On a post about cursed items, someone wrote, "I have never liked cursed items. Why would someone make one?"
I responded with a brief table. If you want to know why a given cursed item exists, roll 1d8 and consult the table below:
- Failed magic item project of an ancient civilization's wizarding grad school equivalent.
- Evil wizard or unseelie Fair Folk crafted item as a magical trap or revenge piece.
- Mundane object infused with fell magical energies as a side effect of a magical catastrophe.
- Magic item granted as part of a poorly-worded wish.
- Functional magic item corrupted by forgotten decades in an evil lair or by infusion with wicked sapience.
- Perfectly normal magic item in extremely alien and forgotten culture. ("We use bags of devouring to solve our trash problem!")
- Curse is an unintended side effect of the item's creation, and was overlooked by the creators.
- Item belonged to a famous hero who offended a god, archwizard, or other powerful entity and cursed their favored magic item.