Cursed +1 Shield of Dragon Attraction

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Cursed +1 Shield of Dragon Attraction

It is said by the most learned of scholars and sages that, due to truly unknown aspects of magic, sometimes a magic item can become cursed simply due to the actions of it's owner. This shield is one such item, and cursed it truly is. Pray to whatever Gods you believe in that you should never happen upon it.

This shield seems to be attracted to individuals that demonstrate great stupidity, pigheadedness or simpleminded actions. This doesn't include beings with actual mental deficiencies or low INT scores, just beings that do something so incredibly stupid that the gods themselves would facepalm.
Shield of Dragon Attraction

+1 Heavy Steel Shield (Cursed)

Aura: Moderate Enchantment and Transmutation
Caster Level: 12th
Slot: Shield
Price: — (Cursed; see text)
Weight: 15 lb.

DESCRIPTION

At first glance, this battered but serviceable shield appears to be nothing more than a standard +1 heavy steel shield. Its surface is marred by dents, scorch marks, and deep gouges suggestive of repeated draconic assaults, though no mundane appraisal reveals anything unusual.

The shield functions as a normal +1 heavy steel shield until its curse manifests.

This item is drawn—seemingly by fate itself—to creatures who exhibit extraordinary lapses in judgment. It does not target the unintelligent, the inexperienced, or those with low Intelligence scores, but rather individuals who knowingly or willfully commit acts of staggering foolishness, reckless hubris, or obstinate irrationality. The exact threshold is determined by the DM, but should represent decisions so poor that even divine beings might recoil in disbelief.

Once acquired, the shield cannot be willingly discarded.

PRIMARY CURSE: DRACONIC ATTRACTION

Whenever a true dragon or creature of the dragon type comes within 1 mile, it becomes immediately and irresistibly aware of the shield’s bearer.

The creature is overwhelmed with an unshakable compulsion to locate and destroy the bearer utterly. This is not a mind-affecting effect and bypasses immunity, spell resistance, and saving throws.

Against the shield’s bearer only, affected dragons gain the following benefits:

Insight Bonus on all skill checks equal to their Hit Dice
Enhancement Bonus on attack and damage rolls equal to their Hit Dice
Competence Bonus to Armor Class equal to their Hit Dice

These bonuses apply only when interacting with or attacking the bearer.

All other creatures are treated normally and are not subject to these effects.

SECONDARY CURSE: INESCAPABLE DOOM

If a dragon affected by this curse is slain by the bearer or their allies, its body (or some catastrophic remnant of it) will inevitably collide with the bearer.

This effect occurs regardless of distance, terrain, or magical intervention, including teleportation, planar travel, etherealness, or similar effects.

The bearer takes damage equal to the dragon’s full normal hit points (as if unwounded).

A Reflex save (DC 20 – dragon’s HD) halves this damage.

TERTIARY CURSE: FORM OF THE FOOL

Once attuned, the curse spreads:

Any shield the bearer possesses transforms into the Shield of Dragon Attraction within 24 hours. This overrides all magical properties, regardless of strength or rarity, including artifacts at the DM’s discretion.

This transformation allows no saving throw or resistance.

REMOVAL OF THE CURSE

The Shield of Dragon Attraction cannot be removed by remove curse, break enchantment, wish, miracle, or even direct divine intervention.

The only way to end the curse is through repeated demonstrations of exceptional wisdom, foresight, and sound judgment.

These acts must be:

Deliberate and meaningful
Demonstrative of clear reasoning under pressure
Recognized by the DM as genuine character growth

Once sufficient acts have been completed (typically 3–5 significant instances), the curse lifts, and the shield loses all magical properties, becoming a mundane, battered relic.
~~~~~
DM Note: This item was actually born out of incredible stupidity.
I was running a D&D campaign that was taking place in a snowy wilderness, and I had a full compliment of players. The party was dealing with strafing attacks from a huge white dragon. The party's mage manages to kill the dragon in the air at the start of another strafing run, and I was all set to describe the dragon impacting against the snow, taking out trees, etc. All of the players yell that they're getting out of the way of the incoming dragon corpse... well, all but one actually, which I'll call S.
S was somehow convinced that he could just stand there and brace himself and that the characters that ran were cowards. The other players were yelling at S to get the hell out of the way, but his only retort was "The dragon won't hurt me, I have a +1 Shield." He said that in a really snotty voice, too. Multiple times the other players tried to get him to move, but he refused to budge (and kept being a little bitch about it as well).
Ok, S. You wanna' stay there? Let's do this. Let's play.
Pausing the game and going online, I worked out the mass of the dragon, the speed it was flying at, the force in newtons that it would hit with and converted that into HP damage based on other very similar attacks and effects listed within several WotC rulebooks (including D20 Modern).

(20,000 lbs, diving Spd 400 which converts to 333 ft/sec or 227mph, over the distance the characters were at, hits at 15,343 N, comparable to being hit by a train head-on or a car hitting a brick wall at 134 mph)
His character was a pink smear on the glistening snow. All of his equipment, including several valuable magic items and a suit of elven chainmail, was destroyed. One item, however, survived. His +1 Shield.
I've included this shield in every single game I've played since. It's become so infamous that my players will warn new players or visiting friends against claiming any +1 Shields that they happen to find as random treasure. You'll never find a single character carrying a +1 Shield; they would rather go without a magic shield or wait until they find a more powerful one than to risk even the slightest chance of their new shield being this shield.
Fear the DM you irritate.

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