Specific Cursed Items
Perhaps the most dangerous and insidious of all cursed items are those whose intended functions are completely replaced by a curse. Yet even these items can have their uses, particularly as traps or weapons. The following are provided as specific examples of cursed items. Instead of prerequisites for construction, each cursed item is associated with one or more ordinary magic items whose creation might result in the cursed item. Cursed items can be sold, as if they were the item they appear to be, provided the curse is not known to the buyer.
Cursed suits of armor and weapons can come in many forms, and the examples listed here are merely the most common. For example, a –2 cursed sword, might appear as a +3 shortsword or a +1 dagger, with a similar penalty instead of the listed –2.
-2 Cursed Sword
Aura: strong evocationCLl: 15th
Price:
Weight: 4 lbs.
This longsword performs well against targets in practice, but when used in combat its wielder takes a –2 penalty on attack rolls.
All damage dealt is also reduced by 2 points, but never below a minimum of 1 point of damage on any successful hit. The sword always forces that character to employ it rather than another weapon. The sword's owner automatically draws it and fights with it even when she meant to draw or ready some other weapon.
Intended Magic Item
descriptor +2 longsword, any magic weapon
Amulet of Inescapable Location
Aura: moderate abjurationCLl: 10th
Price:
Weight: 1/2 lb.
This device appears to prevent location, scrying and detection, or influence by detect thoughts or telepathy, as per an amulet of proof against detection and location. Actually, the amulet gives the wearer a –10 penalty on all saves against divination spells.
Intended Magic Item
descriptor amulet of proof against detection and location
Aura: strong abjurationCLl: 16th
Price:
Weight: 50 lbs.
Magical analysis indicates that this armor is a normal suit of +3 full plate. The armor works normally with regard to melee attacks but actually attracts ranged weapons. The wearer takes a –15 penalty to AC against ranged weapons. The true nature of the armor does not reveal itself until the character is fired upon in earnest.
Intended Magic Item
descriptor +3 full plate
Aura: strong necromancyCLl: 16th
Price:
Weight: 50 lbs.
This armor is similar in appearance to armor of command and functions as a suit of +1 full plate. However, when it is worn, the armor causes the character to take a –4 penalty to Charisma. All unfriendly creatures within 300 feet gain a +1 morale bonus on attack rolls against her. The effect is not noticeable to the wearer or those affected. In other words, the wearer does not immediately notice that donning the armor is the cause of her problems, nor do foes understand the reason for the depth of their enmity.
Intended Magic Item
descriptor armor of command , +1 full plate
Aura: moderate evocationCLl: 6th
Price:
Weight: 2 lbs.
This shortbow is beautifully made and inlaid with iridescent designs, appearing to be a +2 shortbow. When it fires its arrows, though, it does it with so much force that the arrows are always broken on either a hit or a miss. This bow must be used as its owner's primary ranged weapon and can only be discarded after the owner is subject to a remove curse spell or similar effect.
Intended Magic Item
Bag of Devouring
Aura: strong conjurationCLl: 17th
Price:
Weight: 15 lbs.
This bag appears to be an ordinary sack. Detection for magical properties makes it seem as if it were a bag of holding. The sack, however, is something entirely different and more insidious—one of the feeding orifices of an extradimensional creature.
Any substance of animal or vegetable nature is subject to "swallowing" if thrust within the bag. The bag of devouring is 90% likely to ignore any initial intrusion, but anytime thereafter that it senses living flesh within (such as if someone reaches into the bag to pull something out), it is 60% likely to close around the offending appendage and attempt to draw the whole victim in. The bag has a +8 bonus on combat maneuver checks made to grapple. If it pins a creature, it pulls the victim inside as a free action. The bag has a CMD of 18 for those attempting to break free.
The bag can hold up to 30 cubic feet of matter. It acts as a bag of holding type I, but each hour it has a 5% cumulative chance of swallowing the contents and then spitting the stuff out in some nonspace or on some other plane. Creatures drawn within are consumed in 1 round. The bag destroys the victim's body and prevents any form of raising or resurrection that requires part of the corpse. There is a 50% chance that a wish, miracle, or true resurrection spell can restore a devoured victim to life. Check once for each destroyed creature. If the check fails, the creature cannot be brought back to life by mortal magic.
Intended Magic Item
descriptor bag of holding (any type)
Belt of Weakness
Aura: moderate transmutationCLl: 8th
Price:
Weight: 1 lb.
Appearing to be a wide leather belt that functions as a belt of mighty constitution +4, this belt in fact saps the wearer's health rather than supplement it. A belt of weakness confers a –4 penalty to its wearer's Constitution score. Furthermore, when the wearer rolls a natural 1 on any Fortitude save, the belt constricts, dealing 2d8 points of damage.
Intended Magic Item
descriptor belt of mighty constitution (any)
Aura: moderate evocationCLl: 8th
Price:
Weight: 8 lbs.
This sword appears to be a +2 greatsword. However, whenever it is used in battle, its wielder goes berserk (gaining all the benefits and drawbacks of the barbarian's rage ability). He attacks the nearest creature and continues to fight until unconscious or dead or until no living thing remains within 30 feet. Although many see this sword as a cursed object, others see it as a boon.
Intended Magic Item
descriptor +2 greatsword, any magic weapon
Aura: moderate evocationCLl: 8th
Price:
Weight: 6 lbs.
This vicious-looking +2 battleaxe grants its wielder the Great Cleave feat. But when using this feat, the wielder makes an additional attack against a random adjacent creature instead of choosing which creature to attack. When determining which creature is attacked, the wielder always counts himself as a possible target, even if he is not adjacent to the target. The wielder of a biting battleaxe must always uses it as his primary weapon and must use Great Cleave at every opportunity until subject to a remove curse spell or similar effect.
Intended Magic Item
Aura: strong enchantmentCLl: 16th
Price:
Weight: 1 lb.
These boots appear and initially function as one of the other kinds of magic boots. When the wearer is in (or fleeing from) melee combat, boots of dancing impede movement, making him behave as if irresistible dance had been cast upon him. Only a remove curse spell enables the wearer to be rid of the boots once their true nature is revealed.
Intended Magic Item
descriptor boots of elvenkind , boots of levitation , boots of speed , boots of striding and springing , boots of teleportation , boots of the winterlands , winged boots
Aura: strong conjurationCLl: 16th
Price:
Weight: 1 lb.
These bejeweled and shining bracers initially appear to be bracers of armor +5 and actually serve as such until the wearer is attacked in anger by an enemy with a Challenge Rating equal to or greater than her level. At that moment and thereafter, the bracers bestow a –5 penalty to AC. Once their curse is activated, bracers of defenselessness can be removed only by means of a remove curse spell.
Intended Magic Item
descriptor bracers of armor +5
Aura: moderate transmutationCLl: 10th
Price:
Weight: 3 lbs.
This item is indistinguishable from a normal broom. It is identical to a broom of flying by all tests short of attempted use.
If a creature attempts to fly using the broom, the broom does a loop-the-loop with its hopeful rider, dumping him on his head from 1d4+5 feet off the ground (no falling damage, since the fall is less than 10 feet). The broom then attacks the victim, swatting his face with the straw or twig end and beating him with the handle end. The broom gets two attacks per round with each end (two swats with the straw and two with the handle, for a total of four attacks per round). It attacks with a +5 bonus on each attack roll. The straw end causes a victim to be blinded for 1 round when it hits. The handle deals 1d6 points of damage when it hits. The broom has AC 13, CMD 17, 18 hit points, and hardness 4.
Intended Magic Item
Aura: moderate divinationCLl: 10th
Price:
Weight: 2 lbs.
This blade seems to be and behaves in all ways as a sword of subtlety until actually used in combat. Once used in combat, it imposes a –10 penalty on all Stealth checks made by its wielder. It also makes it nearly impossible for the owner to tell a lie or engage in any other sort of subterfuge. Each time he does so, he must make a DC 15 Will saving throw to avoid blurting out the truth or taking some other involuntary action that spoils his attempted ruse. Only curse-ending magic can rid the wielder of the sword once its curse activates.
Intended Magic Item
Cape of Anchoring
Aura: moderate abjurationCLl: 9th
Price:
Weight: 1 lb.
This bright red and gold cape appears to be a cape of the mountebank. Once worn, however, it affects its wearer as if subject to a dimensional anchor spell. The cape can only be removed after its wearer is subject to a remove curse spell or similar effect.
Intended Magic Item
descriptor cape of the mountebank
Aura: strong transmutationCLl: 16th
Price:
Weight: &mdash
This simple and unadorned copper ring appears slightly tarnished, but seemingly wards off the effects of hunger or other sorts of deprivation; all tests reveal it to be a ring of sustenance. However, after wearing it for 7 days, its owner instead comes to suffer from almost constant hunger and thirst, which, if not sated, ultimately drives him mad enough to become a cannibal. The wearer must eat and drink a full day's worth of food and water each hour to avoid making a starvation or thirst check. Once the wearer starts to take lethal damage instead of nonlethal damage due to failed checks, he begins to experience ever more powerful cravings for the flesh of intelligent creatures (any living creature with an Intelligence of 3 or higher).
Once the wearer feasts in such a manner, he recovers all nonlethal damage sustained from hunger and thirst, though he continues to suffer lethal damage on failed starvation and thirst checks. The next time he is in a situation in which he could eat part of an intelligent being, he must make a DC 15 Will save or dine on the forbidden meat. If the wearer succumbs to this urge again, he recovers all lethal damage from failed starvation and thirst checks, and realizes cannibalism is the key to avoiding the increased hunger and thirst—on any day he eats at least one meal of flesh from an intelligent creature, he does not have to make hourly starvation and thirst checks, and recovers any accumulated damage from failing these checks. Once its curse activates, the ring cannot be removed until the curse is broken.
Intended Magic Item
descriptor ring of sustenance
Aura: strong evocationCLl: 12th
Price:
Weight: 1 lb.
This cloak appears to be a finely made garment that radiates protective magic. The cloak can be handled or examined without harm, but when it is put on, it immediately bursts into flames that burn continuously but do not harm the cloak, only its wearer. The cloak deals 1d6 points of fire damage each round and cannot be removed unless the curse is broken. Sufficient amounts of water or other smothering materials can douse the flames temporarily, but the cloak reignites when exposed to air again. Spells like resist energy, protection from energy, and similar effects can protect the wearer against the cloak's flames while they last.
Intended Magic Item
descriptor any cloak
Aura: moderate illusionCLl: 10th
Price:
Weight: 1 lb.
This fine silver circlet is often set with a milky moonstone. When a wearer places it on his head, the stone quickly goes dark like the waning moon, and the wearer must make a DC 14 Fortitude saving throw or immediately go blind. The saving throw must be made each round that the crown is worn until the wearer succumbs to the blindness. Removing the circlet requires breaking the curse. In addition to a remove curse spell or similar effect, remove blindness/deafness can be used to end the circlet's curse long enough to remove the item.
Intended Magic Item
descriptor headband of alluring charisma, headband of inspired wisdom, headband of mental prowess, headband of mental superiority, headband of vast intelligence, moon circlet
Aura: strong divinationCLl: 17th
Price:
Weight: 7 lbs.
This cursed scrying device is at first glance indistinguishable from a normal crystal ball . However, anyone attempting to use the scrying device becomes fascinated for 1d6 minutes, and a telepathic suggestion is implanted in her mind (Will DC 19 negates).
The user of the device believes that she viewed the desired creature or scene through the ball, but she actually came under the influence of a powerful wizard, lich, or even some power or being from another plane. Each further use brings the crystal hypnosis ball‘s gazer deeper under the influence of the controller, either as a servant or a tool. Note that throughout this time, the user remains unaware of her subjugation.
Intended Magic Item
Aura: moderate evocationCLl: 10th
Price:
Weight: 3 lbs.
This is a +2 shortspear, but each time it is used in melee against a foe and the attack roll is a natural 1, it damages its wielder instead of her intended target. When the curse takes effect, the spear curls around to strike its wielder in the back, automatically dealing the damage to the wielder. The curse even functions when the spear is hurled, and in such a case the damage to the hurler is doubled.
Intended Magic Item
descriptor +2 shortspear, any magic weapon
Aura: moderate evocationCLl: 8th
Price:
Weight: 2 lbs.
This weapon appears to be a +2 returning throwing axe. Instead of the normal returning ability, this axe only returns when the wielder misses her target. When it does return, it attacks the wielder. It uses the wielder's full base attack bonus with this attack. If it hits, it sticks in the wielder, and the wielder can pull out the axe with a swift action. If it misses the wielder, it falls to a random unoccupied square adjacent to the wielder and must be picked up as soon as possible. The wielder of the deadly returns throwing axe always uses it as her primary weapon until subject to a remove curse spell or similar effect.
Intended Magic Item
descriptor +2 returning throwing axe
Aura: faint transmutationCLl: 5th
Price:
Weight: 5 lbs.
This set of kettle drums appears to be drums of haste. When a creature plays the drums, it affects all creatures (including the creature playing the drums) as though subject to a slow spell. A DC 14 Will save negates the effect. No Perform check is needed to create the slow effect.
Intended Magic Item
Dust of Sneezing and Choking
Aura: moderate conjurationCLl: 7th
Price:
Weight: &mdash
This fine dust appears to be dust of appearance . If cast into the air, it causes those within a 20-foot spread to fall into fits of sneezing and coughing. Those who fail a DC 15 Fortitude save take 3d6 points of Constitution damage immediately. Those who succeed on this saving throw are nonetheless disabled by choking (treat as stunned) for 5d4 rounds.
Intended Magic Item
descriptor dust of appearance , dust of tracelessness
Eyes of Blindness
Aura: faint necromancyCLl: 5th
Price:
Weight: &mdash
These normal-looking glasses appear harmless and nondescript. When they are worn, the wearer becomes blinded as if subject to the blindness/deafness spell (no saving throw).
Intended Magic Item
descriptor Any glasses or lenses
Aura: moderate conjurationCLl: 7th
Price:
Weight: 2 lbs.
This item looks like an ordinary beaker, bottle, container, decanter, flask, or jug. It may contain a liquid, or it may emit smoke. When the flask is first unstoppered, all creatures within 30 feet must make a DC 17 Will save or be cursed, taking a –2 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, and skill checks until a remove curse spell is cast upon them.
Intended Magic Item
descriptor decanter of endless water , efreeti bottle , eversmoking bottle , iron flask
Aura: moderate transmutationCLl: 7th
Price:
Weight: 2 lbs.
These gauntlets perform according to their appearance until the wearer finds herself under attack or in a life-and-death situation. At that time, the curse is activated. The wearer becomes fumble-fingered, with a 50% chance each round of dropping anything held in either hand. The gauntlets also lower the wearer's Dexterity score by 2 points. Once the curse is activated, the gloves can be removed only by means of a remove curse spell, a wish , or a miracle .
Intended Magic Item
descriptor gauntlet of rust , gloves of arrow snatching , glove of storing , gloves of swimming and climbing
Aura: moderate transmutationCLl: 10th
Price:
Weight: 1 lb.
When this magical belt is put on, the wearer must immediately make a DC 20 Fortitude saving throw or be transformed into a person of the opposite gender. The character's abilities, mind, and spirit remain unaffected; only the character's sex changes. If the character's saving throw is a natural 1, the item actually removes all gender from the wearer, giving him an androgynous, neutered appearance. The change is permanent unless undone with curse-removing magic. Once its magic takes effect, the belt can be removed without effort. A creature can only be affected by a particular girdle once, though other girdles of this type can cause further transformations.