Guide to Curses

"That blasted paladin has thwarted my plans for the last time, Squibbs!” the lich fumed. “I’m going to make his life completely and utterly miserable." 
“What horrible fate shall you visit upon him this time, master?” his imp familiar asked. 
“I’ll kidnap his loved ones.” 
“Master,” the imp said, “You have already done this.” 
“Then, I’ll simply annihilate them.” 
“Once again, you have already done this.” 
“A blight upon his homeland?” 
“Did that.” 
“A pox upon his person?” 
“Yup.” 
“Report him to His Majesty’s Tax Collector for income tax evasion?” 
The imp smiled. “I still remember his face when they showed up.” 
“How about... a curse?” the lich suggested. 
“Oh, sure,” the demonling sneered. “A little pain and a little hindrance; that’s sure to kill him.” 
A snap of the lich’s fingers sent the familiar flying across the room, crashing into the cold stone wall. The undead rubbed his skeletal hands together and grinned menacingly at the imp. “No, Squibbs, this time I have something more interesting in mind...”
==Introduction==
The realm of magic is full of enchantments, some of them beneficial, but not all. Some people just want to hinder or harm, because of real or imagined slights, to stop them in their tracks, to enact retribution, or because of plain malice. Curses were invented by and for these people.
Ingame, curses are a type of debuff most usually applied by Warlocks. They are cast quickly, have a short duration and encompass the following array of effects: damage over time, slower movement, slower casting speed, reduced resistance. To keep the terms apart, they will from now on be called battle curses.
As a type of magical effect, curses proper share the following attributes:
* Lengthy preparation and casting. Usually "tailored" to the victim.
* Long duration, spanning from weeks to generations.
* Not easily dispelled. Usually require a "tailored" ritual to remove.
* Always carry some sort of negative effect to them.
==Dread curses==
These are what most think of when they hear the word "curse". Blasphemous invocations chanted by dark necromancers slouched over bubbling cauldrons with eye of newt and leg of fish, unleashing pox, blight and madness upon people and countrysides.
The power of dread curses come from the caster's malice. Mindless hatred and fury inevitably leads towards hurting oneself and one's dearest and the caster of a dread curse must be prepared for the fact that he has to consciously let the curse's dark magic hurt of warp him in some way. This is represented by the "backlash" section of the list of curses.
Removing a dread curse is no easy task. A caster of sufficient strength can attempt to break it with a spell, but it is much more likely they'll need a cleansing ritual specially tailored to the subject's curse (RP opportunity!). Contrary to popular belief, killing the caster rarely frees the subject of the curse - these things are meant to last, unless the caster deliberately ties the curse to their own life force it will not go away until it is removed or has run its course.
Name 	Potency	Effect 	Backlash
Curse of the Blemished Skin	Lesser 	Subject's skin erupts with warts. If removed, they reappear at dawn. 	Caster's skin takes on a waxy appearance.
Curse of the Forgetful Mind	Greater	Subject suffers from acute short-term memory loss, often forgetting where they are, what they are doing at the moment or even who they are speaking to. 	Caster is withdrawn from the memories of his friends and kin. They forget about his presence or even who he is.
Curse of the Legion 	Greater	Subject believes to suffer from bouts of temporary amnesia. So do the other people who share this body. 	Caster suffers from insomnia.
Curse of Withering 	Dire 	No matter how much is eaten or what magic is used, subject loses 1-2 lbs per day until they die of starvation. 	Caster feels hunger unless he eats at least twice as much as usual per day. Weight gain implications can be stopped by sheer willpower or intense excersise regimen.
Murphy's Curse 	Dire 	A strange curse devised by the wizard known as Murphy, it brings ill fortune of epic proportions upon the subject: everything they attempt that can fail, must fail.	The caster finds that actions he cannot fail at, will fail.
==Faerie curses==
The brighter side of cursing, but no less vicious if one puts one's mind to it. Faerie curses possess all the technical traits, but there is a fundamental moral difference: dread curses stem from pure malice, hurting others is the only goal of those who cast them; faerie curses are cast to enact poetic justice, enforce retribution for crimes and, if possible, cause the subject to repent for his misdeeds.
A faerie curse cannot be cast on just about anyone: the subject must be someone who has earned bad karma through some reprehensible act. For example, stealing a piece of gold from a rich man isn't enough to warrant a faerie curse, stealing the last few pieces of copper from an impoverished, starving family could end with a curse of epic proportions, especially if someone dies because of it.
The potency of a faerie curse depends on a certain brand of storybook logic that makes it stronger if certain conditions are met during the casting. The best-known are: speaking the words of the curse before a watching crowd, speaking in verse and tricking the subject into speaking the word of his own curse. Thus, people of great repute, sharp wit and skills of poetry or storytelling can abuse the system and work great curses for minor slights.
Removing a faerie curse is different from removing a dread curse: it is tied to the subject's bad karma which hangs above him like a black cloud, visible to all who can see the unseen. Because of this, it always has an instant getaway condition that lifts the curse before it runs its course: it can be an epic quest or something as simple as a public apology. Unless it's specified at the speaking of the curse, however, it's always the original victim forgiving the subject, with the implied change of heart.
Name 	Potency	Verse 	Effect
Curse of Flame's Enmity 	Lesser 	 	Fire (and combustion in general, such as embers) refuses to warm the subject. They could be standing in a bonfire and would still complain about the cold while burning to a crisp. Other sources of warmth work normally.
Curse of the Wind's Enmity	Greater	 	The wind takes much pleasure in carrying the sounds you make to all the wrong people. Whispered secrets will find their way to the ears of your enemies and friends will hear only faint echoes of your cries for help.
Curse of Earth's Enmity 	Greater	 	The ground under the subject's feet always feels awkward and hostile. Maybe because it actively tries to trip them up. Every fall feels as if done onto sharp, jagged rocks.
Curse of Sea's Enmity 	Greater	 	The sound of rushing water and the smell of the sea carry an ominous note for you. Whenever you are immersed in water, you are dragged down as if by a thousand tiny arms.
Curse of the Frozen Heart 	Dire 	 	This curse is cast exclusively on those who abandon or betray true love. The subject turns into a creature of elemental ice over time, unless the true love is saved or restored.
Curse of the Sky's Enmity 	Dire 	In brightest day, in blackest night/if thou deny the spirits' right/stop mortal souls on final flight/I curse thee now, with spirits' might!	This curse is cast exclusively on those who have committed a grave crime against the spirit world as a whole. Angry denizens of the unseen haunt the subject at all times, denying peaceful rest at night and ruining his life with ill fortune and omens of impending doom at day.
The Crowning Curse 	Dire 	 	This curse is cast exclusively on arcanists who deliberately and wantonly use their art to harm either the arcane community as a whole or endanger the magical stability of Azeroth. Only a few NPCs in the world know how to cast it. It causes the subject's hands to become twisted and gnarled; their voice becomes a hoarse whisper, making singing impossible. Furthermore, all magic they cast is powered by their own lifeforce, aging them by several years for even the simplest of enchantments and even more for greater displays.
Category:Guides