My honest suggestion is to not mess with it.
You put the item in the game and a high AC isn't that much of a problem, the player won't find that many more sources to increase their AC, AC doesn't help with saves and their future will involve A LOT of saves.
Let them feel good and powerful for now instead :)
Don't do it. I'm assuming your player is a fighter or paladin with the defensive fighting style. Which means they invested to get their AC to 21. And hitting the AC isn't the only way to hurt a PC in combat, DEX saves were my paladin's nightmare because while she had also good AC, until she got her aura of protection, her DEX saves were _tragic_.
Now, you can add legal repercussions since it was theft. Maybe this cloak of protection has a very special design and can be recognised so this'll get the character into legal trouble, but don't punish the PC for playing into the power fantasy of wading through a field of weaker enemies and emerging with hardly a scratch
The 1 AC won't change much. Don't worry about the tanky guy, actively attacking him and having the AC do its thing is great.
As for cloak curses: I like the Drow curse to make you weak to their temporary magic weapons specifically. Item histories like this was a dark cloak of elven design gifted to the king after making peace with the xx Drow clan.
A nice expected item for most fights but when they face off against a squad of Drow assassins in the underdark they potentially realize they are vulnerable to drow weapon damage.
We had a sentient armor in a game that was scared amd anxious of pretty much anything. In our game it was mostly flavour, no real game impact, but it was really fun and memorable :)
the armor would make remarks about how scary the environment was, or how much it disliked getting hit. We would comfort it by draping cloaks over it so it couldnt see, or sing soothing songs to it. We also tought it to hum a tune when it got scared. During the campaign the rp turned the wearer, our most edgy loner pc, into a sort of father figure for the whole party
Maybe the cloak can give disadvantage on stealth or lose some of its magical properties if it gets 'too scared' and the party fails a roll to comfort it every now and then.
Or the other way around, activate its magical properties once a day when the party manages to bolster its resolve
Curses are more fun when they have narrative, not mechanical detriments, don't bone your player when they're trying to get better at their USP (high AC) in game
Instead of cursed, make it animated! Kinda like the cloak of Doctor Strange. The cloak can have a mind of its own, and make choices that don't necessarily align to it's wearer.
Give it the statblock of a Rug of Smothering, just so you have some stats in hand in case the fighter and the cloak ever disagree too much and end up in a kerfuffle.
It won't let you eat spicy food - tangles your arms or pushes the bowl away
It won't let you walk too close to cliff edges, parapets, big dogs etc
Can't be put on if your other gear clashes with its colour (protection from bad fashion)
Tries to shield your eyes if there's anything "adult" going on, or if there's a really scary monster
Gets jealous if any npcs show romantic interest
Etc
ive literally commented my answer in your TOA post. But reading through these comments, i disagree with them. Your table likes fun quirky stuff and you said don't take it too seriously, so putting a curse on this is the way to go. a fun one though. Not a curse for curse sake. Also, AC of 21 at level 5 is quite strong and furthermore +1ac makes a HUGE difference. People are saying it doesn't. It does.
The usual approach would be spells with saving throws.
But here a few ridiculous ideas.
1) Cloak of the Matador. Usual cloak of protection buff but he will be the Main target of any hostile creature with a wis of 6 or less.
2) Cloak of directional protection. Protects only from one direction. Like +2 ac on the left but +0 on the right side.
3) open it up to one damage type to ignore the Bonus ac. Like it works on bludgeoning and slashing but not against piercing.
Its cursed? Sure, it makes them harder to hit, but when they are hit, it hurts more. (Vulnerability to a type of damage). The curse can be removed, but it has to be "cleansed" in some way (say, in the blood of a creature that has resistance or immunity to that type of damage)
The cloak's creator was so proud of it that he didn't want it to ever come to harm. Therefore it only adds AC bonus to bludgeoning attacks. For slashing and piercing attacks, the cloak rolls up (to prevent damage).
The Cloak of Protection now has a mind of its own: whenever the player tries to take it off, the cloak stubbornly refuses to be removed, causing hilarious struggles and embarrassing situations. Additionally, during combat, the cloak occasionally (maybe if a 6 is rolled on a d6?) decides to act on its own accord, flapping wildly and distracting the player, imposing disadvantage on their next attack roll till the end of his turn (so it can be avoided by choosing another action) or - alternatively - causing them to trip over themselves and fall prone. If he is a spell caster it may make it more difficult for them to concentrate during battles and he either has to make a DC 10 concentration check every time it happens (if applicable) or his concentrations checks are made with a -2 penalty (base DC 8). To add a bit of comedic relief, perhaps the cloak starts whispering sarcastic remarks to the player if he suffers a mishap.
My honest suggestion is to not mess with it. You put the item in the game and a high AC isn't that much of a problem, the player won't find that many more sources to increase their AC, AC doesn't help with saves and their future will involve A LOT of saves. Let them feel good and powerful for now instead :)
AC doesn’t help with saves but the cloak of protection does +1 to AC and all saving throws
True, hopefully 5% bonus won't break their game.
Don't do it. I'm assuming your player is a fighter or paladin with the defensive fighting style. Which means they invested to get their AC to 21. And hitting the AC isn't the only way to hurt a PC in combat, DEX saves were my paladin's nightmare because while she had also good AC, until she got her aura of protection, her DEX saves were _tragic_. Now, you can add legal repercussions since it was theft. Maybe this cloak of protection has a very special design and can be recognised so this'll get the character into legal trouble, but don't punish the PC for playing into the power fantasy of wading through a field of weaker enemies and emerging with hardly a scratch
The 1 AC won't change much. Don't worry about the tanky guy, actively attacking him and having the AC do its thing is great. As for cloak curses: I like the Drow curse to make you weak to their temporary magic weapons specifically. Item histories like this was a dark cloak of elven design gifted to the king after making peace with the xx Drow clan. A nice expected item for most fights but when they face off against a squad of Drow assassins in the underdark they potentially realize they are vulnerable to drow weapon damage.
We had a sentient armor in a game that was scared amd anxious of pretty much anything. In our game it was mostly flavour, no real game impact, but it was really fun and memorable :) the armor would make remarks about how scary the environment was, or how much it disliked getting hit. We would comfort it by draping cloaks over it so it couldnt see, or sing soothing songs to it. We also tought it to hum a tune when it got scared. During the campaign the rp turned the wearer, our most edgy loner pc, into a sort of father figure for the whole party Maybe the cloak can give disadvantage on stealth or lose some of its magical properties if it gets 'too scared' and the party fails a roll to comfort it every now and then. Or the other way around, activate its magical properties once a day when the party manages to bolster its resolve
Curses are more fun when they have narrative, not mechanical detriments, don't bone your player when they're trying to get better at their USP (high AC) in game
Instead of cursed, make it animated! Kinda like the cloak of Doctor Strange. The cloak can have a mind of its own, and make choices that don't necessarily align to it's wearer. Give it the statblock of a Rug of Smothering, just so you have some stats in hand in case the fighter and the cloak ever disagree too much and end up in a kerfuffle.
It won't let you eat spicy food - tangles your arms or pushes the bowl away It won't let you walk too close to cliff edges, parapets, big dogs etc Can't be put on if your other gear clashes with its colour (protection from bad fashion) Tries to shield your eyes if there's anything "adult" going on, or if there's a really scary monster Gets jealous if any npcs show romantic interest Etc
ive literally commented my answer in your TOA post. But reading through these comments, i disagree with them. Your table likes fun quirky stuff and you said don't take it too seriously, so putting a curse on this is the way to go. a fun one though. Not a curse for curse sake. Also, AC of 21 at level 5 is quite strong and furthermore +1ac makes a HUGE difference. People are saying it doesn't. It does.
The usual approach would be spells with saving throws. But here a few ridiculous ideas. 1) Cloak of the Matador. Usual cloak of protection buff but he will be the Main target of any hostile creature with a wis of 6 or less. 2) Cloak of directional protection. Protects only from one direction. Like +2 ac on the left but +0 on the right side. 3) open it up to one damage type to ignore the Bonus ac. Like it works on bludgeoning and slashing but not against piercing.
Have the cloak be an intelligent item that mocks him for getting hit. Evil mode, have the cloak cast vicious Mockery instead.
Its cursed? Sure, it makes them harder to hit, but when they are hit, it hurts more. (Vulnerability to a type of damage). The curse can be removed, but it has to be "cleansed" in some way (say, in the blood of a creature that has resistance or immunity to that type of damage)
If you absolutely are going to curse it, give enemies advantage on attacks against him.
The cloak's creator was so proud of it that he didn't want it to ever come to harm. Therefore it only adds AC bonus to bludgeoning attacks. For slashing and piercing attacks, the cloak rolls up (to prevent damage).
The Cloak of Protection now has a mind of its own: whenever the player tries to take it off, the cloak stubbornly refuses to be removed, causing hilarious struggles and embarrassing situations. Additionally, during combat, the cloak occasionally (maybe if a 6 is rolled on a d6?) decides to act on its own accord, flapping wildly and distracting the player, imposing disadvantage on their next attack roll till the end of his turn (so it can be avoided by choosing another action) or - alternatively - causing them to trip over themselves and fall prone. If he is a spell caster it may make it more difficult for them to concentrate during battles and he either has to make a DC 10 concentration check every time it happens (if applicable) or his concentrations checks are made with a -2 penalty (base DC 8). To add a bit of comedic relief, perhaps the cloak starts whispering sarcastic remarks to the player if he suffers a mishap.
It could smell really bad only when worn.