Bestow Curse: A Plague on Both Your Houses

Usable By: Bard, Cleric, Wizard

Spell Level: 3

School: Necromancy

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: Touch

Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

Components: V, S

You touch a creature, and that creature must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or become cursed for the duration of the spell. When you cast this spell, choose the nature of the curse from the following options:

Choose one ability score. While cursed, the target has disadvantage on ability checks and saving throws made with that ability score.
While cursed, the target has disadvantage on attack rolls against you.
While cursed, the target must make a Wisdom saving throw at the start of each of its turns. If it fails, it wastes its action that turn doing nothing.
While the target is cursed, your attacks and spells deal an extra 1d8 necrotic damage to the target.

A Remove Curse spell ends this effect. At the GM's option, you may choose an alternative curse effect, but it should be no more powerful than those described above. The GM has final say on such a curse’s effect.

At Higher Levels. If you cast this spell using a spell slot of 4th level or higher, the duration is concentration, up to 10 minutes. If you use a spell slot of 5th level or higher, the duration is 8 hours. If you use a spell slot of 7th level or higher, the duration is 24 hours. If you use a 9th level spell slot, the spell lasts until it is dispelled. Using a spell slot of 5th level or higher grants a duration that doesn’t require concentration.

Review by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold

“It was a rainy Monday night; I’ll never forget it. I just left the bar, drunk as a skunk, stumbling through the cobbled Waterdeep streets. In my stupor I bumped into a ravishing young creature. As she turned to me, looking me up and down expecting an apology, I opened my mouth to say something, but it wasn’t words that rained out onto her boots. She screamed, cursed at me, then slapped me across the face. Ever since, I spend about half my time staring off into space, thinking of her. She cursed me, Harold. Because I threw up on her shoes.”

- Benny the Broker to his boss after being bestowed a curse by an archfey

There are many spells I’ve come out saying I wish were DM tools instead. Spells like Teleportation Circle don’t scream “useful spell” to me as a player. Symbol is something that honestly feels like it belongs in a giant book of traps. Bestow Curse breaks this mold. Thanks to its up-casting scaling, it can flourish as something your grandmother hags deliver permanent banes with, while at its baseline as a 3rd level slot, some characters can get some decent save or die utility.

Starting with its base utility, Bestow Curse has one exceptional mode and three others that can be flexibly great. If you’re casting this on something you’re immediately fighting, you’re probably going to want to disable it about half the time or more with mode three. This effect is similar to Hold Person with one glorious exception: so long as you can maintain the concentration with the 3rd and 4th level versions, should they fail the save, there aren’t subsequent ones to end this effect. If you can keep your distance, you can hypothetically disable something for five or more rounds during that minute, and can easily navigate around this condition. The other three modes all can have some decent utility in shorter fights, but because they require you touch the creature anyway and you have to spend your action doing it, you’re probably going to lean towards the protective options.

Bestow Curse stands out against most other spells that can be up-cast in that the spell doesn’t just improve with a duration or quantity of creatures it affects. If you’re spending a 5th level slot or higher, you don’t need to concentrate on this effect. This opens the spell up to being something you concentrate on early, and can keep preparing later even when you find something more powerful to devote your concentration on. A nifty bonus here as is the duration increases, you’re often going to find you’ll want more flexibility with your concentration. Being able to curse a villain you meet outside of kill or be killed confrontation you intend to battle later with a 5th or 7th level slot can genuinely be useful; should it fail the save, regardless of what other spells you cast, for the duration whatever mode you pick affects them.

Bestow Curse fills a great place in D&D. The modes are useful, the effect scaling is really cool, and the cost is fairly low. The save or die combat requirements are pretty steep, as needing to touch a creature you want to curse can be dangerous. You’re getting a high risk high reward option here with great world building opportunities tied in nicely. If you’re in the market for a save or die that can do a bit more than something like Hold Person, while it can be tricky to use, I think you can get what you’re looking for out of Bestow Curse.

5e Spells

Bestow Curse: A Plague on Both Your Houses