Magic Item Drawbacks

Since my very first days of playing AD&D, I’ve loved magic item curses. Though to be fair, I suspect some of that love might stem from me having been mostly a forever GM for those many years, so that I spend more time on the fun GM side of curses than the annoying player side.

I’ve made use of item curses in many a campaign. I wrote rules for magic item curses in 4th edition D&D that made their way into the magic item tome Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Emporium. I’ve been “awarded” a cursed magic item or three in my day as a player and was just fine with that, because I truly and honestly love how things like curses can send the story of a game off in unexpected directions. But I totally understand that for many, many players, cursed magic items and their impact on character agency often make for an immediate stop to the fun. 

With those players in mind, I set up an array of magic item drawbacks (inspired by the type of item curse known as a drawback in D&D 3.5) for the CORE20 RPG. I find drawbacks just as much narrative fun as full-blown curses, but their effects are much, much milder, and thus less prone to wrecking the fun for players who don’t like their character story upturned as much as I do. So if those sorts of players are part of your 5e campaign, you can make use of those drawbacks, converted from CORE20 to 5e. 

You can roll randomly or choose a drawback for a magic item, or use the drawbacks presented here as inspiration for other story-complicating drawbacks of your own. A magic item with a drawback is never bonded to a wielder as a cursed item typically is, and so can simply be abandoned or set aside until its drawback can be dealt with. A drawback can be removed from an item with a remove curse spell. Any ongoing effects caused by a drawback are undone 24 hours after the drawback is removed from the item or the item is abandoned.

Drawbacks

1. Whenever you finish a short or long rest, your hair grows 1 inch longer.
2. Whenever you finish a short or long rest, you either shrink 1 inch shorter in height (1–3 on a d6) or grow 1 inch taller (4–5 on a d6).
3. The temperature within 5 feet of the item is always 10 degrees F cooler than the ambient temperature around it.
4. The temperature within 5 feet of the item is always 10 degrees F warmer than the ambient temperature around it.
5. Whenever you finish a long rest, your hair changes randomly to another color typical for your lineage.
6. Whenever you finish a long rest, your skin changes randomly to another color typical for your lineage.
7. A tattoo appears on your body of embarrassing, profane, or incriminating nature, as the GM determines.
8. Whenever the campaign enters downtime, you must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or be affected by a random disease.
9. The item continually emits a disturbing sound (moaning, weeping, screaming, cursing, insults, and so on).
10. Some aspect of the item’s appearance randomly becomes conspicuously unusual (garish color, useless flanges or appendages, embarrassing sigils, and so forth).
11. If you are ever surprised, you panic and must attack the nearest creature on your first turn in combat. If you can’t do so, you are stunned until the end of your first turn.
12. The first time you use the item after you finish a long rest (the item is activated, is used as part of an action, has its bonus made use of, and so forth), you are stunned on your next turn.
13. Your eyes are blurry, imposing disadvantage on Perception checks involving vision.
14. Your hands tremble, imposing disadvantage on Sleight of Hand checks and checks made using tools that involve fine movement.
15. You are plagued by self-doubt, imposing disadvantage on Performance and Persuasion checks.
16. You have trouble catching your breath, imposing disadvantage on Athletics checks.
17. You mumble constantly to yourself, imposing disadvantage on Stealth checks whenever other creatures can hear you.
18. The first time you enter combat after you finish a long rest, you are poisoned during the first round of combat.
19. Whenever you finish a long rest, you must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or have disadvantage on Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution saving throws (chosen randomly) until the end of your next long rest.
20. Whenever you finish a short rest, you must succeed on a DC 10 Wisdom saving throw or gain 1 level of exhaustion that lasts until you finish your next short rest.