BESTOW CURSE
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK (3.0)
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK 1 (3.5)
Necromancy
Level: Adept 3, Bone Knight 3, Cleric 3, Corrupt Avenger 3, Court Herald 3, Demonologist (3.0) 2, Destiny Domain 4, Dragon Below Domain 3, Fate Domain 3, Fiend of Blasphemy (3.0) 3, Hatred Domain 3, Justiciar of Taiia (3.0) 3, Maho-Tsukai (3.0) 3, Paladin of Tyranny 3, Shaman 3, Sorcerer/Wizard 4, Suffering Domain 3, Urban Adept 3
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Creature touched
Duration: Permanent
Saving Throw: Will negates
Spell Resistance: Yes
You place a curse on the subject. Choose one of the following three effects.
• –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, and the DM has final say on the curse’s effect. 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.
Alternate Material Component: Eye of firenewt [Heightened +1] (720 gp)
Editor (Lactantius-Contributor): A versatile spell since you can apply it in combat and anywhere else. The open ended clause regarding "more curses" makes it more powerful. Im combat, we have - again - the question if it is worth to debuff. Conclusion:This spell seems solid since the curse options are versatile. reducing saves can be good if you follow up with Save-or-Dies, 50% wasted actions is very good, too. One thing to remember is the permanent effect: like Blindness, you can apply the spell in non-combat-situations or just prior to the fight. The enemy must get remove curse, break enchantment or even better stuff to get rid of the effect. Plus, this spell is a good candidate for our spectral hand.
Editor (Save-or-Suck): CURSE! the very mention of the name should bring fear and terror into the hearts of all PCs. Smart DMs don't use them very often. They're a bad feeling's spell that doesn't completely take down a player, but often renders him helpless, sometime useless. Nothing sucks more then spending hours watching other people play while you role-play incapacitation. If the party doesn't have access to remove curse, the player might wind up sitting around with nothing to do while he ineffectually flails about taking an action every other round. A -6 to the wrong stat and someone can't figure out how to put his armor on in the morning. But what really should make someone scared is that "you may also invent your own curse" part of the text. DM's have a funny way of judging what is "more powerful". This often means, "You as a player can't do jack with this spell." where as, "The DM can turn you into a pineapple." That said, I recommend some of my own experience with this spell. Specifically, using Bestow Curse as a conditional capstone for another spell. For example, I polymorph you into a horrible creature. I cast Bestow Curse on you, "You shall remain this mockery of life until such time as you find true love." If you are going to use curse that way, it's important to have some sort of 'out' for the PCs. You've seen Beauty and the Beast. Nuff said. Oh, yeah, everything below needs DM approval.
Alternate Curses (3.0)
• Target is rendered sterile.
• The next person introduced to the target for the first time will hate him or her uncontrollably forever. Even if this curse is removed, the person still hates the victim of the curse, but the victim can improve the person’s attitude normally after the curse is gone. EDITOR: I got a problem with this one, I think the curse should affect the target, not self-aware people around him. That is the providence of Greater Bestow Curse.
• Each time the target attempts to help a friend or ally, there is a 50% chance the attempt fails and causes the ally to fail at the task.
• Target is struck blind and deaf. EDITOR: I have a problem with this one. It imitates another spell (Blindness/Deafness) making that spell pointless. True, B/D is second level for wizards, but it's third for clerics. For that reason, I would not allow this curse.
• Each round in combat, there is a 25% chance that the target will attack the nearest creature rather than choosing an opponent normally.
• Every time the victim makes a d20 roll, a roll of 20 counts as a 1.
• The victim effectively ages, moving him or her to the beginning of the next age category. EDITOR: Per aging, the afflicted is treated as becoming frail and weak. They advance one age category in appearance, receiving any physical penalties appropriate to the new age category, without any of the benefits. This age persists until the curse is broken. Venerable characters are not penalized by this form of curse, and afflicted characters can not be aged to death. The target does not actually get any older, and will still live as long as it normally would.
• At some point within the next week (or whenever it is feasible), thieves are able to steal all monetary wealth the victim has. EDITOR: Again, I object to the spell affecting someone other then the target. I think this should be under greater curse.
• Animals refuse to be within 5 feet of the target and do not respond to the target’s commands or requests. EDITOR: Mindless animals with int of 2 or less.
• Each time the target meets someone for the first time, there is a 50% chance that the new person will confuse the target with a hated enemy, a well-known criminal, or a raving lunatic. EDITOR: Again I object to the spell affecting someone else other then the target.
• All creatures of a specific kind (such as orcs, owlbears, or black dragons) are permanently invisible to the sight of the victim (invisibility purge does not help, but see invisibility and true seeing do). The spellcaster chooses the kind of creature.
Alternate Curses (Dragon Magazine)
• Target takes -8 penalty on all checks made using one skill, such as Climb or Spellcraft.
• The target's Str score counts as 10 less (minimum 1) for the purposes of carrrying capacity. This might cause some individuals to suddenly take encumbrance penalties while others collapse under the weight of their own gear.
• The target's armor falls into disrepair, halving its hit points and hardness while decreasing the armor bonus it grants by -4 (minimum of 1) and doubling the armor check penalty. This effect shifts to any new armor donned, while the armor removed returns to normal (although any damage it might have taken remains)
• The target must carry something designated by the caster or suffer a -5 penalty on all saves. The item can be vague (such as a holy symbol of Vecna) or specific (such as the Helm of King Aramil), but it cannot be something dangerous or deadly for the target to carry (a massive boulder or burning coals). The caster must give the object when casting the spell.
• One of the target's limbs ceases to function. A nonfunctional arm cannot hold or wield any item and cannot be used to perform somatic spell components, while a nonfunctional leg prevents the target from walking properly without a crutch (and even then the target can only move at half speed). A nonfunctional wing prevents the target from flying if it uses wings to fly. EDITOR: Alternate possibility, the target loses use of their right limb during daylight hours, and their left limb when the sun is down. Same effect, cosmetic differences.
• The target loses all weapon and armor proficiencies, other than simple weapons, natural weapons, and unarmored strikes. If the target has feats for which the lost proficiencies are prerequisites (such as Weapon Focus), he loses the use of these as well.
• The target becomes completely socially inept. He takes -6 penalties on Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information, Intimidate, and Sense Motive Checks, on Cha checks to influence someone, and on Disguise checks when attempting to act as someone else.
• The target's armor, shield, or one of his weapons (caster's choice) becomes cursed. Its enhancement bonus is reversed and it loses any other special abilities, so a +4 flaming longsword becomes a -4 longsword. If nonmagical, the weapon, shield, or armor instead becomes a -1 weapon, shield or armor.
• The target is stricken with cowardice. Each time the character rolls for initiative, he must immediately make a will save (with the same DC as the curse) or become shaken for the duration of the combat. The first time the character takes damage in the combat, he must save again or become shaken for 1d4 rounds (if already shaken, instead treat as panicked for 1d4 rounds)
• The target appears to be a different alignment (caster's choice) for the purpose of divination spells and spell-like abilities such as detect evil.
• The target's damage reduction, spell resistance, or elemental resistance of one type is reduced by 5, to a minimum of 0.
• The target immediately becomes fatigued until he has consumed 1 pint of blood. Thereafter, he gains a thirst for blood and normal food and drink no longer nourish him. He awakens fatigued each morning and must drink 1 pint of blood to stave off this fatigue for the day.
• Everyone who knows the target no longer recognizes him, except for the caster. Even the target's allies do not recognize him and those who come to know him again forget knowing him each morning.
• The target gains a susceptibility to damage from a certain source (caster's choice). All damage taken from this source is increased by 5 points. The source must be either a specific element, such as fire, or weapons made of a specified uncommon material such as mithral, silver, or bone.
• The target loses the ability to heal naturally (although he does not lose innate healing abilities such as fast healing or regeneration). In addition, spells of the conjuration (healing) subschool only heal the target for half as much as normal. Such spells that cause damage are unaffected by this curse. For example, a cure light wounds spell cast upon a undead creature is unaffected, while an inflict light wounds spell cast on the same creature would be halved.
• The target's sight is reduced to 20ft, even with natural abilities and spells such as darkvision.
• The target must roll a Fort save (DC as curse) each time he commits an evil or illegal act to avoid becoming nauseated for 2d4 rounds. Alternatively, the caster may use this curse to affect those commiting acts of kindness and generosity.
• The target loses the use of one of his feats. If this feat is a prerequisite for other feats, the target loses the use of those feats as well.
• One of the target's minor racial abilities is disabled. Minor abilities include darkvision, low-light vision, racial save bonuses, racial skill bonuses, racial weapon proficiency or familiarity, or stability. The DM has the final word as to what other racial abilities qualify as minor.
• The target immediately becomes fatigued, and henceforth requires 12 hours of sleep each time he rests or else is fatigued for the remainder of the day.
• The target becomes a disease carrier. Anyone the target touches or who touches the target must roll a DC 16 Fort save or else contract blinding sickness or cackle fever. The target is immune to the selected disease.
• The target has uncontrollable shakes, imposing a -4 penalty on ranged attacks and 20% spell failure chance for spells with somatic components.
• The target becomes unable to tell a lie. He may, however, choose to avoid answering a question in order to avoid telling the truth.
• The target fear killing and must attempt to deal nonlethal damage whenever possible, taking a penalty of -4 on attack rolls with most weapons to do so.
Alternate Curses (Player Suggested)
• On a 1 on any die roll, you fail no matter what, and if the action causes harm, you suffer it. (You can fail saving throws, even if you have 20+ over what you need to roll. If you roll a 1 to hit, you hit yourself and take damage.)
• Animal and semi natural beasts have their attitudes to the character dropped 2 steps [usually indifferent to hostile]
• Wounds cut deeper [+1d6 damage suffered per hit]
• Gain enough pounds in fat to be at heavy load.
• Lose 1 point of STR or CON a day as victim becomes "Thinner" (You never go below 3.)
• All sentient beings have their attitude worsened 1 step in regards to the accursed character and all who associate with that character.
• Fear of a type of object, person, place, or environmental condition, (Fear of open spaces. Fear of Moonlight. Fear of cats.) but it can be specific. (Fear of me. Fear of your mother.)
• Cause Obsession with a type of object, person, place, or environmental condition, but it can be specific.
• Reduce SR by 6.
• Reduce One save, and one save only, by -6
• -5 to BAB, thus losing an extra attack. If you go negative, you can still attack.
• Food spoils in your presence. You cannot carry food and must eat very quickly. All food you carry becomes inedible within 24 hours. All food you touch becomes stale and flavorless.
• Items in your possession decay, losing 1 hp per day. Paper ages and cracks, metals become pitted and rusted, leather and cloth dry rot.
• You cannot sleep. Period. After a few days awake you collapse from exhaustion, but even then it's not restful. You're always fatigued after the first day or two and you can forget about recovering spells.
• Holy symbols, holy water, and consecrated ground cause you great pain. You cannot touch holy symbols or holy water willingly. You cannot enter holy ground. If forced into contact, you take 1d4 hp of damage a round.
• You develop horribly bad luck. Once or twice a session the DM can just declare a roll you've just made to be a fumble. Particularly if it's for something important.
• You occasionally see things that aren't true. false visions of future events. You're certain that a particular woman you see is going to get hit by a runaway cart when she goes to the florist later. You KNOW it. You've SEEN it happen. The visions continue to be false, little more than an annoying distraction.
• You eat magic. Beneficial spells with a duration longer than one round that affect you lapse at the start of your next turn.
• Subject is prone to fits of anti-social rage. There is a 25% chance that the target will fly into a rage whenever they come into contact with people. The enraged target can not perform any social interactions, including any CHA based skill check. There is a 10% chance that a character afflicted by rage will become violent.
• Target has a 50% chance to have any attack against a specific set of targets fail.
• May the fleas of a thousand camels infest your armpits. You become covered with lice and other vermin as such you take a -2 to dexterity and charisma from the bugs and scratching.
• May your beloved dwarven beard fall out, irreplacably, in slow agonizing tangles ... along with every other hair on your body. Nuff said.
• Curse someone who has lied to you to suffer an uncontrollable sneezing fit (nauseated 1 round) whenever they attempt to lie.
• Curse someone that you have physically wounded so that the last wound that you gave them will not heal naturally, and will resist magical curing. If you ever wound this person again, the curse ends.
• Curse someone to require three times as much food or five times as much water
• Curse a miser with excessive generosity, requiring a Will save to avoid charitible contributions to beggars, and to resist 'tipping' 50% more for any good or service, or accepting only 50% value for items sold.
• Curse someone to suffer the visible effects of a feared contagious disease, but not to actually have said disease. Whatever ability damage would normally be suffered is instead applied as a one-time ability penalty, and the visible symptoms remain in effect until the curse is removed, possibly leading to a lot of coin being wasted on remove disease spells, and a lot of NPCs shunning and avoiding the 'plague-bearer.'
• Curse someone with a -10 to Wisdom, Intelligence, or Charisma, but only for the purposes of determining the maximum level of spell the person may cast. (Someone with a 29 int would be unaffected. Someone with a 25 would only be able to cast 5th level spells.)
• Unable to drink any form of alcohol. It will not pass his lips. No other effect
• Only able to move about by dancing. -10 feet of movement.
• Can only talk by singing. -20% fail chance on all spellcasting that requires a verbal components.
• Target wets himself whenever he uses rage. No other effect.
• Target must use any magic item he touches the first time he touches it. Any previous times he has used a magic item prior to being cursed do not count. (Pick up a scroll, you must try to read it, including roll UMD. Pick up a magic sword, you must try and hit something with it, at least once. Target not required to try any magic item he is not aware of being a magic item.
• Target must make a UMD on EVERY magic item as if he was not the right class for the device.
• Target must make a DC 10 Balance or fall over every time you move more then a five foot step.
• Target suffers 50% spell failure.
• Target is considered wearing heavy armor at all times. This is worst on monks, barbarians, and rangers, and other classes that require target to be wearing light or no armor.
• The target sparkles like under the effects of Glitterdust, except they aren't blinded.
• Target changes color. Paisley Plaid could be fun.
• Target gets stuck to wood. Must make a strength check to pull away from any wood you come in contact with, even through clothing. (DC equal to saving throw of the original curse.)A strength check to move across a wooden floor. A strength check to stand up from a chair. A strength check to drop a torch. A one always fails.
• Target plane shifts to the Ethereal plane and is utter helpless and unable to act for one round whenever he rolls a 1 on any attack roll. Next round he returns and is able to act normally on his action. Same thing can happen whenever he sneezes. DM determines if/when he sneezes. It is never when it would be useful.
• Is cursed with Lycanthropy, except that he never changes forms. He acts like a werewolf, strips naked, and tries to attack people like a mindless CE monster, but gains no powers, attributes, or immunities. No one will become infected if they are bit by the target. It ends as soon as the curse is lifted. Target will react poorly to wolvesbane and silver, but there are no ill effects from exposure.
• Whenever he kills anyone, he gains a new facial feature or other distinctive mark of the one he killed permanently on his body. Slowly, over time, the killer's charisma drops as he becomes an amalgamation of various types of races. He never changes gender, but he could acquire breasts, or just one breast. Target's Charisma drops by 1 every ten kills until it reaches 1.
• -8 to saves versus a specific school or subschool of magic.
• Target has a sneezing fit when he speaks longer then a standard action. target is unable to cast any spells with a casting time of a full round or greater.
• Toilet paper bursts into flames whenever he touches it or it touches his skin.
• And finally, as suggested by the wife, The Player Is Away From Game Curse (™). This curse happens when a player does not show up for a game session. His PC becomes affected by a curse that turns him into a small figurine that you can carry in your pocket. The curse is lifted next week, if he shows up.
Metamagic
Black Lore of Moil: This feet is incredibly useful when combined with Bestow Curse. The addition of damage to this non-damaging spell opens up a whole new world of feats that otherwise would not be available. Fortunately, you don't even need to add a lot of damage, although you might want to anyways. Again if your necromancer, the black lore of moil shows it's worth.
Fell Animate: Normally I would only recommend using this feat with a low flow damage spell on the helpless victim. However there is an idea that you might be able to push past a flexible DM. It involves adding as much BLoM damage as possible so you'd want to cast this as a wizard at 4th level. You can invent your own curse, so when you add fell animate, you can make it so that if the target fails his will save, he turns into a zombie matter what. If the damage did not kill him, he can be restored to life with a remove curse. Personally, I wouldn't even require the extra damage as a DM. However, your mileage may vary. As for rules on this, I'd simply make him a zombie without access to anything except for hit points of the original. This would be more of a NPC spell then a PC one. It adds a whole new dimension when the hoards of expendable zombies turn out to still be alive, they just need a remove curse to return to the living. Or, far worse, the spell doesn't kick in until you die, then you rise up as an undead. What sort of undead is up to the DM.
Reach: Normally I'm a big fan of reach and touch spells, but not so much in this case. Curse doesn't lend itself to combat too well. It's true power is in non-combat situations where you gently run the back of your hand across someone's cheek and mutter, 'Thinner'. That said, it's what the DM will let you get away with. So maybe you want to focus on the stat reduction and split ray this puppy.
Reaping: Now you combine this spell with BLoM damage. Use a wizard version so that it is 4th level and can do 3d6 damage. Now the curse? You fail the roll to see if true resurrection works. So if someone wants to bring you back, they need to remove curse FIRST, then they need to check to see if you’re the 50% who gets a second chance.
Silent/Still: If you are going to reach the spell, then Silent and Still it and call your spell, The Evil Eye. No need for invisible spell, here. It just makes your target fall over. You'd better make it reach, because they might think something is up if someone collapses right after you touch them.
Smiting: I don’t know. Maybe a fell weaken strength curse, or a simple -6 to con smiting spell. -6 to con is 3 hit points per level of the target GONE. Combine that with BLoM and a 4th level wizard/sorcerer version and you got yourself a 3d6/-6 con/Damage of the weapon attack. That just might kill a low con target like a mage in one blow. Let's say you do a total of 14 damage on the blow. Lets say your target wizard has a 12 con. Average HP 3.5 a level, -3 hp per level from the con drain, you could, in theory, drop a 28th level mage. Your mileage my vary.
Scrolls
Ah, rolled up pieces of paper holding the words that will forever curse your enemies to a life time of pain and misery. I know this sounds strange, but I always though all curse spells had to be sung in the style of country music. After all, country music IS the music of pain. Well, here are some scroll ideas that will let you sing up some pain on your enemies. Let the bad times roll. Before those times roll, we must conceder how to compare the various scrolls. Alas, with a spell like Bestow Curse, it is difficult to contrast them. So this is one of those spells where you have to use your gut instincts. Is it worth what you are trying to achieve? Is this practical? Am I better of just fireballing the bastard? Go with your instincts. Let the hate build inside you. Come to the dark side. We have cookies.
Bestow Curse [Arcane] (SL4/CL7): 700 gp
Bestow Curse [Divine] (SL3/CL5): 375 gp
As you can see, there is no advantage to adding extra caster levels to the spell. But there is a difference between clerical versions and wizard versions. Fortunately, the court herald is arcane and can cast the spell at 3rd level. But, if your DM doesn't allow court heralds, then the arcane scroll will always be more expensive.
Bestow Curse Black Lore of Moil (SL4/CL7): 775 gp
HP Damage: 3 hp per Target's HD + 3d6 = Avg 13.5 to 70.5 (57.40 to 10.99 gp/hp)
And here we have a perfect example of why it's difficult to rate this spell. If you use the spell for a -6 to con, HP loss is all over the place, depending on the HD of the target. Our example is for HD between 1 and 20. Con loss is the great equalizer. 50 HD Storm Giants are brought low by con loss. And you cannot heal it. Then again, it's a lot of work. keep it in mind, based on the target.
Bestow Curse BLoM/Coercive/Fell Frighten (SL6/CL11): 1650 gp
Here we have the ultimate Will save sapper. A total of -8 to will saves, if they fail a will save. But if it works, the next will save spell will be a walk in the park. And maybe you can convince the DM that you want ONLY to reduce will saves, not all saves, rolls, ability checks, so you can get a -6 to just will saves, giving you a total of -10 for three rounds. Make it count.
Bestow Curse BLoM/Fell Animate (SL6/CL11): 1675 gp
Again, a spell you might need to chat the DM into accepting. I don't think the BLoM is needed, but include it, just to make him happy. You cast it on someone and if he fails his will save, he turns into a ZOMBIE. He loses all powers and class abilities and racial abilities and skills, and becomes a walking corpse that is superior to a normal zombie, only in that he has all he starting hit points, and that the soul of the victim is trapped inside, screaming in horror as he wanders about committing acts of violence while trapped helpless in a rotting shell. If you do use this spell that way, make sure that the spell comes with the clause, "All victims are freed if the caster is killed." That makes for a rather dramatic turn of events. You need to kill the necromancer without killing any of the zombies so you can free them. The other possibility is the zombie becoming free willed. If you want, a victim of this spell goes straight to being a free willed zombie. He wanders about in this rotting flesh, no class abilities, no racial abilities, just BAB, Saves, and Ability Scores, dropping bits and pieces of himself all over the place. Now THAT'S a curse!
Bestow Curse BLoM/Fell Drain (SL5/CL9): 1125 gp
Here you go, poor man's geas. You permanently lose a level that you won't get back until you fulfill some condition for the caster. It's something you need to push past an open minded DM, but not impossible.
Bestow Curse BLoM/Fell Weaken (SL4/CL7): 725 gp
Now we're cooking with gas! maybe you can convince the DM to allow the fell weaken to last just as long as the spell. It only has 1d6 of damage, but that's all it needs. Even if you don't, you have a -10 to strength for the next minute, -6 after that. Suddenly the enemy is -5 to hit and -5 to damage on all melee attacks. He can't use his strength bow. Lots of potential with this combo.
Bestow Curse BLoM/Reach (SL6/CL11): 1725 gp
Basically the standard BLoM 3d6 damage combined with con drain, except now you can cast it out to 30 feet. Much better choice for those touch shy wizards.
Bestow Curse BLoM/Reaping/Heightened+2 (SL9/CL17): 3925 gp
HP Damage: 4d6 = Avg 14 (280.36 gp/hp)
Now what makes this nasty? If you kill someone with this spell, they only have a 50% chance of surviving true resurrection. Now, they are cursed to fail that one roll. Unless you remove curse the body before you try to bring them back, they will fail, and never be able to come back again. I like to call this version, "STAY DEAD… AND THIS TIME I MEAN IT!" Your DM might fear the implications, but remember, the spell has to kill them with an average of 14 points of damage, and the curse is only affecting ONE die roll. There is a way around it, just make sure to remove curse the body before they return. A wish to create a new body would get around this, so don't burn the body. Leave it alone for his friends to find.
Wands
Bestow Curse (SL3/CL5) 11250 gp
Bestow Curse BLoM (SL4/CL7) 24750 gp
Does 3d6 BLoM. I suggest a -6 to con to maximize the HP damage.
Bestow Curse BLoM/Fell Weaken (SL4/CL7) 22250 gp
It does 1d6 BLoM damage and -4 to Str for one round. Play around with the curse it self.
Bestow Curse BLoM/Smiting (SL4/CL7) 23500 gp
If you are going to enhance other people's weapons, ENHANCE. This does 2d6 extra BLoM damage and adds a curse to each blow. Mix and Match as you enhance. I suggest 50% chance of inactivity first followed by: -6 con, -6 str, -6 dex, finally -4 to saves, ability checks-blah blah blah. If you haven't killed the target by the 5th curse, You never should have been in that fight in the first place.
