4
\$\begingroup\$

I'm reworking some of my older campaigns in Pathfinder 1e and transferring them into Pathfinder 2e. One of the custom items I had in an original dungeon was a supposed "Wand of Wish" that was actually a "Wand of Aberrations"; functionally, it was a 1 charge wand that would apply a random +0 lvl Template onto either the character using it or the character the user indicates (depending on the intent and situation). That being said, I've decided to rework this mechanic into an "Idol of Lamashtu".

The encounter involves a devout Bugbear using one of these items to attain a boon from Lamashtu, the bugbear fighting the party and at least one identical idol for the party to loot. While it'd be easy to just have the idol apply one of Lamashtu's Divine Curses, I think it'd be more interesting and perfectly thematic to give the user a random kind of Lycanthropy (see the bottom of the page); this comes with the added bonus of having a solid item level to calculate treasure with. However, when I look up Lycanthropy between the Bestiary and Archives of Nethys, they never say what level the curse is, such as when they talk about a Curse of Nightmares being Curse 2 and Sellsword's Folly being Curse 9.

All that being said What Level Curse is Lycanthropy? Or better yet, what level would a cursed item that inflicts Lycanthropy be?

\$\endgroup\$

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
6
\$\begingroup\$

While the various lycanthropy curses are not explicitly given a level, using the level of the creature that inflicts them (such as level 3 for Curse of the Werewolf) should be a good stand in. For counteracting the curse, use the curse’s DC (since the curse is treated as an affliction), and half rounded up of the aforementioned creature level* as the counteract level. As for item level of an item that inflicts a curse, simply using the creature’s level should be fine; this is similar to the item level of scrolls, which equal the minimum level that someone could cast the spell on it (i.e. level 3 for 2nd level spells, level 9 for 5th level spells).

*per the guidance in the Counteract rules: "If an effect is a spell [which this isn't], its level is the counteract level. Otherwise, halve its level and round up to determine its counteract level."

\$\endgroup\$
3
  • 2
    \$\begingroup\$ It's worth noting that for Counteracting, the level of the curse is tremendously important, since Counteracting is based significantly on relative levels. If the counteracting effect is higher level, the counteract works even when the check fails (but not critically fails) - on a success, the counteract works if the curse is 1 level higher, and on a critical success the counteract works if the curse is 3 levels higher (and all of these are in spell-level terms, so half level rounded up) \$\endgroup\$
    – Delioth
    Commented Nov 2, 2020 at 16:39
  • \$\begingroup\$ That's a good point; I amended my answer. \$\endgroup\$
    – ESCE
    Commented Nov 2, 2020 at 16:52
  • \$\begingroup\$ It's also worth noting that it could be any level up from that, to make counteracting more of a tax. Depending on the level of the campaign (and I'm guessing Wands of not-Wish are not a low level find), that could be a choice the GM/writing can make \$\endgroup\$
    – Ifusaso 'he-him'
    Commented Jun 29, 2021 at 3:20

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .