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View Full Version : How might one work cursed items so that users are affected by them unknowingly?



Snowhawk
September 6th, 2015, 00:18
I have been using a random loot generator and it generated a Ring of Protection + 3 (D&D 3.5) that is cursed to actually do nothing. I think this item would make for some interesting mayhem. If a player character puts this ring on, they would normally expect to go to their character sheet and add the AC bonus. How as a DM would I play this without alerting them to the situation outright? Go in after they add the AC and remove it on their character sheet without their knowledge? Is there some way to nullify the AC that the item gives so that it APPEARS to give a bonus but does not in fact?

Snowhawk

Black Hammer
September 6th, 2015, 00:21
If you're using hidden GM rolls (which is kind of a necessity if you're going to "lie" to your players on a regular basis) just tack on a +3 modifier to attacks vs his AC.

Snowhawk
September 6th, 2015, 00:44
I am using hidden GM rolls and that is not a bad idea. I may need some way to remind myself of that (I have a party of 8 PCs and encounters are looooong so I am starting to need a lot of little reminders).

Black Hammer
September 6th, 2015, 01:00
Kill his character and have him make a new one. Fixes all those awkward issues.

On a more serious note, you're a brave man running an eight man party on a regular basis. I try to avoid anything over five aside from convention one-shots. Good luck with that.

Snowhawk
September 6th, 2015, 01:17
Been running this one for 8 sessions now. I am starting to get the hang of things. I am customizing creatures to be tougher in the damage taking sense, without increasing their damage dealing. This allows me to use fewer enemies (making battle faster) while still keeping the challenge up, and without making enemies routinely capable of one-shotting characters.

damned
September 6th, 2015, 01:21
hidden effects?

Snowhawk
September 6th, 2015, 01:23
If I create a hidden effect (using the effect dialog and ensuring that the eye icon is hidden) and add it to a character they will not see it anywhere?

damned
September 6th, 2015, 01:47
If I create a hidden effect (using the effect dialog and ensuring that the eye icon is hidden) and add it to a character they will not see it anywhere?

Open up a second instance of FG on your GM machine. Put in a different username and connect to localhost and then you can experiment. Clear the owner on the character in question and you can work on the real thing and test some options.

Snowhawk
September 8th, 2015, 00:11
OK, hidden or not, the assignment shows up in the players chat alerting them to the fact that something is going on behind the scenes. In this case I saw the following on PC's chat:


Effect;'AC Curse; AC:-4;'] [D:1] -> [to Rorick Iron-splinter]

Ideally I would like a PC to pick up a cursed artifact, and see the artifacts stated effect applied to them, but NOT see the actual effect applied to them. So a ring of protection which raises your AC +4 (but is cursed to have the opposite effect would have two effects. Shown: Ring of Protection; AC:4;. Not shown: Ring of Protection; AC:-8;.

The visibility setting in the effects window does not seem to have any effect beyond not showing the PC the effect in that window. Applying the effect still shows up in chat and the combat tracker. Additionally I found a setting in the options dialog under Combat (GM) called Show Effects. Setting it to off does not SEEM to do anything, but I did not do extensive testing.

Snowhawk

JohnD
September 8th, 2015, 01:26
In the RoP case, just add +8 to your rolls against the character. Although, what you suggest would be nice.

Snowhawk
September 8th, 2015, 02:58
Yeah, I was hoping to avoid that if possible. I have three items in this latest horde that are cursed. Having to remember that these things are performing their curses (with 8 PCs + however many enemies in the encounter) is going to be difficult.

Griogre
September 8th, 2015, 08:17
If you want to keep it semi-hidden then you have to put all the effects on the monsters. If you use automation then it is going to be really difficult to hide curse items that are just differences to combat rolls. You might try changing the curse to be something like he always gets crit on the 5th round of combat.

Crymoricus
September 10th, 2015, 04:47
Wow, i find this situation you present rather intriguing. I'd be curious as to how your players have been fooled into thinking the ring gives a bonus? Was the ring magically identified, and if so, why was the curse not also discovered? I can only imagine some homebrew reason that has some cool flavor to it? Hehe, I really want to know this!

Snowhawk
September 10th, 2015, 06:35
IN the case of the ring of protection, I created it as a self-identifying item excluding the curse. I am using the 40% self identify rule (that is roll a d10, 4 or less and the item identifies after a minute of concentration on the part of the PC). The item identified itself as a Ring of Protection +3 (or in the verbiage of the game it "provides protection in combat making you more difficult to hit").

The first person to put it was able to identify it (little did they know it is also bound to them, they have not found this out yet either). Now I just have to wait for a battle and if they get hit a few times hopefully it will become apparent pretty quickly that they are now in fact being hit more easilly instead. Try to take the ring off, and it won't come off (or perhaps, let them take the ring off, but the enchant remains until they are rid of it). Try to sell it, it appears in your pocket. Try to throw it away, and it shows up in the bottom of your pack, something like that.

Now, if they had used an identify spell or something like that, rather than relying on the ring to be truthful about its abilities, things might be different.

Snowhawk

Crymoricus
September 10th, 2015, 06:47
Haha, that's really cool, man.

Oberoten
September 10th, 2015, 07:06
Another option : Perhaps a ring could give you a bonus to defence, but it also makes you the one hit by any hit that should have been randomized between characters. "And the Goblin sniper once again seems to have chosen to aim for Almon... They just seem to have it out for you."

Snowhawk
September 10th, 2015, 07:23
A Ring of Attack Attraction. Ring of the Tank maybe? I might make one of those. Not a bad idea.

Oberoten
September 10th, 2015, 16:07
Generally a cursed object should have one function to make it desireable and one to be a detractor. "You get immunity to disease, but whenever you fail such a check someone else in the group gets affliced instead." A cursed item will be there for a reason, not just because a mage thought it'd be FUN to spend labtime and resources making an item that is actually useless. Most will be made by magic users of some sort, a few more powerful ones by demons. And let the demonic ones be subtle like the disease ring above. Nothing stops you from being a carrier after all and risking others for your own benefit is the first step of corruption.

A blade that inflicts great pain on it's victim and slight euforia to the wielder... Makes for a villain who will delight in the pain of others sooner rather than later.
Something wich focuses the mind, but clouds judgement... "Oh, I made a huge bomb out of it, it'll be a great deterrent to war won't it?"

Minty23185Fresh
March 17th, 2016, 21:29
I find the concept of lying / not lying to PCs amusing, well, actually laughable. As a DM, of course I lie to my players. I would never say, "the passage continues for another 30 feet, and there is a secret door in the wall on you left", or "the area around you in unremarkable, except for the hidden pit trap, about 15 feet away, on your right", even better, "in the center of the room, on a pedestal, is a chalice of godhood". My personal favorite lie is, bogus (passive) perception checks. I use these to prevent the characters from knowing when they need to be aware of "something" and when they can just relax. Random perception checks that will reveal absolutely nothing, regardless of value rolled, or reveal "three notches in a tree" that means nothing, help to prevent travel from becoming a simple exercise in cartography.

Nylanfs
March 17th, 2016, 21:47
I just like rolling dice randomly...

Ken L
March 17th, 2016, 22:12
I don't think you can automate this. Say they have a cursed sword that reduces will saves. Let them roll normally, but mentally keep track of the penalty to ajudicate pass/fail. If you're using auto pass/save then you're screwed unless you can hide the modifier calculation to only display base roll and success/fail. As for hiding the penalty on the sheet, I have no clue, perhaps a sheet mod only gms can see.

Mortar
March 17th, 2016, 22:18
Doesn't FG have the functionality to leave an item unidentified and handle any modifiers in secret? Pretty sure that is in the Pathfinder/3.5 rules set.

Minty23185Fresh
March 17th, 2016, 23:25
(Nylanfs...)
Exactly! Right?
I have one player, a bit hyper, easily distracted and bammm! Random die roll.
A random fruitless passive perception check gives meaning a player's random flick-of-the-die.
(Facetiousness in not always, completely lost on me...)

Minty23185Fresh
March 17th, 2016, 23:43
I don't think you can automate this. Say they have a cursed sword that reduces will saves. Let them roll normally, but mentally keep track of the penalty to ajudicate pass/fail. If you're using auto pass/save then you're screwed unless you can hide the modifier calculation to only display base roll and success/fail. As for hiding the penalty on the sheet, I have no clue, perhaps a sheet mod only gms can see.

Or a truly "invisible" effect. The effect is only visible to the GM in the combat tracker. AND, applies itself, but does not reveal itself (the details) in the chat window.

For example, a "Coin of Magic Undoing" which when in a character's possession, undoes the effects of any magic item. The player has a +2 longsword and the coin. Rolls a 16. Usually at +2 (=18). The coin modifies this back down to 16. The chat window would state something to the affect of: 16 (+ 2) Miss!

Of course, the astute player might say, "hey wait a minute, that's 18, Maggie hit with a 17, that should be a hit!?!"
To which of course the the DM is going to have to reply, "Hummm... No, it's correct, it's a miss."
Head scratching. Whining. Complaining. Shouting..
"Well.... Maybe you should review your inventory."