mechanics of one eyed, one armed, one legged piracy

[Kol Korran]

so... soon i might play a pirate campaign. cliches (which we might use) such as eye patches, hook hands and peg legs beg the question- how do you implement them?

1) on character creation- are they considered a flaw? or should they be just in flavor with the character compensating for the loss somehow?

2) in the campaign- i know of no rules to lose a leg, an arm or an eye. any suggestions? these should be rare occurrences. is the character compensated somehow?

3) healing: i assume only the 7 level spell (regeneration?) might fix this. but it might be too high for our style of play (13/14 the level is REALLY high in our terms, very rare). so might that be lowered? wouldn't it cheapen it?

your thoughts me maties? :smallwink:


(search word: piratewitch)

[Elric VIII]

so... soon i might play a pirate campaign. cliches (which we might use) such as eye patches, hook hands and peg legs beg the question- how do you implement them?

1) on character creation- are they considered a flaw? or should they be just in flavor with the character compensating for the loss somehow?

Well, that's basically what a flaw is, a weakness that grants compensation in another area.

It doesn't always have to result in a feat, consider granting things like:


ACFs without trading away the original feature. The peg-legged Bard has lost some combat ability and now spends his time honing his mechanical skills. Give him the Bardic Knack feature for this flaw.

Bonuses to certain skills representing compensation (i.e. blind in one eye, but has learned to judge distance via sound more accurately, ranting +X to listen).

Consider giving discounts on grafts for the relevant body part (I know there is a false eye/eyepatch combo graft).




2) in the campaign- i know of no rules to lose a leg, an arm or an eye. any suggestions? these should be rare occurrences. is the character compensated somehow?

The DM can also allow the acquisition of flaws after character creation, so losing something during the campaign isn't a problem.

AFAIK, the system does not have rules for dismemberment penalties. You can either go to a third party resource or agree on some rules to govern this beforehand.



3) healing: i assume only the 7 level spell (regeneration?) might fix this. but it might be too high for our style of play (13/14 the level is REALLY high in our terms, very rare). so might that be lowered? wouldn't it cheapen it?

Well, you could create (as a PC) a spell at a lower level that does not give healing or remove exhaustion and only regenerates 1 limb per casting, rather than all of them. You could also include scrolls in the game, as the UMD DC is not that high with some optimization (Skill Focus, masterwork item, Divine Insight spell, etc).




your thoughts me maties? :smallwink:


(search word: piratewitch)

I think someone should play a Warforged, Necropolitan, Swashbuckler/Swordsage.