Curses are typically magical effects or conditions that inflict negative consequences upon the characters or items they’re cast on. The sole purpose of a curse is to manifest an unwanted or debilitating effect.
Curses can be cast by good, neutral, and evil characters but they’re more often than not used by evil-intentioned creatures.
Curses come in different forms throughout the game and can be acquired through various means, such as cursed magic items, spells and rituals, and encounters with cursed creatures.
The effects of the curse can vary from impacting individual characters, places, or items to spreading to everything surrounding the cursed object or character. Curses can be removed but players must often overcome a challenge to find out how.
As simple as it may sound, there’s much more to say about curses in Dungeons and Dragons.
I feel like the framework for curses has been laid out for the Dungeon Master, but managing and picking the right type of curse requires a bit of balance in order for the curse to have a big enough effect to make it motivating to remove but not great enough to render a character useless.
What Types of Curses Are There In DnD?
In Dungeons and Dragons, the use of curses can enhance the storyline, make for a challenge for the players, create interesting class builds, and mystify places and items. While curses have negative effects, these effects can be used by the Dungeon Master to challenge the party.
There are many layers to a curse and the way it works. On the first layer, you have the object, place, or character that’s cursed.
On the second layer, you have the mechanical effects of the curse, the detriment that those who happen upon it are affected by.
On the third layer, you have the origin of the curse, which doesn’t affect the curse mechanically but it adds to the storyline and may or may not give hints about ways of dispelling the curse.
The origin of the curse doesn’t need to be the item or person who cursed the player. Instead, the curse could have its origins far back in time, and he or she who created it might not even be alive anymore. This can then be used by the Dungeon Master to create fascinating lore.
Aside from all this, there are different types of curses, which also have an impact on how they should be applied to the game. Let’s look at them.
1. Bestow curse
Bestow curse is a 3rd-level spell found in the Player’s Handbook, allowing players to impose a variety of penalties on enemies, such as a disadvantage on ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws. There are four suggested curses that can be used but players might create their own curses as long as they’re equally or less powerful than the suggested alternatives.
This is the most common way of accessing curses in Dungeons and Dragons for players, meaning they can use the curses against their own enemies rather than being affected by them themselves.
The suggested curses are tailored for combat situations, and their duration is determined by the level of the spell slot used. At 3rd level, the curse lasts for 1 minute, increasing to 24 hours when cast as a 7th-level spell.
If cast at 3rd or 4th level, concentration is required to maintain the curse, but using a 5th-level spell slot or higher eliminates the need for concentration. By using a 9th-level spell slot, you can impose a curse that remains until it is dispelled.
The specific effects of this spell depend on your DM’s interpretation, but it can typically be employed for temporary, surface-level curses that serve narrative purposes and have minor mechanical implications.
2. Cursed Magic Items
Cursed magic items in Dungeons and Dragons are meant to surprise characters when their effects are revealed. Therefore, you’ll get nowhere with the most common methods of identifying curses, including the spell identify.
There’s a section in the Dungeon Master’s Guide (Page 138) where cursed items are outlined. There are a total of 5 cursed magic items, excluding artifacts in the Dungeon Master’s Guide, and they all require a bond to be created between the character and the item, also known as attunement.
Once attuned, the character will be unable to end the attunement, meaning the character can’t stop using the cursed item until the curse has been dispelled. Be it a shield, armor, necklace or sword, it simply can’t be removed as long as the subject is cursed.
The Dungeon Master determines what’s required of the character to break the attunement, which will free the character from the cursed item.
All in all, cursed magic items can be used for some incredible lore and character development when used wisely.
3. Monstrous Curses
Monstrous curses in Dungeons and Dragons refer to curses that afflict creatures with monstrous or supernatural attributes, often found in the context of monstrous races or creatures. These curses typically impact the creature’s physical form, abilities, or behavior.
This could be your typical banshee, who used to be a beautiful woman who was cursed to roam the earth as a banshee because of her vanity, or a formorian who was cursed because she (or he) did evil deeds and held little sympathy for others in her heart. Curses of this type often cause deformities and misery upon the character who’s cursed.
Some examples of monsters who can be creations of terrible curses include:
- Vampires
- Lycanthropes
- Demons
- Driders
- Mummies
- Nothics
- Perytons
- Undead
Some common monster encounters that can inflict curses upon the party in combat include:
- Werewolves (Bite): Inflicts the lycanthropy curse.
- Demilich (Vile Curse): The character has disadvantage on attack and saving throws until the curse ends.
- Lamia (Intoxicating Touch): Until the curse ends, the target has disadvantage on Wisdom saving throws and all ability checks.
- Mummies (Rotting Fist): Inflicts mummy rot upon the target. The cursed target can’t regain hit points, and its hit point maximum decreases by 10 (3d6) for every 24 hours that elapse. If the curse reduces the target’s hit point maximum to 0, the target dies, and its body turns to dust. The curse lasts until removed by the remove curse spell or other magic.
Curses can be avoided by saving throws as defined by the ability. Some curses last for a set period of time, some can be removed by additional saving throws, and some can only be removed by using magic.
How Can You Identify a Cursed Item In DnD?
This is one of those in-game rules that have no real consistent justification.
You might consider casting detect magic upon the item to find out if it’s a cursed item. Well, a cursed item does not show as magical, unless there is a secondary magical effect (+1 cursed sword). Therefore, neither Detect Magic nor Identify will show that an item is cursed, let alone what that curse is.
So, there are two major key pieces when it comes to curses. One of the pieces of the puzzle is finding out if the item is cursed, and the other one is to figure out the effects of the actual curse that the item harbors.
To make cursed items more interesting, the game has made it far more difficult to figure out whether an item is cursed or not and what the effects of the curse are. From my own experience, any character who is cursed in a campaign will have a harder time dealing with the curse than one would have initially thought.
This can, of course, be adjusted by the Dungeon Master. However, making curses rather difficult to detect is part of the point of using curses. They’re supposed to be narrative devices in the game and if they’re little-to-no hassle for the party, then they’re not going to impact the narrative as they can be overlooked with no consequences.
You, as the Dungeon Master, can control how the party can detect and reveal the cursed item. Some people like doing it through lore, which includes giving the party hints. This can be small subtle hints found throughout the campaign but also grand revelations. It can also be delivered as a “sensation” that the cursed character feels after having worn the item for a period of time or any time anyone gets close to the item.
Because curses often require attunement in order to be obtained, it would be unwise to allow players to identify the cursed item before they’ve been attuned to it. I know it sounds dumb to not have a way to reward players for being precautious before grabbing random items, but it would also make it too easy to dodge cursed items.
Players will understand that the item is cursed once they try to unattune from the item and notice that they can’t break free from the item or when they start suffering ill effects.
Cited from the DMG: (I believe it was page 138-139)
“Some magic items bear curses that bedevil their users, sometimes long after a user has stopped using an item. A magic item’s description specifies whether the item is cursed. Most methods of identifying items, including the identify spell, fail to reveal such a curse, although lore might hint at it. A curse should be a surprise to the item’s user when the curse’s effects are revealed.
Attunement to a cursed item can’t be ended voluntarily unless the curse is broken first, such as with the remove curse spell.”
How Can You Remove a Curse In DnD?
So, what can be done to end a cursed character’s suffering, freeing them from the darkness within? Removing a curse looks a bit different depending on what type of curse it is and who the subject is.
When it comes to cursed characters, the curse can be removed by a 3rd-level spell called remove curse, which is known to be used by clerics, paladins, warlocks, and wizards.
The spell has a casting time of 1 action / 6 seconds and requires verbal and somatic components. The caster must also be in contact with the cursed character or item while casting the spell.
Remove curse can remove the effects of bestow curse, end the attunement to a cursed magic item, and remove curses brought upon characters by monster abilities in combat. You can also remove the effects of bestow curse with dispel magic.
Curses won’t be removed from a cursed item when remove curse is cast on the item. This depends entirely on the item and any information regarding this should be stated on the item.
If you, as a Dungeon Master, have come up with the items it’s up to you to decide whether the curse is removed from the item or if the spell merely breaks the attunement to the item.
Greater restoration, a spell known by bards, clerics, and druids, can also remove curses from creatures. I’d say it’s a more powerful spell than remove curse and can, therefore, sometimes remove curses from items that remove curse can’t.
Our Favorite Cursed Items In Dungeons and Dragons
There’s a long list of cursed items that have been introduced in the different versions of the game throughout the year. I’ve handpicked the ones that we’ve had the most fun using in our campaigns. You are, of course, allowed to create your own cursed items for your campaign. But, without further ado, here’s the list.
Hell-Hound Cloak
One could think that this cozy cloak made from hellhound wool is a mere piece of clothing at first glance but it is not until the wearer starts experiencing the effects of the cloak that it becomes obvious that it is a cursed item.
The cloak will, once attuned to a character, allow the player to polymorph into a hell-hound for an hour. The sixth time the character is polymorphed into a hellhound, the only way to come back to human form is to make a saving throw. If the saving throw fails, the character is stuck in hell-hound form until dispelled or until his or her health points are depleted.
The longer the character is stuck as a hellhound, the harder it will be to revert the effect. With the right set of spells, the curse isn’t that difficult to deal with.
Wand of Orcus
The Wand of Orcus is a popular cursed item possessed by the Prince of Underneath, Orcus. The item has many cool properties, but a clear favorite is the ability to call for undead soldiers at will. The wand can also be used to cast spells like Power Word Kill, Finger of Death, and Speak With Dead.
The wand serves as a 3+ mace that deals 2d12 bonus necrotic damage on hit and uppers your armor class by 3. The hefty upside of the item is balanced out by the costly, it not fatal, detriment carried out by the curse.
If you fail to attune to the item by failing a Constitution 17 saving throw, the item will kill you immediately and raise you as a zombie. This makes it quite difficult for many low-constitution characters to handle the attunement. Even successful high-constitution characters will take damage upon attuning to the item, but they’ll survive.
Staff of the Forgotten One
Hailing from the campaign Tomb of Annihilation is another one of our favorite cursed items, the Staff of the Forgotten One. The staff can only be wielded by a warlock, sorcerer, or wizard and gives the wielder the following:
Immunity to being blinded, charmed, deafened, frightened, petrified, or stunned. Proficiency bonus to Arcana and History is doubled, and you won’t be attacked by undead creatures with a challenge rating below two unless you provoke them.
In addition to the passive effects, the staff also comes with seven charges that can be used to cast curses upon other creatures. The curse causes creatures to be unable to heal and makes them vulnerable to necrotic damage.
Seems nice, doesn’t it? But, because we’re talking about cursed items I’m sure you were well aware of the fact that there would be a downside. The staff is controlled by a mage who’s imprisoned within the staff, who will try his best to possess you every time you use one of the seven charges.