Tuesday Magic Item – Curse of Unpleasantness

Voddick frowned as the well-dressed man passed by, muttering loudly about how ill-mannered everyone was today.

Gollaon watched him go.  “It seems that the baron finally offended someone who could strike back.”

Voddick looked to his friend.  “What do you mean?

“I mean that the baron has been cursed, now his inner unpleasantness is on display for everyone . . . except himself.”

Curse of Unpleasantness

These curses are petty in nature but they can be brutally effective.  They are most commonly written on a piece of paper which is then given to the victim, the curse is expressed as a single rude or discourteous thing the victim did and reading it triggers the curse (and renders the piece of paper blank).

The victim must make a Will save (DC 17, increased to 20 if the event described was deliberate) or be permanently cursed.  On a successful save, they are only cursed for twelve hours, reduced by one hour for each point they exceeded the save DC by.

The curse’s effect is that all of the minor noises, mumbling, belching, cracking one’s knuckles and so on, have their volume magnified by a factor of five except to the victim of the curse, who hardly notices them at all.  This gives them a -6 profane penalty to all Charisma-based rolls and checks.

Besides curse-breaking magic, the only way to end the curse is for the victim to publicly apologize to those they have been rude or cruel to.

Aura faint necrourgy; CL 7th
Slot none; Price 1,500; Weight — lb
Construction Requirements
Craft Wondrous Items, bestow curse; Cost 750

For D&D 5E:

Wondrous item (note), uncommon

First paragraph as above.

The victim must make a Charisma save (DC 13, increased to 15 if the event described was deliberate) or be permanently cursed.  On a successful save, they are only cursed for twelve hours, reduced by one hour for each point they exceeded the save DC by.

The curse’s effect is that all of the minor noises, mumbling, belching, cracking one’s knuckles and so on, have their volume magnified by a factor of five except to the victim of the curse, who hardly notices them at all.  This gives them disadvantage on all Charisma ability checks.

Besides curse-breaking magic, the only way to end the curse is for the victim to publicly apologize to those they have been rude or cruel to.

Notes: A simple but effective curse, the curse equivalent of a whoopie cushion.

Image from the University of Heidelberg Library and is in the Public Domain.