A long time ago I somewhere wrote this before im sure.
But after mastering the art of double-gunning and blunderbombing people to shreds even if they respawn together and dominate ships all by myself for minutes, I feel like spawncamping and other stuff is too easy after all.

Let's change that shall we? I think the biggest lure of adventure mode is that no amount of skill and preperation can force an ultimate outcome.
" If the game does not want you to win, you won't win. "
... is what I tend to write on other websites in these times.
And I think this should remain true.
For example the Kraken shows up to screw someone over, or a Ghostship, or even a big, ugly fish which is once again not pale enough for me to care. =)
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So here comes the suggestion (again): Put actual curses into the game!

Curses can drop from certain creatures, around 10% dropchance so you might have to farm them for some time, if you want a specific one.
The Sea of Thieves is stranger and more mysterious than anyone of us know and every single creature there has a supernatural touch.

Which is the curse that might fall out of them after you kill them! =)
This suggestions may considered to be placeholders and not ultimate of course.

Chicken: Glide.
When cursed, press jump again in the air to have your fallspeed reduced to 40% for 5 seconds. ( Imagine the extended boarding options via cannon launch. )
Negates fall damage after activation.

Pig: 50% more health points.
A simple extention of your health. But now you have to eat more to reach full health again, mirroring the glutton nature of captured pigs in a cage. So cute and so hungry. ^^

Snake: Venom.
The duration of any kind of venom on yourself is halfed and your own sword is coated in a thin layer of poison, giving it a 15% chance to poison an enemy target.
( The sword poison has the same strenght as all other poison effects in the game. )

Shark: Aquatic hunter.
You can now breath underwater, swim faster and your swordhits in the water heal you up as if you have eaten a coconut.

Kraken: Black sea. One time consumable curse.
You are granted the ability to summon the Krakens ink once again but the area appears almost behind your ship and enables you to trap possible pursuers within it.
If a skeletonship is inside the radius, you trigger an insta-sink with two tentacles on, very similar to what happened in the maidenvoyage scenario.
But the Kraken drags all possible loot with it to the depths. A curse with the focus on escape.

Megalodon: Push of a giant. One time consumable curse.
This curse will create a ghostly Megadolon behind your ship, granting your wooden vessel an otherwise impossible amount and total increase of +100% in speed for 20 seconds.
This curse is able to negate the effect of the Krakens ink as well.
Be careful if using it while pointing at NorthWestern direction. You may puke your guts out. ( °o°)
.

Undeads

Basic Skeleton: Lifevision.
You can now see a red glowing outline of living beings in a nearby radius of 10 meters. This aura of lifeforce is also visible to you through walls and obstacles.
( Great to find players hiding away on a fort or tucced away on your ship. )

Plant Skeleton: Water Regeneration.
Just like the normal plant-skelly you have unlimited regeneration inside a waterscource and it will also start 50% faster after you stopped taking damage. Thats all.

Gold Skeleton: Hardened.
You take 50% less damage through any kind of physical attack but 50% more damage through any kind of explosion effects. Standing in water will make you go slower, swimming speed remains unaffected.
( It covers all the other places with a golden effect which the Shores of Gold cosmetic does not cover. So you can now fully become a golden pirat if you got both. )

Shadow Skeleton: Shadow armor.
All kinds of damage against yourself is reduced by 60% but only at night, including fall damage. You cannot get staggered or break your bones either.
During daytime or after being exposed to light during the night (for 15 seconds), you drag a visible black smoke aura after yourself, giving away your position easily in case you wanted to hide away somewhere. And you also take 50% increased damage through fire.
( Cause fire is a radiant light scource. )

Ashen Skeletons: Fire affinity.
Being lit on fire heals you slowly instead of damaging you. You have a 15% chance to lit your enemys on fire with your sword. You radiate a red aura ( like the ashen skelly NPC's on islands ) making it harder for you to hide away.
Stepping or falling into the water does not do anything really, appart from putting the fire on your enemys out, so get out of it.

Merfolk: Offering a Merfolk the flesh of either the Kraken or a Megadolon.
They will hand you a runestone able to automatically transform yourself in a Merfolk whenever you are submerged by water.
Greatly increasing your swimmingspeed and granting you the ability to breath underwater. Your swimmingspeed is also much faster as with the curse from the shark.
( Finally I can explore the beautiful underwater scenery of SoT in peace, without the annoying noises of drowning and pain. Or now I can loot shipwrecks much easier. )
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Curses are inscripted on a runestone you must carry on yourself in an extra-slot on your pirat. You can also store them away in a new barrel on your ship. Like a weapon you can only equip one.
Your curse stays on yourself after dying but it will disappear if you log out.
Try gathering curses for every occassion in hope it might give you the edge in combat.

I can see the gold curse becoming a favourite as it stops people from one-blundering or spawn camping single people easily after a respawn.
Of course it has its drawback... but now people need to think more and we know many spawn campers cannot really think.
They just memorized a routine that enables them an easy victory over already disadvantaged people in most cases. :)

Please Rare.
Make it happen. :P