20 Cruel Curses – For D&D and Pathfinder

Funded! Plus another Preview
3 months ago – Wed, Dec 03, 2025 at 09:10:29 AM

Hello Cruel Curses backers!

I’m excited to say that since our last preview, we’ve hit our funding goal! 20 Cruel Curses is going to be a reality!

Now we’re aiming for stretch goals to add more art. We’ve still got eight days left, including the end of campaign surges, so I think we can make it. Even if we don’t get the full goal, I’ll uses funds we raise to buy some of the art I have planned.

Second Preview

Another week means another preview! This one takes the expression “out of sight out of mind” litteraly.

Forgotten

Level 7

While you are under curse, people around you forget your very existence. Even friends and family believe you to be a stranger. Character interact with you as though you are somebody they just met, and as long as the can see and hear you, they can carry on a conversation, however the moment you step away, they must make a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw. If they fail, they completely forget you and all interactions with you.

Possible Cause: Self aggrandizement. Attempting to manipulate the loom of fate.

Possible Dispels: Performing 100 kind deeds anonymously.

Heroic Inspiration: You gain Heroic Inspiration when you suffer a serious set back because nobody knows who you are.

Plot Hooks: A rash of audacious thefts are plaguing a small town. None are particularly valuable—a pie here, a pair of trousers there—but the oddity comes in the audacity of the crime. The items are lifted in broad daylight, often with the victims nearby, but none can see the perpetrator. They must be invisible!

In reality the thief is a poor teenager who fell victim to the Forgotten curse. Unable to work, they are stealing to survive, but would happily give up a life of crime if heroes can break the curse.

Weekly Preview: Taste of Ash
3 months ago – Wed, Nov 26, 2025 at 12:44:01 PM

Hello Cruel Curses Backers,

Welcome to the first weekly update! Each week during the campaign, we’ll preview one of the curses featured in this book, along with other updates.

As I write this we’re 90% of the way towards our goal. I’m confident we’ll fund soon, and hopefully break through some stretch goals before the end of the campaign. You’ve already done a lot by supporting us, but anything else you can do to spread the word will help us hit those stretch goals faster!

First Preview

Here’s the fist curse previewed for 20 Cruel Curses: Taste of Ash. It doesn’t matter what you eat, it all tastes terrible. This is also your first chance to check out the formatting we’re using, including entries for some of the optional rules we’re including in this book.

Taste of Ash

Level 5

No matter how delicious any food or drink smells, it all tastes like ash and brimstone. Each day you must make a DC 15 Constitution Saving Throw to force yourself to consume enough food and drink to stay healthy. If you fail, you cannot stomach the food, and you suffer a level of Exhaustion. A Long Rest cannot remove these levels until you have passed one such Saving Throw.

Possible Causes: Gluttony, eating food meant for another, eating magical food, eating ash.

Possible Dispel: Eating fresh vegetables for a year and a day. Cooking an extravagant feast for the poor.

Heroic Inspiration: Gain Heroic Inspiration when this curse causes drama at an important meal.

Plot Hook: One or more of the heroes are invited to judge their home-town’s annual pie backing contest. Alas, a witch is bitter she did not win last year, and puts a Taste of Ash curse on judge in order to ruin this year’s contest.

Those of you who celebrate, enjoy your Thanksgiving. I’ll check in next week with another preview.

-Matthew