Numberless Curses

 These are curses on weapons that are not about -2 to hit or damage, but more about limiting the fighter tactically.  It may even be interesting to have weapons that have a bonus to hit and one of these curses and then let the player decide whether using the weapon is worth the trouble.  This weapon is cursed so that you must always: 

1.     attack last, after all allies and foes. [Sloth]

2.     attack only once per battle. [Sloth]

3.     attack only until you wound a foe, then stop. [Sloth]

4.     attack a foe only after it has been wounded by an ally. [Sloth][Envy]

5.     attack only one foe until it is dead and keep beating the corpse until the battle has ended. [Wrath]

6.     attack a foe, switch targets and attack that foe, switch targets etc, until the battle has ended. [Wrath]

7.     attack only foes that are also being attacked by an ally. [Envy]

8.     attack only foes that have attacked you. [Vainglory]

9.     attack only foes that have attacked an ally. [Sloth]

10.  attack only foes that have wounded you. [Vainglory]

11.  attack only the last foe to have wounded you. [Vainglory][Wrath]

12.  attack only foes that have wounded an ally. [Sloth][Wrath]

13.  attack only when unarmored and shieldless. [Vainglory]

14.  attack only while allies fight alongside, otherwise you surrender. [Sloth]

15.  attack only alone, never with others. [Vainglory]

16.  attack only unaware targets. [Sloth][Cowardice]

17.  attack only after shouting your intended target. [Vainglory]

18.  attack only the most threatening foe—the largest, most experienced—then stop when they are dealt with. [Vainglory]

19.  attack only the weakest foe—the smallest, most frightened—then stop when they are dealt with. [Sloth][Cowardice]

20.  attack only when begged by an ally. [Vainglory]

 

For some reason I started thinking of these curses in a framework of traditional Christian sins, like the knight that wielded the magic sword last was an anti-saint that was reeking of pride.  Sorry if that's a distraction, there are other ways to frame curses as “bad” as I realized when I noticed that cowardice, which is often reviled, is not one of the seven deadly sins, nor selfishness.  Also, I like the term vainglory here better than pride for boastful, showy fighting.

Cave Carbuncles

 If you fail at reading a scroll, inscription, or magical tome, it is likely because decay has eroded some necessary words and the remaining, corrupted text has a chance of giving you Cave Carbuncles.  These terrible, boil-like growths emerge from the head and each (1d4) prevents the memorization of a spell.

Parasitic Plums

If you are wounded in the mysterious underworld you may become infected by a small parasitic tree.  These tree sprout from the back and shoulders like tiny bonsai.  They eventually bear fruit of many colors and flavors that look a bit like plums.  Each fruit is a secret of the host that is then lost to them.  Memorized spells, locations of buried treasures, magical passphrases, simply gone from the memory.  If someone other than the host eats one of the fruit, they gain one of those lost secrets.

The Coward's Cage

Simon the Coward fell in love with a Guildmaster's niece but was told he could not court her unless he brought the Guildmaster three cave pearls.  Cave pearls only being found in infested catacombs, this was an impossible task.  But, smitten, Simon acquired all the silver and mithril wire he could and wove it into a crude half-dome of mesh and had it blessed by 3 different holy men.  It was crafted so he could carry it over him with a stick and he went in and out of the caves unmolested and found three cave pearls and courted the fair niece.

It's impossible to climb a ladder while under this cage, impossible to swim, barely manageable to traverse stairs, but while under it, no one will notice you exist unless you hurt them (provides Sanctuary). 

Re-re-inventing

 So, twice now I've come to write a post for what I thought might be a cool, quirky idea only to realize, after searching my blog, that I'd already posted that same idea about nine years ago.  I've thrown out so many blue-sky ideas I forget some of them myself.  I kind of feel like revisiting some of them just because there may be newer gamers and DMs that weren't around for that exciting conversation in the blogs around 2011-2012.  On the other hand, if you are reading this, it's likely that you've been reading my blog and know those old posts.  

To be more specific, I was going to talk about the possibility of using Bingo as a way to level up the characters of kids or new players to teach them "good behaviors" in your campaign and to make it fun and self-driven.  But I made almost the same suggestion before.

Golden Leash

It's said the first thing of note when entering the court of the Great Lich Ksawery was the many people bound to him by golden chains.  Some say that Ksawery drew the thin links from the chests of the victims through daily incantations, while others insist that each chain was an artifact stolen from an ancient tomb.  There is agreement on the function: each person so chained increased Ksawery's ability to store spells

(prisoners attached are treated as magic-user of level the same as their level or HD, with appropriate number of spell slots, now available for use by the imprisoner as if they were their own.)