TEXT: Requires the use of the Dungeons & Dragons® Player’s Handbook
  
  Many adventurers go through their
  careers without ever encountering a cursed
  magic item. Sages speculate that the appear-
  ance of cursed magic items is the result of
  random chance or a misstep in the delicate
  creation of a magic item. Many of these so-
  called mistakes are intentional, crafted for
  the express purpose of causing fear, uncer-
  tainty, dread, or vengeance.
  A word of thanks
  I would like to take a moment to thank
  Matthew Sprange at Mongoose Publishing
  Ltd. whose wonderful product Classic Play
  – Book of the Planes inspired one of the
  cursed items located in this PDF.
  I also
  thank him for giving me permission to link
  that item with some the concepts presented
  in his book. Although not necessary for your
  enjoyment of this product, it is highly rec-
  ommended for anyone interested in a planar
  campaign and is available at your local game
  store or online at http://www.mongoosepub-
  lishing.com
  Open Game Content
  All of the text of this PDF is presented as
  open game content. While this means
  absolutely nothing to your campaign it does
  give other publishers permission to use this
  material as long as they follow the open
  game license (see the end of this PDF).
  About the Author
  Mark Gedak is not a game designer, pub-
  lisher, or editor in the industry. He’s a high
  school chemistry teacher and gamemaster
  who has played various role-playing games
  for the last 20 years. For over a year now,
  Mark has been a regular playtester for
  Mongoose Publishing and recently released
  The Quintessential Psion Revision as a web
  enhancement for Mongoose Publishing. He
  is married to a wonderful wife who has been
  encouraging him to continue writing. This is
  his first product for Ronin Arts and he hopes
  that it will be well received and not his last.
  If you have questions, contact him at
  mark_gedak@go4.it .
  An Author’s note on cursed item
  detection, pricing, and requirements.
  A simple detect magic spell yields a mis-
  leading aura and strength, often indicating
  that the item is a non-cursed item of similar
  sort. An identify spell only has a 1% chance
  per caster level to reveal a cursed item’s true
  properties, including the cursed aspect.
  Analyze dweomer reveals the true nature of a
  cursed item.
  The prices of cursed items in the SRD
  seem to determine the value of the cursed
  magic item only on the beneficial aspects of
  the item.  Some of the negative powers
  inherent to the cursed items in the SRD and
  this book may be indirectly more powerful
  than the item’s benefits and this greater
  power is not reflected in the price of the
  items.
  It is the author’s opinion that the
  crafting of cursed objects remains strictly an
  ability of NPC opponents.  Most of the items
  contained in this book have been created
  from a creature’s willful intent to do harm to
  another creature and as such the items pos-
  sess more stringent requirements than cursed
  items in the SRD or cursed items that occurs
  by accident like the Steelmind Matrix.  
  Each cursed item follows the following
  format:
  Athenaeum Arcane:
  Cursed Items
  2 of 15
  Introduction
  
  NAME OF CURSED
  ITEM (BARDIC
  KNOWLEDGE DC)
  History: If a character makes a success-
  ful Bardic Knowledge check, that character
  will know that the item is not a regular
  magic item. A second successful check will
  reveal this information from the items past.
  Description: This details the item’s
  abilities, drawbacks. crafting requirements
  and the aura revealed by
  a detect magic
  spell. It will be presented in the format
  below:
  Aura; Caster Level; Prerequisites;
  Market Price; Cost to Create; Weight
  Detect Magic: False Aura that will be
  detected
  BEAUTIFUL
  LONELINESS
  (DC 18)
  History:
  There came a time when the
  men of the northlands decided they must
  expand their dominion into the ancient
  forests. Many attempts to clear-cut the area
  met with failure as workers vanished and
  equipment was sabotaged. An old trapper
  warned them that their incursions into the
  forest were drawing the attention of the
  faerie realms, but the foresters did not heed
  his warning.
  Instead they convinced a
  young mage to craft for them 4 magical
  handaxes of cold iron that could be used to
  slay the fey that had plagued the north-
  land’s expansion.
  Unfortunately, this plan was overheard
  by a redcap named Bricriu who then
  hatched a plan of his own. He hid in the
  young wizard’s home as the weapons were
  being enchanted. While the wizard rested,
  the fey laid his own curse within the han-
  daxes.
  Description: The +1 cold iron handax-
  es known to bards as Beautiful Loneliness
  carry a curse that first emerges when the
  wielder of the axe wounds a creature of fey
  type.
  As blood is drawn the wielder
  becomes imbued with the unnatural
  majesty and beauty of the fey. This beauty
  radiates from the wielder for 1d4 rounds
  and all non-fey creatures within 30 ft. must
  make a Fortitude save (DC 15) or die. The
  wielder becomes the target of the guilt spell
  if he meets the alignment restriction with a
  Will save (DC 15) as well. Those that make
  the saving throw are immune to these
  effects for 1 hour.
  Once the wielder has
  drawn blood he will suffer this curse each
  time he injures a creature of fey type
  regardless if he is using the handaxe or
  another weapon.
  Strong necromancy; CL 12th; Craft
  Magic Arms and Armour, bestow curse, cir-
  cle of death, guilt, creator must be a Fey;
  Price 4,006 gp; Cost to create 2,003 gp +
  160 xp; Weight 3 lbs.
  Detect Magic: Faint evocation
  BRACELET
  OF WEAKNESS
  (DC 28)
  History:
  The Bracelet of Weakness
  was first crafted by Gelhind Morimis, an
  unscrupulous advisor to the throne of
  Viraitia. The power hungry advisor seized
  upon his opportunity to bring this foul
  device into existence when the king became
  ill.
  This simple bracelet is made of flexi-
  ble silver wire capped by silver balls.
  Gelhind Morimis designed the bracelet to
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  monitor the king’s health while slowly sap-
  ping his strength, causing the king to suc-
  cumb to a series of illnesses until his
  inevitable death.
  Description:
  The Bracelet of
  Weakness is enchanted to detect disease
  within the wearer and will glow with a
  green light when the wearer is afflicted with
  a malady.
  While concentrating on the
  bracelet, all the information granted by the
  detect disease spell can be gleaned from it.
  Once the bracelet has detected its first dis-
  ease in the wearer, that wearer will suffer a
  -4 penalty to saves against the effects of any
  future diseases. In addition, any time the
  wearer contracts a disease they will suffer 1
  point of Constitution drain.
  Moderate necromancy; CL 7th; Craft
  Wondrous Item; bestow curse, contagion
  detect disease; Price 3,500; Cost 1,750 gp +
  140 xp; Weight: -.
  Detect Magic: Faint divination
  DRUID’S
  VENGEANCE
  (DC 21)
  History:
  Kiruk Halroth hated animals;
  they hated him as well. All his life animals
  had barked, hissed, screeched, and clawed
  at him.
  It reached a point where Kiruk
  would no longer leave the house for fear of
  being attacked. Kiruk hated being a prison-
  er to these lower creatures and hired an
  unscrupulous band of adventurers to cap-
  ture a local druid by the name of Silhia to
  find a remedy for his situation.
  At first the druid seemed understanding
  and 
  open 
  to 
  Kiruk’s 
  problem.
  Unfortunately, Kiruk’s goal to create a
  weapon to slaughter the animals, which did
  not give him the proper respect, soon
  caused the conversation to become one-
  sided.
  Angered at the druid’s refusal to
  help, Kiruk imprisoned him in his cellar
  and began a regular regiment of torture try-
  ing to force the druid to capitulate. After
  two months of constant abuse, Silhia real-
  ized a way out and vowed to craft a mighty
  spear that could be used to slay even the
  most savage of beasts that were hostile to
  Kiruk. Of course, as Kiruk found out, that
  could mean a lot of things to different peo-
  ple.
  Description:
  The Druid’s Vengeance is a
  +2 animal bane spear. When a wielder first
  touches the weapon one part of the curse falls
  upon him. All encounters between animals and
  the wielder will begin at unfriendly and can
  never become better than indifferent.
  This
  effect will persist even if the wielder is no
  longer using the spear; in effect, it becomes
  their personal curse. When the wielder strikes
  an animal with the spear it makes the animal
  just as violent and aggressive as Kiruk believed
  it to be. The animal is affected by the rage spell
  and continues fighting until it is at –10 hp and
  dies or until the person who injured it with the
  Druid’s Vengeance is dead.
  Moderate enchantment; CL 8th; Crafts
  Magical Arms and Armour, bestow curse,
  rage, summon monster I; Price 17,500 gp;
  Cost to create: 8,750 gp + 700 xp; Weight 6
  lbs.
  Detect Magic: Moderate conjuration
  ELIXIR OF
  FREEDOM (DC 25)
  History: Some say that this elixir was
  first crafted by a gnome cleric by the name
  of Brindle. He maintained a small shrine at
  the edge of a small town that was often the
  thoroughfare of adventurers. Adventurers
  who demanded healing spells or curative
  potions constantly approached Brindle.
  They would callously toss a pouch of coins
  Athenaeum Arcane:
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  at him feeling that this was restitution
  enough for access to his divine gifts, and
  for a time it was.
  Gradually however,
  Brindle realized that all the powers that his
  god would grant him were each day were
  being squandered on adventurers that took
  no heed of his teaching or of his god’s
  ways. Dissatisfied by the turn that his life
  had taken, Brindle hatched a plan to end the
  adventurer plague that had befallen him. It
  was at this time he created the Elixir of
  Freedom.
  Description:
  The Elixir of Freedom
  appears to be nothing more that a standard
  cure light wounds potion by its colour,
  smell and taste, due to the prestidigitation
  spell that is at the heart of this elixir. Upon
  drinking this elixir, which is disguised as a
  healing draught, the creature is targeted
  with the spell vacate bowels. The creature
  may attempt to resist the effects of this
  elixir with a successful Fortitude save (DC
  12). A successful save by the creature still
  leaves the creature sickened for one round.
  Faint necromancy; CL
  5th, Craft
  Wondrous Item, bestow curse, prestidigita-
  tion, vacate bowels, Price: 150 gp; Cost to
  create: 75 gp + 6 xp; Weight: -.
  Detect Magic: Faint conjuration
  HARP OF HEROES
  (DC 12)
  History: One cannot be sure where the
  Harp of Heroes came from, since as many
  tales exist about its origin as the tales that
  have been told with it. The most popular
  tale recounted among the clerics of law is
  that the harp was cursed by the Lawgiver
  and given to a boastful charlatan who
  would tell great lies, exaggerating his own
  deeds against the forces of chaos and ignor-
  ing the deeds of those with him. Having
  been abandoned by his peers, he drifted
  from town to town until he found a shrine to
  the Lawgiver, whom his father had wor-
  shipped, where he prayed for vengeance on
  the ignorant people who failed to recognize
  his greatness and abandoned him.
  The
  Lawgiver was insulted to be sought after by
  such a petty selfish fool and decided to pun-
  ish the man.
  Before leaving the shine the man found
  a beautiful harp with the sweetest of song.
  It was when he next performed a tale of his
  heroics, while plucking the harp, that he
  discovered some of the powers that had
  been entrusted to him. As he told the tale,
  the air was filled with moving images of his
  heroic self and the foul beasts that he
  defeated and the sounds of conflict. All in
  attendance rewarded the man with great
  amounts of money in recognition of his per-
  formance and marveled at how real it had
  all seemed. It was days later that he real-
  ized how real the images and beasts he cre-
  ated actually were.
  Description:
  The Harp of Heroes is a
  masterwork harp enchanted to create illu-
  sions of the actions depicted in any tale that
  is told while playing the harp, as if the
  musician is using ghost sound and silent
  image at will. However, that is not all the
  harp does, 1d3 + 2 days later the antagonist
  or antagonists defeated in the tale will
  appear 2d12 miles from where the tale was
  told, summoned from the Questing
  Grounds, a outer plane where stories and
  legends live. The creatures will then begin
  to hunt down the protagonist or protago-
  nists of the tale.
  The antagonists will
  appear exactly as they did in the tale,
  although they will also possess the questing
  beast template (see below) and be intent on
  killing the protagonist. If the protagonist is
  killed by the questing beast, the questing
  beasts will wink out of existence. This can
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  be an extremely dangerous curse for any
  overly-boastful character or for those that
  heckle the storyteller, since they may find
  themselves included as protagonists them-
  selves in the story. (The Harp of Heroes
  was inspired by earlier work by Michael
  Hammes in Forbidden Arcana: Magical
  Pipes and Tobacco)
  Overwhelming conjuration; CL 22nd; In
  effect, this is a minor artifact and cannot be
  created; Price: n/a; Weight 3 lbs.
  Detect Magic: Faint illusion
  KEEPER’S
  TOOLBELT
  (DC 25)
  History: The keepers are an enigmatic
  class of automatons that are tasked with
  maintaining 
  the 
  Clockwork-Driven
  Lighthouse, a demiplane built by the forces
  of law (Author’s note: More on the
  Clockwork-Driven Lighthouse can be
  found in Ronin Arts’ A DM’s Dictionary
  of Demiplanes by Philip Reed and
  Michael Hammes – also available at RPG-
  NOW).
  These beings flit through the
  Lighthouse making sure that it does not fall
  into disrepair.
  While the automatons are
  not seen outside of this demiplane that does
  not mean that their presence is not felt.
  When the forces of law built the Clock-
  work Driven Lighthouse, they were con-
  cerned that some diabolical force may
  attempt to harm the keepers and prevent the
  maintenance of this powerful weapon.
  Therefore, they levied a curse upon each
  Keeper’s Toolbelt to make sure the keepers’
  numbers would remain constant. When a
  keeper is destroyed the divine spark that
  animated and gave life to it is transferred
  into its toolbelt. Some foolish planar trav-
  elers will actually take the toolbelt from the
  keeper’s broken form as a trophy. 
  Description:
  The Keeper’s Toolbelt is
  a magical belt that provides a +8 compe-
  tence bonus to all craft checks and reduces
  the cost of crafting any item by 50% as the
  crafter’s understanding of construction
  methods is augmented.
  Once a creature
  wears this belt for more than 1 week, the
  true intent of the belt begins to assert itself.
  Each time the wearer constructs an item of
  metal he, unbeknownst to him, gains a
  point of hardness. The wearer may learn of
  this condition if he is attacked and notices
  some of the damage has somehow been
  mysteriously resisted. Once the wearer has
  accumulated 20 points of hardness; he will
  undergo a metamorphosis that takes 10
  minutes as his form shrinks and his body
  and mind transform into that of a keeper.
  As a keeper he will immediately begin con-
  structing a temporary portal, which takes 3
  days, and return to the Clockwork-Driven
  Lighthouse. This portal will be big enough
  for medium size creatures to pass through
  and will collapse after 1 hour.
  Overwhelming transmutation; CL 26th;
  In effect, this is a minor artifact and cannot
  be created; Price: n/a; Weight 4lbs.
  Detect Magic: Moderate divination
  NOBLE’S HONOUR
  (DC 16)
  History:
  Unfortunately not all rulers
  rise to power because of their fair judgment
  and wise leadership. Jerith Lars wanted to
  rise to power using his good looks, and why
  should he not? He was a dashing figure,
  after all. But he was getting older and his
  looks were beginning to fade, while he still
  had a long way to go to attain the power he
  wanted.
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  In the city in which he lived, now for-
  gotten to time, there was a mature human
  sorceress that Jerith had heard possessed
  great mastery of the arcane arts.
  He met
  with the sorceress and after a period of
  weeks was able to work his way into her
  bed and heart. Once he was sure her love
  was true, he convinced her to craft for him
  a cloak of charisma as a present. The sor-
  ceress was no fool; she had seen how Jerith
  looked at the young maidens at court and
  knew how charming he could be already.
  Thus, she crafted into the cloak a way to
  retain the man’s faithfulness. It was only a
  week after she presented the cloak to Jerith
  that he poisoned her and left to find new
  conquests. It was not long before her terri-
  ble curse became apparent. 
  Description:
  The Noble’s Honour acts
  as a cloak of charisma +4 with one serious
  drawback.
  The suspicious sorceress real-
  ized that the noble could use the cloak to
  help work his way into the beds of other
  women and so cursed the item with a vari-
  ant form of jealousy. Should the wearer bed
  any member of the opposite sex with the
  help of the cloak, the wearer, from that
  point on, would be bound to that lover, suf-
  fering (8d6) damage for any attempt made
  to use a charisma-based skill to positively
  affect the attitude of another member of the
  opposite sex or if the wearer commits an act
  of unfaithfulness. The wearer is allowed a
  Will save (DC 16) to take only half dam-
  age. This curse persists for as long as both
  bonded creatures live, even if the cloak is
  thrown away.
  Moderate necromancy; CL 8th; Craft
  Wondrous Item, bestow curse, eagle’s
  splendor, jealousy; Price 16,000 gp; Cost of
  Create 8,000 gp + 640 gp; Weight 2 lb.
  Detect magic: Moderate transmutation.
  ROD OF BESTIAL
  FURY (DC 22)
  History:
  Teelia Sworsjin, a maenad
  Puppetmaster, was angry.  Time and time
  again her puppets would fall in battle due to
  their pathetic weaknesses.  When she did
  manage to control a stronger creature, its will
  over time would assert itself and it would
  rebel.  After the disastrous rebellion of her
  half-giant ranger at the Blacktooth Canyon,
  Teelia retreated from the world to reflect on
  the problem.  “How can I guarantee strength
  in my puppets while ensuring they unwaver-
  ing loyalty,” she thought.  She crafted a psion-
  ic item that would not only increase the
  power of her puppet but also leave them sup-
  ple to her will.  For a time it seemed her Rod
  of Bestial Fury had indeed given her every-
  thing that she desired. It seemed to be a per-
  fect solution until the half-giant died.  Teelia
  didn’t recognize the emotional trauma that
  the rod had inflicted on the puppets’ mental
  essence or the abomination that would result
  from her careless abuse.
  Description:   The Rod of Bestial Fury is
  a universal item that can be used once per
  day.  When the rod is touched to a living crea-
  ture and the command thought is provided by
  the wielder, the target gains a number of per-
  manent adjustments: +4 enhancement bonus
  to both Strength and Constitution, –4 penalty
  to Intelligence and Wisdom, and damage
  reduction equal to 2/-.  If a creature targeted
  by the rod is reduced to 0 Intelligence or
  Wisdom, it will die.  When the target of the
  rod dies for any reason their essence does not
  rest but instead they acquire the Reverberant
  template below and rise from their body in
  1d4 rounds.  Once risen, the Reverberant will
  seek to destroy the creature that hurt it with
  the rod and then seek out any other psionic
  creature to destroy.
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  Strong psychometabolism; ML 14th;
  Craft Universal Item, animal affinity,
  biofeedback, psionic bestow curse; Price:
  78, 680 gp; Cost to Create: 39, 340 gp +
  3,147 xp; Weight 7 lbs.
  Detect Psionics: Moderate psychome-
  tabolism
  STEELMIND
  MATRIX (DC 24)
  History:
  Deep within the foundries of
  the world, Muckler Steelmind, a duergar
  shaper, toiled in the darkness trying to end
  the siege of his homeland.
  Everyday the
  duergar defended the entrance to their clan-
  hold against the vile possessors, but the
  clan’s numbers were falling to these foul
  children of outer gods. 
  The clan elders met and chose Muckler
  Steelmind to create a number of cognizance
  crystals that the clan’s psychic warriors
  could use to take the fight out of the clan-
  hold and end the threat of these foul aberra-
  tions.
  Resources in the clanhold were
  short, as the siege of the possessors had
  gone on for several months, so instead of
  investing in new materials Muckler had to
  realign older psychoactive materials to
  make the 30 crystals the elders demanded.
  When the psychic warriors had prepared
  themselves to lead an assault against the
  possessors, the power promised to them
  never came and they too were possessed.
  The clanhold fell two days later.
  Description:
  The Steelmind Matrix
  acts as a cognizance crystal in many ways;
  in fact it will hold 9 power points when
  fully charged. However the matrix used to
  hold the power is unstable and requires 2
  power points to be used to store a single
  point, although the user will not recognize
  this flaw. Additionally the matrix is only
  considered stable when holding 0, 3 or 9
  points; if the matrix is currently holding
  another number of points it will lose an
  additional 1 power point every minute until
  it has only 0 or 3 power points in it.  The
  curse of this item results from poor crafts-
  manship and not from any malicious intent.
  Faint psychokinesis; ML 9th; Craft
  Cognizance Crystal, Price: 4,000, Cost to
  Create 2000 gp + 160 xp; Weight 1 lb.
  Detect Psionics: Moderate psychokine-
  sis
  WINTERSCARRED
  SILVER (DC 20)
  History: The death of Olaf Stonesinger
  and his bodyguards in the Winterscarred
  Mountain was a great loss to their clan.  In
  tribute to the Olaf and his bodyguards, 8 sil-
  ver ingots were forged and were left with
  their bodies in the tomb to mark their sacri-
  fice for the good of the clan.  Olaf’s
  courage against the gargantuan remorhaz
  became a legend to be respected and
  remembered.  It became a tradition that
  each day the men of his clan toiled for sil-
  ver in the Winterscarred Mountains and
  each day the men of his clan would visit the
  tomb of Olaf to pay their respects.  The clan
  was blessed for their reverence and dedica-
  tion to traditions for centuries, until a young
  thief named Razul Shalesplitter stole one
  off the silver ingots and fled.  In outrage at
  the sacrilege perpetrated by one of his
  clansmen, Kragmor Thornwarmer, the high
  priest and spiritual leader of the clan,
  brought his god’s fury to bear upon the
  claim.  First he laid a powerful curse on the
  remaining 7 silver ingots and then he called
  a great glacier down upon the mountains
  sealing the tomb and silver mine off from
  the rest of the world.  The clan was forced
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  from their holdings, their prosperity, and
  their traditions.  Now the clan exists as a
  shadow of its former glory and its members
  endlessly travel and search for the missing
  ingot that has robbed them of their destiny.
  Description: Winterscarred Silver is the
  name given to any of the 7 remaining ingots
  that were first laid in remembrance of the
  Stonesinger sacrifice.  These ingots are
  palm-sized, square and have been stamped
  with the image of a miner’s pick.  They pos-
  sess no magical properties beyond their
  two-fold curse.  Any creature who takes one
  of the silver ingots for their resting place in
  Olaf’s tomb is immediately seized by the
  curse and will not part with his ingot unless
  he is trying to returning to it rightful resting
  place.  Any time another creature asks the
  cursed creature for material or finance
  assistance the cursed creature must make a
  Will save (DC 18).  If the save is failed the
  cursed creature must provide that assistance
  to the creature as best he can and make a
  second Will save (DC 18).  If the second
  save fails as well the cursed creature will
  explain, “I freely will give all that you ask
  and I can provide for I, like a base villain,
  have stolen a silver ingot from the sacred
  Stonesinger Tomb and it is all that I will
  ever need.”  This curse can only be lifted if
  all 8 silver ingots are returned to the
  Stonesinger Tomb in the Winterscarred
  Mountains. (This item was inspired by
  Michael Hammes and Phillip Reed’s
  Adventure Locations: Ice Tomb of the
  Dwarf Lord)
  Strong enchantment; CL 14th; Craft
  Wondrous Item; bestow curse, suggestion;
  Price 4 g; Cost to Create NA; Weight _ lb.
  Detect Magic: Does not detect as magi-
  cal.
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  Creatures
  KEEPER
  Tiny Construct
  Hit Dice: 1/2 d10 (5 hp)
  Initiative: +4
  Speed: 60 ft.
  Armor Class: 14 (+2 size, +4 Dex), touch 16,
  flat-footed 12
  Base Attack/Grapple: +0/–8
  Attack: Masterwork tool +3 melee (1d3)
  Full Attack: Masterwork tool +3 melee (1d3)
  Space/Reach: 2-1/2 ft./0 ft.
  Special Attacks: —
  Special Qualities: Advanced capabilities,
  construct traits, darkvision 60 ft., hardness
  20, low-light vision, repair
  Saves: Fort +0, Ref +4, Will –5
  Abilities: Str 10, Dex 18, Con —, Int —, Wis
  1, Cha 1
  Skills: —
  Feats: —
  Environment: 
  Clockwork-Driven
  Lighthouse Only
  Organization: Work Group (40)
  Challenge Rating: 1/2
  Treasure: None
  Alignment: Always neutral
  Advancement: —
  Level Adjustment: —
  These tiny constructs look like finely
  detailed little metal men. Their tools are
  attached in various places on their bodies and
  are pulled off as needed.
  
  Combat
  Keepers do not initiate combat and
  ignore any attacks on themselves unless
  they are damaged (the damage exceeds
  their hardness). 
  Once damaged, however, a Keeper lets
  out a shrill whistle that immediately sum-
  mons any and all other Keepers in the vicin-
  ity to its side. These Keepers whistle in
  turn, passing the signal along and within
  five rounds the signal has been sent
  throughout the entirety of the Lighthouse
  and all Keepers converge on that location
  within another five rounds to repair their
  fellow and drive out the danger. 
  If multiple Keepers are attacked in dif-
  ferent locations, the Keepers divide their
  numbers as evenly as possible among the
  different locations (so if Keepers are being
  attacked in three different locations, one-
  third of the total Keepers would arrive at
  each location within ten rounds).
  Advanced Capabilities (Ex): Tasked
  with maintaining the Clockwork-Driven
  Lighthouse to maximum efficiency, each
  Keeper is able to accomplish any necessary
  function for fulfilling that mission. This
  includes not only keeping the Lighthouse
  spotless and the repair or replacement of
  broken pieces, but also the ability to forge
  those replacement pieces (there’s a forge
  and supply room in the Machine Column)
  and the creation of simple machines to per-
  form other tasks (i.e. a rope and pulley sys-
  tem to lift an object to heavy to move).
  Hardness 20 (Ex): Keepers are forged
  from adamantine and have a hardness of 20.
  In addition, because they are animated
  objects, electricity and fire deal half dam-
  age to a keeper (divide damage dealt by 2
  before applying hardness) and cold deals
  only one-quarter damage (divide damage
  dealt by 4 before applying hardness). Acid
  and sonic attacks damage Keepers normal-
  ly.
  Keepers take only half damage from
  ranged weapons (unless the weapon is a
  siege engine or something similar, divide
  the damage dealt by 2 before applying the
  keeper’s hardness).
  Finally, because of their masterwork
  craftsmanship, Keepers receive a +1
  enhancement bonus on their attack rolls
  (already included in the calculations) and
  their tools ignore any hardness less than 20
  when it comes to attacking objects or sun-
  dering.
  Repair (Ex): As long as it has access to
  the appropriate materials and tools, a
  Keeper can repair itself or another Keeper.
  This process takes one hour per hit point.
  Crafting such an intelligent and capable
  automaton is beyond the capabilities of
  mortals.
  Athenaeum Arcane:
  Cursed Items
  10 of 15
  Psionic Powers 
  and spells
  BESTOW CURSE,
  PSIONIC
  Psychometabolism
  Level: Psion/Wilder 4
  Display: Material and Visual
  Manifesting Time: 1 standard action
  Range: Touch
  Target: Creature touched
  
  Duration: Permanent
  Saving Throw: Will negates
  Power Resistance: Yes
  Power Points: 7
  As the bestow curse spell except as
  noted above.
  DETECT DISEASE
  Divination
  Level: Clr 0, Drd 0, Pal 1, Sor/Wiz 0
  Components: V, S
  Casting Time: 1 standard action
  Range: 60 feet
  Area: A quarter circle emanating from
  you to the extreme of the range.
  Duration: Concentration, up to one
  minute/level (D)
  Saving Throw: None
  Spell Resistance: None
  The player can detect in a creature the
  presence of disease or disease-causing filth
  or conditions, etc. The amount of informa-
  tion revealed depends on how long you
  study a particular area or subject:
  1st Round: Presence or absence of dis-
  ease.
  2nd Round: Number of disease or dis-
  ease-ridden areas and the location of each.
  If a disease source lies outside your line of
  sight, you discern its direction but not its
  exact location.
  3rd Round: The general type of disease:
  the damage it inflicts, the incubation peri-
  od, contagion factors, and the relative diffi-
  culty of the save.
  Note: Each round, you can turn to detect
  disease in a new area. The disease can bar-
  riers, but 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common
  metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 1 yard or
  wood or dirt blocks it.
  GUILT
  Enchantment 
  (Compulsion)[Mind-
  Affecting]
  Level: Brd 1, Clr 1, Wiz/Sor 1
  Components: V, S, F
  Casting Time: 1 standard action
  Range: Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
  Target: On living creature of nongood
  alignment
  Duration: 1d4 rounds
  Saving Throw: Will negates
  Spell Resistance: Yes
  A nongood creature is forced to think about
  some evil deed it performed, denying it any
  actions except to defend itself.
  Focus: A small mirror
  JEALOUSY
  Necromancy
  Level: Clr 3, Wiz/Sor 4
  Components: V, S, M
  Casting Time: 1 standard action
  Range: Touch (see text)
  Target: Creature touched (see text)
  Duration: Permanent
  Saving Throw: Will half
  Spell Resistance: Yes
  The player places a curse on the sub-
  ject. If the target attempts to engage in sex-
  ual intercourse with any creature other than
  with the player, the creature experiences
  agonizing pain causing 1d6 points of dam-
  age per caster level (maximum 10d6), with
  a Will save half.
  If the player has placed a divine or
  arcane mark upon the creature the spell can
  be cast at any range. 
  Material Component: A drop of seminal
  fluid from the target creature.
  Athenaeum Arcane:
  Cursed Items
  11 of 15
  
  VACATE BOWELS
  Necromancy
  Level: Brd 1, Sor/Wiz 1
  Components: V, S
  Casting Time: 1 standard action
  Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
  Target: One living creature
  Duration: 1 round
  Saving Throw: Fortitude negates
  Spell Resistance: Yes
  The target creature’s bowels completely
  evacuate, with predictable results, if it fails
  its Fortitude saving throw. So violent is this
  action that the creature is immediately
  stunned (drops everything held, can’t take
  actions, takes a –2 penalty to AC, and loses
  Dexterity bonus to AC) until the caster’s
  turn next round.
  Athenaeum Arcane:
  Cursed Items
  12 of 15
  Templates
  QUESTING BEAST
  A questing beast is a creature of story or
  legend that lives within the imagination and has
  corporeal form in the Questing Grounds.  It is
  the storybook foe of some great hero and will
  do its best to hunt down and destroy that hero in
  the story in which he lives.
  Creating a Questing Beast
  “Questing Beast” is a template that can
  be applied to any creature (but usually ani-
  mal or magical beast), referred to as the
  base creature.
  The creature gains the
  ‘story’ subtype, which has specific powers
  and limitations on the Questing Grounds
  but not in the Prime Material plane. It uses
  all the base creature’s statistics and special
  abilities except as noted here.
  HD: base creature’s HD +2*
  AC: natural armour increases by +2
  Special Attacks: Same as the base crea-
  ture, and add:
  Phantasmal Strike (Su): Three times per
  day, a questing beast may adopt a terrifying
  guise for one round as a free action. Any
  creature in combat with the Beast may
  make a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 Beast’s Hit
  Dice + its Charisma modifier) to see
  through the guise. If the Will save is failed,
  then anyone injured by the Beast’s attacks
  this round must make a Fortitude save (DC
  10 + 1/2 Beast’s Hit Dice + its Constitution
  modifier) or die. Even if the Fortitude save
  succeeds, the injured character takes an
  extra 3d6 points of damage.**
  Special Qualities: A Questing Beast
  retains all the special qualities of the base
  creature, and adds:
  Discern Location (Sp): A Questing
  Beast can discern the location of the crea-
  ture that is its protagonist.
  Greater Teleport (Sp): A Questing Beast
  can teleport to the vicinity (within 10
  miles) of the protagonist.
  Plane Shift (Sp): A Questing Beast can
  plane shift at will, but only to follow its
  protagonist.
  Abilities: Add +2 to all abilities of the
  Questing Beast. Its intelligence score can-
  not be lower than 6 and must be raised to
  this if not equal to 6 or higher after the
  adjustment was made.
  
  Treasure: Standard, plus killing a
  questing beast antagonist gives the protago-
  nist a limited wish.*** 
  Alignment: Always chaotic. The moral
  part of the creature’s alignment id always
  the opposite of the protagonist.
  * When a Questing Beast is reduced to 0
  hp on a plane other than the Questing
  Ground it disappears as its essence returns
  to the Questing Grounds.
  ** If the Question Beast template is
  added to a creature with no constitution
  score then the Fortitude save to resist the
  Phantasmal Strike’s death portion is modi-
  fier by the creature’s Charisma modifier
  instead.
  *** The limited wish is granted so that
  the successful protagonist is able to live
  happily every after just as the heroes of
  fairy tales and legends do.
  REVERBERANT
  The reverberant is the emotional
  essence of an intelligent creature that has
  suffered great emotional and psychic trau-
  ma as the deliberate results of another’s
  actions.  The reverberant comes into exis-
  tence with an intense hatred of whoever
  caused the trauma and beings that wield
  psionic powers.  
  Creating a Reverberant
  “Reverberant” is an acquired template
  that can be added to any aberration, animal,
  dragon, giant, humanoid, magical beast, or
  monstrous humanoid.  The creature
  (referred to hereafter as the base creature)
  must have a Charisma of at least 6.  If their
  score is below 6 then raise it to 6 before
  continuing. A reverberant uses all the base
  creature’s statistics and special abilities
  except as noted below.
  Size and Type: The creature’s type
  changes to undead.  Do not recalculate the
  creature’s base attack bonus, saves, or skill
  points.  It gains the incorporeal and psionic
  subtypes. Size is unchanged.
  Hit Dice: All current and future Hit Dice
  become d12s.
  Speed: Reverberants have a fly speed of
  30 feet, unless the base creature has a high-
  er fly speed, with perfect manoeuvrability. 
  Armor Class: As an incorporeal crea-
  ture its natural armour bonus is +0, but it
  gains a deflection bonus equal to its
  Charisma modifier or +1, whichever is
  higher.
  Base Attack/Grapple: The base attack
  bonus remains unchanged.  The reverberant
  does not have a grapple bonus since incor-
  poreal creatures may not grapple.
  Attack: Any attack that the creature pre-
  viously had that required physical contact
  have been replaced with incorporeal touch
  attack.  The attack bonus for any such attack
  is modified by the reverberant’s Dexterity.
  Full Attack: Any attacks that the crea-
  ture previously had that required physical
  contact have been replaced with incorporeal
  attacks.  The attack bonus for any such
  attack is modified by the reverberant’s
  Dexterity.
  Damage: The reverberant’s physical
  attacks deal the same amount of damage did
  previously although they no longer have a
  Strength bonus or penalty.  In addition any
  successful attack will subject the creature to
  the reverberant’s Draining Touch ability 
  Special Attacks: A reverberant retains all
  the special attacks of the base creature, how-
  ever the save DC against a special attack pre-
  viously based off Strength or Constitution is
  now equal to 10 + 1/2 reverberant’s HD +
  reverberant’s Cha modifier.
  Athenaeum Arcane:
  Cursed Items
  13 of 15
  
  Draining Touch (Su): When a creature
  is struck by the reverberant the creature
  must make a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 rever-
  berant’s HD + reverberant’s Cha modifier).
  If the save fails the target creature will be
  drained of 1d4 power points or 1 point of
  intelligence, if they have insufficient power
  points.  Any power points the reverberant
  drains can be stored by the reverberant up
  to the number of power points a day it
  would possess if it were a psion of equiva-
  lent Hit Dice.  These stored power points
  may be used to augment any of the rever-
  berants’ psi-like abilities.
  Emotional Disharmonics (Su): The
  extreme emotions that the reverberant radi-
  ates disrupts mental prowess of psionic
  creatures.  If the reverberant is currently
  threatening a psionic creature then the
  psionic creature must make a Will Save
  (DC 10 +1/2 reverberant’s HD + Charisma
  modifier) or may not manifest powers
  psionic powers.
  Power Conversion (Su): When a rever-
  berant drains power points by means of its
  incorporeal touch, it immediately heals 1
  hit point per power point or 4 hit points per
  intelligence point drained. It can not gain
  more hit points than is allowed for its Hit
  Dice but it could rise above the reverber-
  ant’s starting hit points. 
  Psi-Like Abilities (Ps): At will – detect
  psionics, energy burst (electricity, 5d6, DC
  15 + Cha modifier) or (sonic, 5d6-1, DC 13
  + cha modifier). Manifester Level is equal
  to Hit Dice.  The save DC is Charisma
  based
  Special Qualities: A reverberant has all
  the special qualities of the base creature as
  well as those described below.
  Turn Resistance (Ex): A reverberant has
  +2 turn resistance.
  Abilities: Same as the base creature,
  except that the reverberant has no Strength
  or Constitution score, and its Charisma
  score increases by +4. 
  Skills: Reverberants have a +4 racial
  bonus on Listen, Search, and Spot checks.
  Environment: Any, often as base crea-
  ture.
  Organization: Solitary.
  Challenge Rating: Same as the base
  creature +1.
  Treasure: None.
  Alignment: always Lawful Evil.
  When a reverberant is reduced to 0 hp it
  is destroyed.  The total of the reverberant’s
  essence is not lost at this point but instead
  will remain in this area as 1d3 broken
  psionic echoes that could later be harvested
  by a psionic character (This option is only
  available for those using the optional rules
  found within The Quintessential Psion
  from Mongoose Publishing Ltd.)
  Athenaeum Arcane:
  Cursed Items
  14 of 15
  What is a psionic echo and why would I want to harvest it?
  Simply put a psionic echo is a piece of the creature’s negative mental energy.  Like
  a strong memory of loss, rage, injury, terror, or death the echoes are carried like bag-
  gage throughout a creature’s life only to be released upon the creature’s death.  They
  hang invisibly in the air retaining their mental energy until they dissipate or are har-
  vested.  If a psion harvests the echo it can be used and another source of power points
  to fuel their manifestations.
  
  Athenaeum Arcane:
  Cursed Items
  15 of 15
  OPEN GAME LICENSE Version 1.0a
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  15 COPYRIGHT NOTICE
  Open Game License v 1.0 Copyright 2000, Wizards
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  System Reference Document Copyright 2000-
  2003, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Jonathan
  Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Rich Baker,
  Andy Collins, David Noonan, Rich Redman, Bruce
  R. Cordell, based on original material by E. Gary
  Gygax and Dave Arneson.
  A DM’s Directory of Demiplanes, Copyright
  2004 Philip Reed and Michael Hammes. Published
  by Ronin Arts, www.roninarts.com.
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  Lord copyright © 2004 Michael Hammes and Philip
  Reed, 
  published 
  by 
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  Atheneaum Arcane: Cursed Items copyright
  2004, Mark Gedak. Published by Ronin Arts
  Book of Erotic Fantasy copyright 2003, Valar
  Project Inc.
  Open Game Content from Classic Play – The
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  Psion copyright 2003, Mongoose Publishing Ltd.
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