From punishing afflictions to poetic justice, curses are synonymous with dark fantasy. Within Toriel, curses are powerful incantations, reserved to those who've been wrong to bestow upon their foe. The power of word makes it possible, for even non-spell caster to curse someone else with enough evil intent and if the wrong was bad enough, and therefore, it is common to find people with weaker curses. But the greatest and darkest curses are reserved to the rare who dare to face true evil.
Curses channel dark emotions and vengeance and grow in power when cast with spiteful intent. Woe befalls the fool who takes hag pacts lightly.
Pronouncement
The first component of a curse is the pronouncement, which amounts to a threat. It promises suffering to those who dare to perform or have already performed a specific offensive act. The pronouncement can be a standing warning against taking some action, or it could be a declaration in the moment. The following examples suggest just a few possible pronouncements:
- A widely spread story explaining that a particular action tempts terrible punishment
- A warning spoken on the cusp of a deadly battle, assuring dire consequences for the victorious
- A poem, rhyme, or song foretelling doom
- A carved epitaph on a gravestone discouraging robbers
- The last words of a dying person—either a powerful villain or a wrongly slain innocent
- Swearing a vow to refrain from or undertake some action on pain of great suffering
Curse strength Table
Curses are spells of dark emotions and twisted fate, gaining power depending on the circumstances of their use. A curse cast with the dying breath of a betrayed lover will bear considerably more power than a run-of-them ill curse.
| Knowledge of the target |
Save Modifier |
| Secondhand |
-10 |
| Firsthand |
-5 |
| Familiar |
0 |
| Target's Trnasgression |
Save Modifier (only the highest applies) |
| Broke a deal |
+2 |
| Sworn enemy |
+7 |
| Egregious betrayal |
+10 |
| Desecrated your home |
+8 |
| Spiteful envy |
+5 |
| Defiling a sealed tomb |
+12 |
| Desecrating a temple |
+15 |
| Stealing a treasure that is meaningful to an entire culture |
+20 |
These are examples of modifiers for curses, based on the relationship between the caster and the target. A GM can modify or expand these to suit the needs of their game.
Triggering Event
Curses often have no immediate effect upon casting. Curses lie dormant within a target until they complete a task or action that satisfies their triggering event. For example, a target cursed with the curse of ravenous hunger will suffer no effects until they consume their next meal. Upon completing the Triggering Event, the target will automatically start the effects of the curse at stage 1.
Stage Progression
While curses are dangerous magic, they take time to reach full power. Curses develop in 3 stages. As a curse progresses through the stages, it becomes more harmful to the afflicted. Whenever a cursed creature fails an escalation check, they advance to the next stage of the curse. The effects of a new stage are in addition to those of previous stages. If an effect contradicts another, use the effect from the greater stage.
Escalation
Escalation represents the curse gaining power as time goes on. At dawn once a day, a cursed creature must make an escalation check to see if their curse escalates. To pass, a creature needs to roll an unmodified d20, and obtain a score greater than the number of checks they have made on this stage. On a failed save, the cursed creature applies the effects of the next stage of the curse, in addition to any previous stages.
For example, a creature who has just been cursed makes an escalation check the following dawn. They must roll greater than a 1. The next day the DC will increase to 2, and so on. If, on the 5th dawn, they roll a 5 or less, the curse escalates to the second stage. They apply any new effects and reset the DC to 1.
The remove curse and greater restoration spell, will delay the escalation check as long as suppresses the burden of the curse
Curse Stage
All curse may not have 3 stage and a culmination, some curse only have a first stage, other only a third stage showing how hard it is to get rid of them.
Culmination
All curses have a culmination. This is the final intent of the curse, and often involves transforming the victim into a twisted creature, barely resembling who they once were. Culminations are truly evil effects and are almost always permanent. When a creature fails an escalation check at stage 3 of a curse, they apply the effects of the curse’s culmination. They continue to apply the effects of the previous stages, but cease making escalation checks. Once a curse’s culmination has been reached, it can only be cured with the use of a wish spell.
Curing
Sometimes a curse can be ended by making restitution to a wronged party (or their closest kin in the case of a death) or reparation if something was stolen or destroyed. The resolution might be declared as part of the pronouncement, or it may be left to those who suffer the curse to make amends on their own. Research and divination can offer clues or even reveal the exact steps needed to resolve the curse.
While more general curses can lifted by a remove curse spell, more specific or dramatic curses can’t be permanently lifted through spells beyond the first stage, and cannot be llifted by a greater restoration spell beyond the second stage.
Magic can offer temporary respite, though. A remove curse spell cast on the victim of such a curse suppresses the burden for 1 hour. A greater restoration spell suppresses the burden until the victim finishes a long rest. Death usually ends a curse, but the curse returns in full force if the cursed character returns to life without resolving the curse.
Persistent Curses
When a curse is resolved, its effects usually end immediately. Some more insidious curses might linger beyond the resolution but can then be removed by a remove curse spell or similar magic if the victim succeeds on a DC 15 Charisma saving throw when the spell is cast. If the save fails, it can be repeated after a specific interval passes, usually 1 month, with the curse ending on a successful save. Adjust the DC of a particularly weak curse to 10 or that of a stronger one to 20.
Here are some examples of curse resolutions:
- Protecting a loved one dear to the person who laid the curse from some dire threat
- Returning every piece of a stolen treasure hoard, down to the last copper coin, to the place where it once rested
- Slaying the head of a dynasty that has long held power in the region
- Accomplishing a seemingly impossible task, such as raising a castle above the clouds or making the sun cross the sky in a different direction
Curse List
The following curses are a few suggestion of curses. The circumstance in which the curse can be bestowed on a character depend on the Dungeon Master, as well as the resolution of the curse.
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