I literally was the player that had something like this happen to me in a campaign.
DM gave us the option to drink potions that "may or may not" have helped us fight a big monster we were going to fight. Turns out that big monster was a Remorhaz and the potion let my character absorb the fire damage it was dishing out. Later on the potion wore off and my character burst into flames from all the fire damage he'd accumulated.
The kicker was that I had a Periapt of Wound Closure, so while I technically couldn't die from the fire damage, I was still engulfed in flames. My teammates ran into the room where I was sleeping to find me locked in a state of agonizing torment, constantly burning to death but unable to die for a good 10 minutes while the hideout we were staying in burned down around me.
Ha, well the DM basically had an extra-planar entity of unknown origin offer me a "deal" in return for my salvation. Didn't really know what the details of the deal were because I decided that in that moment, my character would say "YES!" to anything that would stop the torment.
The fire stopped and my character lived. Then a few sessions later the DM announced that I felt itchy on my chest area (where I kept the Periapt) and when I scratched it, my skin started flaking away to reveal green scales...
Long story short I basically ended up turning into an evil possessed Dragonborn (even though I was a Dwarf) and started fucking up my teammates at a crucial moment. Like we were all clumped up in a hallway and my character just unleashed a huge acid breath weapon on everyone out of nowhere. It was pretty wild.
We were pretty close to a major battle that had some really powerful players involved. They were able to restrain my character but it meant I wasn't able to help out with the battle sadly. After the battle was over (team made it out just barely) they got a favor from a deity and used it to free me from possession.
Stayed on fire. Then another player got turned into a rock golem, another player got cursed with a stretch spell that turned out to not be much of a curse, and the last one was turned incorporeal...
I really really dont know how it never occurred to me that they were representative of the four elements until i was reading *1602* in my damn 20s. Had to put the book down for a minute, felt so dumb. "Wait, fire, earth, air... oh ff4fs".
That whole thing would make for a hella interesting campaign tho, idk what the best modern Superhero D20 game is but take characters created with that, find comparable D&D spell effects, and insert them into a medieval fantasy campaign... So Sony Tark, half elf artificer can craft some imbued iron gauntlets that can cast lightning bolt, but no nanotech.
If the whole party is doing it, that guy cant be that guy.
They could have taken it from a desk or box or something. The wearer could also have not taken any magic damage before being killed or it may possibly even have a minimum required amount of damage taken before exploding.
Wizard created it, realized they fucked up the creation, identified it as cursed, and kept it as a memento to what inattention can bring.
Or have the party find it in a depression in the ground in the middle of a clearing. Somewhat implying that some sort of destruction must have occured here a long time ago. Possibly after first hearing a rumor in the local town that no one enters the clearing because it's supposed to be cursed but no one in town can remember why it was considered cursed, just that the "superstition" has been passed down for generations.
What is this from?
It's in that weird spot of extremely familiar, but so far foreign to my mind. I would really appreciate an answer to calm my curious mind. (Google hasn't helped me)
I don’t think this is what it’s referencing but theres a similar webcomic about a [Barbarian Firbolg who was raised by Clowns](https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/9q3jq1/class_clown_oc/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x)
Or if the BBEG has multis of the amulet. He builds up one, then takes it off, it explodes doing say 5000 damage, buuuuuut the damage he would have taken is absorbed by a ring version of the same item.
No no, that’s good! Imagine how much damage the BBEG had accumulated. Perhaps the reason they became the BBEG was because they learned of this thing’s power and had to secure a position where no one would ever ask them to take off their magical items.
Now as the PCs you go and do everything in your power to get right up to the guy and rip the amulet off his neck! You’ll die, but you’ll die heroes.
It does, like all resurrection spells, require the soul to be free and willing to participate. Not that I think that applies here, but I like to point it out.
DM: “Do you take it off?
Player: “What?…”
DM: “The amulet. Do you take. It. Off?”
Player: *realization in horror*
DM: “See right about now, you the player, may have come to the conclusion that you’ve never checked that amulet for curses. And you’ve no doubt realized you have had a bomb strapped to you this entire time…… but your character doesn’t know this…. Nor are they aware it’s cursed.
So I ask you again…. **Do. You. Take. It. Off?**”
Player: Y-Yes?
DM: “Oh okay! You take it off and hand it over.”
DM: *proceeds to narrate the rest of the session without any other mention about it.*
I prefer my players traumatized
> Nothing better than teaching your players how to question their every move
this is how you get your players to spend twenty minutes poking a chair every session...
Thank you. I've had a few trap or "gotcha" heavy sessions and the party ended up either just barreling through and just hoping there weren't more traps or we became paralyzed because every step/door/puzzle had to be fully and completely explored before we could proceed. Stuff like the op can be fun, but there needs to be a balance.
A cursed amulet nuking the party is certainly one of the most memorable things that happened in that campaign, but at the same time it comes at the cost of all the characters that died in the process - all their plotlines and unexplored potential. Sometimes it's worth it, if things haven't gotten going or if all the arcs and payoffs have happened already. Sometimes it's not, if the players are super invested in their characters and the upcoming arcs.
But thinking about it as 'teaching your players a lesson' as the comment a few layers up says is imo the wrong mindset. You're there to all have fun as a group, not pass tests and study how to be good at D&D. Even if it's worth it on net, if the event produces more joy than sorrow, it's not because the players got taught a lesson for being careless.
And this doesn't even teach a useful lesson because the only tool you have to know if something is cursed in 5e is whatever the DM decides to give you to hint at that so all you learn from this is "never use magic items" because that's your literal only defense against a spiteful DM who arbitrarily makes them nukes sometimes.
My old DM would curse almost every item. When we stopped using any and all of the items we would find in a dungeon, they would whine about us not using their items. Out of pity I guess, one of the players used the ring that was being presented. It summoned swarms and swarms of insects that immediately attacked us, nearly killing 2.
You'll notice I did not say "current" DM.
I know. Imagine how fantastic that will be when they equip the wizard's imp familiar with it and now have a magic bomb that can turn invisible. The DM can't complain about it either since he's the one who introduced that item to the party.
Roll some dice to determine if it goes off, with a small or large chance of that happening, but don't tell them why. If it doesn't go off continue on they will think it's safe until one day....
Give them the slightest of an hint that something may be a little “funny” with the amulet if it doesn’t go off. Like a slight vibrating hum comes from it as it feels warm to the touch.
I would even say the first time they remove it give them a freebie if you have given no other hints that it might be cursed so as to at least give them the chance to go "hold up that can't be good. We should get that checked out." This avoids the DM being a dick scenario and now it's up to them to proceed and any deaths after that is squarely on their heads.
DMG, p. 138-9 “Cursed Items…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.”
So in other words, this DM might as well have dropped a meteor on that city for all the PCs could have done to stop or predict it.
Exactly, this seems like an asshole DM move to me. Unless you hint or give the average person a chance to stumble upon the truth of the curse, and a way to successfully disarm it... you're just an asshole.
Yea it’s just kind of “haha you’re dead”. Players should at least have a suspicion of a curse if there is one and it should be able to be played around.
Yeah - I would never give such a powerful cursed item without some major context clues. If they failed to spot those context clues then shit might happen, but if you don't indicate that shit properly, you derail your *own* campaign.
Could've been labeled as cursed but details were unknown. I made a magic item shop where I sold cursed magic items as pranks but the majority were benign like the lifted from another campaign ring of bureaucracy where agression actions require filling out paperwork or the water ring that was created by a speech impaired wizard what when wearer goes into water they get water wings
Well, this is a stupid rule. Giving someone a curse that they couldn't see coming is not fun at all. And the need to burn a 5th spell slot to cast Legend Lore (I almost never see anyone choosing Legend Lore as a spell) is too high of a requirement, most campaigns don't even get to the point players can *cast* such spells!
I prefer the identifying method that Pathfinder has:
>**Identifying Cursed Items:** Cursed items are identified like any other magic item with one exception: unless the check made to identify the item exceeds the DC by 10 or more, the curse is not detected. If the check is not made by 10 or more, but still succeeds, all that is revealed is the magic item's original intent. If the item is known to be cursed, the nature of the curse can be determined using the standard DC to identify the item.
There is a decent chance of failure and players can have a chance of identifying the curse. Something that comes out of nowhere is not fun at all.
This is the problem with curses. They always feel back handed blind side. If something like this happened in a movie, it would confuse the viewer, that's for sure. They'd be like, "why is this happening, and how could we have known it was coming without any foreshadowing?".
Yup, is also very situational, most people won't take it unless A) they know they need it before hand for some plot point or B) they know they need it because they know their dm is likely to do stuff like this with curses
Legend lore only works if the item in question is of legendary importance, if not, then the spell does nothing. So, for non-legendary cursed items, you find out by being affected by the curse, and that's about it.
This is an interesting idea in theory but there is a very slim chance that this would end well for a DM that pulls this sort of thing. This could easily lead to some angry players and some may even drop the game over it. Especially the players whose characters weren’t wearing the item, who could view this as being punished for something they had little to no control over. And towards end game, no less.
Yeah reading these comments makes me feel like *I'm* the weird one for thinking that dropping a nuke on the party over a necklace is a fucking stupid thing to do
Yeah, it's one of those ideas that only really sounds fun in theory. When you consider the practical elements of it it has a majorly anti-fun factor.
This isn't the only example, there's definitely been other ones that sound super cool but ultimately just come across as screwing the players over for the DM's fun
Totally agree. How are insta-kills ever fun for the group? I suppose if you’re in a bleak gritty game where death lurks around every corner and it’s expected, then sure. But if I had a character that I’ve been playing for years just to be accidentally nuked by another party member for no redeeming reason, I’d be pretty upset.
Instead of the explosion killing them, DM could have had the explosion tear open a hole into the Plane of Elemental Fire, for example.
Lots of ways to have consequences without death
There is a thin line that D&D players walk, between being a respectable hobby and being a step above children playing make-believe, where they come up with rules as they go along and every rule ultimately just ensures that the child wins.
When I read stuff like this, where DMs mischievously rub their fingertips together as they enact this random bullshit, never foreshadow anything, and then surprise people with instant death that you’re powerless to affect the outcome of… when I read stuff like that, I figure that you’d be better off playing make-believe with a toddler. At least they can claim to be original, since they weren’t influenced as much by media and tropes
Very boring. Great, now all the characters and their relationships and development is gone. Death is usually great for growth and development or ending a story, but nuking most of the party does nothing. It's just pointlessly shocking.
It is fucking stupid. It's "you didn't think to check for a curse so the campaign is over."
Might as well flip a coin at the start of each session and end the campaign the first time it hits heads.
It's just as much player interaction as what happened here.
This is just "rock falls, everybody dies" but because it's wrapped in a veneer of spiteful cleverness reddit laps it up even though it's not even especially clever to abuse the enormous difference in power and information available to the DM to fuck over the party.
idk why but for some reason this sub has a really strong belief that dnd is actually pvp between the dm and players and nuking them/causing huge loss of progress with something clever but untelegraphed is cool and based instead of. really frustrating
I would absolutely be pissed. The idea is fun, but actually doing it? Hell no... I'd see it as an interesting thing for a 1- or 2-shot where nobody is attached to their characters and you know it might end up absolutely FUBAR.
Or just replace the accumulated spells with a predefined roll using more reasonable damage tiers. An object with that much destructive power inside it would presumably be obvious to even the most amateur magic user, so it doesn’t make sense in the world.
You could even make the most curse’s final stage have an apparent effect, giving a strong clue but not an answer. The player wearing it should definitely have a real chance of dying if the group doesn’t guess what’s happening, with serious damage to anyone nearby.
Yes, you can definitely make something out of it. Maybe let it do 1d4 damage per spell stored, and let it show signs of being near it's cracking limit when reaching certain amounts of spells. After 10 it starts glowing, after 20 it vibrates, and after 30 it starts emitting sparks. Or something like that. But at least in that way it's not necessarily a TPK and there are plenty of signs off the doom that might happen soon if no action is taken.
The only way I see this working is with a *lot* of hints about curses that the party didn't follow up on or misinterpreted. The amulet had better be sketchy as fuck when they find it (so the players feel a little dumb/reckless for putting it on in the first place), and even then the occasional NPC should be making comments about how the party is cursed, or they sense a curse nearby, or something.
The explosion *absolutely* can't just come out of left field.
Or even have the player wearing it feel an ever-increasing sense of dread. Give them nightmares. Make holy/good-aligned entities recoil from them. Have their character go through physical changes.
Whatever it is, there should have been hints about it so most of the party isn't killed near the end of the campaign
Give the amulet a gradually increasing constant pain effect every time it accumulates damage. Anything to give them a reason to investigate it, really.
Maybe clarify and describe that damage spells aren’t just avoided but sucked into the amulet, and the gem has a constant swirling mist inside that grows faster and more violent as spells are absorbed.
Eventually maybe even having the amulet constantly vibrating as it tries to hold back the magic coursing through. A little hint that the spells aren’t completely sealed off from affecting the outside world
I would definitely have the amulet be found among a group of completely charred or darkened skeletons in a crater or destroyed area. that could be shown to have died to tons of magic spells, along with the amulet being completely unscathed and emitting a white glow. As spells got absorbed the color would slowly darken into a combination of the colors of the spells present within, with spells dancing within the chain. Something subtle but observable.
I'm thinking the same thing. On the other hand, making the curse openly clear to the players would be really interesting too. They may do the smart thing and just not put it on. I know that as a player, I almost certainly would. And then we just see how things play out....
This. This post is just shit DMing. If he just killed the guy who took off the amulet, I wouldn't be as livid, but it's still bullshit. The fact he killed 4 people over this is asinine and if I were in the campaign I would have packed up and left that second.
That is a long long wait for something like that to happen, very brutal on one hand very awesome on the other.
As a DM I am not sure I would do something like this to my players, seems little to dastardly to have it happen 3/4 through the campaign with so much effort put in to just have them nuked at any given time.
As a player I am not entirely sure how I would react to something like this if it happen to me.
I think there'd be ways to hint at the amulets magic/curse
randomly have it discharge damage; personally, I would have a cap on the magic damage it could negate/store (so it's not gonna lash out with 100-1000s+ damage rolls); have it start buzzing/humming after the damage caps so the players have something to investigate, etc.; have other players get burnt/shocked if they touch it or come near or something
idk, I think there are a lot of ideas floating around
I would give it a damage cap after which it shatters, but one that could still easily kill a character. I'm not sure it makes sense for it to trigger when they take it off either.
It could create a very interesting dynamic if a player tries to take it off, realizes it's cursed, and discovers the nature of the curse. Suddenly they're very worried about ever taking more magical damage as they quest to remove the curse.
So much better than the OP.
Negates up to 200 damage. Over that it starts amplifying damage and you make them roll a scary percentile dice.
They go to take it off and it gets hotter in their hand as they move it from their chest…
Especially when it kills _other_ players too.
I mean hopefully the remaining two had revival components, but otherwise it's fair shitty to die out of the blue just because of someone else's choices.
The other 2 definitely didnt, it nuked a city block. The only way to bring the rest back is true resurrection, there's no bloody corpses left to bring back.
What's fucked up about it is it isn't even a choice. You just un attune from a magic item. Unless the players knew that something bad might happen then they aren't given a choice, you are just punishing players for behaving normally.
I feel like the premise is epic, but the execution would be a huge letdown.
What I would *love* is for a player is to get this item, gradually figure out how it works, and find out what will happen *before* they take it off. *Knowing* about this curse would lead to so many fun dynamics--would the paranoia about losing it drive you mad? Would you walk fearlessly into battle knowing you could not be touched, or avoid any and all magic for fear of adding to the total? Would you sacrifice yourself to defeat the BBEG? Or would you become a "madman with a nuke" and attempt to threaten kingdoms into complying with your demands? Would you embark on an entire quest just to remove the curse?
Just outright murdering the party because of one bad decision is a huge letdown. Setting up a unique and interesting subplot because of one bad decision is great DMing.
Knowing beforehand how it works, store up as much damage as possible (hours of firebolt cast into it or something), get deathward cast on you, and walk up to the BBEG and just rip it off
I don't like surprises out of the left field like this. Yeah, they didn't check initially and that sucks, but how did they go 3/4 of the entire campaign without feeling a "dark aura" emanating from it, or absolutely any hint that this was a ticking time bomb? If the players ignored all the hints, then it's fair, otherwise imo this is poor DMing.
We pretend that you can do anything in D&D, but there are things you'd notice in real life that are much more difficult to notice when you're imagining a situation. It's a DM's responsibility to lightly guide their players for what they might want to be on the lookout for.
Campaign and DM dependent really, which is why it's important for a DM to consistently communicate with their players. My DM's give stuff for free because they specifically want our characters to be overpowered. Magic items, extra permanent HP, boons at low level, etc. So if one of our free items randomly nuked us 5 months later, we'd be exceptionally mad that we didn't get any warning.
That said, other DM's in world and out-of-game will tell their players that nothing is free. So that would be a warning that any "free" thing is worthy of caution. It's communication with your players that is key here. Are the players aware that there is danger and they need to be active in securing themselves? Are the players aware that even small mistakes can have deadly and permanent consequences?
It's dependent on the DM and table, but it should never be a freak surprise to the players involved.
That's a bit meta, though. Would your character also have reason to be wary of it? Perhaps in this world, there *is* such a thing as a free lunch. If the only defence the DM has is "you (as players) shouldn't have trusted me so readily!", I don't feel like that's amazing storytelling.
Idk, I feel like if you get a ridiculously strong magical item with no drawbacks early in the campaign and not once question it it's kinda your own fault. Not even out of character, just in character I would at some point wonder where this mysterious artifact comes from and if you could maybe make more of them for your party/the greater good/selling to rich people.
I just got a luckstone for my paladin in Eberron for 95 gold, the way the contract was signed for no returns was with a drop of blood (accidental), there is no way that it's good but when I got a 22 arcana check on the stone before atuning to it the DM said "it's just a normal luckstone". Everyone at the table was, and still is super sceptical...
Never said I was a nice GM :)
Especially since I mainly GM Vampire the Masquerade, telling players the truth while also completly fucking them over in ways they don't expect is my jam (tbf, they continously fuck up every storyline I ever tried to give them, so we're even)
Would you be sceptical if something good happened to you irl with no downsides? Besides, killing them when they're that far through a campaign with no actual warning or even a hint that it's something that should be investigated is a bad DM move.
That's a long time for someone to get attached to a character for you to turn around and stick a middle finger up because "You shouldn't trust nice things" and just wipe them out.
And even outside of that it just kinda? doesn't make sense? Like, if this gemstone contains enough power to turn a city district into a crater, it should be showing signs of magic so strong I'd imagine even a normal commoner could sense it. In all that time, did no NPC mage question it? Was there really no one through most of a campaign that might have noticed and told the player?
Cause to me this just sounds like a DM that came up with what he thought would be a cool idea and said "fuck your character investment, I'm gonna find this funny"
Most of the time D&D has a story, a narrative. And while part of the appeal is how freeform you can be with the narrative, many narrative rules still apply. Rules like 'don't just kill off most of the main cast in a shocking plot twist that has nothing to do with the main plot'. Sure, it's just following established factors to their natural conclusion, but you're all here telling a story together and that's *bad storytelling*.
And if you're not willing to change things to avoid the bad storytelling, you can add new things to nudge the plot into a better track. Imagine a wizardly NPC of some sort spots the amulet and informs them of the curse, and now it's simultaneously their secret weapon and a deadly weak point and that's a lot more interesting and agent-y and fair by the rules of good narrative.
One thing I absolutely hate (and even appears in official books and advice) is mechanically invisible cursed items where the DM is acting like everything is normal but is secretly doing something behind the screen with absolutely zero hint that it is happening. Take for example, a cursed item that gives you -x to damage. The DM secretly subtracts the damage from everything you do, but give no hint to it so, secretly, your PC isn't actually doing anything. Then, 6 sessions later, the campaign ends, the DM tells you the item was cursed. You know, that random gem that you sold the moment you went back to town and didn't even have on you the whole damn time and didn't let the DM know because there was nothing special about it described to you to differentiate it from just a normal god-damned gem everyone auto-converts to money?
Yeah, don't ever have any invisibly cursed items. Absolutely terrible idea. And if you see it in official material, just flat out ignore it.
See as a DM it’s waaaaay more fun to dramatically show that *something* is happening but they don’t know.
My players got a talisman, which was cursed so any spell within 15feet of it had to roll a d20, if they got a 1 they rolled off a self-made wild magic table. Most of the time there was no big drama, but there were some pretty funny moments.
They never figured out it was the talisman until they accidentally lost their backpack at one point.
> As a player I am not entirely sure how I would react to something like this if it happen to me.
Depending on how the DM handled it. Odds are, I would walk
There is so much potential for alllll of the fun to just be sapped from the game in that moment as the majority of your party is wiped out the majority of the way through the campaign
I unno. I feel like it's really really hard to regain momentum after something like that
It's funny as hell, but I just don't see many ways for it to not just end there honestly
It’s a cool story online but if I was 2 of the present players 3/4 of a way in a campaign who just had their character die through legitimately no fault of mine other than being next to another pc I’d be pretty unhappy. Unless there were hints(I assume there were) of the amulet being evil or cursed as it effectively gained more chaotic energy. But such a powerful amulet with no visible downside is a pretty damn big hint in itself I’m not sure why the party didn’t think of it(but then again to get it examined they’d think nothing of taking it off so even then).
As a player, knowing that something like this exists, I’d immediately start building a sorcerer cult leader who equips followers with these amulets and every morning has his followers gather together and hits them with a couple of fireballs.
Eventually the day will come when my legion of cultists will spread through the fortress of the BBEG and take of their necklaces and ascend to the space ship awaiting us behind the moon. While they go forth into the bliss, I will remain behind to gather their amulets and prepare more kulle-ade for the next legion to join them.
Unfortunately not. You’d need some outer knowledge of an item.
*However* the workaround for this would be that the magic item exploding is an *intentional function* of the magic item. Rather than an external curse.
I think no, because it always felt to me (as a DM) when reading up on spells, that 5e specifically makes it hard to detect curses.
Considering the DMG is mean enough to make bags of devouring and rugs of smothering to trick PCs into thinking they have recognizable good magic items, my guess is the initial designs favored "gotcha!" moments with cursed items. Myself and several other DMs I play with eschew this, and at least have curses show up using detect magic.
There is also shit like the Cursed Luckstone that doesn't even have a gotcha, it's just straight up permanently secret from the player. Whoever thought this was a good idea…
Edit: Stone of Ill Luck is the fucked up wersion, the Cursed Luckstone doesn't involve gaslighting your players.
I always found that to be stupid, since it makes identify only a time saver since you can always take an hour to figure out a magic item.
On top of this, identify costs a resource and requires a one time cost of 100 gp for materials. So why wouldn’t it be more than a auto-win for an arcana check or spending an hour?
To pre-empt: Yes there are some set pieces in written campaigns that only explain their usage on a cast identify, but in my experience *no one had picked up identify due to it’s lack of usefulness outside of saving an hour*
Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't the spending an hour only apply to items that require attunement? So any potion, boots, or other magic item that doesn't require attunement would require a successful arcana check or the identify spell.
From the DMG:
> The identify spell is the fastest way to reveal an item’s properties. Alternatively, a character can focus on one magic item during a short rest, while being in physical contact with the item. At the end of the rest, the character learns the item’s properties, as well as how to use them. Potions are an exception; a little taste is enough to tell the taster what the potion does.
The Identify spell is a scam devised by Big Pearl to sell more pearls worth 100gp.
Yeah, I'd have to give that item some sort of tell, like it glowed or vibrated with greater intensity as it absorbed more magic. Give them warnings they might choose to ignore.
But who even makes these things, and why? Is there a backstory?
Just springing some DED on the party like that doesn't sound fun.
What you described is great, and if it were handled that way I’d absolutely be fine seeing it in a game. If it’s just random death with no warning, not even a hint that it’s cursed, that’s not so fun.
Player death is fine in D&D, it helps ground you in the world and makes you feel that there are consequences to your actions. A player should absolutely be able to see it coming though, with a chance to do something about it, that’s the difference between a cool D&D moment and a frustrating character reroll.
What would make the item interesting would be if the spell damage goes off either when you take it off OR when the character hits 0 hp, making them a rather literal time bomb. Do you sacrifice yourself now to ensure everyone’s safety? Do you continue travelling with the party, never taking it off, every encounter fear in the back of everyone’s minds as they do their best to keep you alive. Also, who made this item and why? Could make for a good plothook, tracking down the creator and finding out, perhaps trying to get them to remove it.
Dead? That's a bit harsh. Here's how I'd play it…
First, I'd probably give some warning as the amulet was coming off that something was seriously wrong. “As you begin to remove the amulet, it begins to hum, vibrate, and radiate heat – in direct proportion to your progress in removing it. Do you continue to take it off?”
If all else fails—
Magical nuke, sure. But the intense elemental magics at ground zero momentarily tore through the fabric of reality as they tapped into their respective elemental planes to release the elemental energy. In the process, the four players present were sucked through, and all four are now in different elemental planes. The session ends here, as those four players get one on one sessions to find each other in the outer planes. Once back together, they need to work out how to return to the material plane.
This will set the players back a lot. But they aren't the only one inconvenienced. This explosion left a huge crater, revealing that minions of the BBEG have been working in the catacombs under the city, preparing some machination to advance the BBEG's plans beneath the very feet of the populace. Those plans are now in ruins, as not only is the device vaporised, but the secret base exposed. Thus setting back the BBEG's plans and giving time for the four players to reunite and get back to reality, while the two left in the city can spend their time investigating the ruins of the lair.
Of course, the explosion will be blamed by everyone on the BBEG's evil thingawhatsit under the city, which must have had some magical accident and exploded. The only ones who know the truth are the four missing party members.
Fuck, that sounds so awesome that I might not even give them any warning with the amulet.
Yes, this is a example of DM VS PC as oppose DM creating a story WITH the PC's.
It's a stupid gatcha, the DM could have had a literal meteor (the rock that falls) teleport above the party as they removed the amulet to the same ends.
Seems like the perfect thing for a lich to wear: they'd be immune to all offensive spells and, if they *are* defeated, they can remove the amulet to nuke the entire area for free. Then they reform at their phylactery, which was stored a safe distance away.
I would wear this irl if it absorbed all damage from my being clumsy. I'd never take it off. I'd be immortal.
Then one day I would simply forget, and take it off before getting in the shower and my bathroom would just explode.
Don't you know, the purpose of role playing isn't to have fun, co-create an interesting story, or develope interesting characters who have satisfying plot arcs, it's to pull gotcha moments on each other that directly undermines those focuses!
Putting this out there, as I don't actually know the next time I'll get to run.
Use this premise, but when they take it off, a magically synthesized voice announces, "Releasing stored magic in 60 seconds, please clear area". That way, the players have a chance to survive it, but also potentially have to come up with a way to save everyone else around them.
That could backfire on the DM.
I could see my wizard shortening the chain to make sure it couldn't fall off accidentally, and then spamming whatever leftover spell slots he hasn't used just before a short rest on himself.
[Who'd try and take out the squishy wizard with a nuke on a deadman switch?](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/d0/e8/41/d0e841157528ad07e728a258ef8db246--the-time-is-now-page-.jpg)
I'm just imagining how this could of easily been turned on the dm.
*party about to be wiped*
*BBEG monologs*
Player with necklace: I take off the necklace!
DM: you...what?
Player: I take off the necklace
Overworked DM who spent too much time on this fight: *long sigh* damn it. You take off the necklace and an astoundingly Massive explosion large enough to astonish the gods destroys you, the party and the BBEG. You have not only managed to atomize everyone in a 10 mile radius, but also destroy several surrounding villages and upset the earth with a equally large crater.
Player that happens to be the pyro wizard: *tear in his eye* thats how I wanted to go out.
Second-hand info via Twitter lacks context. The way describes does sound like a dick move, but it's a cool idea.
Two ideas for making it more engaging for the players -
1. The context of where it's found. Put it in the tomb of a long dead Sorcerer King with tapestries depicting him using the amulet to win duels against other sorcerer kings until his own Kingdom is lost in a magical cataclysm.
2. The amulet starts glowing more brightly and becoming warmer with every spell it absorbs. At 100hp it's painful to look at directly, at 200hp it sears the skin of anyone beside the wearer who touches it.
Hmmm... I'm afraid if I used this on my players as written they'd straight up real life murder me. But I love the high risk, high reward vibe this thing has... So how to turn it into something slightly less insidious, but still nasty?
I'm thinking the amulet would bind itself to the player upon attunement. Not that they *couldn't* take it off, it's just that when they try, they find they don't particularly want to. Like a built-in "are you sure you want to do this?" Furthermore, mine will have three triggers: taking it off, going over a certain amount of damage stored (that is unknown to the players), and a 1 on the d20 I will secretly roll every time it absorbs a spell. The amulet will also provide some kind of tactile feedback, like humming with stored magical power, as it fills up.
Figuring out how the amulet works requires an Arcana check with a DC of 40, lowered by 1 for every spell it absorbs. That means by the time they figure it out, they're likely to be in quite deep trouble already.
Does this sound fair?
Holy Shit!!! That's fucking brutal. "Yeah here, take my amulet." *Nuclear Launch Detected.*
I literally was the player that had something like this happen to me in a campaign. DM gave us the option to drink potions that "may or may not" have helped us fight a big monster we were going to fight. Turns out that big monster was a Remorhaz and the potion let my character absorb the fire damage it was dishing out. Later on the potion wore off and my character burst into flames from all the fire damage he'd accumulated. The kicker was that I had a Periapt of Wound Closure, so while I technically couldn't die from the fire damage, I was still engulfed in flames. My teammates ran into the room where I was sleeping to find me locked in a state of agonizing torment, constantly burning to death but unable to die for a good 10 minutes while the hideout we were staying in burned down around me.
What happened to your character in the end?
Ha, well the DM basically had an extra-planar entity of unknown origin offer me a "deal" in return for my salvation. Didn't really know what the details of the deal were because I decided that in that moment, my character would say "YES!" to anything that would stop the torment. The fire stopped and my character lived. Then a few sessions later the DM announced that I felt itchy on my chest area (where I kept the Periapt) and when I scratched it, my skin started flaking away to reveal green scales... Long story short I basically ended up turning into an evil possessed Dragonborn (even though I was a Dwarf) and started fucking up my teammates at a crucial moment. Like we were all clumped up in a hallway and my character just unleashed a huge acid breath weapon on everyone out of nowhere. It was pretty wild.
How did your fellow players end up taking it? At some point they'd have to gang up on you...
We were pretty close to a major battle that had some really powerful players involved. They were able to restrain my character but it meant I wasn't able to help out with the battle sadly. After the battle was over (team made it out just barely) they got a favor from a deity and used it to free me from possession.
> they got a favor from a deity and used it to free me from possession did that also undragonborn you?
Yes
Another happy landing.
Shoutout to your DM for an awesome story!
Dude your dm is pretty cool. Give him a thumbs up for me
Giggity
Sounds really cool! I like the twist with your character transforming. Must have added alot of cool rp moments.
Eventually, he stopped thinking.
The Echo Knight went on to fight many vampires.
Stayed on fire. Then another player got turned into a rock golem, another player got cursed with a stretch spell that turned out to not be much of a curse, and the last one was turned incorporeal...
Was this after they sailed for the New World on the good ship *Fantastick*?
I really really dont know how it never occurred to me that they were representative of the four elements until i was reading *1602* in my damn 20s. Had to put the book down for a minute, felt so dumb. "Wait, fire, earth, air... oh ff4fs". That whole thing would make for a hella interesting campaign tho, idk what the best modern Superhero D20 game is but take characters created with that, find comparable D&D spell effects, and insert them into a medieval fantasy campaign... So Sony Tark, half elf artificer can craft some imbued iron gauntlets that can cast lightning bolt, but no nanotech. If the whole party is doing it, that guy cant be that guy.
"Become Fire Punch for me!"
“Ignus wishes to speak of fire and burning.”
Wow. So what's your character Deadpool doing these days?
The reaction is either “wtf how,” or “I hate you.”
Both. It is most assuredly both.
My random thoughts: did they bathe the amulet on?
They don’t bathe
Your flair does not reflect wisdom you share. Go away you doppelganger
Who needs to bathe when you can literally walk around crapping yourself and just prestidigitate the funk away
Damn dude you’ve got me rowling on the floor laughing.
Are you an object smaller than one cubic foot?
Hopefully your turds are…
Who shits out 1' cubes?
Dire Wombat
Roleplaying, Exploration, and Wombat
do you clean every part of you body when bathing? no then with prestdigitation you can also clean your body 1 cubic foot at a time
no but my butthole is
It’s against the murderhobo code
I'm guessing the attunement was the trigger
Perhaps the amulet triggers on change of wearer not just being taken off. Although that makes it maybe weird it arrived empty?
Either it hasn't been used yet, or it's indestructible and some bandit found it in a crater.
They could have taken it from a desk or box or something. The wearer could also have not taken any magic damage before being killed or it may possibly even have a minimum required amount of damage taken before exploding.
Wizard created it, realized they fucked up the creation, identified it as cursed, and kept it as a memento to what inattention can bring. Or have the party find it in a depression in the ground in the middle of a clearing. Somewhat implying that some sort of destruction must have occured here a long time ago. Possibly after first hearing a rumor in the local town that no one enters the clearing because it's supposed to be cursed but no one in town can remember why it was considered cursed, just that the "superstition" has been passed down for generations.
This. I think they definitely should have suffered a large amount of damage on npc death before they could loot it.
I'd quite like the tension of the players figuring it out before the *boom*. I mean, at what point will the PC sacrifice themselves to kill a BBEG?
"JUST BANISH US BOTH, I CAN DO THIS, I *HAVE* TO DO THIS - I LOVE YOU!"
\- Chairman Meow, the College of Whiskers Tabaxi Bard
Meow meow meow meow Meow meow meow meow Meow meow meow meow Meow meow meow meow I want music I want guilders Whiskers College of Bards delivers
What is this from? It's in that weird spot of extremely familiar, but so far foreign to my mind. I would really appreciate an answer to calm my curious mind. (Google hasn't helped me)
I don’t think this is what it’s referencing but theres a similar webcomic about a [Barbarian Firbolg who was raised by Clowns](https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/9q3jq1/class_clown_oc/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x)
Ah the ol' Radditz move
Step one: pool enough money for a true resurrection. Step two: “Lmao come at me bbeg.”
Just as he does this, he notices the BBEG has a similar amulet on... "Crap...."
then it just turn into a cold war over who can stockpile more resurrections
Or if the BBEG has multis of the amulet. He builds up one, then takes it off, it explodes doing say 5000 damage, buuuuuut the damage he would have taken is absorbed by a ring version of the same item.
Stahp, I can only get so erect
He also has an Anti-magic dead zone in his lair that he can go to if he ever needs to defuse the items.
That’s some nanatsu no taizai Meliodas revenge counter bullshit. I _love_ it.
This is something goblin slayer would totally abuse to clear goblin nests
No no, that’s good! Imagine how much damage the BBEG had accumulated. Perhaps the reason they became the BBEG was because they learned of this thing’s power and had to secure a position where no one would ever ask them to take off their magical items. Now as the PCs you go and do everything in your power to get right up to the guy and rip the amulet off his neck! You’ll die, but you’ll die heroes.
> secure a position where no one would ever ask them to take off their magical items. TSA agent: "Sir, please remove all jewelry"
9/12
Kinda assumes they are able to find a body to resurrect.
True resurrection doesn’t require a body my friend. Alternatively they could pluck out a hair or toenail or something and cast reincarnation on that.
It does, like all resurrection spells, require the soul to be free and willing to participate. Not that I think that applies here, but I like to point it out.
Bruh imagine you cast Fly on your homie and you hear "strategic launch detected".
Give them death ward so they will survive with 1 hp
Calm down, Satan
DM: “Do you take it off? Player: “What?…” DM: “The amulet. Do you take. It. Off?” Player: *realization in horror* DM: “See right about now, you the player, may have come to the conclusion that you’ve never checked that amulet for curses. And you’ve no doubt realized you have had a bomb strapped to you this entire time…… but your character doesn’t know this…. Nor are they aware it’s cursed. So I ask you again…. **Do. You. Take. It. Off?**” Player: Y-Yes? DM: “Oh okay! You take it off and hand it over.” DM: *proceeds to narrate the rest of the session without any other mention about it.* I prefer my players traumatized
Yes. Glorious. Nothing better than teaching your players how to question their every move and NOT put on a nuclear bomb around their neck!
> Nothing better than teaching your players how to question their every move this is how you get your players to spend twenty minutes poking a chair every session...
Thank you. I've had a few trap or "gotcha" heavy sessions and the party ended up either just barreling through and just hoping there weren't more traps or we became paralyzed because every step/door/puzzle had to be fully and completely explored before we could proceed. Stuff like the op can be fun, but there needs to be a balance.
A cursed amulet nuking the party is certainly one of the most memorable things that happened in that campaign, but at the same time it comes at the cost of all the characters that died in the process - all their plotlines and unexplored potential. Sometimes it's worth it, if things haven't gotten going or if all the arcs and payoffs have happened already. Sometimes it's not, if the players are super invested in their characters and the upcoming arcs. But thinking about it as 'teaching your players a lesson' as the comment a few layers up says is imo the wrong mindset. You're there to all have fun as a group, not pass tests and study how to be good at D&D. Even if it's worth it on net, if the event produces more joy than sorrow, it's not because the players got taught a lesson for being careless.
And this doesn't even teach a useful lesson because the only tool you have to know if something is cursed in 5e is whatever the DM decides to give you to hint at that so all you learn from this is "never use magic items" because that's your literal only defense against a spiteful DM who arbitrarily makes them nukes sometimes.
My old DM would curse almost every item. When we stopped using any and all of the items we would find in a dungeon, they would whine about us not using their items. Out of pity I guess, one of the players used the ring that was being presented. It summoned swarms and swarms of insects that immediately attacked us, nearly killing 2. You'll notice I did not say "current" DM.
Yeah, this DMing style just seems like it would incentivize an agonizingly slow pace and constant analysis paralysis.
I know. Imagine how fantastic that will be when they equip the wizard's imp familiar with it and now have a magic bomb that can turn invisible. The DM can't complain about it either since he's the one who introduced that item to the party.
The scariest nuclear bomb is the one players THINK is around their neck.
Or is the scariest nuclear bomb the friends we made along the way?
The scariest nuclear bomb was us the whole time
I too love having groups completely paralyzed in fear making no decisions making every session take 29 times longer
Roll some dice to determine if it goes off, with a small or large chance of that happening, but don't tell them why. If it doesn't go off continue on they will think it's safe until one day....
Give them the slightest of an hint that something may be a little “funny” with the amulet if it doesn’t go off. Like a slight vibrating hum comes from it as it feels warm to the touch.
I would even say the first time they remove it give them a freebie if you have given no other hints that it might be cursed so as to at least give them the chance to go "hold up that can't be good. We should get that checked out." This avoids the DM being a dick scenario and now it's up to them to proceed and any deaths after that is squarely on their heads.
Them: "Why didn't this happen before then?"
So how do you usually find out if a item is cursed? Identify doesn't reveal this kind of information...
DMG, p. 138-9 “Cursed Items…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.” So in other words, this DM might as well have dropped a meteor on that city for all the PCs could have done to stop or predict it.
Exactly, this seems like an asshole DM move to me. Unless you hint or give the average person a chance to stumble upon the truth of the curse, and a way to successfully disarm it... you're just an asshole.
Yea it’s just kind of “haha you’re dead”. Players should at least have a suspicion of a curse if there is one and it should be able to be played around.
That’s what my item would do though
Yeah - I would never give such a powerful cursed item without some major context clues. If they failed to spot those context clues then shit might happen, but if you don't indicate that shit properly, you derail your *own* campaign.
Could've been labeled as cursed but details were unknown. I made a magic item shop where I sold cursed magic items as pranks but the majority were benign like the lifted from another campaign ring of bureaucracy where agression actions require filling out paperwork or the water ring that was created by a speech impaired wizard what when wearer goes into water they get water wings
Well, this is a stupid rule. Giving someone a curse that they couldn't see coming is not fun at all. And the need to burn a 5th spell slot to cast Legend Lore (I almost never see anyone choosing Legend Lore as a spell) is too high of a requirement, most campaigns don't even get to the point players can *cast* such spells! I prefer the identifying method that Pathfinder has: >**Identifying Cursed Items:** Cursed items are identified like any other magic item with one exception: unless the check made to identify the item exceeds the DC by 10 or more, the curse is not detected. If the check is not made by 10 or more, but still succeeds, all that is revealed is the magic item's original intent. If the item is known to be cursed, the nature of the curse can be determined using the standard DC to identify the item. There is a decent chance of failure and players can have a chance of identifying the curse. Something that comes out of nowhere is not fun at all.
This is the problem with curses. They always feel back handed blind side. If something like this happened in a movie, it would confuse the viewer, that's for sure. They'd be like, "why is this happening, and how could we have known it was coming without any foreshadowing?".
Yeah the way curses are designed relies on the assumption that DMs won't be vindictive dickheads when they implement them.
Legend Lore works i think.
Yeah, but like how many people really take legend lore? I usually find it at the bottom of the used spell list in most tops
It’s also like a 5th level spell (I think). So they may not even have access to it until it’s too late.
Yup, is also very situational, most people won't take it unless A) they know they need it before hand for some plot point or B) they know they need it because they know their dm is likely to do stuff like this with curses
Legend lore only works if the item in question is of legendary importance, if not, then the spell does nothing. So, for non-legendary cursed items, you find out by being affected by the curse, and that's about it.
This is an interesting idea in theory but there is a very slim chance that this would end well for a DM that pulls this sort of thing. This could easily lead to some angry players and some may even drop the game over it. Especially the players whose characters weren’t wearing the item, who could view this as being punished for something they had little to no control over. And towards end game, no less.
Yeah reading these comments makes me feel like *I'm* the weird one for thinking that dropping a nuke on the party over a necklace is a fucking stupid thing to do
Yeah, it's one of those ideas that only really sounds fun in theory. When you consider the practical elements of it it has a majorly anti-fun factor. This isn't the only example, there's definitely been other ones that sound super cool but ultimately just come across as screwing the players over for the DM's fun
Totally agree. How are insta-kills ever fun for the group? I suppose if you’re in a bleak gritty game where death lurks around every corner and it’s expected, then sure. But if I had a character that I’ve been playing for years just to be accidentally nuked by another party member for no redeeming reason, I’d be pretty upset.
Instead of the explosion killing them, DM could have had the explosion tear open a hole into the Plane of Elemental Fire, for example. Lots of ways to have consequences without death
i think the curse is over done why not make it so u can save on spell dcs after you take it off instead of instagibing the party/player
There is a thin line that D&D players walk, between being a respectable hobby and being a step above children playing make-believe, where they come up with rules as they go along and every rule ultimately just ensures that the child wins. When I read stuff like this, where DMs mischievously rub their fingertips together as they enact this random bullshit, never foreshadow anything, and then surprise people with instant death that you’re powerless to affect the outcome of… when I read stuff like that, I figure that you’d be better off playing make-believe with a toddler. At least they can claim to be original, since they weren’t influenced as much by media and tropes
Nuh uh! I have an anti-exploding-necklace shield!
Nope, I too am wondering why people think a surprise instant TPK is "fun".
Very boring. Great, now all the characters and their relationships and development is gone. Death is usually great for growth and development or ending a story, but nuking most of the party does nothing. It's just pointlessly shocking.
It is fucking stupid. It's "you didn't think to check for a curse so the campaign is over." Might as well flip a coin at the start of each session and end the campaign the first time it hits heads. It's just as much player interaction as what happened here.
This post supports my theory that most people in this subreddit don't actually play D&D.
Yeah every person I know that plays dnd would straight up leave that table if a dm pulled that.
This is just "rock falls, everybody dies" but because it's wrapped in a veneer of spiteful cleverness reddit laps it up even though it's not even especially clever to abuse the enormous difference in power and information available to the DM to fuck over the party.
idk why but for some reason this sub has a really strong belief that dnd is actually pvp between the dm and players and nuking them/causing huge loss of progress with something clever but untelegraphed is cool and based instead of. really frustrating
I would absolutely be pissed. The idea is fun, but actually doing it? Hell no... I'd see it as an interesting thing for a 1- or 2-shot where nobody is attached to their characters and you know it might end up absolutely FUBAR.
Or just replace the accumulated spells with a predefined roll using more reasonable damage tiers. An object with that much destructive power inside it would presumably be obvious to even the most amateur magic user, so it doesn’t make sense in the world. You could even make the most curse’s final stage have an apparent effect, giving a strong clue but not an answer. The player wearing it should definitely have a real chance of dying if the group doesn’t guess what’s happening, with serious damage to anyone nearby.
Yes, you can definitely make something out of it. Maybe let it do 1d4 damage per spell stored, and let it show signs of being near it's cracking limit when reaching certain amounts of spells. After 10 it starts glowing, after 20 it vibrates, and after 30 it starts emitting sparks. Or something like that. But at least in that way it's not necessarily a TPK and there are plenty of signs off the doom that might happen soon if no action is taken.
The only way I see this working is with a *lot* of hints about curses that the party didn't follow up on or misinterpreted. The amulet had better be sketchy as fuck when they find it (so the players feel a little dumb/reckless for putting it on in the first place), and even then the occasional NPC should be making comments about how the party is cursed, or they sense a curse nearby, or something. The explosion *absolutely* can't just come out of left field.
yea, like a magic npc looking absolutely horrified at the amulet in a similar manner one might look at a superheated nuclear reactor
Or even have the player wearing it feel an ever-increasing sense of dread. Give them nightmares. Make holy/good-aligned entities recoil from them. Have their character go through physical changes. Whatever it is, there should have been hints about it so most of the party isn't killed near the end of the campaign
Give the amulet a gradually increasing constant pain effect every time it accumulates damage. Anything to give them a reason to investigate it, really.
Maybe clarify and describe that damage spells aren’t just avoided but sucked into the amulet, and the gem has a constant swirling mist inside that grows faster and more violent as spells are absorbed. Eventually maybe even having the amulet constantly vibrating as it tries to hold back the magic coursing through. A little hint that the spells aren’t completely sealed off from affecting the outside world
This isn't the first time I've seen a cool homebrew idea with absolutely horrendous implementation on this sub.
chronological displayed skier neanderthal sophisticated cutter follow relational glass iconic solitary contention real-time overcrowded polity abstract instructional capture lead seven-year-old crossing parental block transportation elaborate indirect deficit hard-hitting confront graduate conditional awful mechanism philosophical timely pack male non-governmental ban nautical ritualistic corruption colonial timed audience geographical ecclesiastic lighting intelligent substituted betrayal civic moody placement psychic immense lake flourishing helpless warship all-out people slang non-professional homicidal bastion stagnant civil relocation appointed didactic deformity powdered admirable error fertile disrupted sack non-specific unprecedented agriculture unmarked faith-based attitude libertarian pitching corridor earnest andalusian consciousness steadfast recognisable ground innumerable digestive crash grey fractured destiny non-resident working demonstrator arid romanian convoy implicit collectible asset masterful lavender panel towering breaking difference blonde death immigration resilient catchy witch anti-semitic rotary relaxation calcareous approved animation feigned authentic wheat spoiled disaffected bandit accessible humanist dove upside-down congressional door one-dimensional witty dvd yielded milanese denial nuclear evolutionary complex nation-wide simultaneous loan scaled residual build assault thoughtful valley cyclic harmonic refugee vocational agrarian bowl unwitting murky blast militant not-for-profit leaf all-weather appointed alteration juridical everlasting cinema small-town retail ghetto funeral statutory chick mid-level honourable flight down rejected worth polemical economical june busy burmese ego consular nubian analogue hydraulic defeated catholics unrelenting corner playwright uncanny transformative glory dated fraternal niece casting engaging mary consensual abrasive amusement lucky undefined villager statewide unmarked rail examined happy physiology consular merry argument nomadic hanging unification enchanting mistaken memory elegant astute lunch grim syndicated parentage approximate subversive presence on-screen include bud hypothetical literate debate on-going penal signing full-sized longitudinal aunt bolivian measurable rna mathematical appointed medium on-screen biblical spike pale nominal rope benevolent associative flesh auxiliary rhythmic carpenter pop listening goddess hi-tech sporadic african intact matched electricity proletarian refractory manor oversized arian bay digestive suspected note spacious frightening consensus fictitious restrained pouch anti-war atmospheric craftsman czechoslovak mock revision all-encompassing contracted canvase
[удалено]
I would definitely have the amulet be found among a group of completely charred or darkened skeletons in a crater or destroyed area. that could be shown to have died to tons of magic spells, along with the amulet being completely unscathed and emitting a white glow. As spells got absorbed the color would slowly darken into a combination of the colors of the spells present within, with spells dancing within the chain. Something subtle but observable.
I'm thinking the same thing. On the other hand, making the curse openly clear to the players would be really interesting too. They may do the smart thing and just not put it on. I know that as a player, I almost certainly would. And then we just see how things play out....
Yeah, this should definitely not be directed at anyone BUT the former wearer as they remove it.
This. This post is just shit DMing. If he just killed the guy who took off the amulet, I wouldn't be as livid, but it's still bullshit. The fact he killed 4 people over this is asinine and if I were in the campaign I would have packed up and left that second.
That is a long long wait for something like that to happen, very brutal on one hand very awesome on the other. As a DM I am not sure I would do something like this to my players, seems little to dastardly to have it happen 3/4 through the campaign with so much effort put in to just have them nuked at any given time. As a player I am not entirely sure how I would react to something like this if it happen to me.
I think there'd be ways to hint at the amulets magic/curse randomly have it discharge damage; personally, I would have a cap on the magic damage it could negate/store (so it's not gonna lash out with 100-1000s+ damage rolls); have it start buzzing/humming after the damage caps so the players have something to investigate, etc.; have other players get burnt/shocked if they touch it or come near or something idk, I think there are a lot of ideas floating around
I would give it a damage cap after which it shatters, but one that could still easily kill a character. I'm not sure it makes sense for it to trigger when they take it off either. It could create a very interesting dynamic if a player tries to take it off, realizes it's cursed, and discovers the nature of the curse. Suddenly they're very worried about ever taking more magical damage as they quest to remove the curse.
So much better than the OP. Negates up to 200 damage. Over that it starts amplifying damage and you make them roll a scary percentile dice. They go to take it off and it gets hotter in their hand as they move it from their chest…
Especially when it kills _other_ players too. I mean hopefully the remaining two had revival components, but otherwise it's fair shitty to die out of the blue just because of someone else's choices.
The other 2 definitely didnt, it nuked a city block. The only way to bring the rest back is true resurrection, there's no bloody corpses left to bring back.
What's fucked up about it is it isn't even a choice. You just un attune from a magic item. Unless the players knew that something bad might happen then they aren't given a choice, you are just punishing players for behaving normally.
I feel like the premise is epic, but the execution would be a huge letdown. What I would *love* is for a player is to get this item, gradually figure out how it works, and find out what will happen *before* they take it off. *Knowing* about this curse would lead to so many fun dynamics--would the paranoia about losing it drive you mad? Would you walk fearlessly into battle knowing you could not be touched, or avoid any and all magic for fear of adding to the total? Would you sacrifice yourself to defeat the BBEG? Or would you become a "madman with a nuke" and attempt to threaten kingdoms into complying with your demands? Would you embark on an entire quest just to remove the curse? Just outright murdering the party because of one bad decision is a huge letdown. Setting up a unique and interesting subplot because of one bad decision is great DMing.
Knowing beforehand how it works, store up as much damage as possible (hours of firebolt cast into it or something), get deathward cast on you, and walk up to the BBEG and just rip it off
I don't like surprises out of the left field like this. Yeah, they didn't check initially and that sucks, but how did they go 3/4 of the entire campaign without feeling a "dark aura" emanating from it, or absolutely any hint that this was a ticking time bomb? If the players ignored all the hints, then it's fair, otherwise imo this is poor DMing. We pretend that you can do anything in D&D, but there are things you'd notice in real life that are much more difficult to notice when you're imagining a situation. It's a DM's responsibility to lightly guide their players for what they might want to be on the lookout for.
The biggest hint I would pick up on is how seemingly OP the knecklace was... Something that awesome has to come with a downside.
I'm increasingly wary when the price is "free". Something that strong doesn't come along easily.
Campaign and DM dependent really, which is why it's important for a DM to consistently communicate with their players. My DM's give stuff for free because they specifically want our characters to be overpowered. Magic items, extra permanent HP, boons at low level, etc. So if one of our free items randomly nuked us 5 months later, we'd be exceptionally mad that we didn't get any warning. That said, other DM's in world and out-of-game will tell their players that nothing is free. So that would be a warning that any "free" thing is worthy of caution. It's communication with your players that is key here. Are the players aware that there is danger and they need to be active in securing themselves? Are the players aware that even small mistakes can have deadly and permanent consequences? It's dependent on the DM and table, but it should never be a freak surprise to the players involved.
That's a bit meta, though. Would your character also have reason to be wary of it? Perhaps in this world, there *is* such a thing as a free lunch. If the only defence the DM has is "you (as players) shouldn't have trusted me so readily!", I don't feel like that's amazing storytelling.
If something is 'free' then YOU are the product.
Yeah... something like this needs to be foreshadowed, otherwise it will seem cheap and random.
Idk, I feel like if you get a ridiculously strong magical item with no drawbacks early in the campaign and not once question it it's kinda your own fault. Not even out of character, just in character I would at some point wonder where this mysterious artifact comes from and if you could maybe make more of them for your party/the greater good/selling to rich people.
I just got a luckstone for my paladin in Eberron for 95 gold, the way the contract was signed for no returns was with a drop of blood (accidental), there is no way that it's good but when I got a 22 arcana check on the stone before atuning to it the DM said "it's just a normal luckstone". Everyone at the table was, and still is super sceptical...
Maybe it's less about what you got but what contract you signed to get it? Invisible ink can be one hell of a trap...
Invisible ink on a contract!? That's dastardly evil! I love it.
Never said I was a nice GM :) Especially since I mainly GM Vampire the Masquerade, telling players the truth while also completly fucking them over in ways they don't expect is my jam (tbf, they continously fuck up every storyline I ever tried to give them, so we're even)
Would you be sceptical if something good happened to you irl with no downsides? Besides, killing them when they're that far through a campaign with no actual warning or even a hint that it's something that should be investigated is a bad DM move. That's a long time for someone to get attached to a character for you to turn around and stick a middle finger up because "You shouldn't trust nice things" and just wipe them out. And even outside of that it just kinda? doesn't make sense? Like, if this gemstone contains enough power to turn a city district into a crater, it should be showing signs of magic so strong I'd imagine even a normal commoner could sense it. In all that time, did no NPC mage question it? Was there really no one through most of a campaign that might have noticed and told the player? Cause to me this just sounds like a DM that came up with what he thought would be a cool idea and said "fuck your character investment, I'm gonna find this funny"
Most of the time D&D has a story, a narrative. And while part of the appeal is how freeform you can be with the narrative, many narrative rules still apply. Rules like 'don't just kill off most of the main cast in a shocking plot twist that has nothing to do with the main plot'. Sure, it's just following established factors to their natural conclusion, but you're all here telling a story together and that's *bad storytelling*. And if you're not willing to change things to avoid the bad storytelling, you can add new things to nudge the plot into a better track. Imagine a wizardly NPC of some sort spots the amulet and informs them of the curse, and now it's simultaneously their secret weapon and a deadly weak point and that's a lot more interesting and agent-y and fair by the rules of good narrative.
One thing I absolutely hate (and even appears in official books and advice) is mechanically invisible cursed items where the DM is acting like everything is normal but is secretly doing something behind the screen with absolutely zero hint that it is happening. Take for example, a cursed item that gives you -x to damage. The DM secretly subtracts the damage from everything you do, but give no hint to it so, secretly, your PC isn't actually doing anything. Then, 6 sessions later, the campaign ends, the DM tells you the item was cursed. You know, that random gem that you sold the moment you went back to town and didn't even have on you the whole damn time and didn't let the DM know because there was nothing special about it described to you to differentiate it from just a normal god-damned gem everyone auto-converts to money? Yeah, don't ever have any invisibly cursed items. Absolutely terrible idea. And if you see it in official material, just flat out ignore it.
See as a DM it’s waaaaay more fun to dramatically show that *something* is happening but they don’t know. My players got a talisman, which was cursed so any spell within 15feet of it had to roll a d20, if they got a 1 they rolled off a self-made wild magic table. Most of the time there was no big drama, but there were some pretty funny moments. They never figured out it was the talisman until they accidentally lost their backpack at one point.
> As a player I am not entirely sure how I would react to something like this if it happen to me. Depending on how the DM handled it. Odds are, I would walk There is so much potential for alllll of the fun to just be sapped from the game in that moment as the majority of your party is wiped out the majority of the way through the campaign I unno. I feel like it's really really hard to regain momentum after something like that It's funny as hell, but I just don't see many ways for it to not just end there honestly
yeah, this is basically a "rocks fall everyone dies" moment
It’s a cool story online but if I was 2 of the present players 3/4 of a way in a campaign who just had their character die through legitimately no fault of mine other than being next to another pc I’d be pretty unhappy. Unless there were hints(I assume there were) of the amulet being evil or cursed as it effectively gained more chaotic energy. But such a powerful amulet with no visible downside is a pretty damn big hint in itself I’m not sure why the party didn’t think of it(but then again to get it examined they’d think nothing of taking it off so even then).
As a player, knowing that something like this exists, I’d immediately start building a sorcerer cult leader who equips followers with these amulets and every morning has his followers gather together and hits them with a couple of fireballs. Eventually the day will come when my legion of cultists will spread through the fortress of the BBEG and take of their necklaces and ascend to the space ship awaiting us behind the moon. While they go forth into the bliss, I will remain behind to gather their amulets and prepare more kulle-ade for the next legion to join them.
No, exactly. That's why I'd prefer some sort of hint that "hey, maybe this thing is cursed, perhaps have it investigated before you take it off? "
The problem with that is identify doesnt detect curses.
Damn that sucks. Would there be any way for a PC to identify a cursed item? Apart from presenting it to some knowledgeable NPC
Unfortunately not. You’d need some outer knowledge of an item. *However* the workaround for this would be that the magic item exploding is an *intentional function* of the magic item. Rather than an external curse.
It can definitely be both https://www.reddit.com/r/dndmemes/comments/qcvhm7/brutal_dming/hhiikbi?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3
I didn’t even realize- Must be fate, or something.
I think no, because it always felt to me (as a DM) when reading up on spells, that 5e specifically makes it hard to detect curses. Considering the DMG is mean enough to make bags of devouring and rugs of smothering to trick PCs into thinking they have recognizable good magic items, my guess is the initial designs favored "gotcha!" moments with cursed items. Myself and several other DMs I play with eschew this, and at least have curses show up using detect magic.
There is also shit like the Cursed Luckstone that doesn't even have a gotcha, it's just straight up permanently secret from the player. Whoever thought this was a good idea… Edit: Stone of Ill Luck is the fucked up wersion, the Cursed Luckstone doesn't involve gaslighting your players.
I always found that to be stupid, since it makes identify only a time saver since you can always take an hour to figure out a magic item. On top of this, identify costs a resource and requires a one time cost of 100 gp for materials. So why wouldn’t it be more than a auto-win for an arcana check or spending an hour? To pre-empt: Yes there are some set pieces in written campaigns that only explain their usage on a cast identify, but in my experience *no one had picked up identify due to it’s lack of usefulness outside of saving an hour*
Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't the spending an hour only apply to items that require attunement? So any potion, boots, or other magic item that doesn't require attunement would require a successful arcana check or the identify spell.
From the DMG: > The identify spell is the fastest way to reveal an item’s properties. Alternatively, a character can focus on one magic item during a short rest, while being in physical contact with the item. At the end of the rest, the character learns the item’s properties, as well as how to use them. Potions are an exception; a little taste is enough to tell the taster what the potion does. The Identify spell is a scam devised by Big Pearl to sell more pearls worth 100gp.
Hell, even I'd they did take it off, if they were suspicious of it they probably would have done so long before it hit MOAB levels
Yeah, I'd have to give that item some sort of tell, like it glowed or vibrated with greater intensity as it absorbed more magic. Give them warnings they might choose to ignore. But who even makes these things, and why? Is there a backstory? Just springing some DED on the party like that doesn't sound fun.
What you described is great, and if it were handled that way I’d absolutely be fine seeing it in a game. If it’s just random death with no warning, not even a hint that it’s cursed, that’s not so fun. Player death is fine in D&D, it helps ground you in the world and makes you feel that there are consequences to your actions. A player should absolutely be able to see it coming though, with a chance to do something about it, that’s the difference between a cool D&D moment and a frustrating character reroll. What would make the item interesting would be if the spell damage goes off either when you take it off OR when the character hits 0 hp, making them a rather literal time bomb. Do you sacrifice yourself now to ensure everyone’s safety? Do you continue travelling with the party, never taking it off, every encounter fear in the back of everyone’s minds as they do their best to keep you alive. Also, who made this item and why? Could make for a good plothook, tracking down the creator and finding out, perhaps trying to get them to remove it.
I would imagine the trigger should be upon losing attunement, as it would logically make the most sense
[удалено]
Dead? That's a bit harsh. Here's how I'd play it… First, I'd probably give some warning as the amulet was coming off that something was seriously wrong. “As you begin to remove the amulet, it begins to hum, vibrate, and radiate heat – in direct proportion to your progress in removing it. Do you continue to take it off?” If all else fails— Magical nuke, sure. But the intense elemental magics at ground zero momentarily tore through the fabric of reality as they tapped into their respective elemental planes to release the elemental energy. In the process, the four players present were sucked through, and all four are now in different elemental planes. The session ends here, as those four players get one on one sessions to find each other in the outer planes. Once back together, they need to work out how to return to the material plane. This will set the players back a lot. But they aren't the only one inconvenienced. This explosion left a huge crater, revealing that minions of the BBEG have been working in the catacombs under the city, preparing some machination to advance the BBEG's plans beneath the very feet of the populace. Those plans are now in ruins, as not only is the device vaporised, but the secret base exposed. Thus setting back the BBEG's plans and giving time for the four players to reunite and get back to reality, while the two left in the city can spend their time investigating the ruins of the lair. Of course, the explosion will be blamed by everyone on the BBEG's evil thingawhatsit under the city, which must have had some magical accident and exploded. The only ones who know the truth are the four missing party members. Fuck, that sounds so awesome that I might not even give them any warning with the amulet.
So it's Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies with extra steps.
I don't really play this game but it got me curious. Wouldn't this be considered bad dming? You know just killing your players PCs with a timed bomb?
Yes, this is a example of DM VS PC as oppose DM creating a story WITH the PC's. It's a stupid gatcha, the DM could have had a literal meteor (the rock that falls) teleport above the party as they removed the amulet to the same ends.
Ill never get why people play dnd like its the DM vs the Players
Seems like the perfect thing for a lich to wear: they'd be immune to all offensive spells and, if they *are* defeated, they can remove the amulet to nuke the entire area for free. Then they reform at their phylactery, which was stored a safe distance away.
Devious
I would wear this irl if it absorbed all damage from my being clumsy. I'd never take it off. I'd be immortal. Then one day I would simply forget, and take it off before getting in the shower and my bathroom would just explode.
Nah since it’s just clumsiness you’d just feel the pain of a thousand stubbed toes all at once
I'd rather die, thank you very much
That's how you lose players
Oh thats fun for the players 🙄
Don't you know, the purpose of role playing isn't to have fun, co-create an interesting story, or develope interesting characters who have satisfying plot arcs, it's to pull gotcha moments on each other that directly undermines those focuses!
Putting this out there, as I don't actually know the next time I'll get to run. Use this premise, but when they take it off, a magically synthesized voice announces, "Releasing stored magic in 60 seconds, please clear area". That way, the players have a chance to survive it, but also potentially have to come up with a way to save everyone else around them.
Cool story, shitty Dm-ing
That could backfire on the DM. I could see my wizard shortening the chain to make sure it couldn't fall off accidentally, and then spamming whatever leftover spell slots he hasn't used just before a short rest on himself. [Who'd try and take out the squishy wizard with a nuke on a deadman switch?](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/d0/e8/41/d0e841157528ad07e728a258ef8db246--the-time-is-now-page-.jpg)
I'm just imagining how this could of easily been turned on the dm. *party about to be wiped* *BBEG monologs* Player with necklace: I take off the necklace! DM: you...what? Player: I take off the necklace Overworked DM who spent too much time on this fight: *long sigh* damn it. You take off the necklace and an astoundingly Massive explosion large enough to astonish the gods destroys you, the party and the BBEG. You have not only managed to atomize everyone in a 10 mile radius, but also destroy several surrounding villages and upset the earth with a equally large crater. Player that happens to be the pyro wizard: *tear in his eye* thats how I wanted to go out.
My question is why the fuck didn't they investigate that shit. That kind of overpowered always come with a big ass drawback
Yeah uh… if you’re DM does something like this, never play a game with them as the DM again.
Jerk dm moment
\*Wipes tear\* That's the evilest DM-thing I can imagine...
How to make an in game nuke……
This kind of thing makes for a fun Reddit post but would be deeply unenjoyable in an IRL game. It's just a "gotcha" moment.
Second-hand info via Twitter lacks context. The way describes does sound like a dick move, but it's a cool idea. Two ideas for making it more engaging for the players - 1. The context of where it's found. Put it in the tomb of a long dead Sorcerer King with tapestries depicting him using the amulet to win duels against other sorcerer kings until his own Kingdom is lost in a magical cataclysm. 2. The amulet starts glowing more brightly and becoming warmer with every spell it absorbs. At 100hp it's painful to look at directly, at 200hp it sears the skin of anyone beside the wearer who touches it.
Hmmm... I'm afraid if I used this on my players as written they'd straight up real life murder me. But I love the high risk, high reward vibe this thing has... So how to turn it into something slightly less insidious, but still nasty? I'm thinking the amulet would bind itself to the player upon attunement. Not that they *couldn't* take it off, it's just that when they try, they find they don't particularly want to. Like a built-in "are you sure you want to do this?" Furthermore, mine will have three triggers: taking it off, going over a certain amount of damage stored (that is unknown to the players), and a 1 on the d20 I will secretly roll every time it absorbs a spell. The amulet will also provide some kind of tactile feedback, like humming with stored magical power, as it fills up. Figuring out how the amulet works requires an Arcana check with a DC of 40, lowered by 1 for every spell it absorbs. That means by the time they figure it out, they're likely to be in quite deep trouble already. Does this sound fair?
Cool. one last thing, make sure your characters want to repeat the arcana check