Homebrew

Robe of Forgettability

August 25, 2022
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Remember the first time you DMed? You were so young back then, so fresh-faced and stupid. Just a sweet summer child who though CR was worth trying to calculate, dishing out magic items left and right because you begged for your players' adoration. Soon enough you exhausted every item in the Dungeon Master's Guide and you had to resort to inventing your own untested items just to satiate your loot-thirsty table. Unwittingly, you invent what might be the most powerful item in the multiverse: The Cloak of Forgettability.

That's what I did. I was so wrapped up in figuring out if I COULD make my own homebrew I never stopped to think about if I should. This magical cloak before you was supposed to be a simple little goofemup for my second-level bard. The rules were simple: Immediately after leaving the 5-foot radius of another person while wearing the robe, they'd forget the last interaction they had with you as long as that interaction was less than a minute.

Almost immediately, the bard was running up and slapping kings and ransacking nobles' pockets. It was TOO GOOD. It got to such a game-breaking point that I sat the player down and talked about how we could rectify it. I had a couple options I could explore as the DM. I could simply take it away from the player buttttttt that would just prove how foolish I was in the first place. I could change the mechanics of the item to dampen the effect, but such a nerf that would mess with the canon of his character. So instead, I slapped the bard with a big ol' curse!

What is the one thing a performer fears most? To be forgotten. I worked with the player to build out a d100 wild magic-inspired table. Each time the cloak took effect, he had to roll a D6. If he rolled a 1, he had to roll D100 and suffer the effects listed. It could be anywhere from forgetting his spells to accidentally garnering the attention of everyone within 60 feet to forgetting every noun or verb in his vocabulary.

It was great fun and added a wonderful risk to the game. It became a tense debate at the table each time the bard suggested donning the robe to try and skirt by a room of baddies. Below is a revised (and mildly more balanced) version of the robe for your own table shenanigans.

Armor Class
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Speed

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Robe of Forgettability

"Stop them! They just stole.... wait... what was I saying?"

Robe, legendary (requires attunement)

While wearing this robe, you become entirely unremarkable in every way. This robe has 3 charges and regains 1d3 expended charges daily at dawn. When you move more than 5 feet away from a creature's location, you can use a charge to immediately enchant the creature into losing their memories of you.

When you expend a charge, the creature must succeed a DC 15 Wisdom check or forget all interactions they had with you from within the last minute. If the creature succeeds their Wisdom check, they do not forget anything but are not aware of the abilities of the robe or the wearers use of it.

Curse. The robe is cursed, and becoming attuned to it extends the curse to you. Whenever you expend a charge, regardless of if it is successful or not, you must roll a D6. If you roll a 1, you must then roll a D100 and suffer the consequences from the table below. The roll of your D6 cannot be modified or negated in any way.

01-02 You have forgotten your major motor functions and become paralyzed until you complete a long rest. Upon completing the rest you must succeed a DC12 Constitution Saving Throw or remain paralyzed until you complete an additional long rest.
03-04 For the next hour you cannot remember your name or any details about yourself. You automatically critically fail all Intelligence checks and saving throws for the duration of the effect.
05-06 Until you complete a long rest, whenever a member of your party looks upon you, they immediately forget who you are and disregard anything you say or do as unremarkable.
07-08 For the next minute, you immediately become frightened of any creature within 30 feet of you and regard them as an unkown threat.
09-10 For the next hour, you have forgotten all words and cannot speak any language
11-12 For the next hour, suffer 1 psychic damage for every word you speak.
13-14 For the next hour, you have lost the ability to speak or write nouns.
15-16 For the next hour, you have lost the ability to speak or write verbs.
17-18 For the next hour, you have lost the ability to speak or write adjectives.
19-20 For the next hour, you are unable to use spells with vocal components
21-22 You are polymorphed into a commoner
23-24 You are polymorphed into a noble
25-26 You are polymorphed into a bandit
27-28 You are polymorphed into a cultist
29-30 You are polymorphed into a guard
31-32 You are polymorphed into an acolyte
33-34 All creatures who look upon you magically know your name
35-36 All creatures who look upon you magically know where you are from
37-38 You critically fail all charisma-based checks for the next hour
39-40 You critically fail all intelligence-based checks for the next hour
41-42 You critically fail all wisdom-based checks for the next hour
43-44 You inadvertantly cast Skywrite without the use of a spell slot or components. The next 10 words you say are written in the sky and stay for the spell's duration
45-46 All creatures within 10 feet of you are Polymorphed into commoners that look exactly like you.
47-48 You cast Blur on yourself without the use of a spellslot or components.
49-50 You cast Compel Duel on the nearest creature to you without the use of a spellslot or components.
51-52 You must succeed a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw or become burdened by the effects of the spell Hold Person and Invisibility for 1 minute.
53-54 You break out into uncontrollable song for the next minute, singing the opening credit lyrics to Reba, the CW show staring and producted by Reba McEntire.
55-56 You permanently forget all the events of the prior day
57-58
You permanently forget all the events of the prior week
59-60
You permanently forget all the events of the prior month
61-62
You permanently forget all the events of the prior 6 months
63-64 You forget all of your abilities and skills and your Proficiency bonus is reduced to 0 until you complete a long rest.
65-66 All creatures within 30 feet of you have Truesight for 60 feet for the next minute. While under this effect, creatures also have advantage on all attacks against you.
67-68 For the next minuite, all creatures within 30 feet of you become charmed by your presence and follow you wherever you go.
69-70 Your robe magically expells every item in your posession, casting them all to the ground within 5 feet of you.
71-72 You immediately cast the spell MIrror Image
73-74 You can cast the spell Modify Memory at will for the next minute. Each time you do, you sustain 1d12 psychic damage.
75-76 During your next long rest, you will stir with nightmares of being forgotten by your friends loved ones. When you wake, you will have a point of exhaustion.
77-78 The robe bursts into flames and is permanently destroyed. You sustain 2d8 fire damage.
79-80 You immediately lose all atunements to items.
81-82 You gain a -10 to your next ability check with proficiency.
83-84 For the next minute, your proficiency bonus only applies to tools, skills, abilities that you're not normally proficient in.
85-86 You gain the Actor feat for the next minute
87-88
You and 1 ally of your choice gain the Fade Away feat (XGE) for the next minute
89-90 You and 2 allies of your choice gain the Mobile feat for the next minute
91-92 You and 1 ally of your choice gain the Lucky feat for the next minute
93-94 You and 3 allies of your choice gain the Skulker feat for the next hour
95-96 You are polymorphed into a commoner, taking on the exact appearance of Reba McEntire in a red v-neck sweater and bootcut jeans.
97-98 You can cast Mass Suggestion without the use of a spellslot. Once you do so, the robe disolves and is permanenlty destroyed.
99-00 The cloak desolves in a puff of smoke, creating Fog Cloud at 9th level originating from where you stand
No items found.

This is a free-to-use concept. If you like it and want to see more content like this feel free to follow me on Twitter or Instagram. If you have feedback on balance, accessibility, sensitivity @ me! I'm looking to improve my work!

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