Curious Objects: Ring of Delusion

I've mentioned this item in the past, but only as an example of a cursed item.

The lovely thing about rings in BX -and most other flavors of D&D- is that they can be just so darned tempting to adventures. Unlike scrolls or potions, they are usually permanent items. Unlike, weapons, often any class can use them. There are exceptions of course,  but most are universal. Rings also contain some of the most powerful items. The Rings of Wishes spring to mind.

So it's small wonder when a player gleefully has his PC slip that golden band around his knuckle and asks "What does it do?"

The fun with a Ring of Delusion comes in two parts:

1. The DM is encouraged to fool the player (as well as the PC) about the ring's effects for as long as possible. So when the PC tries to charm that guard with his "Ring of Human Control" he gets a rude surprise instead.
2. PCs are supposed to be resistant to giving up cursed items in general. The ring is no exception. So it could be argued that the character will persist in believing the item is conferring some great benefit even though it is plainly cursed. It does create a delusional effect, after all.

Now, I wrote a post a while back titled "Magic with a cost", with the idea being that some items may not be entirely beneficial or malign. Imagine a Ring of Delusion that actually does grant a magical benefit -invisibility, for example- but at the same time also makes the wearer believe something delusional about something other than the item's effect. For instance, the ring can let you turn invisible, but you also become convinced that you are the secret son of the king. Perhaps a series of vivid dreams gets confused with reality. Roleplaying fun awaits as the player gets to act this out. Of course, the fact that the ring actually turn him invisible is a red herring. The other players will be unable to pinpoint the cause of their companion's odd behavior. Like the doppelganger scenario, a player willing to RP the situation properly could fuel a whole series of adventures.

RMA: Sprites

Continuing with the fairy tale theme, let's take a look a sprites. 

I think that sprites are seldom used because they often viewed as more of a nuisance than an encounter. While it's true they are pretty harmless in combat, I think that they could make for a very interesting roleplaying encounter and/or noncombat challenge.

What's strange to me is that these little ones can appear as wandering monsters in a dungeon environment (level 1). Perhaps it's not too far underground for them? They mostly appear near rivers, in woods, and in non-urban inhabited areas.

While I feel these are largely unimportant in this case, let's have the stats, shall we?

Sprite (from Moldvay) -

AC: 5
HD: 1/2 (1d4 hp)
Move: 60' (20') Flying: 180' (60')
Att: 1 spell
Damage: see below
No. App: 3-18 (5-40)
Save: E1
Morale: 7
AL: N

Pretty unimpressive, I mean, they are fast on the wing, and their AC is probably due to speed and their diminutive size (1' tall), but no attack and no damage means they aren't going to be a good choice for that TPK you've been brewing up.*

No, where the sprites are most interesting is in their curse ability and their attitude. They are described as 1' tall winged people "related to pixies and elves." They are shy but curious, and have "a strange sense of humor."

Sprites are prankster gangsters.

I don't know why, but I really like the idea that a "monster" in the game is motivated simply by the desire to have a laugh. No eating people, no stealing gold, just comedy.

If five sprites work together -sprinkling fairy dust or whatever- they can enact a curse on their victim. Rather than a curse like the spell, it takes the form of a practical joke. Given the examples (tripping, nose growing) and that the book mentions using remove curse to get rid of it, it seems that the curse can have a duration or not. It's described as casting a curse spell, so there's a saving throw, but assuming they cast it 1/day per 5 sprites, a group 10-15 can hit 2-3 PCs.

The other thing to keep in mind is that curse has a range of 0', that means at least one of the sprites needs to touch the PC. Once that's done, they could fly away laughing at 180' and leave the victim behind with his donkey ears or whatever, having to walk back into town and explain things to the local cleric.

Alternately, the sprites may offer to lift the curse (another group could cast the reverse) if the PCs perform some task like getting them some honey from that big bee hive or maybe there is some predator that is harassing them the party can deal with. Not to mention, like the nixies, it might be possible to get information from the sprites if they're approached correctly. Side quests and RP opps galore!

*Don't ever do that.

RSA: Questioning the Questing

While I have seen NPCs use Quests on characters as a plot hook (or just to mess with them), I don't know that I have ever seen it used by a player character.

I was going to combine this Random Spell Assessment with the 6th level MU spell, Geas. But that one is sufficiently different in the details that I felt I should save it for its own entry later.

Because it's a high level spell (5th), it will be a little while before a cleric character uses this one. It's also not one that the character is likely to pray for by default. Dispel Evil and Raise Dead tend to be the go-to 5th level spells. I imaging Quest is one you use as part of a plan.

The spell has a range of thirty feet, which seemed odd until I thought about it. It makes sense you would be close enough to speak to the subject of the spell.

In a nutshell, Quest forces the subject to perform a task (or quest). It can't be out and out suicidal, and it's ONE task (singular).

The consequences of refusal is a curse. the exact nature is decided by the DM (not the caster). The wording here is a little vague. Is a refusal to out and out say "No!" or does procrastinating and ignoring the quest count too? I would tend to rule toward the latter.

Looking at the reverse of Remove Curse gives a DM some fun ideas for curses.

One interesting tidbit is that Remove Curse won't get rid of the quest-related curse. Only the reverse Remove Quest can; and that isn't a sure thing if the one who imposed the quest is higher level than the remover (-5% per level lower).

I think that if I were running a mid to high level cleric, this would be a very handy spell for getting annoying NPCs to be useful, even if it's just making them go on a pilgrimage to some far off holy site. You could gather information (lying is refusing the terms of such a quest), enlist aid in some task, or even target someone else for assassination (not very nice, but possible!).

Magic With A Cost

Talking before about cursed magical items, it seems obvious that the trend is to have something that looks like a nice piece of loot, but in reality is trouble. Players will immediately start looking for ways (in character and out) to get rid of the object in question. If you have an in-party cleric capable of Remove Curse, then it's almost a non-issue. 

Now, while I went on for a while about how the cursed items in the books are fun to use (and they are), I think that there are a lot of other ways to introduce a "minus" into the equation while at the same time, making the player feel like there could be reason to hang onto the bauble.

One of the easiest ways to do this is the "double-edged" item: a magic gewgaw that gives you power, but at a price. A "Berserker Sword" is an obvious example of this. The wielder gets nice bonuses in a fight, but goes into a frenzy, possibly even attacking his comrades. 

You can extend this idea to other items. For example:

• Armor that gives bonuses to saving throws as well as AC, but weighs twice as much as the regular version.
• A Ring of Feather Fall that temporarily polymorphs the PC into a duck. 
• A Ring of Regeneration that has a recurring % chance of turning the wearer into a troll (perhaps 1/week, or every 10 hp regenerated).
• Dust of Disappearance that smells delicious to predators.
• A Staff of Healing that deals 1hp damage to the wielder with each use.

The trick here is not to go overboard, but at the same time, if there are ten "normal" versions of the item around for every "interesting" one, the PCs will never touch it. 

RSA: (Remove) Curse

Remove Curse gets a lot of play in classic D&D games, because –like Neutralize Poison or Cure Disease– it's one of the ways you get rid of those annoying little "non-wound" things that crop up in an adventurous life. This is especially true when dealing with things like cursed magic items (swords, armor, etc.) that just make everyone miserable until a cleric can make the victim chuck it in a river or some such. As a third level spell, it's high enough level that not everyone will be able to access it immediately, but neither is it something a low level party should feel they cannot arrange.

As is frequently the case, what's particularly amusing to me is the reverse of the spell, Curse.

Tip: Do not tick crazy old gypsy ladies off in the game 

UNLESS you can kill them before they speak!

The big drawback of using the Curse spell is the range (0') this means you have to touch the victim. Not the end of the world, but a certainly a complication. I think I would allow some ranged curses with added balancing factors like voodoo dolls, etc. as the spell's focus. Properly disposing of the doll lifts the curse. Don't just chuck it in the fire, though!

The Cook rules describe some possible effects of a curse, but mentions 

A) there is no real limit to the creativity of the curse, but 

B) the DM may decide an unbalanced curse (too powerful) rebounds on the caster!!

Sample curses include -2 on saves, -4 to hit, or halving the victim's prime requisite. It goes on to say you can keep piling the curses on so long as each does something different. Of course they get savng throws, but that's generally true of any spell. Curses are permanent until removed, so it's not like the victim will just camp for the night and move on in the A.M.

I think it's fair to say that a PC cleric would need to be careful about using this spell if his faith would frown on such things, but on the other hand it's a marvelous non-lethal way to mess someone up.