I like the idea of using these curses and the omens from Mythic Odysseys of Theros in a low magic, sword and sorcery campaign. Even though true spellcasters would be rare, this is a form of magic that anyone could theoretically access
I like the hereditary curse idea in association with a dark gift. Your father robbed a tomb and was plagued by Voices of the spirits. Since he died they have come to visit you...
How about yours? One I really think i'd want to try designing is a domain governed by a poweful ancient dragon. Maybe civilization would be scattered or really primitive for the dragon/s were too ravenous
@@Booklat1 so MTG tarkir? I could also see a land of crazy kobolds and a dragon? I'm not sure how I'd make that more spooky and less typical d&d though. I think Neverland/Peter pan could be an interesting starting point for a domain. One with a dullahan dark lord could be cool. I also like the idea of some kind of Willy Wonka domain. Is there a beholder domain? Because if not there should be. I kinda want to do something with orcs, and goblinoids but again, not sure how I'd make it not feel like normal d&d.
@@Nildread kinda like tarkir yea, though probably even more like Jund used to be before the maelstrom (in the big predator eats everything else sort of sense)
I used the book to create a crocodile infested mangrove swamp domain of dread in like 15 minutes to give my players (daughter and her friends) anxiety and probably PTSD. With a homebrew primordial crocodile as the dread lord... Apparently trying to stay in the boat or slushing waste deep threw a swamp while being stalked by an ancient lizard of pure hunger is scary... Who knew?
THANK GOD! A better version of lycanthropy...at least in regards to how it's done. I'll save my other thoughts for when you go over the monsters and the Loup Garou in that video cause it's actually pretty cool.
On my most recent character, he was on the brink of death (like, final breaths). What got him there was a dagger/weapon puncturing his throat and vocal cords. Before he actually died, a fiend made a pact with him to save his life in exchange for his service. The whole point of this was to make the character a full mute. Anyway, one issue I had was trying to figure out a workaround for just using Remove Curse, Regenerate, or some other thing that could basically make it moot. When I brought this up with my DM, he suggested that part of the pact was that his voice helps in powering the pact that keeps him alive. I really liked this, because magically fixing the issue could potentially be a problem. So this curse system helps make it seem like more like something possible, and also gives curses of its own to use.
Finally! 5e has been sorely lacking any actual system for curses. In other fantasy media a curse can be something that the whole story centers around and I hated the fact that D&D curses all boiled down to "expend a 3rd level spell slot and then you're done". Looking forward to videos on the rest of the Horror Toolkit.
So there was this one time my Cleric cast Remove Curse on the Dwarf Barbarian to cure his shortness. Turns out his backstory involved a Modify Memory spell. Oops.
Another channel that is discussing the Dread Domains is The Hour of the Raven. I highly recommend it for an information channel that is good to listen to while driving, like AJ Pickett
I came up with an idea. When you target a curse that can't be removed by Remove Curse, instead it just failing to do anything it shows a way to remove it? The answer could be cryptic or clear based on the curse.
I think with the changes to curses, we should encorporate blessings and boons. Perhaps if they succeed in breaking the curse, the curse is then inverted as a boon, or given a different one by a deity that was observing your trial.
A fun curse from the books in the 2e days was Kelemnvors (sp?) . I believe he is niw the good if the dead. He gad a neat curse back as a mortal. His dad was cursed due to letting soneone die because they could not pay for his services. He was cursed so that if ever accepted a reward for a deed he would transform in panther thing until he killed someone /something. When Kelemnvor was born as an innocent child the curse flipped. He could not do any good dead unless he was rewarded. And it gad to be reasonable value. If not he did the panther thing
Love the curses here!! But I'm curious how people handle curses in their games. What's a good rule of thumb that DM's could use, to decide if a curse should be removable by the "remove curse" spell or not?
@@bleddynwolf8463 Define "Deadly", because if you go by CR, you won't get a deadly encounter. Also, knowing exactly when you'll be attacked it would be a cackewalk anyway; prepared PCs would tear apart your "deadly" encounter. My DM had to stop the campaign at level 14 because he didn't knew what to throw at us. In the last session we killed 3 adult red dragons in 2 turns.
@@WexMajor82 well, firstly, i'd roll 1d10+ 3-5 to determine when the monster(s) would show up, to add a pinch of randomness and something like the avatar of death, but only the cursed can harm it, it'd have spells and lower battle summons to distract the rest of the party. it'd be built around the parties weaknesses, to exploit them and i use milestone anyway, so ep isn't a factor.
@@bleddynwolf8463 That would be nice and great for the paladin, and a nightmare for the druid. See, it's hard work to balance an encounter, especially for high level characters. A fighter or a barbarian can mulch an avatar of death as early as level 11. A bard? An artificer? Even if you give something to do to the rest of the party, there's still the very real possibility that you put the cursed character in either a position where they aren't really in danger, or a position where they have no possibility of survival. Also, milestones suck. But that's my opinion and you shouldn't regard it.
@@WexMajor82 well thats my point on suiting it for the party. if what i've outlined would'nt accomplish what i'm looking for, i'd just tweak it., those were just rough ideas in need of fine tuning. at high level play, homebrew is what i recommend, with tweaking of existing monsters to buff them. milestones really depend on how good a story teller the DM is, they definatly can suck if done poorly, i just do so theirs no unforseen supprises.
So I did read a bit on lycanthropy in the monster manual and looked elsewhere for anything I could find and the wording in there doesn't say anything on how to apply lycanthropy to a game which gives me the impression that it's a DM discretion deal. What I like about the Garou it gives more of a nudge in a direction on handling it. You still get the freedom of adding your own spin to it if you want. All in all it's a neat and useful idea to apply to games lycanthropy mechanics to all lycans
The D&D 3.0 Monster Manual had a bit of info regarding DCs for resisting turning into your werecreature form during full moons and battle, it's worth a look if you want a bit more info than the 5e MM version.
Yeah while stuff like werewolves aren't super common in most things I DM I still make it a choice for the player whether they want to keep and pursue this new "power" or do a small quest to get rid of it rather than the generic remove curse issue
Hey Ted, I’m just wondering if you’ve thought about covering the Grim Hollow setting. It’s a homebrew setting for 5e and it has some pretty cool mechanics around it and it has its Player Guide with a bunch of new subclasses, items, spells, and whole curse and background system. Love the videos btw, my go to channel for D&D content.
Some of the Domains are pretty two dimensional with rules as written. It's fantastic that they packed so many domains (primary and tertiary) into this book, but there's a lot that they expect the DM to fill in.
0:46 is he did a lore video: jorphdan, would give him the silent PH curse AJ would put him into an eternal slumber with a chill lore vid MrRhexxit would describe him the reproductive cycle of krakens in detail, until it was burned into his soul The DnD lore scene is hardcore like that
In some places? Almost every Domain listed in the book feels like either a rough draft, or a complete nerf of the lore. PLEASE, dive into them. Without honest feedback on this type of low effort product, they’re just going to be encouraged to do it in future projects.
@@DaDunge a couple of cursed item curses persists even when the victim no longer has the item. If remove curse had to be cast on the item or caster of the curse instead of the victim then that could at least add some tension
Funnily enough most cursed items are harder to get rid of than lycsnthropy, since you need wish to remove (some) of them. Risking not being able to cast wish ever again
When I record these videos I try and film them as fast as possible. So to save on editing time I just do a direct upload to TH-cam. When regular content aside from Van Richten's returns it'll be back
appreciate you going through this. Not sure if you'd be interested, but I recently found ultramodern5 redux pdf and the amount of detail and options it gives you is fantastic and would love to see you check it out
***Spoiler for Storm King's Thunder*** It would be a good idea to put these into Storm King's Thunder when the PCs have to plunder the barbarian mounds.
Don't like it. I like gravity to *some* curses, but lift for an *hour* with remove curse? Too weak. That should last at least a day. As for Greater Res, for 100gp and as 5th level, it should lift it completely, or at least assign, the curse a "level", and treat it like a Dispel Magic check.
I'm going to be honest, I really do not like these kinds of curses. It comes very much from a sadistic DM I once had that rather enjoyed making sure no matter what you did you'd get something to show off a nasty status effect. It may as well be a ticket taker for the plot railroad. In my opinion this section is way beyond a massive disappointment. They could have implemented a proper curse/disease system that actually addressed the issues, but instead they threw a 'no fun allowed' solution just like legendary resistances. I would wager money that the 'lingering curses' needing a casting of remove curse was made entirely to not render remove curse completely pointless.
And it does have a use. It can supress the effect of the curse. The reason people complain about the power of remove curse is that RAW a third level spell can overcome a curse laid by one of the greater gods. That isn't how it should work. Counter spell can't stop a high level spell reliably unless upcast, so why should a third level remove curse get rid of a powerful curse that was laid by a god. And besides, curses like this are designed to be story elements, They block areas and motivate the players. Before, any curse based story elements had to be done with before 5th level or else the party themselves were most likely capable of just brushing past it.
I like the idea of using these curses and the omens from Mythic Odysseys of Theros in a low magic, sword and sorcery campaign. Even though true spellcasters would be rare, this is a form of magic that anyone could theoretically access
Just piss off a sufficiently powerful entity and you get a funky new magic
"until the castle rises above the clouds" good Gargoyles reference
I like the hereditary curse idea in association with a dark gift. Your father robbed a tomb and was plagued by Voices of the spirits. Since he died they have come to visit you...
... return the slab...
@@jasonbolding3481 I was waiting for this reference. The wraith one reminded me of Ramses.
Curses have long since been underwhelming in 5E. I'm really excited about these. Thank you for the up-to-date thoughts and information! Cheers!
I can see a a Top 5 vid of what Domains of Dread you’re most likely to run a game in, if even a oneshot. Just what themes sorta speak to you.
How about yours?
One I really think i'd want to try designing is a domain governed by a poweful ancient dragon. Maybe civilization would be scattered or really primitive for the dragon/s were too ravenous
@@Booklat1 so MTG tarkir? I could also see a land of crazy kobolds and a dragon? I'm not sure how I'd make that more spooky and less typical d&d though.
I think Neverland/Peter pan could be an interesting starting point for a domain. One with a dullahan dark lord could be cool. I also like the idea of some kind of Willy Wonka domain. Is there a beholder domain? Because if not there should be. I kinda want to do something with orcs, and goblinoids but again, not sure how I'd make it not feel like normal d&d.
@@Nildread kinda like tarkir yea, though probably even more like Jund used to be before the maelstrom (in the big predator eats everything else sort of sense)
@@Booklat1 ah fair.
I used the book to create a crocodile infested mangrove swamp domain of dread in like 15 minutes to give my players (daughter and her friends) anxiety and probably PTSD. With a homebrew primordial crocodile as the dread lord... Apparently trying to stay in the boat or slushing waste deep threw a swamp while being stalked by an ancient lizard of pure hunger is scary... Who knew?
What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse
Finally a proper broken vow curse that works for a paladin
I would enjoy seeing you make your own domain and darklord.
Oh, I'd like to see that!😀 Same for curses and dark gifts! I bet Ted could come up with some really good ones.
Dark lord and domain would be easy because the book has support for making your own. Curses and dark gifts is a bit more complicated.
Easily the part of the book I’m excited about the most.
THANK GOD! A better version of lycanthropy...at least in regards to how it's done. I'll save my other thoughts for when you go over the monsters and the Loup Garou in that video cause it's actually pretty cool.
its definately better but i still like the one in grim hallow a bit better.
On my most recent character, he was on the brink of death (like, final breaths). What got him there was a dagger/weapon puncturing his throat and vocal cords. Before he actually died, a fiend made a pact with him to save his life in exchange for his service.
The whole point of this was to make the character a full mute.
Anyway, one issue I had was trying to figure out a workaround for just using Remove Curse, Regenerate, or some other thing that could basically make it moot.
When I brought this up with my DM, he suggested that part of the pact was that his voice helps in powering the pact that keeps him alive. I really liked this, because magically fixing the issue could potentially be a problem.
So this curse system helps make it seem like more like something possible, and also gives curses of its own to use.
Finally! 5e has been sorely lacking any actual system for curses.
In other fantasy media a curse can be something that the whole story centers around and I hated the fact that D&D curses all boiled down to "expend a 3rd level spell slot and then you're done".
Looking forward to videos on the rest of the Horror Toolkit.
I really like it when you contextualise these things Ted; telling us how *you* would use these in campaigns. Great stuff!
Running an Eberron campaign currently, and I think I might add curses like this as a result of Players uncovering the Draconic Prophecy.
This is interesting stuff. There is so much that can be done with the Curse(s) in game
So there was this one time my Cleric cast Remove Curse on the Dwarf Barbarian to cure his shortness. Turns out his backstory involved a Modify Memory spell. Oops.
Another channel that is discussing the Dread Domains is The Hour of the Raven. I highly recommend it for an information channel that is good to listen to while driving, like AJ Pickett
11:27 I see this as an absolute win, 1 innocent farmer for a super werewolf curse, worth
How I view the whole remove curse is a temporary relief is that it is removed, but it's constantly being reapplied since the source is unresolved
I think I would change Remove Curse to "Protection from Curse". once you got cursed you have to go on a quest.
I came up with an idea. When you target a curse that can't be removed by Remove Curse, instead it just failing to do anything it shows a way to remove it? The answer could be cryptic or clear based on the curse.
Can easily use this as a the ‘branded’ curse from berserk’s Gutts. (RIP BTW)
You have to fight a CR amount of undead spirits every night.
I think with the changes to curses, we should encorporate blessings and boons. Perhaps if they succeed in breaking the curse, the curse is then inverted as a boon, or given a different one by a deity that was observing your trial.
A fun curse from the books in the 2e days was Kelemnvors (sp?) . I believe he is niw the good if the dead. He gad a neat curse back as a mortal. His dad was cursed due to letting soneone die because they could not pay for his services. He was cursed so that if ever accepted a reward for a deed he would transform in panther thing until he killed someone /something. When Kelemnvor was born as an innocent child the curse flipped. He could not do any good dead unless he was rewarded. And it gad to be reasonable value. If not he did the panther thing
Love the curses here!!
But I'm curious how people handle curses in their games. What's a good rule of thumb that DM's could use, to decide if a curse should be removable by the "remove curse" spell or not?
EXP points delivering themselves to my front door every 10 days?
Yes please!
i'd keep the monsters CR higher to make it a deadly encounter, so it isn't "free".
@@bleddynwolf8463 Define "Deadly", because if you go by CR, you won't get a deadly encounter.
Also, knowing exactly when you'll be attacked it would be a cackewalk anyway; prepared PCs would tear apart your "deadly" encounter.
My DM had to stop the campaign at level 14 because he didn't knew what to throw at us.
In the last session we killed 3 adult red dragons in 2 turns.
@@WexMajor82 well,
firstly, i'd roll 1d10+ 3-5 to determine when the monster(s) would show up, to add a pinch of randomness
and something like the avatar of death, but only the cursed can harm it, it'd have spells and lower battle summons to distract the rest of the party.
it'd be built around the parties weaknesses, to exploit them
and i use milestone anyway, so ep isn't a factor.
@@bleddynwolf8463 That would be nice and great for the paladin, and a nightmare for the druid.
See, it's hard work to balance an encounter, especially for high level characters.
A fighter or a barbarian can mulch an avatar of death as early as level 11.
A bard? An artificer?
Even if you give something to do to the rest of the party, there's still the very real possibility that you put the cursed character in either a position where they aren't really in danger, or a position where they have no possibility of survival.
Also, milestones suck. But that's my opinion and you shouldn't regard it.
@@WexMajor82 well thats my point on suiting it for the party. if what i've outlined would'nt accomplish what i'm looking for, i'd just tweak it., those were just rough ideas in need of fine tuning. at high level play, homebrew is what i recommend, with tweaking of existing monsters to buff them.
milestones really depend on how good a story teller the DM is, they definatly can suck if done poorly, i just do so theirs no unforseen supprises.
So I did read a bit on lycanthropy in the monster manual and looked elsewhere for anything I could find and the wording in there doesn't say anything on how to apply lycanthropy to a game which gives me the impression that it's a DM discretion deal. What I like about the Garou it gives more of a nudge in a direction on handling it. You still get the freedom of adding your own spin to it if you want. All in all it's a neat and useful idea to apply to games lycanthropy mechanics to all lycans
The D&D 3.0 Monster Manual had a bit of info regarding DCs for resisting turning into your werecreature form during full moons and battle, it's worth a look if you want a bit more info than the 5e MM version.
@@whiskeyhound thanks for the info
Yeah while stuff like werewolves aren't super common in most things I DM I still make it a choice for the player whether they want to keep and pursue this new "power" or do a small quest to get rid of it rather than the generic remove curse issue
Hey Ted, I’m just wondering if you’ve thought about covering the Grim Hollow setting. It’s a homebrew setting for 5e and it has some pretty cool mechanics around it and it has its Player Guide with a bunch of new subclasses, items, spells, and whole curse and background system. Love the videos btw, my go to channel for D&D content.
At some point yes
Hey Ted, are you going to share your thoughts on the survivor’s section near the back of the book?
Yup
@@NerdImmersion WOO!
Some of the Domains are pretty two dimensional with rules as written. It's fantastic that they packed so many domains (primary and tertiary) into this book, but there's a lot that they expect the DM to fill in.
0:46 is he did a lore video:
jorphdan, would give him the silent PH curse
AJ would put him into an eternal slumber with a chill lore vid
MrRhexxit would describe him the reproductive cycle of krakens in detail, until it was burned into his soul
The DnD lore scene is hardcore like that
In some places? Almost every Domain listed in the book feels like either a rough draft, or a complete nerf of the lore. PLEASE, dive into them. Without honest feedback on this type of low effort product, they’re just going to be encouraged to do it in future projects.
As of they will do anything about it as long as crit roll fanbase swallows anything dnd whole
Gabriel from the Hour of the Raven made a good review. th-cam.com/video/woI_loW1lOo/w-d-xo.html
I like the idea that remove curse only works on cursed items.
@@DaDunge a couple of cursed item curses persists even when the victim no longer has the item. If remove curse had to be cast on the item or caster of the curse instead of the victim then that could at least add some tension
Funnily enough most cursed items are harder to get rid of than lycsnthropy, since you need wish to remove (some) of them. Risking not being able to cast wish ever again
Making a Domain of Dread and Dark Lord
HELL YEA
what do you think about a dm promoting a player cursing a player? i think its pretty wack but still :/
Dude! What happened to the music at the end? My three-year-old used to love that! :)
When I record these videos I try and film them as fast as possible. So to save on editing time I just do a direct upload to TH-cam. When regular content aside from Van Richten's returns it'll be back
@@NerdImmersion Haha Cool!
great detailed videos
appreciate you going through this. Not sure if you'd be interested, but I recently found ultramodern5 redux pdf and the amount of detail and options it gives you is fantastic and would love to see you check it out
Being unable to communicate that is a brutal curse
Damn Wotc is going hard
I don't like that no matter the power level you can't outsmart the curse, would have liked a option for a lv9 remove curse, wish etc.
video wont play
***Spoiler for Storm King's Thunder***
It would be a good idea to put these into Storm King's Thunder when the PCs have to plunder the barbarian mounds.
K.I.S.S. return the slab and everything will be fine
Don't like it. I like gravity to *some* curses, but lift for an *hour* with remove curse? Too weak. That should last at least a day. As for Greater Res, for 100gp and as 5th level, it should lift it completely, or at least assign, the curse a "level", and treat it like a Dispel Magic check.
play a Redemption Paladin who curses anyone who have assassin intentions in his presence, giving them 3 exhaustion levels.
5e is poorly designed
I'm going to be honest, I really do not like these kinds of curses. It comes very much from a sadistic DM I once had that rather enjoyed making sure no matter what you did you'd get something to show off a nasty status effect. It may as well be a ticket taker for the plot railroad. In my opinion this section is way beyond a massive disappointment. They could have implemented a proper curse/disease system that actually addressed the issues, but instead they threw a 'no fun allowed' solution just like legendary resistances. I would wager money that the 'lingering curses' needing a casting of remove curse was made entirely to not render remove curse completely pointless.
Woke joke
whats the point of remove curse if it doesn't remove curses? with this any "important" curse will have this lock so it makes the spell useless.
What's the point of a curse when regardless of its strength, a single cast of a low level spell will clear it up imediately.
And it does have a use. It can supress the effect of the curse. The reason people complain about the power of remove curse is that RAW a third level spell can overcome a curse laid by one of the greater gods. That isn't how it should work. Counter spell can't stop a high level spell reliably unless upcast, so why should a third level remove curse get rid of a powerful curse that was laid by a god. And besides, curses like this are designed to be story elements, They block areas and motivate the players. Before, any curse based story elements had to be done with before 5th level or else the party themselves were most likely capable of just brushing past it.