Recently I’ve been thinking about curses and how one could use it IC without at all power-gaming, like handing out deadly curses that’s incurable etc.
How do you think cursing is done? Is it just a verbal spell? Attaching the curse to an item, or an item carrying a curse? And what do you think is a plausible curse, entertaining in roleplay both delivery-wise and its consequences?
I personally like the thought of using like a “Curse of Weakness” to make the receiver well, exhausted, tired and just lacking energy in general. Or some kind of curse that makes the receiver clumsy. I also enjoyed the thought of having an item actually be curse, thus causing whoever carries the item to be cursed as well.
I wouldn’t treat it much differently to being poisoned, only as you say it could be inflicted by carrying a cursed object rather than being specifically cursed. It’s a lingering magical effect with a wide range of possibilities!
And, of course, like poison, can most likely be cured by the appropriate practicioner.
to my knowledge the only curses that are incurably are the doom curses, which are if I recall always deadly and can only be removed by the caster.
that said I use curses in my rp to mess with people, its usually in the form of an item which I trade or sell to a stranger, and they range from mostly harmless perception alterations to a few ones which cause bodily mutations.
However I never mettle in how “curable” it is, leaving that to each and every individual, same as I leave up to them how the curse will affect them going forward.
My only contribution is an explanation of how it works and it has worked to great effect. From what feed back I get, usually in form of stories, these individuals have told me on a chance re-encounter.
I recommend the usage of curses in RP. You can stick to the ones we know in-game or be a creative and figure out some of your own which lies in the same realm as the ones we know.
for instance, we have a curse which forces you to speak in demonic, so curse which alters your vision or hearing isn’t far fetched.
DoTs and debuffs need constant reminding so people don’t ignore them. So if you plan to use them, be ready to add what it does in every emote until they incorporate it in theirs.
Once an expert in curses, I played this character as having documented a wide array of repurposed and stolen knowledge. I’d agree that you treat it like a sort of spiritual/magical poison that eats away at your foe but it needs an extra level of cooperation to work out the effects and a long term crippling curse needs steady communication in a rp/pvp scenario.
Shadowmoon orcs were known for using cursed blades which bleed away the target’s soul after a successful strike. The only way to undo the curse is to break the blade that dealt the wound in the first place, and hope your victim’s soul hasn’t decayed away beyond salvaging.
The Jailer’s forces stole the secret of this curse (likely from dead Shadowmoon bound for the Maw) and used it on Baine; Thrall recognises it from orcish legends.
Of course orcs master death curses to a greater degree than the forces of Death itself. Reminds me of the “leak” where orcs created the emerald dream prior to the release of WoD.