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Minor Curses

Curses of this magnitude are simple hindrances, not life-ending calamities to come across. They can be disarmed with a simple Remove Curse spell unless otherwise noted, and are, all things considered, no problem for a well-balanced party to deal with. That said, solo adventurers or smaller groups may have a much harder time dealing with the effects.

Curse of Discomfort

The item is severely uncomfortable and sticks to your body.

While bearing this item, you must roll a d10 at the end of a long rest. On a 1, you have suffered a bad night -- you fail to sleep for any significant length of time, lose any benefits of a long rest, and suffer a level of exhaustion if you do not already have one or more.

Curse of Burning Iron

This item is made of metal that occasionally glows a dull red. If it is armor or a worn trinket, you have disadvantage on checks to endure hot conditions while wearing it but advantage on checks to resist cold conditions.

Whenever you deal damage with this item (if it is a weapon) or take damage (if it is worn) it immediately casts Heat Metal on itself as a second-level spell.

Curse of Flamboyance

This item constantly glows and glitters while you bear it, being quite pretty to look at but severely unhelpful in a combat situation.

While attuned to this weapon, you are constantly under the effects of the Faerie Fire spell.

Curse of Indiscretion

This item features a mouth somewhere on its surface, usually in the least convenient spot.

Whenever you make a Charisma (Deception) check, you must also roll a d6. On a 1, the mouth on this item opens and loudly proclaims the truth about whatever you are trying to conceal. You cannot prevent the mouth from speaking by covering it; however, a Silence spell is powerful enough to keep it quiet.

Curse of Indigestion

You haven't been feeling so good ever since you picked this item up.

While attuned, you must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution save whenever you consume a magical substance such as a healing potion or a magically enhanced piece of food, or else you immediately vomit the substance back up and waste it.

On the bright side, this is a great way to trick someone into thinking you've been poisoned... or to avoid actual poison.

Curse of Gullibility

This item simply feels nice to have on you, and makes everyone else in the world seem a lot friendlier.

If you meet a person for the first time while bearing this item, you must succeed on a DC 12 Wisdom saving throw or be Charmed by them. You may repeat this save once per hour, ending the effect on a success.

Curse of Twisted Tongues

This item's surface is unpleasantly moist and slippery when closely inspected.

After you attune to this item, the first time you hear a language you cannot understand, you gain the ability to speak, read, and understand that language. However, you lose the ability to speak any other language you know, though you can still read and understand it.

This curse lasts until you break attunement with the item with Remove Curse. After that, you lose the ability to comprehend the curse's language.

Curse of the Absent Mind

As you carry this item, you can't shake the feeling that you've forgotten something important.

While attuned to this item, you must succeed on a DC 10 Wisdom saving throw at the end of a combat encounter or fail to pick anything up afterward -- this includes valuables on your slain enemies as well as any ammunition or thrown weapons not on your person.

Curse of Frantic Winds

Having this item on you makes you unusually nervous and tense, as if something really bad is about to happen...

Whenever you deal damage with this item (if it is a weapon) or take damage (if it is worn), the item immediately casts Fog Cloud as a first-level spell, centered on itself. Any creatures within the cloud are also subject to the Thunderwave spell, cast at first level.

The curse falls dormant after producing the cloud, and will not activate again until after the next dawn.

Curse of Tunnel Vision

While you bear this item, you feel supernaturally focused -- almost to a fault.

You have advantage on saving throws against the creature you damaged last (or the closest hostile creature if you have not damaged a creature in the last hour). However, you have disadvantage on saving throws against all other hostile creatures, and cannot target them with spells or attacks until the creature you are focusing on has been reduced to 0 hit points.

Curse of Humble Pie

You feel self-assured and certain of yourself, far more than is probably healthy.

You have disadvantage on attack rolls and skill checks made to impress someone or back up a claim of prowess.

Curse of Compounding Misfortune

This item fills you with foreboding, yet you put it on anyway. What's the matter with you?

While you bear this item, you cannot be affected by the Remove Curse spell. It does not make any attempt to stay on your person, and you automatically break attunement with it once you are more than a mile away from it.

Major Curses

These curses are great hindrances in the pursuit of an average adventurer's duty. As usual, a remove curse spell will allow you to end attunement and rid yourself of the item; however, the time between getting the curse placed and getting it lifted may prove to be one of the more eventful periods of your career.

Curse of Cowardice

You feel a pang of timidity when you enter the fray. This gear was supposed to help you face your fears...

Whenever you deal damage to, or take damage from, a creature, you are subject to the Fear spell as if that creature cast it on you. The save DC for this effect is 7 plus that creature's level or CR (minimum 8).

Curse of Plaguebearing

This item appears strangely filthy and resists all attempts to clean it. After a few days, your party members begin to complain of an odd smell, though you're not sure what they're talking about.

Creatures that spend more than an hour within 50 feet of you must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or contract a disease that reduces their Constitution score by 2, while afflicting them with a host of painful and uncomfortable minor symptoms. This disease is not contagious; you are the only one spreading it.

Curse of Virulent Decay

This item is made of flawless steel and is polished to a mirror finish. Still, you can't help but feel unclean wielding it.

Any biological matter you or this item touch suffers severe localised rot. Creatures must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution save or take 1d8 Necrotic damage. Dead bodies shrivel and rot, effectively aging them 100 years unless they are under the effect of a Gentle Repose spell. Food turns old and moldy, becoming unpalatable and forcing a creature to succeed on a DC 10 Constitution save or become Poisoned after eating it.

Curse of Wrathful Hands

You're really angry for some reason.

After dealing damage to a creature, you have a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made using Strength that lasts for one minute after you last damage something. However, your temper has become incredibly short, and you may fly into a rage at the slightest provocation.

Whenever the DM deems it appropriate (such as an NPC speaking in riddles or another player claiming an item you wanted), you may be forced to suceed on a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw or become enraged at the creature or object that triggered the save.

While in this rage, you must move toward the creature or object in question and attack it without ceasing. This rage lasts until you or the subject of your anger is reduced to 0 hit points or until the subject is out of your sight for 1 minute.

After the rage subsides (or you succeed on the saving throw), you are immune to the curse's effects for 24 hours.

Curse of Chaotic Thoughts

You've become convinced that attunement to this item has made you smarter. You even came up with a few fancy words that you're sure must exist in a dictionary somewhere.

While attuned to this item, you gain a +1 bonus to your Intelligence score; however, you have a -1 penalty to your Wisdom score. You gain the following flaw:

"I am convinced that I am the smartest person in the room at all times, and my plans are the best plans. If someone is doing something without my input, they are doomed to fail."

Once per day, the item may cast Suggestion on one of your companions if they attempt to counteract one of your magnificent, flawless plans, compelling them to follow you.

Similarly, once per day, if you manage to come up with a plan that actually has a chance of succeeding, the item will cast Suggestion on you and attempt to get you to alter it in a less feasible direction.

The DC for the item's Suggestion spell is 14.

Curse of Wanton Flesh

This item has made you more attractive. You're sure of it. While this object is on your person, you are convinced that no member of your species (or even most other species) can resist your charms.

While attuned to this item, you gain a +1 bonus to skill checks made with Charisma; however, when you first meet a creature of a compatible race of the opposite gender (or same, or either, depending on your character's preferences), you must immediately drop what you are doing and attempt to seduce them. The item cannot force you to do this more than once a day.

If, gods forbid, you manage to succeed, you and that individual become repugnant to each other shortly afterward, and they want nothing to do with you. You have disadvantage on Charisma checks made to interact with them, as you seemingly cannot help bringing up how hideous they now appear to you, nor can they stop mentioning how much they regret that one night in the tavern.

Curse of Introversion

This item's finish is subdued. It is well-hidden underneath the rest of your gear. Just like you're well-hidden behind the rest of your party.

While attuned to this item, you are compelled to keep your voice down and not draw attention to yourself. You have a +1 bonus on Dexterity (Stealth) checks against creatures that are not actively looking for you.

However, you are constantly talked over in normal conversation, and people don't seem to notice that you exist. You have disadvantage on Charisma checks that require someone's attention.

In addition, your tendency to mumble gets in the way of spellcasting. When you cast a spell with a verbal component, roll a d6. On a 1, you garble the spell and it fizzles, wasting the spell slot and casting time.

Extreme Curses

These curses represent the most severe magical maladies you can contract. Falling under their sway can easily spell the end of an unwary adventurer, as well as the end of anyone unfortunate enough to be near them when it happens. You can lose your mind, your limbs, or even your soul.

Curses of this magnitude may not be removable with a simple Remove Curse spell. You may need Greater Restoration to get rid of them, and undoing their effects could require something as dire as a Wish.

Curse of Inferiority

When you attune to this item, your highest ability score is immediately halved. You have disadvantage on all attack rolls, skill checks, and saving throws made using that ability score.

You may attract mockery for your sheer inability to do what an individual of your class and stature should be capable of.

After breaking attunement with Remove Curse, you regain 1d6 lost points in the ability score each time you are affected by Greater Restoration until you reach your former score.

Curse of Incompetence

When you attune to this item, your Proficiency Bonus is set to 0. It cannot be raised above 0 for any reason until you are targeted by a Greater Restoration spell, which allows you to break attunement with the item.

After breaking attunement, the curse gradually fades, allowing your Proficiency bonus to increase by 1 every time you take a long rest until you reach the bonus you ought to have for your level.

Curse of Idiocy

When you attune to this item, you immediately suffer the effects of the Feeblemind spell, with a DC of 16. You cannot attempt to repeat the spell's saving throw until 30 days after you break attunement with the item with Remove Curse.

Curse of Spring's Bounty

While attuned to this item, remaining in contact with the ground causes roots and vines to slowly creep up your body in an attempt to entomb you. This curse has no effect if you are ten feet or more away from the earth or constantly moving -- you can avoid it by sleeping on the second floor of an inn or traveling on a mount, carriage, or boat.

You suffer harsher effects the longer you stay in one spot, as the plant life grows further over you and constricts your movement. Each stage's effects stack. You must use your action and succeed on a DC 16 Strength check to tear away the plant growth, reducing you to the previous stage. The plant growth cannot prevent you from taking this action, even if it Paralyzes or otherwise binds you.

Time Since Moving	Effect
1 second	-5 feet base speed
1 Round	Grappled by plants in your space
1 Minute	Same as above, but Restrained
5 Minutes	Bound tightly and Paralyzed
10 Minutes	Completely covered; unable to breathe

Curse of the Temporal Abyss

As soon as you attune to this item, it begins projecting a field of slowed spacetime around your body. You perceive the outside world as moving faster and faster, and everyone else sees you move progressively slower. The curse's effects gradually worsen, eventually freezing you in time until someone can free you.

The curse progresses in stages. At the end of a long rest, you must succeed on a DC 16 Wisdom save or else have the curse progress to the next stage. Removing the item with a Remove Curse spell only halts the curse's progression -- you must be subject to a Greater Restoration spell to regress the effects, undoing one stage per cast.

The following effects are cumulative:

Stage	Effects
1	-10 to base speed, cannot take reactions.
2	Permanently under the effects of Slow spell.
3	AC becomes 1; all Dexterity saves fail.
4	Base speed is set to 5 feet.
5	Base speed is set to 1 foot; you cannot take actions.
6	You are frozen in time and become Petrified.

Curse of Eternal Imprisonment

Once you attune to this item, your soul ceases to reside in your body and instead resides in the item. Removing the item from your body will cause you to fall catatonic, as per the Magic Jar spell. If the item is brought back into contact with your body, you can return to it as an action.

You cannot break attunement to this item, and the Remove Curse and Greater Restoration spells have no effect. If you die, your soul is permanently trapped inside the item and you cannot be resurrected.

You can only break attunement and free your soul with a Wish spell. Doing so may even allow you to return to life, if you word the Wish correctly.

Curse of Besmirched Honor

While attuned to this item, nearby strangers will regard you as an individual of ill repute, no matter how famous or beloved you are. Rumours spread far and wide of some heinous deed you have allegedly committed, though when pressed for details no one can recall anything beyond how "unspeakable" it was.

Any time you take damage, you must succeed on a DC 16 Wisdom save or you and the creature that damaged you are immediately subject to the effects of the Compelled Duel spell, as if both of you had cast it on the other. This effect lasts until one of you has been reduced to 0 hit points.

Curse of Instant Death

This item is surrounded by a dark purple miasma. When Detect Magic is cast within 30 feet of it, the caster is blinded by an all-consuming aura of necrotic energy.

When a creature touches this item, it instantly dies. Obviously.