Few beings stand opposed to the spirits of love and affection, but those who do are particularly cold. This curse surfaces rarely, and often overruns a community before it can be discovered, as those who comfort the sick are quickly cursed themselves.
The Curse
Each time a cursed creature touches another creature, it's maximum HP is reduced by 1. If the creature that is touched is not cursed, they must succeed on a DC 15 constitution saving throw or also become cursed. A newly cursed creatures maximum HP will also be reduced by 1 when it becomes cursed in this way.
Skin to skin contact is required for the curse to be passed on, and a cursed creatures maximum HP will be reduced only once for every unique creature it touches each day.
Revealing the curse
I suggest that you record the first few reductions to a characters HP privately, only revealing them if it becomes relevant to combat. Otherwise, your characters should begin to realise once they have lost 5-10% of their total maximum HP, as they are becoming lethargic, and don't feel fully themselves.
This curse was inspired partly by the movie 'It Follows', and could serve as a great mystery or hinderance to your party on their next adventure. Perhaps they are the ones to bring it to a village without realising. Or perhaps only a few people remain in the village, locked away in boarded up homes, refusing to come out...
This post is part 6 of my series for Whumptober 2021. The prompt for this post is "Touch And Go"
View other parts here.
This is so evil! Imagining a cleric or someone else with Cure Wounds getting this. You cure someone only to take away one HP every time you do!