What Are Your Best CURSED ITEMS? | r/DnD

[@twistedpinttavern]

Now I'm not saying you need to treat EVERY item like it's cursed, but what's D&D without a little magic-paranoia? What are your favorite cursed items?

[@brickpuncher1429]

I feel like a funny way to make a cursed invisibility cloak is to make it to where you can't be seen, but you also A. Must be buck-naked at all times and B. Can't see yourself.

[@someguywithaphone5921]

When I do happen to DM a campaign, I offer "The Magic Shoes of Prestidigitation". Seeing as they use no spell slots, and can be used almost endlessly, every person you've never met before suddenly has poo in their pants as soon as you introduce yourself. If you attempt to remove them, they do come off, but you are forced to "find a bush or latrine" every 4 turns for a week.

[@BrazenBard]

I offered up a nice longsword (as per 3.5/PF1 rules, 1d8 one-handed sword) with the word "Defect" in dwarven runes written down the blade. It had a flame motif, and dealt an extra 1d6 fire damage on a hit. On a critical hit, it detonated a 5d6 fireball at point-blank range, offering no immunity to the wielder...

[@twistedpinttavern]

I now want a full list of defective magic items, with wild consequences...

[@BrazenBard]

@@twistedpinttavern I also more recently handed out Eclipse, a defective Sunblade. On a roll of 5 or 15 on the d20 when attacking, the blade just shuts down, and needs to be reactivated as normal (bonus action).

[@Numdenu]

might steal the noose idea for a ravenloft campaign...

[@twistedpinttavern]

Curse of Strahd has a random encounter with a noose (at a crossroads I believe?) and someone hanging in it. Could be a cool way to introduce this one, while subtly implying its more sinister nature...

[@only2megabytes139]

I made a spell book that when opened, randomly casts a 4th level at the user. It uses their own spell list, or the wizard spell list. It always targets the user. You could end up with a bunch of elementals, you could get invisibility. Best is when you get teleported 200 feet into the air, or off a cliff from dimension door.

[@xilch0]

I love me a good cursed item. Or even monsters disguised as convenient items. My favorite examples were a set of torches that repelled a magic darkness that permeates the dungeon in the Beholders lair. When they get to the Beholder fight, it activates the torches who are little mimics that grapple the players and attempt a bite with their flaming maws. Same campaign, earlier found item, later cursed effect reveal. An amulet that protected the wearer from halved damage. To read as "If you would take half damage from a magical spell or effect, you instead take no damage." What those players didn't know was the continued ruling of "Record the spells/effects and damage absorbed by the amulet. When removed, all recorded spells are resolved at their listed damage." (I would have given them the condition with a high enough arcane discovery on the Identify, they only got the first part) They celebrated this amulet, loved it. Put it right on the rogue and laughed about how I'd made an unkillable monster. That I'd made a mistake in making such an abusable item. It was the honey pot. Fast forward probably a year of games and lots of spells absorbed. They were at the cusp of a pretty major conflict. The rogue had snuck some party members into the Kings fortress surrounded by a war camp. He needed to go inform some other key players and get in position for the coming assaults. Ranger, Wizard, and Cleric were being left here to get deeper into the fortress and eliminate the Kings head Wizard. The Ranger suggests that they bring the amulet since they will be facing the greatest threat of direct magic. Here it was. The first time Rogue had removed the amulet, And I'd been meticulous in my record keeping. See a rogue who thinks he's immune is waaaaay more likely to face check a spell. I resolved just shy of 11k damage. Most of it fireballs and lightning bolts. We agreed an explosion that spectacular would cripple the fortress structure. I even deemed the blast large enough to expel the castle exterior walls on two sides, and have it function as shrapnel into the soldiers encampments around the fort. To the teams credit, they did kill the head Wizard in the blast. The party did eventually corner and defeat the King with the aid of 4 heroes from another country sent as an elite reinforcement group. I think my players enjoyed the new characters, and eventually forgave me for blowing them up.

[@twistedpinttavern]

If any of my players are reading this comment, forget what you read about the Mimic Torches... Lol. And while I do NOT usually suggest people instant TPK with a single explosion, if you've got the right group and setting, it can actually be a really cool reset! Plus, sometimes you just gotta teach people not to trust something if it seems too good to be true...

[@xilch0]

@twistedpinttavern I agree with you. Burst TPK isn't the goal with the items, and I wouldn't have run this to all my play groups. I'm glad my party received the reveal well and also laughed about the size of the explosion. I'd also made sure that while it did put them back in this final battle, it did also accomplish several major goals. Remember DMs, we play with our players, not against them. In my parties tale, they were still successful. But not without the noble sacrifice of the infiltration team. ;^)

[@Mortvent]

My most evil thing was the "Sword of the Paladin" It was an enchanted +1 short sword that would eventually turn into a more powerful sword (+5 Lawful and good so it did extra damage to chaos and evil) when the owner shifted to lawful good (they didn't have to become a paladin, though there was a strong inclination to it). But it came with a code that would start to take effect... poverty (no excess wealth), helpful, etc akin to the paladin codes. The irony being as a short sword, it tended to get used by rogues and other less lawful oriented characters more often than not

[@twistedpinttavern]

Actually a cool cursed item. Most of the time people just say "curse means bad/evil", but that's not always the case.

[@iselreads2908]

I try to make it so that the cursed items I make actually have benefits to an extent and have ways they can be overcome. For example, I have a Charm of Reckless Courage I made awhile back that turns you into an overly confident gigachad that's easy to string along with some honeyed words, but a monster on the battlefield. This pendant is a side profile of a lion made out of gold. While attuned to this magic item, you gain advantage on all attack rolls and initative checks, walking speed increase by 10 feet, attacks crit on a 19 or 20, and are immune to being frightened. However, it comes at the cost of attack rolls to hit you have advantage and gives you disadvantage on saving throws to avoid being charmed. As is typical with cursed items, once you put it on, you can't willingly unattune to it unless you get hit with a remove curse spell.

[@twistedpinttavern]

That is a BEEFY magic item, but a beefy curse to go with it... And yet I think the Paladin I play with would still choose to wear it, lol. He wouldn't mind RP-ing a flirty courage boi

[@tophatstudios8183]

*scribbles this down*

[@iselreads2908]

@@tophatstudios8183 🤣🤣🤣 have fun. I had plans to try and make an entire set of 7 deadly sins charms, but this was about as far as I got before life blindsided me.

[@tophatstudios8183]

@@iselreads2908 ok I will cuz this sounds like a fun idea and I can see the fighter using it, is it only for certain classes or can anyone use it?

[@iselreads2908]

@@tophatstudios8183 You know, I never thought that far ahead^^. Honestly, I could MAYBE make an argument that only Paladins, Barbarians, and Fighters could snag it since this charm is a little more befitting for an aggressive melee unit, but I think it could be more of a cursed item if anyone could fall victim to it's effects. So, yeah, anyone can pick it up^^

[@julesmasseffectmusic]

I was dm, the game was the party joined the waterdeep watch, one player befriended the keeper of curses items. My favourite was a nose ring that granted the scent ability and gave a +10 to sense motive the curse was could not be removed and every lycanthrope thought you were it's natural enemy lycanthrope and attacked on first sniff.

[@blakeetter280]

DM made a silenced magic revolver, that talked. And gave it to the rogue. It talked a lot too. Loudly. It was rejected for that very reason and pouted about it the whole time.

[@twistedpinttavern]

The silence doesn't do much if the gun and user are both chatty, lol

[@robertg97]

I came into a campaign late and as part of my character background, was given a magical RedHood. The hood gave the ability to summon a magical scythe or sling, and a bonus to unarmoured defence. The curse was fame? Exaggerated tales and rumors would surround the RedHood. This caused the spotlight hogging paladin in our party to seethe, as his deeds would be instead attributed to this small bewildered goblin. My poor goblin, a shy gloomstalker ranger, was thrust into the foreground, in any formal interactions. I think the DM did this to reign in the Paladins player. The Hood was actually an elaborate ploy by an archfey to trap a Mortal who had bested him into acquiring the hood, where he would be possessed. If you ever need a reason why your party is sought out for quests or targeted by enemies, this is it.

[@twistedpinttavern]

I actually love that fame curse

[@Spiceodog]

Ring of rabbits lament . While wearing it, your jump distance increases by 5ft. However, whenever they roll initiative , ask them to multiple the amount of rabbits they killed that day by a d4. This information is completely meaningless, but they don’t know that. Any time a rabbit sees them, they stare. A casting of speak with animals on a rabbit will just make them say “ our eyes are ever watching” repeatedly.

[@twistedpinttavern]

Something about being watched by rabbits is highly unsettling...

[@zombiehunter501]

Helm of Detect Lying. Lets you know in a 60 ft radius if people are lying down.

[@NuclearCharm]

Cursed Ring of Spell Turning It functions likes the normal version of the ring but whenever you miss a spell attack, your spell turns, rerolling the attack with you as the target. It also has a 10% chance to turn any magic missiles you cast.

[@isaackarr6576]

Parasitic armor that grows AC but damages HP every hour while awake.

[@russdarracott395]

Luckily at the time of the post, my dm hasn't given out any cursed items.

[@twistedpinttavern]

You've just jinxed yourself. Trust nothing lol

[@russdarracott395]

@@twistedpinttavern maybe I did, maybe I didn't. The only teller is time.

[@sentientcoffeebean]

Some items i used on players: Amulet that lets you store a spell you know for a free casting of it. But for every spell slot you take a d6 of necrotic damage when casting it. Magical knife that allows you to teleport out of harms way as a reaction when receiving damage. 10% chance it sends you to the astral plane. Luck stone: gain +1 on all ability checks but suffer from extremely bad luck on failed ability checks. Like try to disarm a trap, but if you fail you trigger it. Try to climb a wall, but if you fail you fall right on your head and take maximum damage. etc etc. Staff that allows you to summon a giant constrictor snake but it ignores all enemies and only attacks you. Guantlets that give you an extra +2 to ac but they are so heavy it causes disadvantage on all attacks.

[@twistedpinttavern]

"Oh darn, looks like I took 2 points of damage from the poison needle! Let me just teleport out of the wa- and now I'm in the Astral Plane."

[@Talestale]

I have a simple yet evil item. A ring that binds to the first person to wear it then flips all their modifiers and just for fun makes them lose their sense of direction, so every once and a while (or when you want too) they have to roll a dice(your choice of which) if they fail then they get lost and end up going in a random direction. Best given to that player

[@gustaafargoan]

I gave the party a good aligned semi sentient bow, that can't miss. You can pick arrows made from acid, fire, lightning or cold. You can put the bow away, but it will replace any other weapon you try to use. You roll to hit, on a miss the arrow turns around at 30 feet past the monster aimed for and hits a random character or monster in a 30 degree arc. You roll again until it hits. The rogue took out the frontline fighter on a Crit.

[@ClassicMagicMan]

I love the idea of the cursed bag of holding, casting hold person when you touch it for the first time, but I'd make that a one-time gimmick/gotcha and behave as a normal bag of holding afterwards.

[@twistedpinttavern]

Yeah, I kind of agree that it should me more like a prank than a long running thing, because then most parties will just leave it in the road.

[@tophatstudios8183]

One of my players In my third campaign had a longsword that was called sword of the blood king and how it worked was that whoever used it would start losing their sanity but it gave a +2 against anything that could bleed and the blade counted as magic. Now here’s the kicker the player was a living armor(basically armor that has flesh in them and can eat others brains to gain characteristics, knowledge and alittle bit of abilities depending on the thing he ate) and so he couldn’t be effected by the sword since he didn’t have anything it could corrupt so the sword “soul” decided to reveal itself to the player and so they formed a pact because the curse couldn’t effect the player and the sword wanted to see the world and be used in battle once more. Btw the player also had a mimic cannon hand

[@twistedpinttavern]

This character just sounds like an absolute unit. Living, flesh eating armor, mimic hand, cursed sword-turned-partner, like that's just a killer combo.

[@tophatstudios8183]

@@twistedpinttavern oh yeah he was a beast in combat literally walked into the one of the boss areas while the other were having issues with them and legit says “I got this” and decimates the two bosses I had ready

[@badnewsBH]

I find it interesting that so many people hate on DMs for "punishing" players, and yet would introduce cursed items with glee...

[@timjackson9334]

I only have two cursed weapons so far I've yet to give someone. The cursed Berserker Axe, and the Sword of Vengeance. The Berserker Axe makes the wielder go berserk in battle until the wielder is the last one standing. Sword of Vengeance makes the wielder focus obsessively on whoever hit that person last until either one's hitpoints are reduced to zero.

[@twistedpinttavern]

Does the "last one standing" part of the berserker axe include allies? Cause that would get brutal fast!

[@timjackson9334]

@@twistedpinttavern Rules as written, it does.

[@twistedpinttavern]

Welp, rip the party members. I can already see the secret battle strategy of everyone in the party pretending to be dead so the berserk ends, then letting the player "heal" them all can up lol

[@brickpuncher1429]

That "Noose of Life and Death" is literally just Russian Roulette, but all shots are revives, with the actual bullet also reviving you, but still killing you, unless you're a brute, go insane, or remove the curse

[@twistedpinttavern]

I wonder what would happen if the last use of the noose was on a warforged... Like, they don't need to breathe, so in theory it's just a revive with a new necklace...

[@brickpuncher1429]

@@twistedpinttavern Maybe the noise crunches the armour around the neck like a can?

[@semodemo0159]

Robe of nakedness: protects you from piercing attacks (spears arrows nails the stale baguette exc.) only works when you dont wear clothing (except itself) and is invisible to any being that doesnt have own a robe of nakedness

[@ARViuff]

One of the best items i ever had was a cape that gave the benefit of +1 leather armor, with non of the weight. So it was like having armor but lighter. However if you die, you dont get saves, you turn into an undead of equal cr to your current level.

[@twistedpinttavern]

That is brutal!

[@rutger5000]

Heart of the doomed prophet. 2 + 1d4 charges a day. When a players picks it up, they ask three questions. Randomly answer 2 of them honestly, and lie for the other. Have fun watching the players trying to figure out what's true and what's a lie.

[@twistedpinttavern]

I love this lmao

[@seatonking8136]

Had a thought of a dr who themed item. The toymaker: a set of two rings that fit on one finger one larger the other smaller. The wearer points and snaps they're finger and the target turns into a wood toy the size of a figurine. On another snap without pointing undoes the effect. However when the charge is dead the wearer is turned into a figurine item and all.

[@giraffedragon6110]

My favorite item I ever gave a player was a +2 greatsword called the *Caustic Calibur*. Its only effect was, they could spend their hit die to deal extra psychic damage on an attack of their choice. However it came with 2 caveats. 1). They must declare using the hit die BEFORE rolling to hit, so it’s a gamble and 2). That same hit die, is lost to you till your long rest AND is dealt back to the wielder (as unresisted psychic damage). The player was well aware of the risk but it was THEIR CHOICE to make. A good cursed item MUST have a benefit that makes the curse worth it.

[@GripFist]

for my campaign i homebrewed a +3 greataxe that did an extra 2d6 fire damage to the target, but was cursed to turn the wielder into a skeleton. since you can’t cast most healing spells on undead, it turned my fighter into an incredibly powerful glass cannon

[@nabra97]

We have quite a few magic items with drawbacks (DM eventually introduced a generator of such objects, that reminds me the "Epic Spells War" tabletop game: no swearing, but some names are still pretty funny; "I can't imagine a sensitive spider; I'm also not sure I want to"), but most interesting from the plot perspective were probably artificial elemental hearts. It's a long story what elemental hearts are in the first place, but the main thing with artificial ones is that they make user age rapidly. For non-elves, it's represented in permanently loosing hitpoints, elves just age, no mechanics, thought the DM mantioned that they can die to this eventually. These items are created by a group of bat-crap crazy elven scientist with unclear, but clearly not good motivation; not our main villains, but we confronted them on a few occasions. We ended up getting a few of these items, but didn't really use, even though some of the characters were elves. I guess it isn't really curse from the setting's perspective, more like them being deeply unnatural.

[@garrickstangle5996]

Shield +1, Cursed Cowardly. Shield is afraid to get hit with weapons so it keeps twisting around so that the character is between the shield and the attack, so the character will be the shield's meat shield.

[@dwaynemontgomery1851]

"cube of wonders" its a puzzle cube that makes you obsessed with it if you try and solve it, you must succeed 6 increasingly hard investigation checks in a row to open it, if you fail any one of these checks it acts like a wand of wonder, with it as the caster and you as the target, once unlocked the curse is removed and can be used like a normal wand of wonder

[@jackwladwig7142]

It’s been 4-5 years. I’ve never introduced a cursed item. We started a new campaign, and they have one person affected by a curse, and two cursed items in the party. They have no idea…yet.

[@funnyblog100]

It was a ring with a chain devil bound to it given to my character for backstory reasons. Once my character put the ring on I was told it couldn’t be removed. It gave me a plus 1 charisma and would start to make me more powerful. The devil inside it would slowly try to corrupt and take control of my character and I had to make wisdom saves against it. The dm’s words were that the ring couldn’t be removed. So I simply had my finger removed instead after handing my dagger to one of the PC’s. Much to the dm’s shock. I later took it to a temple and had it incinerated before the devil could finish regenerating.

[@amberkat8147]

I mean, that IS the obvious solution. Good for you!

[@twistedpinttavern]

I mean, I feel like I'd rather lose a finger than become possessed and corrupted by a devil. Fair play lol

[@ewwstinky5678]

Probably not the most exciting story but I’m playing an oathbreaker paladin who…. Sorta loves to take any shiny items even if it means stealing them. Anyway, party was in a fight and killed everything. One of the corpses had a small box on him which I took and later opened, only to reveal a glove. My paladin wears some cool half gloves under his gauntlets so I figured it would be cool, especially if it does something. I later put it on, nothing happened. Time passes and he takes the glove off, I see the dm roll something. I knew this was meta, but I was like oh, oh this does something?? So… my paladin began repeatedly putting it on and taking it off again, only the third time he was missing a finger. So now idea is, when time is right, play a travelling fashion designer and put the glove onto anyone he doesn’t like or wants to play a prank on, then pray for the dice rolls to do what they wish before he takes it off with a “ yeah nah, afraid my craft doesn’t suit you” then run the fuck away

[@twistedpinttavern]

Man's straight up stealing people's fingers, lmao

[@apocalypso3427]

These are some great cursed items lol. I don't think I have any that top these. Thanks for another great video! I'm loving these. Also woooo! you've grown a bit in the past couple days

[@twistedpinttavern]

Yeah, these ones were pretty great! And thanks! I'm actually shocked at the growth, I'm super grateful for the support from everyone!

[@apocalypso3427]

@@twistedpinttavern You deserve it! Better start planning for your 1k party now lol. I have a feeling you'll hit it real soon

[@twistedpinttavern]

I actually am getting a patreon all set up for homebrew content I make, and am planning on going public with it when I start posting some short form content on tiktok. I also really want to do a discord, but wasn't 100% sure if people would want to join it, but with you bringing it up I'll make it a definite goal! Thank you so much!

[@apocalypso3427]

@@twistedpinttavern No problem! Can't wait to join and help support your channel

[@broke_af_games9661]

So I had a Nifty item that was hanging in a dungeon... It was nothing more than a set piece.... The skin of a Racksasha. It basically allowed for the attuned user to make illusion layer effects. My wife had the bright idea of wearing it .... Well I just had to run with that. All I said to her was it was nice and warm, and you've never felt more secure (something to that effect) A customized a bunch of advantages. The curse is: at night it puppeteers her body when nobody is around. A player ended up witnessing it when he saw that character's light on one evening and her writing in her spellbook. He had the good sense not to interrupt. The two things I haven't come up yet. 1) she has vulnerability to weapon attacks made by good aligned characters. 2) if she dies, within 2d10 minutes she will animate as a zombie and seek out the flesh less body of the Racksasha (as the creature is a demon, it is not subject to the standard physiological rules. It is captive in Karrnath in a forgotten tomb. Yes, that does mean it was skinned alive.

[@twistedpinttavern]

Man, she better not die lol

[@arminakuma2828]

My artificer gnome is cursed by a gauntlet that gives him advantage on every check to craft and now every time I see somewhere peacefull he has de urge to disacrate it

[@pichughost7974]

That ring is awesome

[@JazzyBoy02]

Cloak of billowing gives +3 to charisma checks

[@someguywithaphone5921]

"Cursed Ring of Jumping" : Makes every movement into a 20 foot jump that you cannot (but the DM can) control the direction of. Straight up in a cave? Watch your noggin.

[@VestedUTuber]

Oh, is that familiar by any chance a Pseudodragon? Because he's not stealing that for me, he just likes shiny objects.

[@rynemcgriffin1752]

A list of cursed items for my own use? Don’t mind if I do

[@theuncalledfor]

I am not even halfway through the video and I already have enough. This is the most toxic shit I ever did hear.