Dodge Death with the Blessings of the Cats

Magic pervades through every world in Dungeons and Dragons. It's an inherent part of how these games play, and it's a handy way to explain how the world works. There are some truly unlikely and strange magic items out there.

It's essential for Game Masters like myself always keep my ear to the ground to find great ideas, for new materials; new monsters, weapons, and magic items to level up your games. During a game yesterday, one of my players informed me on an idea that I find truly delightful.

Cloak of Nine Tails

Death is something that almost every adventurer brushes up against on a regular basis. It's an inevitability when you go into ancient crypts, fighting monsters and vexing gods (and their servants). The mortal peril that adventurers tangle with is real and constant. It makes them wish they had lives. Nine lives. Like a cat.

The Power of Cats will keep you safe - Nine Lives by Paul Canavan

The Cloak of Nine tails is a cursed Magic Item. Once a person attunes to it, it cannot attune to anyone else. While the person wearing the cloak would die, instead they are restored to life at 1 hit point. When they do, a part of their physiology changes. Fur will sprout, whiskers will appear along their upper lips, a tail will pop from their backs, their natural ears will sink into their heads and triangular ears will grow from the top of their head. These changes are permanent and irreversible.

After the ninth time a player falls, the cat like changes will have permanently built up. The final transformation for these nine lives will permanently transform the wearer into a cat. Speak With Animals will allow you to communicate with the cat. Otherwise they are permanently in the form of the cat.

The curse will keep the character alive, but at a cost of changing forms. Though personally, nearly dying nine times would warrant a retirement. Turning into a creature that spends roughly 20 hours a day sleeping seems like a dramatic but welcome end to an adventuring life.

Now we want to hear from you. Is turning into a cat a gruesome fate? What other curses could help a character cheat death, or bring their death closer? Let us know in our discord server or in the comments below.

Adam Ray contributes much for adventurers here on Apotheosis Studios. As co-founder of fantasticuniverses.com, they write about card gaming and PC gaming to a corner of the internet he carved out themselves. On Youtube, they can be found game mastering for No Ordinary Heroes, or editing the antics on The Hostile Atmosphere. Find where they dwell by climbing their Linktree.