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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

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Curses | Tempting Curses | Diseases | Item Curses

Curses

Source GM Core pg. 86 2.0
A curse is a manifestation of potent ill will. Curses typically have a single effect that takes place upon a failed saving throw and lasts a specified amount of time, or can be removed only by certain actions a character must perform or conditions they must meet. Rarely, curses will have stages; these follow the rules for afflictions.

Curses may come from a malicious action, such as a lich’s Paralyzing Touch or a spell from an evil spellcaster. Guardians of a tomb or treasure might ward their charge with a curse as protection against thieves. In some rare cases, a curse might manifest as a response to a terrible act, such as a massacre. When using a curse in your game, assign the curse to an item, location, situation, or similar element. Then, decide on a trigger for the curse—such as a creature attempting to steal a warded book, destroy a work of art, or slay a specific creature. A curse can even be tied to a specific location, in which case it functions as a simple hazard. Once that trigger occurs, the curse affects the triggering creature or creatures. Each affected creature must attempt a saving throw against the curse; if they fail, they are subject to the effects specified in the curse’s Effect entry.

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Grave CurseCurse Level Varies

Legacy Content

Curse Magical Necromancy 
Source Gamemastery Guide pg. 117
A grave curse punishes you for stealing from a tomb or other resting place.

Saving Throw Will save, with a high spell DC for a monster of its level (page 65); Effect You are hounded by undead creatures of the same level as the curse. Every night, you must attempt a DC 15 flat check. On a failure, an incorporeal undead manifests to hassle and harry you throughout the night, retreating before it can take much damage and often preventing you from gaining a full night’s rest. Whenever you enter a graveyard or other area where bodies are buried, you must succeed at the same flat check or a body animates as a corporeal undead (typically a skeleton or zombie) to attack you.

These undead are temporary and exist only to harry you; if you take control of the undead, move on, or otherwise avoid their attacks, incorporeal undead discorporate and corporeal undead collapse into ordinary corpses. The curse can be removed by returning the stolen items to their resting place.

Curse of NightmaresCurse 2

Legacy Content

Curse Illusion Magical Mental 
Source Gamemastery Guide pg. 116
This curse plagues you with terrible nightmares whenever you sleep, preventing you from resting properly.

Saving Throw DC 16 Will; Effect You must rest for 12 hours instead of 8 to avoid becoming fatigued and can’t gain any benefits from resting or long-term rest. You can still make your daily preparations.

Curse of Petulant WhispersCurse 2

Legacy Content

Auditory Curse Illusion Magical 
Source Impossible Lands pg. 176
A cruel, ghostly voice follows you, whispering your transgressions to anyone you encounter.

Saving Throw DC 16 Will; Effect Whenever you try to speak to another creature who doesn't know you well, they hear whispers in a language they understand that reveal hints and phrases related to the things about which you feel most guilty. You have a –2 circumstance bonus to Diplomacy checks to Make an Impression against those creatures, and if you roll a failure on your check, you get a critical failure instead.

Theft of ThoughtCurse 3

Legacy Content

Curse Enchantment Magical Mental 
Source Gamemastery Guide pg. 116
This curse protects a single book and activates against any creature who Steals it.

Saving Throw DC 18 Will; Effect You begin to lose details from your memories, as well as a portion of your procedural memory. After being cursed, the first time you attempt a check using a skill in which you are trained or better, your proficiency rank in the skill used decreases by one rank for as long as you are cursed.

Slayer's HauntCurse 4

Legacy Content

Curse Illusion Magical Visual 
Source Gamemastery Guide pg. 116
You are haunted by all those you have killed.

Saving Throw DC 19 Will; Effect You see all creatures around you as those you have slain, still bearing their wounds. You can’t identify, Recall Knowledge about, or otherwise interact with these creatures in any way that involves seeing their true form without first succeeding at a Will save against the curse’s DC to see through the illusion. On a critical failure for such a Will save, you become frightened 1.

Coward's RootsCurse 5

Legacy Content

Curse Enchantment Fear Magical Mental 
Source Gamemastery Guide pg. 116
You find all courage stolen from your heart. When faced with something frightening, you flee in terror or stand frozen in place.

Saving Throw DC 20 Will; Effect At the start of your turn, if you are frightened, you become your choice of immobilized or fleeing until the end of that turn.

Curse of Biting SwarmsCurse 5

Legacy Content

Curse Magical Transmutation 
Source Impossible Lands pg. 176
You emit a deathlike stench that attracts swarms of carrion-eating insects.

Saving Throw DC 20 Fort; Effect You smell like a charnel house, making it easy for creatures with scent to notice you; they gain a +2 circumstance bonus to their Perception against you. Additionally, the first time you're exposed to sunlight each day, biting insects attack you, scattering once they've taken damage. You then become sickened 1 and drained 1 until the next time you take a full night's rest. These conditions can't be reduced below 1 by other means.

Curse of Potent PoisonCurse 5

Legacy Content

Uncommon Curse Magical 
Source Pathfinder #170: Spoken on the Song Wind pg. 9
This curse magically speeds poison through your body.

Saving Throw DC 20 Will; Effect You take a –1 status penalty to Fortitude saves and you gain weakness 3 to poison (if you already have weakness to poison, increase it by 3). The curse remains until removed by remove curse or similar magic.

Curse of the RavenousCurse 5

Legacy Content

Curse Magical Transmutation 
Source Gamemastery Guide pg. 116
This hideous curse kills through constant hunger. You become gaunt and repeatedly gnash your teeth.

Saving Throw DC 20 Fortitude; Effect No matter how much you eat, you aren’t satiated. After 1 day, you begin starving. Each week, you receive a new saving throw against the curse.

Droskar's GloomCurse 6

Legacy Content

Curse Enchantment Magical Mental 
Source Crown of the Kobold King pg. 96
You grow increasingly glum and stoic, viewing frivolity with disdain and eventually forgetting how to smile or take joy in anything. Over time, you become obsessive about work, toiling away at menial tasks (especially crafting, masonry, or smithing).

Saving Throw DC 22 Will; Effect Whenever you attempt to Earn Income or a Crafting check for any reason, you become obsessed with perfection to the point you hamper your chances of success. Roll the Earn Income or Crafting check twice and take the worst result. If you ever critically fail at a Crafting check or a check to Earn Income, you become fatigued. In addition, you suffer a –1 status penalty on all Charisma-based checks as your personality suffers under the effects of this curse. A dwarf who dies while under the effects of Droskar's gloom must attempt a DC 5 flat check; on a failure, the dwarf rises as a forge-spurned 1d4 rounds after death occurs.

Wizard's WardCurse 6

Legacy Content

Abjuration Curse Magical 
Source Gamemastery Guide pg. 116
A wizard’s ward is placed upon a single book, usually a spellbook. If you damage the book, you must attempt a save against the curse’s effect.

Saving Throw DC 22 Will; Effect You take 5d6 damage of the same damage type as the damage you dealt to the book, and the damage can’t be healed as long as the curse lasts. Repairing the book, including replacing any missing text, ends this curse.

Lamashtu's BloomCurse 7

Legacy Content

Conjuration Curse Disease Magical 
Source Kingmaker Adventure Path pg. 242
While some NPCs become afflicted by Lamashtu’s bloom curse during Parts 1 and 2 of this chapter, during Part 3 the PCs may be exposed to it as well. While the bloom is itself a curse, it functions mechanically more like a disease, and as such features both of these affliction traits. As long as the curse persists, a creature cannot recover from the disease, and removing the curse does not automatically remove the disease element of the affliction. Both elements must be dealt with individually before a victim suffering from Lamashtu’s Bloom is safe. As with all elements of this curse, slaying the bloom of Lamashtu in area C10 automatically removes this affliction.

Saving Throw DC 23 Fort; Effect Onset 1 week; Stage 1 no ill effects (1 day); Stage 2 enfeebled 1 (1 day); Stage 3 enfeebled 1 and 2d6 poison damage (8 hours); Stage 4 unconscious and 4d6 poison damage (10 minutes); Stage 5 death; Special a creature that dies from Lamashtu's bloom explodes in a blast of First World foliage, releasing a monster. This creature is typically a low-intelligence beast or dragon between 7th and 9th level, depending on the GM's whim.

Lord's ArroganceCurse 7

Legacy Content

Curse Enchantment Magical Mental 
Source Impossible Lands pg. 176
You're filled with the unearned confidence of a young noble and carry yourself as if you can do no wrong.

Saving Throw DC 23 Will; Effect Whenever you make a Recall Knowledge check or a Perception check that would give you information (such as to Sense Motive), you always receive at least one piece of false information that you believe with absolute confidence, even on a success or better. If you attempt to act on this false information, you receive a –1 circumstance penalty on any skill checks you attempt.

Malingerer's MalaiseCurse 7

Legacy Content

Curse Magical Necromancy 
Source Pathfinder #194: Cult of the Cave Worm pg. 47
This curse channels Droskar's disdain for anyone who avoids work or can't endure toil, condemning them to forever be tired.

Saving Throw DC 26 Will; Effect Whenever you rest for 8 hours, you must succeed at a DC 17 flat check or gain no benefits from having rested and become fatigued. If you were already fatigued, you become doomed 1. If you critically fail the flat check and were already both fatigued and doomed, increase the value of your doomed condition by 1.

Oath of the FleshCurse 7

Legacy Content

Abjuration Curse Magical 
Source Gamemastery Guide pg. 117
When you swear an oath, you must obey that oath or suffer terrible consequences.

Saving Throw DC 23 Fortitude; Effect Each time you make a promise to someone, an ornate symbol representing that promise is magically carved into your flesh. Breaking any of these promises causes the symbol tattoo to grow into a gaping wound, dealing 3d6 slashing damage to you; damage from the curse can’t be healed as long as the curse is still in effect.

Curse of the Rotting HeartCurse 9

Legacy Content

Curse Magical Necromancy 
Source Impossible Lands pg. 176
A shriveled, spectral heart appears inside your body, beating alongside your own.

Saving Throw DC 25 Will; Effect You're harmed by positive energy as if you were undead, harmed by negative energy as if you were living, and can't be healed by either one. All other forms of magical healing, such as the soothe spell, restore only half the normal amount of Hit Points. Alchemical healing, healing with the Medicine skill, and other non-magical methods continue to heal you normally.

Sellsword's FollyCurse 9

Legacy Content

Curse Emotion Enchantment Magical Mental 
Source Gamemastery Guide pg. 117
Even the most experienced combat veteran becomes as reckless as a rookie when suffering from sellsword’s folly.

Saving Throw DC 26 Will; Effect The chaos of combat overwhelms you. Each time you roll initiative for a combat encounter, you must attempt a new saving throw against the curse; on a failure, you become confused for 1 round. This is an incapacitation effect.

BlackfrostCurse 10

Legacy Content

Uncommon Cold Curse Disease Necromancy Occult 
Source Pathfinder #189: Dreamers of the Nameless Spires pg. 76
This affliction can't be reduced below stage 1, nor the damage from it healed, until successfully treated with remove curse or a similar effect; the affliction can then be removed as a normal disease. A creature that dies from cold damage while cursed with blackfrost rises as a blackfrost dead after 24 hours.

Saving Throw DC 27 Fortitude; Effect Stage 1 4d6 cold damage (1 minute); Stage 2 weakness to cold 5 and drained 1 (1 day); Stage 3 weakness to cold 10 and drained 2 (1 day)

Cleansing CurseCurse 10

Legacy Content


Source Kingmaker Companion Guide pg. 73
Your body and mind weaken as you’re increasingly afflicted by the ravages of time, aging at an accelerated pace.

Saving Throw DC 27 Fortitude; Effect You become clumsy, drained, enfeebled, and stupefied, each with a value of 1. If you critically fail this saving throw, the value of one of these conditions, chosen at random, is instead 2. If you already have any of these conditions, its value instead increases by the given amount. In time, the cleansing curse will cause your death from old age, but this eventuality takes weeks, or even a month or two—if the PCs haven't defeated the Kingdom of the Cleansed and used the magical pool in area D7 to remove this affliction by the time two months have passed, the GM should decide if some or all of them perish (perhaps by having them attempt daily DC 27 Fortitude saving throws to avoid death after a period of 2 months have passed).

Moon Hag's EyeCurse 10

Legacy Content

Uncommon Curse Enchantment Occult Visual 
Source Pathfinder #188: They Watched the Stars pg. 11
The pupil and iris in your left eye turn yellowish white, pocked with wheat-colored dots like the craters of the moon. This curse enables you to pierce the veil of night, but only at the cost of some of your daylight vision.

Saving Throw DC 29 Will; Effect You gain low-light vision, or darkvision if you already had low-light vision. In daylight, you take a –1 status penalty to vision-based Perception checks.

Obnubilate CurseCurse 10

Legacy Content

Curse Enchantment Incapacitation Magical Mental Shadow 
Source Pathfinder #187: The Seventh Arch pg. 79
Only elves can be afflicted with this magical curse; other creatures are immune. An elf who touches the Shadewither Key must save against the curse. Victims quickly fall unconscious; then, over several days, they slowly blacken and shrivel like rotting fruit until they die. The corpse of an elf killed by the obnubilate curse is dry and charcoal-like; it collapses into ash at the slightest touch.

Saving Throw DC 27 Fortitude; Effect Onset 1 minute; Stage 1 unconscious and 3d6 mental damage (1 day); Stage 2 unconscious and 6d6 mental damage (2 days); Stage 3 unconscious and 6d6 mental damage (2 days); Stage 4 unconscious and 6d6 mental damage, permanent loss of most recent year of memory (1 day); Stage 5 unconscious and 6d6 mental damage, permanent loss of all memory (1 day); Stage 6 death.

Curse of SlumberCurse 11

Legacy Content

Curse Incapacitation Magical Necromancy Sleep 
Source Gamemastery Guide pg. 117
This legendary curse sends you into a sleep indistinguishable from death.

Saving Throw DC 28 Fortitude; Effect You fall asleep for 1 round (or permanently on a critical failure) and seem to be dead; a creature must succeed at a DC 30 Medicine check to realize you are alive. Noise doesn’t awaken you, but taking damage gives you a new saving throw against the curse.

Reviling EarthCurse 12

Legacy Content

Curse Death Magical Necromancy 
Source Gamemastery Guide pg. 117
A reviling earth curse usually appears across a specific geographical region, such as a ruined town, a necromancer’s domain, or a similar area.

Saving Throw DC 30 Fortitude; Effect When you enter the area, you become doomed 1, or doomed 2 on a critical failure.

Spirit AnchorCurse 13

Legacy Content

Curse Magical Necromancy Negative 
Source Gamemastery Guide pg. 117
This curse prevents your soul from moving on after death.

Saving Throw DC 31 Fortitude; Effect If you die while affected, your spirit is anchored to the Material Plane, and you become a ghost or other incorporeal undead.

Consummate LiarCurse 14

Legacy Content

Curse Enchantment Magical Mental 
Source Impossible Lands pg. 176
It becomes your first instinct to answer every question with an obvious and blatant lie, no matter how trivial

Saving Throw DC 31 Will; Effect Whenever you're asked a question directly, you must attempt a DC 32 Will save. On a failure, you spout an obvious lie with an automatic failure at your Deception check. If you succeed, you can choose your words carefully and answer however you wish, but if you choose to answer truthfully, the agony of telling the truth causes you to take 3d8 mental damage.

Unending ThirstCurse 15

Legacy Content

Curse Magical Transmutation 
Source Gamemastery Guide pg. 117
This curse kills through dehydration in the same vein as the curse of the ravenous, but with deadly speed.

Saving Throw DC 32 Fortitude; Effect You gain no benefit from drinking water or other liquids and begin suffering from thirst. Each day, you receive a new saving throw against the curse.

Reviled of NatureCurse 18

Legacy Content

Curse Emotion Enchantment Magical Mental 
Source Gamemastery Guide pg. 117
This curse makes the hunter into the hunted, drawing the ire of animals wherever you go.

Saving Throw DC 38 Will; Effect Creatures of the natural world abhor you. Whenever an animal becomes aware of you, it must attempt a Will save against the curse. On a failure, it attacks you and fights to the death.

Thief's RetributionCurse 19

Legacy Content

Conjuration Curse Magical 
Source Gamemastery Guide pg. 117
This punishment causes you to lose something dear to you whenever you rob or steal. If you have nothing to lose, the curse exacts its punishment upon your body instead.

Saving Throw DC 39 Fortitude; Effect Each time you steal something, you lose something more valuable—this item is whisked away and can’t be found again. Typically this item is one of greater monetary value, but it might be one of greater value in another sense, such as one of greater emotional value, or something you need to complete a task. If you aren’t carrying anything of greater value at the time of the theft, you lose one of your limbs instead, taking 10d6 slashing damage and losing use of that limb. The damage can’t be healed, nor the limb restored, until the stolen item is returned, even through use of spells like regenerate.

Boatman's TollCurse 20

Legacy Content

Curse Death Magical Necromancy 
Source Impossible Lands pg. 176
Your soul is treated as collateral for the crimes you've committed. This punishment is reserved for those who have committed truly heinous acts, such as using holy magic against an important undead citizen or conspiring with enemies of the state.

Saving Throw DC 43 Will; Effect A tattoo of a skull with coins on its eyes etches itself into your skin, dealing 6d10 cold damage and 6d10 negative damage and causing you to become drained 4. If the tattoo is ever removed or destroyed by any means, it reappears after 24 hours and deals its damage again unless this curse is removed first. If you're reduced to 0 Hit Points while the tattoo is on your body, you die immediately, and your soul is banished to Abaddon. You can't be revived, reincarnated, raised as an undead, or otherwise come back to life unless the boatman Charon relinquishes your soul.

Sword of AnathemaCurse 20

Legacy Content

Curse Divine Evocation 
Source Gamemastery Guide pg. 117
With divine intervention, followers of a deity can bestow this curse upon an enemy of the faith.

Saving Throw DC 40 Will; Effect You are marked by the deity invoked as an enemy of the church. You gain weakness 10 to damage dealt by worshippers of that deity.