Alter self and prosthetic magical limbs

[Kol Korran]

my group have used polymorph effects very very rarely, so i'm a bit confused.

in a campaign i'll be running there might be a cliche pirate with a peg leg, hook arm and one eye. i'm thinking of making the leg, the hook and the eye patch magical.

he will probably have access to alter self.

so my questions are:
1) if he changes to another form, does he grow a leg/ hand/ eye? (it seems like he will, since you can grow wings and more arms and the like). if so, what happens to the prosthetics? do they get "swallowed up" in the new form? do they "fall off" (a bit embarrassing)? what happens? i assume the ey patch will remain an eye patch, but the leg and hook?

2) if they get swallowed up, and if they are magical, do they still work? or become inactive?

this is confusing. :smallfrown:
thanks for all who help!

[Thurbane]

I think this is the relevant text from Alter Self:

When the change occurs, your equipment, if any, either remains worn or held by the new form (if it is capable of wearing or holding the item), or melds into the new form and becomes nonfunctional. When you revert to your true form, any objects previously melded into the new form reappear in the same location on your body they previously occupied and are once again functional. Any new items you wore in the assumed form and can’t wear in your normal form fall off and land at your feet; any that you could wear in either form or carry in a body part common to both forms at the time of reversion are still held in the same way. Any part of the body or piece of equipment that is separated from the whole reverts to its true form.
Strictly speaking, I would say the RAW is a little murky.

You could either rule that the "new form" would retain the prosthesis (i.e. if you were a Human with a peg leg, you would turn into a Troglodyte with a peg leg), or it would also be reasonable to interpret it that the prosthesis is melded into the new form (i.e. if you were a Human with a peg leg, you would turn into a Troglodyte with two fully functional legs, and the peg leg would be subsumed into the Troglodyte form for the spell's duration).

If you go with the second interpretation, any magical powers of the peg leg would be lost for the duration of Alter Self.

This part of the text would make me believe that RAW leans towards the sedond reading in any case:

You can freely designate the new form’s minor physical qualities (such as hair color, hair texture, and skin color) within the normal ranges for a creature of that kind. The new form’s significant physical qualities (such as height, weight, and gender) are also under your control, but they must fall within the norms for the new form’s kind. You are effectively disguised as an average member of the new form’s race. If you use this spell to create a disguise, you get a +10 bonus on your Disguise check.

[Morph Bark]

Also from the SRD quote Thurbane posted: or melds into the new form and becomes nonfunctional.

In this case, the eye patch remains, the hook and peg leg meld into the new form.

[Kol Korran]

cool. i'll go by your interpretations/ explanations- it would make things more interesting! this way he'll have a good reason to choose alternate forms (mostly as a disguise), and his real form- to access the abilities of his items.
thanks!