Skellimaul/Mauleton

 

The skellimaul/mauleton carry its weapon - a stone maul that looks more like a greatclub because of reasons - with great disinterest; the weapon is cursed, and the skellimaul/mauleton is (almost) forever bound to it.

Skellimauls/mauletons is a by-product of the weapon's curse; the carrier is slowly transformed into its more undead appearance as time goes by, and is controlled by the parasitic weapon.

As time goes by, the wielder of the weapon turns more and more into a skeleton, turning weaker and weaker, until one day, it is unable to handle or even lift the heavy weapon, making them both stationary. When that happens, the weapon lifts its curse; the skeleton finally drops the weapon, and is free to do whatever (running away seems to be the most likely event), and the cursed maul is left alone, waiting for a new owner.

Where is my mind? (or Who's head is this?)

There are magicks that messes with everyone's head - literally.

When caught, nothing happens (not even the slightest stomach ache).

But somewhere in the world, there's a headless being out to get you. Its head - or rather, the schematics for recreating the shape and functions and most memories - have been transferred to your DNA.

It rests there, inside you, doing nothing, until the poor headless creature comes within close range of you and the schematics activates - and you start transforming into its head. The creature will then pick up and attach its head (you), resuming business as usual.

Some explaining mechanics if you want/need that

Flow of the curse:
1. Person A is cursed
2. Random creature B loses its head
3. Creature B will start chasing after Person A (it will always know the general direction of Person A)
4. When Creature B is within range X of Person A, thing Y will happen (transformation still reversible)
5. When Creature B is within very close range of Person A, the head transformation will lock in and will complete
6. Creature B pick up its head and attaches it again
7. If Creature B is decapitated, the curse is reversed and Person A will unfold to its former self

To randomly determine what type of creature loses its head: use any random encounter table/long list of monsters you've got at hand. It may very well be another human being. Maybe not a kraken.

To determine how far away the creature is: common sense, or 1d12 days of travelling by foot.

Ranges and their effects (point 4 and 5 above): when Creature B is within 10 metres, the transformation kicks in and will not be reversible. Other than that: assuming a person has two legs, two arms, one torso and one head, render one random body part useless for every 100 meter the creature closes in (reversible), starting at a 600 metre range.

The Matryoshka Effect: however highly unlikely, there will always be a small risk that Person A, while cursed, loses his/her own head due to another person being cursed, and so on, ad infinitum.

A bunch of random, unrelated things

Parasol parasites; lives of pretty things such as pretty faces and intelligence. The handle is cursed, forcing the wearer to always carry it around. Face slowly disappears (hair, skin, muscles, and so on).

Wearer can live on even if it's just the skull left, as long as the parasol is carried around.

The antibard is a person who destroys music through aerial sorcery.

He or she hates all things rhythmical, sung, or hummed. And dancing. Especially dancing.

Abilities

Touching a wooden instrument for at least ten seconds will make it do one of the following:

1. Bend (broken)
2. Detune horrible (but still functional)
3. Render it mute (the instrument's been cursed; still functional, only completely silent)
4. Nothing

Spells

Semibreve rest

Casting time: Immediately

Targets: Anyone about to cast a spell

This spell interrupts the targeted sorcerer by inserting a whole rest in the spell uttering, pushing it back to the next round. The spell isn't lost, just merely delayed.

Hide muse

Casting time: 1 round

Targets: Other bards

Until the targeted bard makes a successful CHA-save to realize that inspiration comes through hard work and not from above, s/he will not be able to utilize any musical spells to inspire others.

Katakk is a race of avian humanoids found in leaf forests. They are a friendly bunch (except when they're waging war against stupid neighbours), living in huge nests on the ground (the size of a regular tavern).

Due to a malformation in their left leg, they walk around looking like they're about to kick someone in the face.

Greeters are a horrible manifestation of the frustration of hosting a party unwillingly and still being a good host.

They pop up out of nowhere, right in front of your face, and let out a terrible shriek (actually meaning "Welcome, nice to see you" in their own wicked tongue) - only to disappear the next second.

Mostly found in haunted mansions. They are harmless, unless you overstay your welcome.

Djantas; half djinn, half Santa (also known as "half-arsed bringer of half-wishes").

Only found in century old bottles of julmust, these spirits offers a wish to whoever freed them. It then gift wrap the wish and flies away to the nearest settlement, to deliver the wonderful gift to anyone looking like they'd need a present.

Note on wish fulfilment: due to their half-nature, wishes are always only half fulfilled, e.g. a wish for resurrection only brings a person halfway back to life (rendering them undead).

A collect of uneven, pseudogeomorphs:

(UPDATE 2015-01-01: I made an interactive version of it here: morphs.pushingcows.se)

Hexenbrachen. Hex 0107

Hex 0107
Unsinkable cursed buckets. Lots of.

This area contains a lot of wooden buckets, floating but not drifting.

A curse of buoyancy keeps them floating, despite being filled with water and fish.

They served as helmets for the gnomes operating the now crashed airship (hex 2208). The creator of these unsinkable "helmets" had a theory that if enough airship passengers wore these helmets, the airship would defy gravity and keep itself floating (since an airborne vessel sinks much like a stone in water - slow, but steady).

It worked perfectly, until the gnomes got drunk one night and started throwing the buckets overboard (hex 0107). They crashed in hex 2208 eventually with the helmet maker as the sole survivor.

See the rest of the hexes over at The Hexenbrachen page here: http://save.vs.totalpartykill.ca/grab-bag/hexenbracken/

Honest Willard

Honest Willard

What: Small, single story house next to any lonely road. Four rooms of equal size: shop, bedroom, backroom (locked), kitchen.

People: Only Walter Willard, a man with a mustache. Sells curiosities from his shop, dead cheap. Everything's magical. Can't say where he got them from, though.

What's the deal with this guy: Everything he sells is magical - and cursed. There's a spinning, purple vortex in the backroom, connected to a similar shop on another plane, where a tall moon man runs a garbage disposal facility that specializes in cursed items.

What about the vortex: It's possible to enter the vortex, but years of disposing cursed items has tainted the flow, and will permanently curse anyone foolish enough to stick their thick head in there.

What about unhappy customers: Although many have wanted to chop his little head off, Willard is stuck with a Pacifist curse, making it impossible to even start hurting him. He got this many years ago when he stuck his thick head in the vortex.

The Compleat Spell Book of The Great Escape

STEREOTYPES
Increases the prominent attribute of the target (Strength for the strong, Intelligence for the smart, etc.).
Unfortunately, will also decrease another attribute which isn't viewed as characteristic of the target (Intelligence for the strong, etc.).


COUNTRY HOUSE
Grants the target a bonus when fighting in the country side, although he still got a fog in his chest so he needs a lot of rest.


BEST DAYS
Target finds everything pleasant and nice, when in fact s/he (along the rest of the adventuring party) has been teleported to the bizarre, vertical 31-story Labyrinth of the Misaligned Trellick, an old knocked over tower.


CHARMLESS MAN
Target is immune to all types of charms, and radiates an aura that makes everyone in the direct vicinity immune as well.


FADE AWAY
A curse that will haunt the target for some time. He or she will constantly meet people from the same background, and while enjoyable, will eventually wither away unless the curse is broken.


TOP MAN
Conjures an annoying golem in fashionable clothes. Given a rug, the golem takes flight.


THE UNIVERSAL
Target dissolves and becomes part of everything in the current room for a few minutes, allowing him or her to for example eavesdrop without the need to hide.
Beware: doing this outside will make the target insane, since s/he will be part of of every single part of the Universe.


MR. ROBINSONS' QUANGO
Pros: Target is granted access to one larger organisation, with all its benefits and enemies
Cons: It's most likely a very boring organisation.


HE THOUGHT OF CARS
Target will have nightmares the following two nights. Both involves travelling with unknown, strange vessels of which the second can travel through the air.
Worst part is: no one will want to travel along.


IT COULD BE YOU
Makes target more vulnerable to charm spells, through empty promises about easy money.
Somatic component: caster repeatable draws the target's lucky number in the air.


ERNOLD SAME
Target will repeat everything he or she did yesterday, like if it was that day again. Will do this without any complaints or afterthoughts.


GLOBE ALONE
Target can no longer see people below his own presumed social class.


DAN ABNORMAL
Like mirror image, but the clone is sillier.


ENTERTAIN ME
Curses the target to long for something else, several days away. All actions are at a penalty, unless some sort of alcohol is consumed, which takes away some of the blues.


YUKO & HIRO
Summons two small spirits that will obey the caster for six minutes. When the seventh minute comes, they will cease with whatever they are doing, kiss each other and then disappear.

The Compleat Spell Book of Surfer Rosa

BONE MACHINE
At the touch of the caster, the bones of the affected person begins to move in strange patterns, unsettling and unfamiliar for most people.
This strange dance lasts for 31 rounds.


BREAK MY BODY
At the touch of the caster, the sorcerer is able to make every bone in the touched person's body disappear.
By some cruel fate, this spell isn't lethal though.


SOMETHING AGAINST YOU
When the sorcerer whispers this spell, he curses a person into believing that everyone he will meet over the next couple of minutes has a grudge against him.


BROKEN FACE
After pulling the earlobe of the desired object two times in a row, the sorcerer may rearrange the victim's face as he wishes for the next 10 seconds.


GIGANTIC
When sorcerers fall in love, bad things are bound to happen. If cursed by this spell, whenever the wizard sees the person s/he's in love with, he or she will grow in size.


RIVER EUPHRATES
A chanting spell that, when heard, causes anyone who hears it to start looking for a horse.


WHERE IS MY MIND?
When cast, makes the target float through the air as if he or she were under water.
How to cast: the wizard must stand on his head with his feet in the air -and then spin it.


CACTUS
With this spell, the sorcerer is able to send nearby clothes and stick them to a target for a minute.


TONY'S THEME
First, the wizard cast this spell on a group of people (no more than 20, but no less than 10).
Then, the wizard points at whoever he wants them to admire unconditionally. They will even try to chant his name (anyone not knowing the name of the one they're admiring will scream "TO! NY!" instead).


OH MY GOLLY!
The wizard is able to hide a secret message in his next sentence, even though it is spoken out loud.
Anyone meant to hear the actual message will hear it loud and clear.


VAMOS
This spell raises the heartbeat of the wizard. Or maybe it'll teleport the sorcerer to the nearest beach. I don't know, the writing on the page in the spell book is really crazy.


I'M AMAZED
The sorceress conjures three spirits from her past, to tell stories that lacks any moral. Anyone hearing this will be charmed senseless.


BRICK IS RED
At the touch of the sorcerer, the victim's eyes turns to diamonds, coloured pale blue. They're still functional, but most thieves are now more than willingly to pluck them out.

Cursed by a rutabaga

Every farmer knows about bad soil. It happens to everyone and when it does, you have two options:

1. Burn the crop and starve through the winter
2. Harvest, keep quiet and sell it to them don't-know-better-townsfolk

Bad soil produces living crops, and one of the better known are cursed rutabagas. Their tiny eye and small mouth are near impossible to spot (unless tickled), and since they don't taste all too different, not many will ever notice.

Some of the side effects of eating a meal containing living rutabagas are:

• Invisible private sphere: an invisible field surrounds the person, stretching about one meter around. Disrupting this field by walking through it or just coming to close, will cause the cursed person to (1d6):
  
1. Panic in silence, being unable to concentrate
2. Start sweating, being unable to hold on to anything
3. Look the other way
4. Clear their throat until they go sore and can't speak
5. Wait 30 seconds, and then take one step to the side
6. Start fiddling with their spell book or weapon, until they accidentally hurt themselves (by firing off a random spell or just cut their fingers)
   
   
• Every spell casting is concluded with a few words about the weather. And it's never quite the correct temperature.
  
  
• At the end of a fight, the cursed person says "We must do this again soon."
  
  
• Happily pays taxes and tithes when arriving in new towns.
  
  
• Avoids conflicts at all cost. If forced, consult table above.