100 Calamitous Curses provides the Castles & Crusades Castle Keeper with 100 unusual and interesting curses. These can be bestowed upon player characters through mischance and misfortune or used by player character clerics and wizards on hapless non-player enemies. While designed for use with Castles & Crusades, the curses are easily adapted to any fantasy role-playing game system.

Few of these curses are of the immediately deadly sort, save perhaps to 1st level characters; they are all designed to fall within the parameters set by the bestow curse spell, the reverse of the remove curse spell which is useable as a 3rd level clerical spell or 4th level wizard spell.

Examples of curses include:

#16: Curse of the Bull’s Eye: The accursed one becomes a target for any enemy archer within range, even if much better targets are available, and all arrows and crossbow bolts aimed at the accursed one gain a +4 bonus to hit.

#30: Curse of the Ogre-King’s Nose: The accursed one’s nose grows to the size of a goblin’s head, regularly dripping gobbets of mucus and making hideous snorting sounds, making it very difficult to eat or speak (requiring a Dexterity save to do any of these), and especially to cast spells with a verbal component; 25% chance to miscast and lose any spell that has a verbal component. Needless to say, it is also quite a social problem, and anyone who tries to sleep nearby will fail utterly as the accursed one’s snoring is of deific proportion (though oddly the accursed one never notices it)! Even if the nose is cut off, it regenerates and expands within moments.

#48: Curse of the Crimson Claws: The accursed one’s hands are transformed into large, crab-like claws of thick chitin. She cannot hold any tools or weapons, and cannot cast any spells requiring a somatic component. Rogues and the like cannot climb, open locks, pick pockets, or perform any other abilities that require fine motor skills of the hands. Even using a door knob requires a simple Dexterity check! The accursed one can attack with her claws, one each round, though she is considered non-proficient with the attack, and deals 1d3 points of normal damage with each hit.

#97: Curse of the Beggar’s Bait: Any beggars the accursed one encounters recognize the accursed one as a generous type and easy touch, especially if the character most certainly is not. The accursed one rapidly acquires a following of entire mobs of beggars following him, asking for alms and assistance. Even wholesale slaughter does not deter the beggars in their quest for spare change; they follow their charitable hero wherever he goes, a great unwashed mass of hunger and privation, never once able to provide any sort of assistance to their “savior.”

Rules for removing curses and details for including cursed scrolls in treasure troves are also included.

100 Calamitous Curses is a 12-page PDF including 100 curses for only $2.50.