Is it still possible to do cursed swords in an interesting way?

jesus basic storytelling, just create conflict between object and character, there are more ways but if basics are too hard to come up with then i'm not going to bother u with other stuff

Let's see what we got.
>A sword that makes its wielder into a great fighter but makes everyone else want the sword, mostly murdering the previous owner or by stealing it
>A sword that becomes sharper with each killing blow it has dealt, it starts to eat your soul if you aren't constantly feeding its hunger with human/sentient being souls
>A sword that boosts your natural abilities but slowly corrupts you, turning you into a crazed killer

So your player was Anubis from star dust crusaders.

Intelligent weapons with alignments opposed to the party's are more fun.

When you try to unwrapp the sword to use it the wrapping just rewinds it self onto it and won't come of thus rendering your sword into a blunt stick of metal.

It gets sharper and sharper with everything it cuts

Eventually you can't even sheath it, it will cut everything

It basically becomes a lightsaber with no way of turning it off, so you have to be very careful

Make the curse annoying instead of lethal or mind controlling. The sword itself could be a really high quality sword, but it's possessed by a spirit who constantly belittles its user and deliberately tries to distract them during battle. Or maybe it's a sword that causes really rapid hair growth and makes you smell like you haven't bathed in years.

>The sword a personality flaw to the user.

>Speeds up PTSD.

>Reduces his diplomatic skills.

>Attracts all things evil and twisted.

>Slowly nimmbles on the users soul every time he uses it.

> Reduces the users intelligence.

No wait
>A sword infused with the memorys and skill of a legendary hero
>That hero also had PTSD

Are you trying to prove it's impossible?

>A really good sword

>The sword is a compass

>It's always, ALWAYS trying to point north

>Makes it hard to use unless you position accordingly when fighting someone

Did you write the Sword of Truth series?!

A vampires sword that makes its weilder think they're invincible. Any damage dealt to living creatures will heal for that amount, but the weilder will refuse to use shields, armor, or other weapons as it would "restrict their ability to kill"

It's a +3 Shortsword

A curse which compels you to incorporate every slash, stab, and parry into a sweet air guitar routine.

Just go with the classics man. Stormbringer is the perfect cursed sword.

Every time the cursed sword kills someone, a letter is delivered to the killed person's closest friend/family/next of kin with a picture and detailed description of the sword's wielder and their role in the death.

Have fun with your PC's always feeling hunted

...

Sheiit

So, 3 massive cliches? Cool.

You are free to add to the list.

Why just settle for swords?

I did a sadly incomplete arc with cursed weapons made by an evil blacksmith. (wanted to cause an eternal war so his weapons would be in high demand)

1. Sword: Cursed Paladin's sword. Gave the wielder the ability to sense an innocent's suffering, but not the ability to turn it off. No false positives, either. It eventually drove the Paladin who picked it up crazy, and he had to be knocked out. Sure, you could just drop it... but that means letting an innocent suffer.

2. Dagger. Allowed the wielder to kill another human to 'steal' their remaining years. This one was more insidious. It gave slowly diminishing returns, and accelerated the aging of the user. Yes, dropping the dagger would stop the aging. No, the chemist using it wasn't humble enough to do so.

3. Katana. Blood-stealing sword that grew stronger with each kill and drove wielder to murder. First owner was a samurai who resisted long enough to have an ally cut off his non-dominant hand. Second was a thief ringleader who went crazy.

4. Knuckles. Enhanced your pugilistic abilities a hundredfold, but made everyone with even a working knowledge of martial arts want nothing more than to fight you. Sadly never got to run this session.

I've always been fond of the flavour text for WoC's Hellfire Sword:
>The Hellfire Sword was first wielded by the Chaos Lord Garathor but, over time, it consumed his lifeforce until nought remained within his armour but ash. When the Hellfire Sword was prised from Garathor's ruined gauntlet years later, it flared so hotly that it fused into its new owner’s hand. Eventually, this fool’s spirit was also consumed, and the cycle began anew. Since its creation, a hundred mortals have borne this flame-wreathed blade, unaware of their doom until it was too late.

I'm picturing a parasitic item with something close to a mind of its own that drains the life force of its wielder and is always on the lookout for a new, more powerful user.

>that filename

Have you personally dealt with every interesting iteration of cursed sword?
No?
Well solved that quickly enough.

>rapp
>rewind
>blunt

Away from this board, your subliminal messaging will never get us to listen to your weird jungle music

The sword discourages you from fighting with every kill by showing you the life you took away and what could have been

Save this, you nerds. Comedy gold.

How about a sword that 'wants' to always be used in combat, so it curses the bearer to be constantly caught up in conflict?
If they walk into a city, the citizenry starts a violent protest against the rulers
Police or guards get brutal faster
Army camps try to conscript them
Monsters/undead/bandits/whatever are more likely to raid villages
Simple tavern arguments turn into bloody shankings in the blink of an eye.

The bearer themselves isn't cursed, but the sword itself carries the curse with it.
Thoughts?

A sword that is a dagger, a longsword, a bastard sword, or a great sword depending on who wields it. The blade itself is a +3 [Weapon] Of Wounding.

Blade sign changes according to your penis size. Everyone who sees the weapon knows the effect.

> A sword that raises everyone killed by it as the undead a few hours after death.
> A hammer that can break a hole in reality and does so on critical hit or fumble, summoning lesser demons.
> A weapon that makes the wielder younger by stealing the years of life from their enemies. You really shouldn't use it against elves and dragons if you don't want to become a baby again. And using it against undead actually ages you one year per undead per level.

>kill a bandit
>indundated with visions of rape, robbery and murder of innocent travelers

Yeah, that could suck. Ofc, the question of whether the visions are true, semi-accurate, or pure BS is excellent moralfag-despair fodder.

And it actually works vice versa. And becomes a giant sword in a woman's hands. Weapon is called "Blade of Compensation".

So the black blade from Elric

>Sword of Boons and Banes
>Enhances the wielder's ability to solve some of their problems at the cost of negatively influencing something else they value.

Cursed items are internal conflict generators. If you can't make them interesting, it just means you're unable to understand your players or their characters.

It's possessed by a rather pompous noble ghost, and acts accordingly, giving bonuses to characters based on how pure their bloodline is, how wealthy they are etc.

>Don't drop it, it'll cut to the center of the world!

Don't drop that shit!

I wouldn't know as I've no idea what Elric is.

Get the fuck out

First tell me wtf it is.

One of the most well known and classic pieces of fantasy literature to exist, to the point that people reference it all the time, and some bands like Blue Öyster Cult wrote songs about it.

I've never even read any of the Elric or other Eternal Champion books, and even I know how influential he is. Have you been living under a rock, or are you just underage?

lmgtfy.com/?q=elric

Pacifist cursed weapon. Sizable bonus to parry, sizable malus to damage.

Ah it's some Moorcock character.
I'm not that knowledgeable about fantasy writers so yeah I do live under the proverbial rock in regards to it.

so, Soul Edge, Soul Edge, or Soul Edge?

Isn't that a falcata?

That's a falcata.

Urumi

It was so obvious knowing ankama and yet.

It might be a bit rail roadish but
>he who takes up the sword cannot die until their appointed hour.
The sword it's self gives bonuses to hit/damage, enough that it would be tempting to just about anyone. However, after the first time a character drwas the blade they find themselves being guided or influenced by an outside force which may or may not go against the characters moral compass. Should the character be killed before their time the sword raises them as a revanant or Lich like undead, granting them more power but under greater control of the blade or outside force. When the appointed hour arrives (the complete their task/quest, face off against a specific person/whatever the the GM and player come up with) the character sheaths the blade and dies. No saving throw or manner of resurrection possible, the character has fulfilled their purpose.

>horse head hilt
>khopis

Yes, the only worth mentioning thing Spain ever did

........................... that's like a shard from Worm in sword form.

Brilliant. Totally going to use this, as it's basically "sword of walking plot points" for easy GMing.

I made a curse where the user had to use that sword to fight back if they were attacked, which sucked for the DEX based player that picked it up.

its essentially the same sword just falcata is a modern term for Spanish examples.

Debatable, they don't know if it was brought from Greece or developed independent of each other for the same purpose.

The swords curse is that the owner is continually harassed by annoying individuals insisting it be called by a specific name, resulting in unending yet meaningless discussions at every corner.

Thats true ,but if you were greek educated at the time you would refer to it as a Kopis or Makhaira.
Falcata is just a made up term for archaeological classification.

...

>A slashing sword that forces the weilder to use it like a thrusting sword
>A katana that takes an obnoxiously long time to unsheath
>A claymore made of an indestructible material that has an explosive rune inscribed into it, creating a deadly blast every time it strikes something
>A sword that only cuts skin, harmlessly phasing through all other materials
>A sword that changes its appearance every time nobody looks at it.

I like the idea of a sword that gets stronger with every kill. Then it you casually mention to the player that he has a feeling he shouldn't sheath it. Make it seem like he is sensing impending danger. Make a fake roll if you have to so the player is convinced his perception has picked up something amiss, like an upcoming ambush or something. Then, also as casually as possible without any in game consequences so the player doesn't accuse you of railroading, bring up that the character has forgotten to sheath the weapon. Perhaps the party is done adventuring or is travelling with no danger in sight, and the weapon is still in the hand of the player. Eventually make it an obvious compulsion. Tell the player it is harder and harder to let go of the weapon. Will checks to let go of it. While this is happening, make the sword get stronger. The character now has ambidexterity or off-hand bonuses to make it less burdensome that the character has effectively lost any use of his hand other than welding the weapon. When the character has given up on letting go, make the weapon start to merge with his hand/arm.

See the thing with cursed weapons is there needs to be a reason to keep them around. Some benefit that makes the curse seem worth it.
>A slashing sword that forces the weilder to use it like a thrusting sword
Why would anyone use this?
>A katana that takes an obnoxiously long time to unsheath
Why would anyone use this?
>A claymore made of an indestructible material that has an explosive rune inscribed into it, creating a deadly blast every time it strikes something
People will use this, but not as intended, and when abused with minimal creativity it has no downside.
>A sword that only cuts skin, harmlessly phasing through all other materials
Why would anyone use this?
>A sword that changes its appearance every time nobody looks at it.
The only one that has a reason to exist, and at best it's a prank.

All of your curses can and should have been deduced shortly after picking the sword up, followed immediately by it being discarded, or a construction order for an unusual slingshot being placed. Unless, don't tell me. You aren't one of those hacks that makes it so haha you can't not use it and can't get rid of it curses are you?

>>A sword that only cuts skin, harmlessly phasing through all other materials
>Why would anyone use this?
literally armor piercing.
>A katana that takes an obnoxiously long time to unsheath
youtu.be/rnKETD-iQbA

>literally armor piercing.
Yes good thing we can give that big mean old knight a paltry flesh wound under his plate. Haha just imagine how irritating it will be for his gambeson to be rubbing up against that!

Also sadly I can give you no points on your second rebuttal that's clearly not a katana.

i mean, a bunch of cuts through all layers of skin would be bothersome irl, i had a bit of a brain fart there and assumed it would just cut normally after going through armor, my bad.
as for the video, intention counts, right?

The mis-enchanted sword.

Pulp novel.

The bearer was invincible but the sword couldn't be sheathed until it killed.

Other curses:
+3 sword, but shouts out 'hey you!' At most inopportune times.

+x sword but smell like some stepped in poop.

+x sword but when it hits says 'ta-dah!'

+x sword but people have to save vs Chas or you have to complement it. When you do it replies... 'oh yeah... you know you like it!'

Ever gotten a paper cut? They're only skin deep and they hurt like hell.

Fair enough
There are people that haven't gotten papercuts? Discounting the obvious uncontacted tribes still hiding out in the amazon of course.
If they get hit by an errant logging splinter does that count though?

Sure.
I find that curses are more engaging the simpler they are.
>You find that under no circumstance can you let go of the sword.
>The sword is magnetic, and will cling to any metallic surface.
>The sword is ridiculously heavy when sheathed, but extremely swift when drawn.
>The sword emits a whistling chirp when swung.
>The sword appears to be unbreakable, but catches on its sheathe constantly.
>The sword warps and bends around the target if trying to slash something on its's edge, only the tip seems to work.
>The sword's grip is ALWAYS an inch too short, even if you manually replace it.
>The sword rusts instantaneously when in contact with blood.

I'd do a cursed sword by making it a normal magical sword, but then secretly assigning the bearer Villain Points (from GURPS) that hose their rolls and give them unpleasant coincidences that screw with them. Often in line with "the bearer of this sword shall lose those who he loves the most" or "this sword is sharp, but the wielder shall bleed even more". "he who uses this sword on the battlefield shall find his name sullied when he returns home" Or, best of all, "in the end no good shall come of this sword"

That's something that even the players won't notice, unlike most negative game mechanics, and eliminates the whole issue of forcing them to not simply throw the damn thing away because it's so obviously bad for them. It also means you have a temptation to hang onto the sword, not knowing how bad the curse might be, but seeing that it does provide normal magical benefits.

The most perfect, deadly sword. Perfectly balanced, long reach, lightweight, and lightsaber levels of sharpness, can effortlessly cut through plate armor and shields. But when you unsheathe it for the first time, your hand cannot let go of it until it is sheathed again. And it grows painful, too. Your hand and arm will eventually start cramping.

Once you've sheathed it, you can never unsheathe it again. It simply won't leave the scabbard.

So basically a one time use super sword. You take it out, effortlessly defend yourself again 10 fully armed and armored assailants, behead the dragon, and cut a hole in the portcullis. Then you sheathe it and pass it on to who you think would be worthy.

>A sword that only cuts skin, harmlessly phasing through all other materials
>Why would anyone use this?
A sadist would gladly use it to slowly kill his victims and torture them in the process. Also known as lingchi or one thousand cuts.

Not much of a curse then is it? Also I'm pretty sure that "death by a thousand cuts" refers to slowly carving up small portions of flesh from a still living person, not giving them a bunch of almost literally papercuts.

Actually barring the inevitable infection, I have my doubts this sword could even kill.

>Sword falls in love with the wielder, will remove deadly damage inflicted in the wielder by removing the wound from them and lacing it on the nearest loved-one.
>Sword looks cruel and evil but has no magical properties, the curse is born though people think that such an evil looking sword is actually evil and so the effect of the curse will change depending on the rumours spread about the sword.
>A spear that gets sharper the more a person tells the truth, but will only allow itself to be picked-up by liars and boasters, because it doesn't want to kill.
>Sword that was used in a ritual meant to appease a God and stop a war was used improperly in said ritual, glimpsing the blade sends anybody that sees it into a battle frenzy and won't stop until they are dead.

Two or three long uninterrupted fully skin breaking "scratches" would be extremely painful. It would be quick, require no skill. Just a few strokes and Bam. Excruciating pain.

Yeah that's great. That supposed to mean something when another party member has already literally stabbed the guy?

>Why would anyone use this?
In AD&D, being unable to remove the cursed item was a common side-effect, you shouldn't be able to just ditch them.

The choice of using a cursed weapon shouldn't be "do the positives outweigh the negatives?" as much as it should be "are the negatives immediate enough to cure the weapon as quickly as possible?"

+3 is pretty good though. By the time the player has reached the point where the sword weakens them they'll have got a lot of use out of it.

Its also the laziest side effect. Also I would like you to take a little closer look at the following that you're quoting.
>seem worth it.
That seem there? That's super important for the point I was making.

Then why have cursed weapons at all?

The point of a curse is to be a detriment, not a minmaxed buff to your character.

Can you not read? Do you not know what seem means? The look worth it but ultimately aren't you fucking putz.

Combat stims are a fucking great modern "cursed item" if you get loose with your language. Just look at all those bonuses, sure there are some drawbacks when you come down from them, but combat will be over by then anyway. Next thing you know you've got a bad habit you can't shake that is costing you way more than you're making and putting you in debt to the wrong kind of people.

You knew the risks up front, but those bonuses sure looked worth it didn't they?

Of course you don't always have to be so upfront with the negatives with magic items, or even combat drugs for that matter.

Riiiight, because giving this guy a god-sword is SUCH a great idea. Bloodline so pure it couldn't continue. Quote "Charles II's genome was actually more homozygous than that of a child whose parents are siblings" And you want to give THAT guy the best possible sword?

>>The sword is ridiculously heavy when sheathed, but extremely swift when drawn.
So it's good for puzzles and can't be stolen. You'd have a hard time explaining why you're carrying a drawn sword in public though, unless you hide the sheath.

>The sword rusts instantaneously when in contact with blood.
Might as well keep it rusty.

Yes, that sounds like a fantastic plot hook.

Rubilacxe?

>The sword wields you as a weapon
>Not as in it possesses you or anything, it picks you up via telekinesis and bludgeons you against the enemy until the enemy or yourself die from blunt force trauma. Can't put the sword down because you're not wielding it.

Well I can't argue with that logic I suppose, it would make an interesting NPC antagonist.

The sword improves the user's prowess, but makes it so that they are less and less likely to draw it again everytime it's sheathed.

You're great, but violence starts to be less and less of an option, and you eventually have to push yourself in some way to draw the sword again.

Seems like a good pick for someone good in h2h combat.

Cliches are cliches for a reason user and is right.

My personal favourite is simply a very good sword. It will always keep it's edge, can cut most materials you'd expect from a very good sword and ignores magic.

The curse is that you can't put the sword away without killing somebody, not just something.
I mean it's quite literal glued to your hand and fingers by the curse.
In fact, as the new heros find the sword, there is still a skeletal hand attached to the hilt.

Basically, a good narrative curse makes people consider if they REALLY need the item right now.

>The curse is that you can't put the sword away without killing somebody, not just something.
Fuck that.

Try this instead;
>when you grasp the sword it sticks to your fingers
>only by killing a person can you let go of the sword
>letting go means just that - dropping it
>if you pick it up to sheathe it, the same thing happens again