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I love the open-ended aspect to this spell, which rewards creativity! I would try to use it to make an enemy mute... meaning no more casting of spells with a verbal components for that pesky mage! It could also be fun in social contexts: giving donkey ears to someone, making them sterile (magical birth control for the party's womanising bard?), preventing the target from saying anything negative about the party, causing memory loss (when the spell ends, the target has a "black out" of everything that happened during the duration, as if drunken or drugged), changing the target's alignment, making the target fall in love with someone, force the target to only say the truth, etc. In fact, I think the "curse" could even be used to create beneficial effects. Curse a kid so he cannot want to play or let himself be distracted until he has finished his homework. Curse a wife to be incapable of feeling attraction to any man other than her husband. Curse bureaucrats and law enforcement agents to be incapable of accepting bribes. A benevolent high-level caster could go around making the world a better place with permanent "curses" that force people, especially those in power, to be more decent and altruistic.
What I like about this spell is that it provides a template for increasing duration through levelling which is great for homebrewing, such as for an NPC maintaining Alter Self for example :)
A Warlock with Relentless Curse can arguably teleport each round to the cursed creature. Adding Bestow Curse to your spell list either by Orzhov Guild or multiclassing is nice since 5th level upcasts of Bestow Curse last 8 hours without concentration. So you could cast this not only on a bad guy but in the morning on a party member or your Imp familiar give them disadvantage to attack you and have multiple options of where to teleport.
I have a build in mind for this spell, warlocks get access to it through an invocation and with pact of the chain you can get invisible familiars. So I would have my invisible familiar run up and touch the bad guy before the fight starts. This also helps since the Spells have to be cast at their highest level, 5th once high enough, it loses the concentration component and the Warlock is free to use another concentration spell. I've seen on some forums fit bestow curse is suboptimal on warlocks, but I like the strategy and feel it plays into the warlocks Eldritch nature.
It works good but I wouldn't grab it until you have 5th level spell slots, too many invocations that are better when it is a concentration spell. Makes it much more effective also stacks with hex.
My most memorable use of bestow curse was when I used it against in my own party member. We were fighting a big bad and my character was Charmed to thinking that it was an ally. So I bestowed curse our biggest damage dealer, that he would have disadvantage and all attacks against the big bad
This spell always makes me think of that scene from lord of the rings where the king of Rohan is cursed and looks like an old man. This spell is loaded with creativity. You could use it for torture by having the curse amplify pain. You could make the target make a wisdom save or be compelled to do some mundane task like start running in a random direction. Or make a wisdom save to not be compelled to attack the barbarian. If the target lies they take necrotic damage. Honestly the uses are endless. Its a really good spell. Oh here is an idea. When ever the target tries to make an attack they have to make a wisdom save or they make an unarmed strike against themselves. When ever the target moves they have to make a save or fall prone. I can make up useful curses all day long. The familiar is the safest method of casting this spell but there are other ways. If you want to take a dip into sorcerer for a few levels you can pick up both subtle spell and distant spell meta magic. This would allow you to cast this spell silently or at a range of 30 ft with a sorcery point. This spell can also be used defensively as most melee fighters have poor wisdom and can be turned into a drooling mess if it hits. The best part is if your a bard or skilled in charisma you can effect one person with the curse and make a whole group of people think they are cursed. Im not entirly sure if a necromancer's undead count as damage from their attacks or spells however. If that is the case then the 1d8 necrotic damage would occur for every undead that hits the target in addition to every attack you make. With a multi attack spell like scorching ray it would be nothing for a low level necromancer to add an extra 6d8 damage to a target every turn. There is also the question of how this effect works with magic missile. The spell creates multiple darts that auto hit. Would it deal damage only once or per dart fired? I don't normally speculate in posts but I felt like bringing that bit up. If it works that way then your damage output would be crazy.
Man that's a lot to consider, I suppose you could always balance out the upcast versus the time duration to make it a little more balanced! For example if you wanted a stronger effect you could enforce an upcast, but drop the duration accordingly!
@@ChancesSpellbook ya this is one that you really need to take to your dm with and make your intentions clear as to the effect your trying to make. I am curious about how the 1d8 necrotic damage per attack or spell would work with those examples though.
@@ChancesSpellbook feel free to. I sadly don't have anyone to really play with so a lot of the ideas are largely untested. I like the challenge of working inside the RAW and the majority of my ideas should work well with those in mind.
A curse where the target cannot swim and sinks to the bottom of any liquids they attempt to swim in. It's highly situational (an requires DM approval), but with a 4th-level casting of the spell, a failed WIS save, and no breaks in concentration, it could prove highly effective at taking down targets that try to escape via the water.
a level 9 Warlock can use his bonus action to cast Hex and disadvantage Wisdom, level 5 bestow slot does not need concentration so both can be used together. Mega Ultra Hex!
Bards could use this spell as the "Pied Piper's Curse"; in which who ever hears a flute playing, they must obey the player's every command. (Speak with the Dead)
Bestow Curse is the perfect spell to pair with Glyph of Warding! Imagine finding a magic sword lying atop a long dead evil king in a crypt. A warning is written on his funerary marker that any who disturb the ancient monarch will be cursed. If a character picks up the sword without first dispelling the curse placed on the sword using Glyph of Warning, then that character is cursed. I would probably have it cast at a higher level so it lasts longer. The curse could be designed to make escaping the crypt much more difficult. roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Glyph%20of%20Warding
Once DM let me use it as "auto succeed intimidation roll", i use it with 2 flavors - "Then you pee - it will hurt like hell" and "You teeths will start to rot" then tell person what it will last untill i dispell it. Then i let person run and tell -"You will see results soon, dont tell anyone or it get worse and i wont remove it". After a few hours npc return and do everything what i told him to do. It was 24h version of spell btw, but since its impossible for a person to tell a difference - they belive me.
@@shadow-faye most of the invocation only spells should've been on warlock base spell list to begin with but I think they're changing it for the one dnd. Bestow curse is especially nice on warlock since eventually it automatically upcasts to 5th level so that it doesn't require your concentration.
Exactly, Andrew Nailed it!! I really appreciate you taking the time to comment! Feel free to use the Discount Code 'COMMENT', and get a free One Shot at chancesguild.com/collections/job-board!
*ADVENTURE IS CALLING! If you have a craving to play D&D or want to experiment with a new character, please come to our Interactive Campaign!*
th-cam.com/channels/9psrDU3oftnU49mrbUNWLA.html
I love the open-ended aspect to this spell, which rewards creativity! I would try to use it to make an enemy mute... meaning no more casting of spells with a verbal components for that pesky mage! It could also be fun in social contexts: giving donkey ears to someone, making them sterile (magical birth control for the party's womanising bard?), preventing the target from saying anything negative about the party, causing memory loss (when the spell ends, the target has a "black out" of everything that happened during the duration, as if drunken or drugged), changing the target's alignment, making the target fall in love with someone, force the target to only say the truth, etc.
In fact, I think the "curse" could even be used to create beneficial effects. Curse a kid so he cannot want to play or let himself be distracted until he has finished his homework. Curse a wife to be incapable of feeling attraction to any man other than her husband. Curse bureaucrats and law enforcement agents to be incapable of accepting bribes. A benevolent high-level caster could go around making the world a better place with permanent "curses" that force people, especially those in power, to be more decent and altruistic.
What I like about this spell is that it provides a template for increasing duration through levelling which is great for homebrewing, such as for an NPC maintaining Alter Self for example :)
I like it!
A Warlock with Relentless Curse can arguably teleport each round to the cursed creature. Adding Bestow Curse to your spell list either by Orzhov Guild or multiclassing is nice since 5th level upcasts of Bestow Curse last 8 hours without concentration. So you could cast this not only on a bad guy but in the morning on a party member or your Imp familiar give them disadvantage to attack you and have multiple options of where to teleport.
I have a build in mind for this spell, warlocks get access to it through an invocation and with pact of the chain you can get invisible familiars. So I would have my invisible familiar run up and touch the bad guy before the fight starts. This also helps since the Spells have to be cast at their highest level, 5th once high enough, it loses the concentration component and the Warlock is free to use another concentration spell. I've seen on some forums fit bestow curse is suboptimal on warlocks, but I like the strategy and feel it plays into the warlocks Eldritch nature.
It works good but I wouldn't grab it until you have 5th level spell slots, too many invocations that are better when it is a concentration spell. Makes it much more effective also stacks with hex.
Very cool idea, and great advice! I'd love to see how it would play!
Wouldn't it be the Familiar's concentration when cast that way?
Druid has a LOT if fire damage spells, and clerics have a lot of necromancy spells... Wizards of the coast, what are you trying to tell us?
Haha only time will tell!
My most memorable use of bestow curse was when I used it against in my own party member. We were fighting a big bad and my character was Charmed to thinking that it was an ally. So I bestowed curse our biggest damage dealer, that he would have disadvantage and all attacks against the big bad
This spell always makes me think of that scene from lord of the rings where the king of Rohan is cursed and looks like an old man. This spell is loaded with creativity. You could use it for torture by having the curse amplify pain. You could make the target make a wisdom save or be compelled to do some mundane task like start running in a random direction. Or make a wisdom save to not be compelled to attack the barbarian. If the target lies they take necrotic damage. Honestly the uses are endless. Its a really good spell. Oh here is an idea. When ever the target tries to make an attack they have to make a wisdom save or they make an unarmed strike against themselves. When ever the target moves they have to make a save or fall prone. I can make up useful curses all day long. The familiar is the safest method of casting this spell but there are other ways. If you want to take a dip into sorcerer for a few levels you can pick up both subtle spell and distant spell meta magic. This would allow you to cast this spell silently or at a range of 30 ft with a sorcery point. This spell can also be used defensively as most melee fighters have poor wisdom and can be turned into a drooling mess if it hits. The best part is if your a bard or skilled in charisma you can effect one person with the curse and make a whole group of people think they are cursed. Im not entirly sure if a necromancer's undead count as damage from their attacks or spells however. If that is the case then the 1d8 necrotic damage would occur for every undead that hits the target in addition to every attack you make. With a multi attack spell like scorching ray it would be nothing for a low level necromancer to add an extra 6d8 damage to a target every turn. There is also the question of how this effect works with magic missile. The spell creates multiple darts that auto hit. Would it deal damage only once or per dart fired? I don't normally speculate in posts but I felt like bringing that bit up. If it works that way then your damage output would be crazy.
Man that's a lot to consider, I suppose you could always balance out the upcast versus the time duration to make it a little more balanced! For example if you wanted a stronger effect you could enforce an upcast, but drop the duration accordingly!
@@ChancesSpellbook ya this is one that you really need to take to your dm with and make your intentions clear as to the effect your trying to make. I am curious about how the 1d8 necrotic damage per attack or spell would work with those examples though.
Steve Morris really like you ideas though, I might use them in some of my games!
@@ChancesSpellbook feel free to. I sadly don't have anyone to really play with so a lot of the ideas are largely untested. I like the challenge of working inside the RAW and the majority of my ideas should work well with those in mind.
A curse where the target cannot swim and sinks to the bottom of any liquids they attempt to swim in. It's highly situational (an requires DM approval), but with a 4th-level casting of the spell, a failed WIS save, and no breaks in concentration, it could prove highly effective at taking down targets that try to escape via the water.
Will definitely be useful against a boss. It's like a super Hex.
Definitely!
a level 9 Warlock can use his bonus action to cast Hex and disadvantage Wisdom, level 5 bestow slot does not need concentration so both can be used together.
Mega Ultra Hex!
@@lfm5444 Hex affects Checks, not Saves, right?
@@TDSFounder It affects saves.
Welcome to today’s episode of “Cursing like a sailor”
Bards could use this spell as the "Pied Piper's Curse"; in which who ever hears a flute playing, they must obey the player's every command.
(Speak with the Dead)
Very clever idea!
Bestow Curse is the perfect spell to pair with Glyph of Warding! Imagine finding a magic sword lying atop a long dead evil king in a crypt. A warning is written on his funerary marker that any who disturb the ancient monarch will be cursed. If a character picks up the sword without first dispelling the curse placed on the sword using Glyph of Warning, then that character is cursed. I would probably have it cast at a higher level so it lasts longer. The curse could be designed to make escaping the crypt much more difficult.
roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Glyph%20of%20Warding
I love that!
Now I want to make a Hex Grappler!
Now that would be fun!
Once DM let me use it as "auto succeed intimidation roll", i use it with 2 flavors - "Then you pee - it will hurt like hell" and "You teeths will start to rot" then tell person what it will last untill i dispell it. Then i let person run and tell -"You will see results soon, dont tell anyone or it get worse and i wont remove it". After a few hours npc return and do everything what i told him to do. It was 24h version of spell btw, but since its impossible for a person to tell a difference - they belive me.
giving the target disadvantage on wisdom, then use command and toll the dead.
Don't forget sign of ILL omen for warlock
Mean!
Haha I'm sorry old friend!
Clerics get this but warlocks dont
Wotc whats going on
They do with an invocation
@@GangurEXE why not just put it on the spell list
@@shadow-faye most of the invocation only spells should've been on warlock base spell list to begin with but I think they're changing it for the one dnd. Bestow curse is especially nice on warlock since eventually it automatically upcasts to 5th level so that it doesn't require your concentration.
So you have to make an unarmed attack in order to touch the enemy first...then cast the spell in which they get to make another save?
it auto hits but they must fail the save
qualandrew201494 It’s a touch spell like cause wounds and you have to roll an attack for that.
@@UberBri its like bane for example you dont have to roll an attack for it.. they just make a save
@@UberBri the spell would say you make a melee spell attack then the target makes a save
Exactly, Andrew Nailed it!!
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I never honestly understood how to use this spell. Like what is within it's limits and what isn't?