Author Topic: Beware the cursed items. . . Expedition to the Demon Web Pits related  (Read 4494 times)

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Cagemarrow

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Well, I took over GM'ing my group after we finished the Red Hand of Doom campaign, and have been running them through the Expedition to the Demonweb Pits. The party is between level 11-12 which is high for this campaign as is, but I've been making adjustments to the important fights, and letting them breeze through others to build their confidence.

The party consists of the following characters

11th - Jade - Scout/Thief Acrobat
12th - Aiden - Scout/Ranger Swift Hunter Archer
12th - Saeid - Sorcerer/Dracolexi
12th - Johnny - Dragon Shaman
12th - Obekay - Psion/Wilder (I think)
12th - Stan - Centaur of Legend Fighter

At one point the party picked up a +3 Mace of Blood cursed item and its now come back to bite them in the rear. They've entered the Demonweb Pits and fought their way across a webbed trap filled with Phase Spiders. During the fight the party Wilder decided to use the zip-line the scout thief had setup to get them over the pit trap and club one of the spiders in the back with his new mace, failing his will save in the process to avoid the curse that turns the wielder Chaotic Evil. The party clears out the rest of the spiders while the wilder plays in the gore of the spider he just attacked for the rest of the fight. The Dragon Shaman sensing something is wrong cautiously warns the rest of the party as they move on down the tunnel, leaving the wilder at the back of the party. Where he decides to attack the Centaur and seal off the tunnel from the rest of the party.

We had to end for the night after the first 3 rounds of this fight and it doesn't look good for the party, the wilder's ability to summon astral constructs, ectoplasmic walls, and use temporal acceleration (or whatever the power is that allows him to take extra turns) is just tearing up the centaur at the moment, while the rest are trying to tear down the wall he put up. Based on the way this character has fought before I am hard pressed to see how this won't turn out to be a TPK unless the remaining party flee's or he runs out of power points. I don't see them doing this even though they are fairly chaotic themselves, they're not likely to leave an ally behind to die.

Who would have expected what equates to this party's wizard even using the cursed mace, much less failing the DC 13 Will save on the first try? So anyone else have fun stories to share about Cursed items gone awry?

Garryl

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Re: Beware the cursed items. . . Expedition to the Demon Web Pits related
« Reply #1 on: March 21, 2011, 01:53:04 PM »
And that is why you always identify everything before using it.

This story isn't mine, but its been passed around from before I even started playing. A group of players (playing AD&D, in case it matters) are dividing up the treasure from a successful adventure. The injured (and unconscious) cleric, Carl the Luckless, is lying unconscious in the general vicinity. One of the party members takes his share of the loot, a wand of fireball and a cursed ring of invisibility (actually a ring of contrariness). The ring makes him pick a fight with the rest of the party, who disable him with a rope of entanglement. Well, the fight managed to take the cursed guy over to near where Carl was resting. While the rest of the party were trying to decide what to do, the cursed guy managed to grab his wand of fireball (while still tied up) and tried to use it. The DM ruled that since he was tied up, he could only aim it straight down at his feet, which he did. Carl is caught in the explosion and dies (having no luck at all).
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Idiot Crusader, refreshing maneuvers for free every round.
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Cagemarrow

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Re: Beware the cursed items. . . Expedition to the Demon Web Pits related
« Reply #2 on: March 21, 2011, 02:34:21 PM »
Heh, funny.

The fun part is they did identify it, but as a cursed item it only showed itself as a +3 mace. You need legend lore to identify cursed items.  :smirk

The_Laughing_Man

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Re: Beware the cursed items. . . Expedition to the Demon Web Pits related
« Reply #3 on: March 21, 2011, 03:57:11 PM »
Actually identify can work quite reliably if you pump up those caster levels. I was also puzzled about that legend lore, so I suppose you meant analyze dweomer instead.

Quote from: DMG p.274

Whisper

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Re: Beware the cursed items. . . Expedition to the Demon Web Pits related
« Reply #4 on: March 21, 2011, 04:23:48 PM »
and club one of the spiders in the back with his new mace, failing his will save in the process to avoid the curse that turns the wielder Chaotic Evil. The party clears out the rest of the spiders while the wilder plays in the gore of the spider he just attacked for the rest of the fight. The Dragon Shaman sensing something is wrong cautiously warns the rest of the party as they move on down the tunnel, leaving the wilder at the back of the party. Where he decides to attack the Centaur and seal off the tunnel from the rest of the party.

Okay, that's just silly.

The alignment is chaotic evil, not chaotic stupid.

Perhaps the urge to make the character do something disruptive comes from the feeling that he "should" suffer consequences from picking up a cursed item, but chaotic evil individuals already exist within the world, and they are selfish individuals with no respect for life... not mindless automatons that smash everything in sight.

A chaotic evil person is bound neither by rules, nor by respect for others' lives, dignity, or happiness.

This means that he is free to act selfishly... but it does not mean he loses all common sense, and acts in unproductive or self-destructive ways. He might steal from his friends and allies. He might kill one if insulted or provoked. He might lie, cheat, and break the rules to get ahead. But he is focused on his own benefit, not a kamikaze desire to wreck things.

Gods_Trick

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Re: Beware the cursed items. . . Expedition to the Demon Web Pits related
« Reply #5 on: March 21, 2011, 04:48:09 PM »
and club one of the spiders in the back with his new mace, failing his will save in the process to avoid the curse that turns the wielder Chaotic Evil. The party clears out the rest of the spiders while the wilder plays in the gore of the spider he just attacked for the rest of the fight. The Dragon Shaman sensing something is wrong cautiously warns the rest of the party as they move on down the tunnel, leaving the wilder at the back of the party. Where he decides to attack the Centaur and seal off the tunnel from the rest of the party.

Okay, that's just silly.

The alignment is chaotic evil, not chaotic stupid.

Perhaps the urge to make the character do something disruptive comes from the feeling that he "should" suffer consequences from picking up a cursed item, but chaotic evil individuals already exist within the world, and they are selfish individuals with no respect for life... not mindless automatons that smash everything in sight.

A chaotic evil person is bound neither by rules, nor by respect for others' lives, dignity, or happiness.

This means that he is free to act selfishly... but it does not mean he loses all common sense, and acts in unproductive or self-destructive ways. He might steal from his friends and allies. He might kill one if insulted or provoked. He might lie, cheat, and break the rules to get ahead. But he is focused on his own benefit, not a kamikaze desire to wreck things.

You're right, but the player in question though CE is crazy chainsaw killer. And most crazy chainsaw murderers are CE. Hes already gotten screwed by a Gygaxian fuckoff ie cursed items, certainly the GM isn't going to dictate how you play your character? I'd walk if a GM said 'you can't play your PC like that'.

Ikeren

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Re: Beware the cursed items. . . Expedition to the Demon Web Pits related
« Reply #6 on: March 21, 2011, 05:33:07 PM »
Let him play the character like that. Then the party kills him.

If his character alone can solo the party, the party probably deserved to die.

Cagemarrow

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Re: Beware the cursed items. . . Expedition to the Demon Web Pits related
« Reply #7 on: March 22, 2011, 09:02:45 AM »
You may be right about the spell, in any case they didn't use a high level identify as no one in the party can cast it. Instead they've been relying on a monocle of perusal and it's 3/day identifies. Perhaps from now on they'll be more careful.

Unfortunately terrain is heavily in the wilder's favor at the moment. They're in one of the web tunnels of the Demonweb pits, so it's fairly easy for him to break up the fight into more manageable chucks with his ectoplasmic wall spells. While his Astral Construct Grapples and destroys the closest target. If he had grabbed any other character than the Centaur of Legend Fighter (Haste, 3rd lvl Cleric Spells, and FH 5 in addition to a 37 str) they would already be dead and he'd be looking for a new target. If the party can get close enough that he won't be able to wall them away he's going to go down pretty fast, especially since he's burned through a good chunk of his power points in the first 3 rounds. If he manages to enervate himself while over channeling it could go much quicker.

I did remind him that he was now evil, not stupid, he was already fairly chaotic so this isn't entirely out of character for him. He's a CHA driven character, with 10s in his other mental stats, used to getting his way and now in his mind the party has turned against him. Makes sense in a strange sort of way, he's just getting them first while the rest are distracted by watching for other dangers.

The player himself had to leave before the fight was over and offered to let me run his character, but I declined, in part since I feel since he started the fight he should finish it as well as the fact that I don't know the mechanics of psionics well enough to takeover partway through a fight.

The_Laughing_Man

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Re: Beware the cursed items. . . Expedition to the Demon Web Pits related
« Reply #8 on: March 22, 2011, 12:39:10 PM »
I think whatever is the outcome of the fight is, there's going to be sour faces. But hey, survival of the fittest..  :smirk

Btw, I assume that this is the monocle they are using. So it can identify once a day and has a 3% chance of identifying the cursed properties. Not very good odds to be counted upon.. But they'll learn  :D

Quote from: Complete Adventurer p.134
Monocle of Perusal: This crystal lens provides the
user with a +5 competence bonus on Appraise checks.
Once per day the user can use identify.
A monocle occupies the same space on the
body as a pair of eye lenses or goggles.
Faint divination; CL 3rd;
Craft Wondrous Item, identify;
Price 6,500 gp.

Cagemarrow

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Re: Beware the cursed items. . . Expedition to the Demon Web Pits related
« Reply #9 on: March 22, 2011, 02:52:49 PM »
That's the one, but they found it in the magic item compendium. Could have sworn it was 3/day.

MAdgryphon

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Re: Beware the cursed items. . . Expedition to the Demon Web Pits related
« Reply #10 on: March 22, 2011, 03:32:24 PM »
The only monocle like that in the MIC that I know of is the artificer's monacle:
Artificer's Monocle
Price: 1500 gp
Face
CL: 5
"Putting on a monocle is a standard action. While wearing an artificer's monocle, whenever you successfully use your artificer knowledge class feature to detect an item's magical aura or you cast detect magic and have at least 5 ranks of Knowledge(Arcana), you can spend one additional minute studying the item. If you do, you can identify the abilities of that item, as if you had cast identify on it."

awaken DM golem

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Re: Beware the cursed items. . . Expedition to the Demon Web Pits related
« Reply #11 on: March 22, 2011, 07:22:26 PM »
Technically 5% of magic items are supposed to be cursed.

They can be unable to be gotten rid of.
They can force the wielder to use them ... and even at inopportune times.

That's one way Artificers always suck balls on the game.
You make a cursed weapon and the Arty gets you your "money" back.


Outsiders with 4hd and 13 Cha, can ditch their bodies
and possess items including standard PC gear.
"Hey the Toaster bit me."
... should be standard fare, especially in The Abyss.
 :p

Cagemarrow

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Re: Beware the cursed items. . . Expedition to the Demon Web Pits related
« Reply #12 on: March 22, 2011, 09:27:27 PM »
Hah, found it. MiC pg 117, +5 appraise and identify 3/day.

The_Laughing_Man

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Re: Beware the cursed items. . . Expedition to the Demon Web Pits related
« Reply #13 on: March 23, 2011, 04:15:03 AM »
Yeah, that's a better version of it.  :)  Same price as well.
3% chance, though, for knowing if an item is cursed.

ZeroKnight

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Re: Beware the cursed items. . . Expedition to the Demon Web Pits related
« Reply #14 on: March 23, 2011, 05:09:19 PM »
That really doesn't make sense. You can have the monocle of perusal for 6500 with 3 uses a day CL3, or the artificer's monocle for 1500 and unlimited uses, CL5. Seems like a no brainer

The_Laughing_Man

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Re: Beware the cursed items. . . Expedition to the Demon Web Pits related
« Reply #15 on: March 23, 2011, 06:27:29 PM »
Um, what doesn't make sense?

Cagemarrow, keep us posted on what happens in the fight, it's interesting.

ZeroKnight

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Re: Beware the cursed items. . . Expedition to the Demon Web Pits related
« Reply #16 on: March 24, 2011, 04:22:05 AM »
Um, what doesn't make sense?

Cagemarrow, keep us posted on what happens in the fight, it's interesting.

Why the limited use item costs so much more than the unlimited use item

Cagemarrow

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Re: Beware the cursed items. . . Expedition to the Demon Web Pits related
« Reply #17 on: March 24, 2011, 10:03:41 AM »
The unlimited use item also requires either a class ability to use, or to spend castings of detect magic which also limits who can use it which in turn lowers the base price of the item following the DMG guidelines.

As far as the fight goes I'll keep you posted, but I won't know the outcome until next weekend as we have this weekend off.

Whisper

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Re: Beware the cursed items. . . Expedition to the Demon Web Pits related
« Reply #18 on: March 25, 2011, 09:24:27 AM »
The unlimited use item also requires either a class ability to use, or to spend castings of detect magic which also limits who can use it which in turn lowers the base price of the item following the DMG guidelines.

Not so sure about having to cast. Just says "able to cast".


MAdgryphon

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Re: Beware the cursed items. . . Expedition to the Demon Web Pits related
« Reply #19 on: March 25, 2011, 06:17:33 PM »
Artificer's Monocle
Price: 1500 gp
Face
CL: 5
"Putting on a monocle is a standard action. While wearing an artificer's monocle, whenever you successfully use your artificer knowledge class feature to detect an item's magical aura or you cast detect magic and have at least 5 ranks of Knowledge(Arcana), you can spend one additional minute studying the item. If you do, you can identify the abilities of that item, as if you had cast identify on it."

Of course, this makes it a nearly mandatory item for all warlocks. I use it as often as I can manage, and the party is usually extremely grateful.