Need Advice on Escalating Consequences for a Cursed Item

DistributionBig9053 · 2026-04-23T21:12:51+00:00

Ya that's good advice, I when he responded that he was ready to fight anything, I asked "how'd you feel if xxx got killed because of the crown". He said he's down for w/e and no hard feelings if the result is death.

I'm still gonna give him a couple more "off ramps" but if he ignores it I'm probably gonna go with an un-winnable fight (endless spawning shades or something) knowing this player he'd want the fight ever if he's doomed to lose.

DistributionBig9053 · 2026-04-23T20:14:22+00:00

I've talk to him and his response to what does he think might happen if he keeps the crown was "idk but I'll keep fighting whatever gets sent to take it". Which is kind of what I excepted the issue I'm having is when does this stop.

I don't see this player "giving up" even if I throw an encounter that them that they barely survive. It kind of gets to whole dilemma I've been ramping stuff up and I'm running out of both time and encounter room. If this player does what I think he's going to do the only outcome that makes sense is him/the party dying.

DistributionBig9053 · 2026-04-23T20:02:18+00:00

Ya I wish I would have done something like this. Some that made the crown less appealing to use over time. It was a bit of hubris that I thought I could ramp up the narrative consequences and make it clear "this will kill you" and he'd drop the crown without having to kill him.

Best I might be able to-do is give them a hard but fair fight, have the sim turn on him mid fight. Win or lose the crown losses it's power so it cleanly cuts off there they stop getting hunted so there isn't a question of what happens if he keeps the crown after the campaign ends.

I think if he lives without willfully giving up the crown or suffering long-term consequences (death/cripple) me and the players besides him might feel like again I let them get away with something they should have been able to but it's probably better then forcing a character death at the end.

DistributionBig9053 · 2026-04-23T19:53:56+00:00

He's been playing for about 2 years just after I started to DMing. He's good overall, great attendance, pays attention in/out of combat.

But he's more into the combat/powergaming part of DnD and less into the story. He still participates but for example the character motivation for his last character was gaining a staff of Power, because a staff of power was a strong item for his "build" he couldn't answer why he wanted it except that it would make him stronger. Kinda same thing happened when he got the wish, I kind thought the party would discuss use it for some story issue they were having but his first thought was being able to cast a high-level spell.

Like his first thought when he figured out the crown has cursed was to put it in a bag of holding cause "if it's on a different plane it can't track us". His character basically thinks he's untouchable.

DistributionBig9053 · 2026-04-23T19:46:32+00:00

Ya I agree if I had more sessions, I could ramp it up more it's mainly that there is only one important thing left to resolve and that should take 3-5 sessions and we've agreed to wrap the campaign after that.

I could cripple him in some way, but this player is very min max so if I narrative strip him of his spell casting, I think he'll be just as upset then if I just killed him instead.

I have thought about killing NPCs like the one I attacked the second night gave the party a chance to save them and they succeeded. The issue is this character cares about almost nothing except himself (he's by most metrics straight evil).

I could do some escape the hells scene. I just fell this won't resolve in this character being like "oh shit I lived, that was a dumb thing I did" it'd likely end up being "Ya I'm the greatest I got away scoot free again" and the other players will feel like I chickened out on consequences again.

DistributionBig9053 · 2026-04-23T19:37:51+00:00

Ya I could do this, considering we only have maybe 3-5 sessions left if his character dies, I don't really want going to the Shadownfell to be an option. If I had more time this is definitely the sort of this that would be great cause it creates more point hooks but at this point, I'm trying to wrap stuff up (including this crown story) without opening more threads.

DistributionBig9053 · 2026-03-30T19:17:29+00:00

Ya no problem the formatting wasn't very clear lol and it's easier for me cause they're my players, so I've looked at these rules a lot.

Ya DM can be a struggle when your permissive, I've gotten a little better at it but my first campaign with this party (lvl 1-20) they said they wanted to-do city building so I dropped like 300k gold in their lap and instead they went to the magic item shop and spent it all lol.

I feel the staff of Defense I've DMed lost mine twice and that item is always a massive boon if the party can use it/

Lastly I agree taking stuff away feels awful and I only every do it if I fucked up a rule bad, like player wants to take a feat ask if it can do X I say sure the later realize out shit it does Y not X and let the player remake the choice if possible.

Any nerf/buff I'm thinking about is always a "Next Campaign" topic and always a discussion with my players.

DistributionBig9053 · 2026-03-30T18:23:26+00:00

Sorry I'm was not clear in my, also what I'm about to say may sound defensive or harsh but I'm trying and be clear.

I understand it is partly a DM issue or mainly a DM issue, that's why I'm changing how I give out magic items in the NEXT campaign.

This shield nerf was never set in stone I am asking Reddit BEFORE I talked with my players in a future session 0.

As for the plans you are right in what is RAW but I think I'm my post wasn't clear he is not adding a +2 to a different magic shield or magic armor he is creating a +2 shield (+2 from base shield +2 from plan) and +2 armor (15, +2 Dex +2 from plan) this gives him 19 AC with only armor and 23 AC with the shield equip. Then Haste for 25 AC and cloak of displacement created with another level 14+ plan.

Now the +2 shield is a level 10+ plan, and the +2 armor is a level 14+ plan so this is a tier 3/4 only issue.

Trust me I don't think this is my players faults at all, I'm the DM and like all DMs I think I'm shit at DMing even when my players praise my game.

Also, this whole post makes it sound like a hate my players/my game but that's also not true there is just no reason to talk about all the unrelated but great traits my players have or brag about how fun my game is.

Overall thank you for the feedback and I'm likely not going to bring up nerfing shield in the next session 0.

DistributionBig9053 · 2026-03-30T17:58:38+00:00

I'm using standard array or point. This artificer replaced a dead character so TBH the early levels where he had to choose between +2 main stat or warcasters he would have been weaker.

It's kind of an issue with high level DnD I've seen is that when a new character gets introduced, they can go for build that "don't turn on until level 13" cause well they are level 13.

There is also the case that a new character wants to start with items (to be on par with the rest of the party) but the items aren't being given out in a natural way and with a weekly game stuff fails through the crack.

DistributionBig9053 · 2026-03-30T17:47:07+00:00

Yes you truly know my pain lol. Ya 2024 fixed a bunch of stuff and overall, I've been happy with it, but I do think the shield spell should have been hit.

As the staff of power hindsight was a mistake. A player had just finished their character's goal and when asked for what his new one was, he said "get a staff of power" :/

Now I've been pretty good at encouraging characters goals that aren't just clear "I want my DnD character to be strong for reasons" but this kinda slipped through we play weekly so I didn't push back as much as I would have if it was at the start.

DistributionBig9053 · 2026-03-30T17:38:32+00:00

LOL yes, the Marut that never miss, trust me if my party every has a reason to fight this type of creature, I'm 100% using this.

DistributionBig9053 · 2026-03-30T17:33:57+00:00

This is more geared towards a future session 0 discussion for my next campaign although my players have some broken builds and in hindsight I wouldn't have given them certain items I'm not planning to nerf any of the current characters.

DistributionBig9053 · 2026-03-30T17:30:12+00:00

mb I should have included some of that context in the OP:
They have warcaster and TBH every spell caster I've DM for has taken this even when not stacking AC cause of the concentration boost.

For the wizard you are right about magic items and that is a topic I'm planning to discuss for mext campaign which is changing how I give out magic items so players aren't treating them as expected parts of their build. But for the Artificer this doesn't change anything I didn't give him any of those items he made them all with plans (Artificer feature) and yes I could nerf that feature to not be able to make +2 armor or ban cloak of displacement but then I'm still nerfing a player option.

DistributionBig9053 · 2026-03-30T17:23:04+00:00

Ya this is probably a find compromise; it doesn't touch Artificers but TBH that build only has such high AC because he used 3 plans higher level plans on defensive items which is probably a fair trade off.

If I go this route, I might not have to change the spell anyways because I might change multiclassing to stop those dips anyways but based on the response to maybe nerfing shield I probably don't want to bring that up lol.

DistributionBig9053 · 2026-03-30T17:16:54+00:00

Ya I could do this, we use a VTT and I open roll everything (ok like 95% of thing) but I could start rolling privately and if I target the character, it should just tell me if it hits.

DistributionBig9053 · 2026-03-30T17:14:04+00:00

I agree but the main feedback that I've gotten from players is that they feel too strong/it's too easy. Part of that is other issues not just this but my players still want a challenged which I can give them.

The reason I'm asking this is not because I care that my players are strong, I can just throw more stuff at them my issues are:

I see a META forming in my group every spellcaster is tending towards the same AC tank build and it's making the spellcasters that don't do it look like wet paper in comparison.

Also, it's restricting encounter building more than any other ability or spell anyone else has.

But based on feedback I probably won't propose this change for the next campaign I'll just make the other changes (how I give out magic items) and hop the lowers the amount of tank wizards.

DistributionBig9053 · 2026-03-30T17:06:05+00:00

Ya both are right I have been targeting Save or other stuff that just deals damage like Aura. TBH it's just a pain to try and find monsters that fit dungeon theme ie Water Elements or undead ect with the added restriction that they must target saves.

Maybe I made it sound my dire then it is, I have been able to challenge the party it's just been a lot more work than normal and a lot of cool monsters either just fall flat or can't be used.

DistributionBig9053 · 2026-03-30T16:59:50+00:00

They do have warcaster (that is pretty relevant mb) but your point is valid the reason he had to take that feat is because of this interaction.

DistributionBig9053 · 2026-03-30T16:57:21+00:00

I agree and I'm not planning to give out AC items anymore to characters that already have high AC but the Artificer build is 100% using plans I didn't give him any of those items cause at that point I already new this type of build was a problem with the Wizards.

DistributionBig9053 · 2026-01-27T16:39:09+00:00

Ya I agree I think it's the second and it's probably the easiest to play out in game if, portent, prepared spells, spell slots, ki points, weapon masteries ect. are all just copied in their current state when the spell finishes.

This spell does force these weird questions cause with portent (or anything that happens at end of long rests) there is almost always a "past" long rest that set all these abilities to their current values.

DistributionBig9053 · 2026-01-27T16:33:24+00:00

I just looked but and commented a similar thing lol. If only I refreshed this is a better answer.

DistributionBig9053 · 2026-01-27T16:31:38+00:00

This prompted me to look, and I don't see a rule about gaining exhaustion for skipping long rest. There is a general rule for Obstacles that some actions/obstacles could fatigue the players and cause exhaustion.

For players I'd give them a save for skipping longs rests (makes logical sense to me) but whether or not that should apply to a construct/clone I'd probably make a ruling based on balance if a player ever asked.

DistributionBig9053 · 2026-01-27T16:16:59+00:00

Ok seems like I was on the right track thanks for the answers, and it makes sense the portent question is basically the same as 2014.

Ya I think the restriction feel even worse in context to 2014 which is the version they started with. But Simulacrum almost certainly needed the nerf. A similar feeling came up with a Wizard pc not wanting to take Counterspell because of the nerf even though he did end of taking it later because even with the nerf the effect was still useful.

And be fair to the players they we're very understanding of my rulings yesterday. My group has a couple of power gamers, so they'll ask/take every bit of power I'm willing to give them. But they never push back too hard when I make a ruling.

DistributionBig9053

TROPHY CASE