Curses fall upon those who break oaths, break guest friendship, make deals with powerful evil creatures or anger the gods. Curses are not to be taken lightly: they publicly and clearly mark a hero’s untrustworthy quality for everyone to see. Some examples follow.


Curse of the Harpy

Any person afflicted with this curse will slowly transform into a harpy. It is sometimes invoked by powerful fey creatures such as hags or nymphs when an oath is unfulfilled, though sometimes the gods might punish a mortal with this curse. The only way to stop the transformation is through powerful divine magic.


Curse of the Medusa

A person cursed in this fashion will slowly transform into a medusa. This curse usually comes from bargains made with devils and demons: a mortal might have been asking for beauty or eternal life, but instead was granted the terrifying form of a medusa. Sometimes, ancient fey creatures such as hags will transform a victim into a medusa, often simply for amusement. The transformation can be stopped with divine magic, but without intervention the victim will transform within a few weeks.

Curse of the Graverobber

This curse is visited upon someone who takes any magical item from the grave of a hero blessed by the gods. Those afflicted by this curse cannot eat. After a number of days equal to their Constitution score, the cursed character will gain one level of exhaustion every day until they die from starvation. It is impossible for the person to get rid of the magical item that they stole, even by returning it to the correct grave. It will always return to their possession at midnight.

Curse of the Treacherous

This curse afflicts those who abuse guest friendship or break powerful oaths. Those who violate the tenets of guest friendship are at risk of being cursed by the offended host or guest. Breaking an oath made to the gods will almost always cause the offending mortal to be cursed, but a person might also become cursed for breaking an oath to an especially powerful king, or even a pious beggar. The effect of this curse is directly related to the injustice of the offense.