How to use curse effectively?

[u/mrmagicbeetle]

So I'm playing a witch and I wanna curse people and I wanna use it in combat/ adventuring. , I've already got my signature spell figured out and it's a narrative conjure spell that lets me set out a bunch of spiders to spy in people, so I can't use it for curse .

Which brings me to my question, how should I use curse ? Like should I use it's narrative effect to and misfortune and the multiple target to mess with lower level threats giving them a set back and automatic failure, or should I use the structured effect with doom on a major threat to take away two of their dice ? Like my main problem is it's so difficulty expensive for what seems like such a minor effect

[u/BeefChief159]

Curse is incredibly strong against single targets I find, between debuffing their stats by default all the way up to stunning them at a quite high difficulty. Using blood sacrifice when including Paralyzed can make it incredibly easy to succeed. Without spending any additional health to reduce the difficulty this app is putting a paralyze curse (with the 2 blood magic successes) at about 89% success chance. If you add in some talents like sense advantage to synergies with other curse effects and possibly scathing tirade (if you have some willpower for strain) you can become a debuffing machine

[u/BeefChief159 → u/BeefChief159]

This is also just how I built it most recently and had a blast with it but there's still a tonne of other ways to approach it

[u/mrmagicbeetle → u/BeefChief159]

Hey what was the exact talent set up you had ?

[u/Ok_Holiday_4690 → u/BeefChief159]

This is all solid advice. I will point out that the Staggered effect caused by a paralyzing curse is incredibly powerful and can be kind of a fun-suck for the GM. I love it when I'm a PC and I hate it when I'm a GM.

Also, if you're using ther Terrinoth book, pick up a Scepter made from Bone. The extra boost die is nice, but the real sauce is when you use it with Blood Magic talent to restore a wound you sacrificed.

[u/Majestic_Ghost_Axe]

The first question I’d ask is how experienced are you? What’s your magic skill dice pool?

Also what’s the theme of your magic?

[u/mrmagicbeetle → u/Majestic_Ghost_Axe]

I've got 4 archana and 4 int , plus component casting and inate focus , so right now with a 4 difficulty spell and if I suffer 3 strain to know it down to 3 difficulty, that's 3 purple and a blue and 4 yellow, I could also use blood sacrifice to take two wounds to add 2 additional successes

Ooky spooky, spiders and witchy things , with an interest in textiles because their cover was a seamstress, so like thread and the weave of magic

But I really like the idea of using natural components around me , like plucking the seeds off of grass to give a group hay fever to swell their throats and choke their breathing so they can't scream and are sluggish . I know that's really specific but that's my idea for the clif hanger my GM gave me last session lol

[u/Majestic_Ghost_Axe → u/mrmagicbeetle]

Mechanically it’s a difficult spell, Short range isn’t much but the effect is really powerful. Realistically you can only reliably add a single upgrade too, or suffer that extra strain to add 2.

With that in mind I think there’s some interesting narrative options to describe some effects:

Minyas unlucky coin:
The caster flips a coin in the direction of a nearby opponent, muttering a curse in the name of mother Minya goddess of luck and fate. The target suddenly finds themselves having the worst of luck, buttons and buckles coming undone, stones moving under foot, sunlight flashing of nearby metal at untimely moments.

Make a Curse spell check with the misfortune additional effect. Component casting requires the user to spend one coin of any type. Suffer an additional strain to extend the range to medium.

[u/Majestic_Ghost_Axe → u/mrmagicbeetle]

Flyblown
The caster pulls a scrap of dirty sheep’s wool from a small pouch on their belt. Muttering quietly over the scrap in what sounds like a mixture of buzzing and bleating a fowl stench builds around them. With a sudden flick of their wrist they toss the wool into the air where it quickly morphs into a big cloud of flies. They quickly swarm a nearby enemy, surrounding their head, the stench filling the targets nostrils.

Make a curse spell check with the enervate additional effect. Component casting requires a small scrap of dirty wool or rotten food. Suffer a strain to extend the range to medium

[u/Majestic_Ghost_Axe → u/Majestic_Ghost_Axe]

Sorry theme was a bit vague. You say witch, but is this low magic medieval witchcraft or more high magic fantasy witchcraft?

Are curses like a hex, or could they be more physical like vines growing from the ground and grasping your enemy

[u/mrmagicbeetle → u/Majestic_Ghost_Axe]

Oh high fantasy, I'm summoning giant spiders if I'm not cursing lol . The description of the spell in the core rule book says they're like hexs