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Man, it’s been a fucking coon’s age since I last posted any homebrew content. I kind of feel bad for anybody who followed my blog hoping to get a steady flow of that, and instead gets flooded out with all my social justice and baby animals. LOL
Well, tonight, we turn back the clocks about 14 years. It’s 2002. Guardians of Order has unleashed one of the most robust multi-genre systems of the time: The Revised Second Edition of Big Eyes, Small Mouth.
Now, I’ve been a huge fan of BESM for many, many years. Although I am no longer as interested in anime as I once was, the strength and versatility of the Tri-Stat system has always captivated my interest. For a long time I wanted to run a full campaign using BESM, but I never found that the time was right. There was always just one more other project that was more important, more pressing.
But after more than half of my regular Friday-based DnD group was unable to make the night’s session this week, I said - Fuck it. I”m pulling it out and running something, since we’ve been basically circle-jerking for the same reason for over a month now. And oh God, was it glorious. So glorious, in fact, that I’ve started sketching out the framework for my next campaign and returned to work on a number of old homebrew pieces I never got around to finishing.
Which brings us full circle. Tonight’s release is a homebrew attribute for BESM, made as part of a series of new attributes meant to patch up some holes in what one might consider magical archetypes.
It’s definitely a bit of a beast to read through it all, but I’m pretty proud of it. Enjoy.
Cost.
6 to 10 points/level
Relevant Stat.
None
Type.
Paranormal
Angry spirits or dark powers grant a character with this attribute the power to cast curses, hexes and jinxes on a victim. When a character takes this attribute, they select one of the following curses below that they can cast; in order to have access to multiple curses, this attribute must be acquired multiple times.
Casting a curse on someone is considered an offensive action. When a character decides to cast a curse, they must decide what magnitude to cast and spend 5 points of energy times that value. Note that while a curse remains in effect, the character cannot recover the energy spent to cast it.
When a character casts a curse on someone, they must include some way for the character to remove its effects. They are not obligated to tell their victim what these conditions are, or that they even exist, but attempting to cast a curse without grounding its power by "closing the circle" in this way immediately destroys a character. Players and GM's should work together to determine the means by which a curse can be removed, and this is always a good way to introduce new adventures to the campaign. A cursed archeologist who stole the canopic jars of an interred pharaoh might remain cursed until they return these precious treasures, while the shallow prince who spurned a less than comely lover may remain cursed until they accept true love into their heart.
Normally this attribute allows a character to cast a curse on any character they can see. The effects of that curse last only until the end of the encounter (although they can dismiss it at any time without an action), and they can be resisted with a successful Soul stat check. When acquired in this way, Bestow Curse costs the listed 6 character points per level. A given creature can only suffer the effects of a given curse once even if it is cast by multiple hexers. The durations of similar curses overlap, with only the strongest applying at any given time.
As noted below, a character's attribute in Bestow Curse determines how many total curses they can have activate at one time based on their combined magnitude. Unlike the highest magnitude of curse the character can cast, this value is independent of how many times the attribute is purchased. For example, a character with 4 ranks in Bestow Curse can have up to 7 magnitude worth of curses simultaneously active. One with 3 ranks in Bestow Curse to cast the curse of death and 4 ranks to cast the curse of weakness can still only maintain up to 7 orders of magnitude worth of curses because that's the highest value they possess.
For 7 CP, the character can craft a curse that can last up to one day per level. For 8 CP, the curse can last up to one month per level. For 9 CP, the curse can last up to one year per level. Finally, at 10 CP, the curse can also be essentially made "permanent." Until the curse is dispelled it never ends, and the character can choose whether to cause the curse to pass on to the victim's family (either by blood, such as their descendants, or by marriage to afflict anyone who is or becomes related to them). The CP cost of Bestow Curse can be reduced by 1 for each of the following restrictions that the player accepts:
The character must touch a subject to curse them. This means that against a foe that isn't willing or helpless, a successful unarmed attack roll is needed. This attack is made as part of the action to cast the curse and does not require a separate action.
The curse affects only creatures that are of the same general type as the character, as approved by the GM. For example, an elf or human character might cast curses that only affect other human-like races, while a reptilian shaman might cast curses that only affect other reptilian creatures.
The curse requires a certain amount of regular focus to maintain. As long as the character has even a single curse active on another character, they cannot spend energy for any purposes other than to cast additional curses.
Curse of Death
When casting the curse of death, the character curses their victim with great physical and mental frailty, the long suffering of disease, and a hellish stubborness in their wounds to refuse to close. For every order of magnitude, it takes characters an additional period of time to recover health points. In a "normal" campaign, a magnitude 1 curse of death would cause a victim without access to the Healing or Regeneration attributes to only regain health points after every two hours of rest. Even a victim with 6 levels of Regeneration would recover health points after only every 7 rounds of rest or activity with a magnitude 6 curse.
Greater Curse. A character that purchases a "seventh" rank in this attribute gains all the benefits of the previous six ranks, but also gains the ability to cast a greater curse of death. This curse costs 10 energy points per order of magnitude, but also causes wounds that it inflicts to resist any sort of advanced healing. Attributes like Healing and Regeneration are suppressed, and any magical ability or technological item that recovers hit points when used (such as a healing spell or a medkit) is wasted on the victim to no effect.
Curse of Inadequacy
When casting the curse of inadequacy, the character curses their victim with clumsiness, poor timing, and otherwise just terrible luck. Select one skill check; for every order of magnitude, the curse of inadequacy imposes a +1 penalty to the designated skill check.
Greater Curse. A character that purchases a "seventh" rank in this attribute gains all the benefits of the previous six ranks, but also the gains the ability to cast a greater curse of inadequacy. This curse costs 10 energy points per order of magnitude, but the penalty instead applies to one of the target's Stats – Body, Mind, or Soul – and thus affects any relevant stat or skill check.
Curse of Weakness
When casting the curse of weakness, the character curses their victim with crippling doubt, crushing vulnerabilities, and obvious frailty. The curse of weakness imposes the penalties of one or more Defects that the character selects when casting this curse, with the total BP value of these Defects equal to the magnitude of the curse. If the victim already has that Defect, they suffer the worse penalties between their own character sheet and the curse.
You can only apply Defects that directly affect a character without impacting their background or history; for example, you could curse a victim with Not So Tough, but not with Significant Other or with Owned By a Megacorp. The GM must approve any curse of weakness.
Greater Curse. A character that purchases a "seventh" rank in this attribute gains all the benefits of the previous six ranks, but also the gains the ability to cast a greater curse of weakness. This curse costs 10 energy points per order of magnitude, but it has the power to reshape the nature of reality and history in order to apply any Defect the character chooses.
Level 1. You can cast a curse with a magnitude of up to 1, and you may have a number of curses active simultaneously worth up to magnitude 1.
Level 2. You can cast a curse with a magnitude of up to 2, and you may have a number of curses active simultaneously worth up to magnitude 3.
Level 3. You can cast a curse with a magnitude of up to 3, and you may have a number of curses active simultaneously worth up to magnitude 5.
Level 4. You can cast a curse with a magnitude of up to 4, and you may have a number of curses active simultaneously worth up to magnitude 7.
Level 5. You can cast a curse with a magnitude of up to 5, and you may have a number of curses active simultaneously worth up to magnitude 9.
Level 6. You can cast a curse with a magnitude of up to 6, and you may have a number of curses active simultaneously worth up to magnitude 11.
