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Wednesday, May 3, 2023

Why Is This Item Cursed?

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:

  1. Failed magic item project of an ancient civilization's wizarding grad school equivalent.
  2. Evil wizard or unseelie Fair Folk crafted item as a magical trap or revenge piece.
  3. Mundane object infused with fell magical energies as a side effect of a magical catastrophe.
  4. Magic item granted as part of a poorly-worded wish.
  5. Functional magic item corrupted by forgotten decades in an evil lair or by infusion with wicked sapience.
  6. Perfectly normal magic item in extremely alien and forgotten culture. ("We use bags of devouring to solve our trash problem!")
  7. Curse is an unintended side effect of the item's creation, and was overlooked by the creators.
  8. Item belonged to a famous hero who offended a god, archwizard, or other powerful entity and cursed their favored magic item.