Sunday 22 April 2018

OSR: 1d100 Hexes & Curses

My group and I have been using Lamentations of the Flame Princess (with a... reasonable number of alterations and house rules) and it fits our needs perfectly - it's fast, simple and lethal. However, while thinking up my Sin Eater class I took a look at what the rulebook had to say about curses (that being the Sin Eater's thing). The relevant passage can be found under the entry for Remove Curse, a reversible spell that also allows the caster to inflict a curse upon a target:
Bestow Curse (the reverse of Remove Curse) can bring about any number of unfortunate effects upon a being, determined by the caster and Referee. Some limits of effect must be enforced. Typical possibilities are limited to no more than a –2 pen alty to saving throws or –4 to hit, an ability being reduced by 50%. These effects can have any number of creative symptoms. The victim can avoid being affected by Bestow Curse with a successful saving throw versus Magic.
While this is useful to have in a pinch, I wanted some curses and hexes with a bit more variety. Several drinks later, this is what I came up with.

Also, see my subsequent post with 1d100 flavourful curse symptoms.

Credit, Anna R

1d100 Curses & Hexes


d100 RollCurse Effect
1The PC suffers from horrific nightmares and heals only every other day when resting. They are constantly fatigued (disadvantage on all rolls).
2Food turns to ash in the PC's mouth. They must eat twice as much to sustain themselves.
3Coins seem to escape when the PC isn't looking. Whenever the PC handles currency there is a 50% chance that 1d20% of the amount is lost.
4Choose another party member - the PC's fate is bound to them. The PC takes damage whenever the bonded character does, but if the PC takes damage the other character is healed.
5The PC's vision is obscured by grey mists past 60'.
6The PC is blinded.
7The PC's limbs become leaden and weighty. Increase enbumbrance level by 1.
8The PC constantly breaks wind or belches, -4 CHA. Stealth is impossible.
9The PC hears a different, jarring noise in their ears every few seconds which disorders their thoughts, -2 WIS and the PC is surprised on 4-in-6 in combat.
10One of the PC's legs grows longer than the other. Treat movement as 1 encumbrance level higher due to the ungainliness of their walking.
11The PC hawks up a small mucus covered creature (1hp). They must nourish and care for it. If it dies, they die.
12Iron and steel burn the PC's flesh, inflicting 1d6 damage every round they are in contact.
13Wood rots and crumbles at the PC's touch.
14Animals despise the PC and attack on sight.
15The PC is deafened.
16The PC's fingers and toes fall off, -4 DEX. They regrow over the next 3 days, are usable on the 4th day and then the cycle repeats.
17If the PC is violently ill if they eat anything other than turnips. Drinking is not affected.
18The PC exudes a delicious savoury scent. Stealth vs enemies with a keen sense of smell is twice as hard. Carnivores always attack this PC first.
19The PC runs a constant fever and is always catching colds. Saves vs Poison to resist disease are rolled with disadvantage.
20The PC's vocal cords are paralysed and they cannot speak.
21The PC's tongue has a will of its own and spits vile insults whenever the PC tries to speak.
22The PC's bones become brittle and frail. They cannot carry >1 level of encumbrance.
23Whenever a friendly character within 50' casts a spell there is a 50% that the spell targets the PC, if offensive, or their enemy, if beneficial.
24All iron and steel objects that the PC touches rapidly crumble into rusty fragments.
25If the PC kills something they immediately spew 1d20 litres of blood from every available orifice and suffer 2 CON damage.
26If the PC stands still for more than 30 seconds in the same spot they are rooted to the floor by vines. They can free themselves with an Open Doors roll.
27The sun burns and blisters the PC's skin, doing 1d6 damage per round.
28If the PC is knocked unconscious daemons spirit their soul away for 1d4 days and permanently reduce their CHA by 1 point.
29The PC has no weight when exposed to the wind and will be blown away without adequate precautions.
30The PC's skin becomes cracked and raw, opening wounds at any opportunity. Max HP is reduced by 1d6 to a minimum of 1HP.
31The PC's nose rots away and falls off, -4 CHA.
32Everything the PC utters is believed to be a lie by those who hear them.
33A fug lies across the PC's mind, slowing their wits and dulling their senses, -4 INT & WIS.
34The PC's back cracks and knots into a hunched stoop, forcing them to walk on all fours. They roll to hit with disadvantage and suffer -4 DEX.
35The PC's hands and feet switch places.
36The PC's eyes point out of the back of their head.
37Daemonic forces rend the PC's soul and cause them constant pain, -2 CON. If the PC ever drops to 0HP their soul is immediately dragged to the Abyss.
38The PC's muscles wither and decay, 1/2 STR.
39If the PC ever suffers a piercing injury they fall into a catatonic state from which they can only be revived if kissed by a being with a CHA score of >16.
40The PC cannot breathe air, but they can breathe underwater.
41The PC's blood roils and rebels in their veins. Any injury causing blood to be spilt deals double damage as the PC's blood seizes the chance to be free.
42The PC's presence is anathema to most beings. They will always be attacked first in combat.
43Knowledge of written language is struck from the PC's brain. They cannot read or write.
44The PC must speak in rhymes.
45A seed worms its way out of the PC's nose and embeds itself in the ground. Within an minute it grows into a tree - any damage or illness that the tree suffers, the PC suffers.
46The PC cannot consciously cross running water.
47The opposite gender despise the PC.
48The PC can only heal naturally when they deal an amount of damage to another being as a sacrifice. The damage dealt is the amount that the PC heals at the standard rate.
49The PC attracts ranged projectiles. All ranged attacks launched from within 100' have a 50% chance of targetting the PC.
50The PC's soul burns and shines like an astral beacon, attracting all sorts of divine and arcane energies. Their Saves vs Magic are rolled with disadvantage.
51The PC's joints stiffen and creak, causing pain with every movement, -4 DEX.
52The PC's footsteps are boomingly loud, even on soft surfaces. Stealth is impossible.
53The PC's skin exudes a volatile, flammable oil that will ignite if any source of flame comes within 10'.
54The PC loses all mental filters and voices their thoughts aloud.
55The PC views the world in monochrome, save for the occasional blood red object.
56The PC's internal compass is hopelessly scrambled and they are unable to navigate in any meanindful way. Any attempts to navigate will always lead to being lost.
57Unlucky. The PC cannot benefit from critical hits and suffers a critical miss on a roll of 1-3.
58The PC hears whispers demanding blood and skulls. They have an random chance of attacking any living thing within range in combat, including their movement range.
59The PC's palms and soles lose virtually all grip. Climbing skill is halved and all attack rolls are made at a disadvantage.
60The PC's body weighs twice as much. Their encumbrance doesn't change but they are twice as likely to break things they stand on. They sink very quickly.
61Liquid flees the PC's presence. This makes drinking rather difficult.
62The PC cannot drink unadulterated water.
63The PC turns to stone if another being looks at them. They recover when nothing is looking.
64The stars spell the PC's doom. Each day, after sleeping under the open sky, the PC makes all rolls with disadvantage.
65Any paper or parchment touched by the PC rapidly ages as if it had spent a century in the sun.
66Upon waking the PC has a 50% chance of finding their relative gravity reversed.
67The PC's chest cavity opens and their heart hangs loose. Any attacks to the PC's front deal triple damage.
68The PC's mouth seals shut.
69The PC's arms and legs swap places.
70The PC's bones lose all structure and they devolve into a grotesque blob form, -4 CHA & DEX.
71The PC is bent 90 degrees backwards at the waist, disadvantage on all combat rolls.
72The PC's arms elongate until their knuckles touch the floor. They gain 1 reach on any attacks but take disadvantage on all combat rolls.
73The PC's torso bloats to double its size, destroying any worn armour (and dealing 1d6 damage if so) in the process.
74The PC's legs shrink to half their length. They drop to the half their previous movement speed, rounded down.
75Any object held in the PC's hands seems unbearably heavy. Any held item counts as oversized for encumbrance purposes.
76Ropes and chains in the vicinity of the PC animate themselves and attempt to restrain and hang them.
77The light of the moon causes the PC to enter a catatonic state for 1d6 days.
78Objects stick to the PC's hands. It takes a full action to drop something they are holding, throwing is impossible.
79When the PC falls into a deep slumber when they hear music. They can only be woken by shaking or a physical blow.
80The PC appears as if they are standing in daylight when in dark places or at night.
81The PC's fingers fuse together into flippers.
82The PC is marked for death and cannot naturally heal.
83Any light source held by the PC burns twice as quickly and produces twisted, horrifying shadows.
84The PC can only gain sustenance from the flesh and blood of sentient beings.
85The PC cannot bear to be in the presence of a god, cleric or holy site. They take 1d6 damage every round when they are not actively fleeing the source of a divine presence.
86The PC's eyes and mouth switch places, CHA is reduced to 3.
87One of the PC's hands does all it can to inconvenience and harm them, i.e. dropping or breaking items, refusing to grip great weapons etc.
88The PC's legs fuse together and they must hop everywhere. Movement rate is reduced to the lowest possible.
89The PC is unable to remove any armour, clothing or other equipment they are currently wearing as it fuses to their flesh with a sizzling hiss.
90The PC is afflicted with a terrible lust for treasure and will attempt to devour any valuable objects they see.
91Any rope or ladder bearing the PC's weight will break or snap within moments.
92One of the PC's arms withers to a feeble husk and cannot be used.
93Any plants touched by the PC wither and die, including ones they step on while walking.
94Doomed. The PC takes disadvantage on all combat rolls and their opponents gain advantage on all of theirs.
95The PC is constantly parched and requires twice as much water each day to stop them from dehydrating.
96The PC only has a corporeal presence at night.
97The PC feels a constant hunger and must Save vs Magic whenever they see food. Failure means that they will violently attempt to gorge themselves.
98Any tool that the PC uses to complete a task has a 50% chance of breaking, regardless of the nature of the task.
99All light sources within 50' of the PC extinguish themselves with screams.
100Food and drink spoils if in the presence of the PC for longer than a day.

Footnote: Anyone with experience in getting HTML tables formatted in Blogger, please send me any tips that you have!

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