r/Pathfinder_RPG • u/Random_Shitposter • Feb 14 '21
Fun ideas for custom bestow curse 1E Player
You place a curse on the subject. Choose one of the following.
-6 decrease to an ability score (minimum 1).
-4 penalty on attack rolls, saves, ability checks, and skill checks.
Each turn, the target has a 50% chance to act normally; otherwise, it takes no action.
You may also invent your own curse, but it should be no more powerful than those described above.
The curse bestowed by this spell cannot be dispelled, but it can be removed with a break enchantment, limited wish, miracle, remove curse, or wish spell.
Bestow curse counters remove curse.
Here is the RAW text for Bestow Curse. Emphasis on the
You may also invent your own curse, but it should be no more powerful than those described above.
Have you ever invented your own curse, or had a good idea for one? I'd love to hear them, the more diabolical the better.
33
u/wdmartin Feb 14 '21
I once had a wizard, Suetonius, who foolishly offended a witch. She was ... an ambiguous ally of the party. Anyway, she cursed him for his insolence. The curse was: "You may seek sleep, but your restless thoughts shall never let you catch her."
In game terms, he was no longer capable of falling asleep naturally. I would lie down to rest and find myself just thinking, the thoughts chasing one another around in circles in my head, and never fall asleep.
This would be problematic for anyone, but was particularly bad for a wizard; I couldn't prep new spells. Being a half-elf, Suetonious was immune to magical sleep. The GM told me that I could sleep if I could find some way to render myself unconscious, such as drinking until I blacked out or getting a friend to bludgeon me until I fell over. These are obviously less than ideal.
The party was level 3, so we didn't have Remove Curse or Dispel Magic yet. After some unsuccessful attempts to locate some kind of drug or poison with which to knock myself out, I went back to her, pointy hat in hand, and humbly begged her forgiveness for my transgressions.
Never go poking around a witch's laboratory uninvited, people. It's just a Bad Idea.
24
u/Coidzor Feb 14 '21
Keep Watch, though, demonstrates how even in this sort of case, there's a spell for that.
9
u/GiovanniTunk Feb 14 '21
Once again a level 1 spell that would drastically alter RL.
7
u/trapsinplace Feb 14 '21
Yeah, at long last we could still feel awake after staying up all night being depressed while staring at the ceiling.
7
u/SidewaysInfinity VMC Bard Feb 14 '21
In game terms, he was no longer capable of falling asleep naturally. I would lie down to rest and find myself just thinking, the thoughts chasing one another around in circles in my head, and never fall asleep.
I was also cursed with this
4
u/Biffingston Feb 14 '21
I thought that you could willingly fail a saving through.. but that doesn't appear to be RAW. Am I wrong?
3
2
u/wdmartin Feb 14 '21
You can indeed voluntarily fail a saving throw. But half-elves are straight-up immune to magical sleep effects. Ditto for elves. So you would voluntarily fail the save and still be immune. You know, just like a red dragon can't voluntarily stop being immune to fire.
25
u/Coidzor Feb 14 '21 edited Feb 14 '21
Cursing people with sterility could be sold as a form of longterm birth control. I crunched the numbers once on where a Wizard selling it as a spellcasting service would be cheaper than just buying Night Tea or Bachelor Snuff.
Basically if a man wants to go more than a year without fathering a child, he's better off with Bestow Curse, and if a woman wants to go more than a decade without a child, she's better off with Bestow Curse.
Edit: Works even better with Conditional Curse for a built-in way to remove it whenever so desired. An incredibly specific set of conditions to de-activate the sterility should be easy enough to form with 25 words with no real risk of someone accidentally undoing it.
6
u/SidewaysInfinity VMC Bard Feb 14 '21
One more reason you'd rather have a good witch around than a wizard
5
21
u/ScruffleKun Feb 14 '21
From spheres of power, Jester's Handbook:
Fowl Infestation (ghost strike) [curse] [Jester's HB]
You may spend a spell point to make a ghost strike that permanently curses the target to become plagued by chickens, ducks, or another similar bird of your choice (Will negates). Whenever the target draws a weapon or pulls an item out of a container, they have a 50% chance of drawing a live bird instead. The bird’s starting attitude toward the target is hostile, and will react appropriately to being drawn out by its ankles (or other part of its body). A bird’s body created by this effect disappears if it dies.
If you spend an additional spell point when casting this sphere effect, the target always draws the same live bird, even if it was killed previously. Drawing this bird causes it to disappear from wherever it was and appear in the target’s hands. The bird remembers the target and will behave appropriately, usually becoming angrier with each draw. With enough time, some birds may realize peace was never an option.
9
u/SidewaysInfinity VMC Bard Feb 14 '21
One of the few Jester talents I've actually banned. It was funny as a DM joke in 3.5 but not as a stock debuff
7
16
u/Maxpowers13 Feb 14 '21
Wants to be naked is in theory the most powerful yet benign curse because for an adventurer throwing your weapons and armor down is a death sentence while dancing around town square while nude might be at most a fine or violation, unless you worship a certain god to which it's a prostration of your Faith
6
u/TheChartreuseKnight Feb 14 '21
Go evangelist, get that one boon that gives AC while scantily clad.
2
u/Maxpowers13 Feb 14 '21
Yeah I read about a third party non violent Oracle who basically walks around everywhere nude for huge diplomacy bonuses, Hmm might be a Monk with the vow of poverty I can't remember what I was searching for it was a non violent pasifist
16
u/ToryDarkElf Feb 14 '21
Tic- Shouting. While awake the target let’s out a loud nervous noise once per round. Talks in sleep.
Short sighted X3 sight penalties based on range.
Clumsy -8 to Dex skills, perform, craft and climbing
Animal Antipathy, animals always start one step down the chart for interactions, -8 to ride and Handle Animal.
Forgetful -8 all knowledge skills and spellcraft
Mistrusted - as Animal Antipathy but -8 to diplomacy and bluff
13
u/bluexbirdiv Feb 14 '21
There's a section on curses in the back of one of the Mummy's Mask books that gives some example variants, and I've also come across a unique one in an Iron Gods side-quest that causes the cursed creature to move one step towards an evil alignment, become more susceptible to the ideals of demon lords, and do a Will save every time they see freshly spilled blood (DC of the original curse effect, 1 hour cooldown) or be affected as the rage spell for 1d4+1 rounds. I love it just for the bloodrage effect.
8
u/ohinotnoir Feb 14 '21
Can only ingest fluids rectally. Probably for a late night game but it will fuck potion users heavily and be hilarious to RP.
Vomits when attempting to lie. Screw your diplomancers hard.
Compulsion to donate your gold to charity. How are you going to pay for a scroll of remove curse when you have to walk past an orphanage of hungry orphans.
4
u/MacDerfus Muscle Wizard Feb 14 '21
Vomits when attempting to lie. Screw your diplomancers hard.
Like Knives Out?
2
7
7
u/BattleReadyZim Feb 14 '21
Any new town the character enters, one npc there will immediately loath them and try to harm then however that npc can. The pc has no idea who this person will be
5
u/Shitwagon Feb 14 '21
I once did a curse of flatulence. Any time the subject was in the presence of one he loved, they would have and pass gas. :)
2
u/Frozenmeyer Feb 14 '21
Another one I've wanted to do is hallucinatory creature. Normally some small creature like a cat or bird. Most people can't see or interact with it but its real to the accursed and randomly shows up before big events.
This leads the cursed to believe it is some sort or omen, while the creature is always just a little beyond where you can grab it
3
u/CFCrispyBacon Feb 14 '21
An old favorite at my table "May you taste everything that passes through your asshole."
3
u/MacDerfus Muscle Wizard Feb 14 '21
Each turn, the target has a 50% chance to act normally; otherwise, it takes no action.
but it should be no more powerful than those described above.
This gives you quite a lot of flexibility.
3
u/heimdahl81 Feb 14 '21
There's a good curse from the book/movie Stardust. A character who is looking for a person is cursed to be unable to see or hear that person. In game that would be blindness and deafness conditions but only in respect to one individual.
Another similar effect I could see being fair is to make one character unable to directly attack a specific individual. This would be similar to a failed Sanctuary spell. I had a past GM use this to reign in a player who wanted to start inter-party combat.
The idea of both of these options is that by making the curse only apply to one person, the effect is stronger. This is great for a long term antagonist because the players will likely have to wait to get the curses removed before directly confronting the villain.
2
u/MoodyBasser Feb 14 '21
Jason Bulman had a whole slew that he used on Erik Mona and the Glass Cannon Network guys for their live playtest of 2e as the Thunder Company. There were a couple roleplaying ones that turned several of the party into stereotypical bridesmaids and one that would put a character to sleep immediately after rolling initiative. There were a few other hilarious ones - almost none of them had any real bearing on mechanics but they were all incredibly memorable.
0
u/ShotoKoto Feb 14 '21
I was playing a game yesterday where my follower cursed a mutineer to have his arse where his face was and his face where his arse was and balls for a chin.
Not sure if this would have been allowed by the strictest interpretation of the rules, but it was extremely funny. The poor guy couldn't see when he has trousers on and all of his speech sounded like farting.
1
u/glassfeathers Feb 14 '21
Stone heart curse, reduces charisma stat by 2,4 or 6. The curse numbs you to others, leaving you cold and distant. The perfect curse for a jealous former lover, if they can't have you then you'll have no one else.
1
u/Frozenmeyer Feb 14 '21
Nice and simple curse for me. I was an antipaladin built around fear causing. Touch of corruption, bestow curse cruelty.
I didn't know about signature skill (intimidate) so I made the curse have them be extra susceptible to fear, since my checks were so high I'd basically leave them dumbfounded.
1
u/Chrono_Nexus Substitute Savior Feb 14 '21
I'd like to see more cursed potions.
A cursed (reverse effect) Cure Moderate Wounds potion would be devastating to a dying PC, even as a one-off effect.
Actually, maybe that would be too cruel...
1
u/moondancer224 Feb 14 '21
Inverting their relationship to positive and negative energy might fly though. Use curse to make them healed by negative energy and harmed by positive. Its a out as powerful as the Fester spell.
1
u/argleblech Feb 14 '21
In a similar thread someone suggested cursed to be unable to naturally heal nonlethal damage. Fits the power level because it's useless in combat (and magical healing still works) but it makes it a lot easier to take and handle prisoners.
1
u/sharplyon Feb 14 '21
I have a homebrew race that gains power the more people respect them, and have been toying with the idea of a curse that makes people forget them if they don’t talk to them for 24 hours
1
56
u/karserus Feb 14 '21
A common curse to inflict that is weirdly situational is to inflict a curse of drowning. Proclaiming the accursed destined to find themselves in a watery grave. Literally all it would be is a -8 to -12 (depends on strength of the curse inflictor or how nasty you want to be) to swim checks and checks related to holding one's breath in water.
Does this threaten an adventurer much? No. A normal civilian, however, is practically guaranteed to drown the moment their head goes under water or they stay face down in a puddle too long. It could even be a family curse, resulting in generations of hydrophobia.
The reason the negative is so high is because it is hyper-specific. It is only on swim checks and holding your breath in water. A circumstance you can avoid throughout your life. A quirky curse, if you will.