D&D: Five Surprisingly Useful Cursed Items
Oh no! You found a cursed magic item in that treasure hoard. Time to figure out how to destroy it. Or is it?
Cursed magic items have been a part of D&D ever since E. Gary Gygax thought it would be fun to sucker his friends into thinking they’d been rewarded for their hard work and effort in the game that he made up when instead they were being punished for his amusement. And that’s basically the vibe of cursed items in D&D ever since.
To be fair, there are plenty of fantasy stories with “cursed” items at their heart. And not in the “arm coming out of a Pikachu’s mouth” way either.
But like, cursed with some kind of downside. However if TV has taught me anything, it’s that anything that is your curse is, according to the transitive property, also your blessing. And that makes these cursed items, totally worth it.
Javelin of Backbiting
Let’s start with one of the most classic cursed items: the Javelin of Backbiting. This is a Javelin that carries a powerful curse. Once you’re attuned to it, you can’t let it out of your possession. You become unwilling to part with the weapon, keeping it within reach “at all times.” But more importantly, whenever you roll a natural 1 to hit a target, the Javelin immediately attacks you instead.
With advantage.
But in spite of all that, it’s still pretty worth it. Because the Javelin of Backbiting is potent. In addition to being a +2 javelin, it has 30 extra feet of both normal and long range, and it deals one extra die on hits. And then, on top of that, after you throw it and it hits or misses, it immediately comes back home to be thrown again. Not bad for only a 5% chance of hitting yourself
Shield of Missile Attraction
This one is “cursed”, technically. But is it? Here’s what this supposedly cursed item does. First of all, it grants you resistance to damage from ranged weapon attacks whenever you’re holding it. So you take half damage, no matter the type. If it’s from a ranged weapon shooting bolts of fire? You’re taking half damage.
Secondly, it makes it so that you, the person who is less vulnerable to ranged weapon damage, are targeted more often by ranged weapon attacks. Whenever an attack is made against a target within 10 feet of you, the curse causes you to be the target instead. Which is nothing but upsides if you’re sporting a high AC and hoping to protect your party.
Scorpion Armor
Okay yes, technically this armor can kill you when you put it on. Fail a DC 15 Constitution save and you take 10d10 + 45 poison damage. But… it’s poison damage. Which is notoriously easy to either be resistant or completely immune to.
But if you manage that? This armor is absolutely amazing. First of all, it’s full plate, which means you have a base AC of 18. But then on top of that, it grants you a +5 bonus to initiative and then doesn’t impose disadvantage on Stealth checks or saving throws to resist the effects of extreme heat.
Sword of Kas
The sword of Vecna’s treacherous lieutenant carries a powerful curse, blah blah blah, it once unsheathed it has to be “bathed in blood” within 1 minute of being drawn from its scabbard or it takes control of you and does it itself.
But that’s only when you draw it. And if you draw it, you were probably already going to bathe it in blood, because this magical longsword is a +3 weapon that crits on a 19 or 20 and deals an extra 2d10 to undead creatures. And you get to add a d10 to your initiative. You can even split the sword’s attack bonus to boost your armor class up.
All that without mentioning the once-per-day Call Lightning, Divine Word, and Finger of Death spells you can cast just for having the sword in the first place.
Bag of Devouring
Finally the Bag of Devouring. This is a dangerous one, to be certain. It looks like a Bag of Holding, but it eats any animal or vegetable matter placed inside of it (and it will pull you into itself just for looking at it to see if it’s really a Bag of Holding. And once the Bag eats something, it’s gone forever.
This is exactly why you’ll want to keep it around once you figure out what it is. The Bag of Devouring is the absolute perfect way to get rid of a body or to dispatch a still-living foe, since any creature that starts its turn inside the bag is devoured, its body destroyed instantly.
What are your favorite cursed items?
