[RPG] Cursed Item Transfer

attunementcursesdnd-5emagic-items

Scenario:

Party obtains a cursed weapon.
Player A willfully attunes to Item and doesn't use it, in hopes of avoiding Player B using it, as Player A doesn't trust Player B's motives.
Player B steals the weapon and performs a rest with it.

According to DMG Pg.138:

A creature's attunement to an item ends if the creature no longer satisfies the Prerequisites for attunement, if the item has been more than 100 feet away for at least 24 hours, if the creature dies, or if another creature attunes to the item. A creature can also voluntarily end attunement by spending another Short Rest focused on the item, unless the item is cursed.

This implies that anyone can attune to an already attuned item and break the previous attunement. With normal items at least… The predicate of the last sentence is about the voluntary de-attunement from Player A, not Player B overtaking the attunement.

DMG Pg. 139:

Attunement to a cursed item can't be ended voluntarily unless the curse is broken 1st such as with the Remove Curse spell

I guess the main point of contention here is whether the "if another creature attunes to the item" line means a voluntary or involuntary action on behalf of Player A…

Thoughts? Experiences? References?

Best Answer

The answers are in your quotes. Only the last sentence about attunement refers to the voluntary process:

A creature can also voluntarily end attunement by spending another Short Rest focused on the item, unless the item is cursed.

This is reinforced by the sentence under cursed items:

Attunement to a cursed item can't be ended voluntarily unless the curse is broken 1st such as with the Remove Curse spell.

Neither of those affect the forms of ending attunement involuntarily:

A creature's attunement to an item ends if the creature no longer satisfies the Prerequisites for attunement, if the item has been more than 100 feet away for at least 24 hours, if the creature dies, or if another creature attunes to the item.

So in this case, Player B can indeed attune to the item if he can get his hands on it, and this does (involuntarily) end the attunement to the item of Player A.