Curses are a staple in all Fantasy media. Whether it turns a heart to stone, blights a land, or makes your death tied to the petals of a rose, they often play a role. Role-playing games are no exception, especially Dungeons & Dragons. 5th Edition has a few areas where curses pop up, but they are far from consistent. Sometimes they even feel a bit lacking. But in this RAW Review, we will look at all of them. We will talk about the official instances of curses, what they do well, what they struggle with, and how we can improve in those areas (with a sneak peek at material you can grab for your table!). So buckle in, as we look at Curses!

Limited Curses

In D&D 5E, curses make their presence known, but interestingly, there’s no universal rulebook for them in most core material—Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft being a notable exception, but we’ll get into that later. So what do we see in 5th Edition? Well, there are three specific types of curses to look out for: Lycanthropy, Curses Attack Effects, and Cursed Items.

Were-beast in Faerun

Source: Magic the Gathering by Andrea De Dominicis

In the world of horror, Lycanthropes are a must-have, serving as a transformative curse that often kicks in against the creature’s will and forces them to act on their animal instincts. D&D 5E embraces this tradition, offering a whole menagerie of Were-creatures to terrify your players.

You have the traditional Werewolves, as well as Werebears, Wererats, Wereboars, and even Weretigers (I am sure anyone familiar with Curse of Strahd will think I’m missing one, but: Spoilers).

The section on The Curse of Lycanthropy, found in the Monster Manual, is one of the more in-depth sections on curses. Lycanthropy can most commonly come from being bitten by a were-creature and failing a Constitution saving throw, which gives the victim a choice. They can either embrace the curse, giving into their new bestial spirit, or try to resist it and maintain their old identity.

Either choice notes that during a Full Moon (the frequency of which can vary by setting and number of moons in said setting) “the curse becomes too strong to resist, transforming the individual into its beast form — or into a horrible hybrid form that combines animal and humanoid traits”.

This entry goes on further to talk about Lycanthropy in a Player Character. It once again notes the saving throw needed to avoid being cursed, as well as what happens if the humanoid embraces the curse, as well as specifics on alignment changes. The character changes are:

Werebear. Strength of 19 if not already higher, and +1 to AC when in Beast or Hybrid form. Natural attacks gained use Strength.
Wereboar. Strength of 17 if not already higher, and +1 to AC when in Beast or Hybrid form. Natural attacks gained use Strength. The Charge trait uses Strength and Proficiency Bonus.
Wererat. Dexterity of 15, if not already higher. Natural attacks gained use Strength or Dexterity, whichever is highest.
Weretiger. Strength of 17 if not already higher, and +1 to AC when in Beast or Hybrid form. Natural attacks gained use Strength. The Pounce trait uses Strength and Proficiency Bonus.
Werewolf. Strength of 15 if not already higher, and +1 to AC when in Beast or Hybrid form. Natural attacks gained use Strength.

As noted, the DM has the authority to decide whether an alignment change results in the PC being placed under the DM's control until the curse is removed or lifted. Players can cure this curse through a remove curse spell for those afflicted and wish for a natural born lycanthrope.

Curse Attacks

Source: Magic the Gathering by Anna Pavleeva

A few of the official monsters have a curse attached to their stat block, most commonly an additional effect of an action. One of the more iconic creatures is the Mummy or Mummy Lord. Mummies have, in popular culture, often been tied to some sort of curse. Either the curse gave them their unlife, or they are paired with a curse guarding what they are protecting.

In the Mummy Stat blocks, under the Rotting Fist attack, we have the mechanics for mummy rot. This requires a DC 12 Constitution saving throw. Upon a failure, the cursed target can’t regain hit points, and maximum reduces by 10 every 24 hours. If the cursed creature’s maximum goes to 0, the target dies and turns to dust. This is a fairly painful curse that could easily wipe out a low level spellcaster.

The remove curse spell or “other magic” can remove this curse. While the book does not provide any clarification on other magics, this most likely refers to dealing with the mummy entirely in order to remove the curse, which is outside of the statblock, in the Ending a Mummy’s Curse section, which states :

“More commonly, a mummy can be sent back to its endless rest by undoing the transgression that caused it to rise. A sacred idol might be replaced in its niche, a stolen treasure could be returned to its tomb, or a temple might be purified of despoiling bloodshed.”

Cursed Items

Source: Magic the Gathering by Aaron Miller

Finally, we have what might be the most iconic for Dungeons & Dragons and fantasy as well, Cursed Magic Items. Critical Role will remember Campaign 1, and how one of the main characters struggled with a cursed magical item. The item in question influenced and eventually pushed the victim to more and more bloodthirsty acts in order to feed its power. Outside of this, these items are not all too rare, and have their own section in the DMG.

The Dungeon Master’s Guide talks about Cursed Items in the Treasure section, noting that

“Most methods of identifying items, including the identify spell, fail to reveal such a curse, although lore might hint at it. A curse should be a surprise to the item’s user when the curse’s effects are revealed.”

So this means that even with the power of the identify spell, curses will often go undetected, only arising when an unaware victim attunes themselves to the object.

In the core Dungeons and Dragons 5E material, there are around 20 items that are considered “cursed”. Some of the more commonly known items are the Berserker’s Axe and (one of my personal favorites) the Shield of Missile Attraction.

As specified in most the official cursed items and in the DMG, cursed items cannot be willingly unattuned unless the victim breaks the curse first. So once a character has attuned to their cursed item, they will have to stick with it until they can resolve it.

Most commonly, the remove curse spell is noted as one way, though any of the more powerful items (anything considered an artifact, for example) will often take much more to resolve.

Curse Thoughts

The three types of curses in D&D 5E serve different purposes but also share some interesting overlaps:

Combat Connection: Both Lycanthropy and Mummy Rot are combat-related conditions. They aren’t just your run-of-the-mill injuries; they pack an extra cursed punch.
Double-edged Sword: Cursed Items and Lycanthropy offer a blend of boon and bane. Whether they’re more beneficial or detrimental depends on how you use them. For instance, you might revel in the strength of your new magical sword, but be less thrilled about its requirement to draw humanoid blood—friend or foe—each time it’s unsheathed

Despite these differences and overlaps, there’s one unifying factor: all three types of curses can be lifted with a Remove Curse spell.

This 3rd level spell, accessible by Clerics, Paladins, Warlocks, and Wizards, requires an action and no material components to either end the effects of a curse or, with a cursed item, unattune a cursed item from a player, allowing the item to be removed. So any 5th level full caster will have access to this spell. So if you have a party with a Wizard, Cleric, or Bard, that means that late tier 1/early tier 2 play.

Put, I really dislike this spell. Curses feel like they have the potential complication that leads to its own story, or provide a risk/reward situation that a character has to grow to accept. But most spellcasters can remove even the most ancient of afflicted lycanthropes in 6 seconds with some words.

I think this system has its benefits. There are a few benefits to making Curses something that players can remove by trading a resource. You won’t risk slowing or diverting a game because of the impact of a curse. You also won’t have to worry too much about a curse potentially causing a TPK.

I think this spell works well for Cursed Items. With how the official material approaches them, cursed items act more like traps that the party might have to handle during an encounter. It creates a situation where the party might not want to gamble on a brand new sword or wand for fear of having drawbacks. If they do, they then have to decide if removing the problem is worth a 3rd level spell slot, which is a valuable resource. That means a potential spirit guardians or fireball goes away for the sake of fixing something.

The spell also does not end a curse on a cursed item, just removes it from a player entirely. So this spell is not fixing an item in any way, just removing the problem.

But my opinion still stands. I think as written, the original versions of curses are a little weak and easily overcome. I want to have options to make these things mean something. Luckily, Wizards of the Coast had the same feeling, and had a new idea for Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft.

Van Richten’s Update

The fantastic horror supplement VRGTR brought a more horror-centric theme by providing alternate rules for curses. There are many changes here, notable change mentioned at the very beginning, stating that “Spells at the characters’ disposal might relieve these curses’ effects temporarily but can’t lift them completely. The price must be paid”.

The book gives us an impressive layout for building your own curses.The section breaks curses down into three parts: Pronouncement, Burden, and Resolution.

Pronouncement

This section focuses on the narrative elements of the curse, specifically how the dangers and effects of the curse are conveyed to the victim, such as a warning inscribed on the tomb of an ancient king. The goal here is to make sure the character can know what they are walking into.

Burden

The Burden is the effect the curse causes. This section notes these effects will happen immediately, though a player may not notice them until later on if they are more specific.

Resolution

The Resolution goes over the general idea of how a curse can be ended, again focusing on the narrative elements. Perhaps the character has to “return the slab”or otherwise make amends to the entity they have wronged. If this is not something well understood, then research, both mundane and magical, can help with that.

This section also talks about how remove curse plays into these new, more powerful curse options. A spell like remove curse or greater restoration can only suppress these more specific and dramatic curses, with the former suppressing the symptoms for 1 hour and the latter for until the victim finishes a long rest. The book even notes that Death will often end a curse, but not always.

A More Dangerous Curse

There is also a section also talks about Persistent Curses. These curses will often have effects that linger beyond the initial resolution, and require further work to expunge. The suggestion the book provides is casting the remove curse spell, and meeting a DC 15 Charisma saving throw. Upon a failure, the curse remains and the players can try again the check in a specific interval, usually a month.

Loup Garou Lycanthropy

The book also provides a much better version of Lycanthropy as Loup Garou Lycanthropy, using the persistent curse rules. Using some guidelines above, a humanoid afflicted with this form of lycanthropy cannot remove the curse while the Loup Garou that inflicted the curse lives. Upon slaying the Loup Garou, a remove curse spell cast during the night of a full moon might end the curse, as long as the afflicted lycanthrope makes a DC 17 Constitution saving throw. Upon a failure, the creature can try again in a month.

To me, this resolves a lot of the issues I have with 5E curses, specifically lycanthropy. Now, players can no longer remove this affliction at a moment's notice; instead, they need to follow a more involved series of actions, which may fail entirely. This means that the party will have to take this curse seriously, and work to resolve it or face the consequences.

The downside of this being a more difficult curse to remove is that it will become a sidequest, at the very least, something that diverts the party at the worst. If you have a group of players who easily get off track, or you are trying to avoid dragging out an adventure for too long, this might not work for you.

Thoughts

This version of curses does a good job of improving the existing options. We can still use the options presented in the basic rules, and they work well that way. It creates a set of general curses that are a minor inconvenience, removed with a spell most of the time, as well as allowing for more specific curses that can be more rules intensive.

However, I find this section to be lacking in a few areas. First, I find the curses to be a little limited. Once a curse is received, the victim is afflicted with the effects of the curse and just deals with those until the curse can be resolved. This could create a situation where the party would rather spend spell slots to suppress the curse rather than actually dealing with it. There is nothing pushing the party to deal with it.

Most of the extra options provided focus on narrative elements rather than mechanics. Most of the mechanics provided here focus on making the curse dramatic. It gets that horror feeling that Van Richten’s is looking for, and that is excellent as a horror prop. When we look at the “Ancient Seal” sample curse, we see both the pronouncement and resolution focus more on the theatre than the mechanics of the game.

But in regular gameplay, you lose a lot of the specificity you could have. It makes creating curses a bit more tedious than they would be otherwise, trading directions for freedom of choice. So that is why, like in many situations, I have a 3rd option that I prefer to use. This time it comes from a brand new book!

Vecna’s Curses

The recently released book Vecna’s Book of Vile Darkness brings a lot of undead and horror-centric content to D&D 5E. Just in time for Halloween, this book covers a lot, focusing on the weapons that the Whispered One himself would either use or keep track of, and curses are one of those things. This book takes a unique approach to curses by focusing on the mechanics and narrative elements that can be used in curses.

(Full disclosure: I was one of the writers on Vecna’s Book of Vile Curses)

Curse Elements

In VBoVD, curses have several traits to them that help understand them as well as use them in your game.

Severity. This determines the danger of a curse. Ranging from nuisances that are more for flavor to lethal curses this helps show the danger and the possibility of derailing a campaign.
Saving Throw. The ability used to make the saving throws against the curse, typically to prevent it from progressing but also for any innate effects.
Example Usage. A narrative example of how the curse might show up in your story.
Origin. Narrative examples of where the curse could come from. Such as an active effect, like trespassing, or a passive effect, such because of a character’s actions.
Initial Sign. Minor, narrative focused signs that a character has been cursed, mostly for flavor and to let the player know they have been cursed.
Curse Progression. How a curse progresses through its three stages, both mechanically and narratively.
Investigation. An outline of how the cursed creature or allied member can learn about the curse and potentially how to resolve it. This is broken into three steps: Discovery, Understanding, Inquiry, and Understanding.
Potential Resolution. A way for the curse to be resolved, but only a suggestion.

This layout creates a dynamic curse that has a more involved set of mechanics involved in determining the specifics of it, as well as resolving it. Much like with the Van Richten’s Persistent Curses, most of these can only be suppressed through the use of remove curse or greater restoration not cured entirely.

There is a brief set of instructions on how to use this template to create your own curses. So you can take this system and bespoke it to your table.

The curses created in this system will be more involved in your story and because of that, will take more attention in the game. Unlike the basic 5E curses, the players will have to spend time and resources in order to resolve these curses. Players can manage curse symptoms through the use of magic, but that quickly will add up.

So this system, especially the more severe options, has a larger chance of sidetracking a party, or completely diverting their focus entirely, which is something not everyone will want. But if you are going to present a curse in your game, it should have some weight behind it. This system does just that, better than the others.

Conclusion

Curses have a ton of potential in Dungeons & Dragons 5E. An iconic element of fantasy fiction, D&D 5E provides multiple ways of implementing curses in a game. Creatures can catch Lycanthropy and become afflicted to live life as a were-beast. Monsters like mummies can afflict a decaying curse that drains the vitality from its victims. Certain objects can curse characters, serving as a gotcha that costs spell slots to reverse. These systems relied on being simple, but also were easily resolved. Van Richten’s brought in a new option as curse layouts and persistent curses, providing a much-needed boost but not really providing any mechanics. Luckily, we have third party supplements like Vecna’s Book of Vile Darkness, which gives a much more hands-on layout for curses, that will make afflictions that create lasting memories in your game.

If you are looking to pick up a copy of Vecna’s Book of Vile Darkness, copies can be had here! If you get a copy, leave a review as it helps the creators.

Casting a Darker Shadow: Elevating Curses in D&D 5E