymore only water.
Level 8 Curses
Endless Slumber
Effect: Functions as the spell of the same name.
Mummy Rot
Effect: The target takes 1d6 CON and 1d6 CHA damage each day.
Cure: Can only be cured through a Remove Disease and a Remove Curse cast within 1 minute of each other.
Level 9 Curses
Nonviolence
Effect: The target cannot take violent actions or do anything destructive against any creature with fewer Hit Dice than itself. If another creature takes hostile action against the cursed creature, the cursed creature can act normally in regard to that creature only.
Cure: Level 9 remove curse
Regional Curses
Level 8 Curses
Curse of Night
Effect: Functions as the Curse of Night spell.
Level 9 Curses
Cursed Earth
Effect: Any creatures of small size or larger killed in a 1-mile radius rise as uncontrolled zombies 24 hours after their death, as do corpses buried in the area. Burning or dismembering the corpses prevents them from rising as zombies.
Famine
Effect: All normal plants in a 1-mile radius reduce their growth and food production by half, as if affected by the stunt growth effect of diminish plants.
Plague
Effect: Every day at sundown, all creatures in a 1-mile radius must make a CON save or catch one of the following diseases (your choice, decided at the time of casting): blinding sickness, bubonic plague, cackle fever, filth fever, leprosy, mindfire, red ache, shakes, or slimy doom. The disease is contracted immediately (the onset period does not apply). Use the disease's listed frequency and save DC to determine further effects. This is a disease effect.
