[PF] 3rd party prosthetics

[Laniius]

Ok, I'm going to be running a Skull and Shackles campaign, using the scarring rules.

I've stumbled across some 3rd party prosthetics, here: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/variant-rules/variant-rules-3rd-party/4-winds-fantasy-gaming/The-Loss-of-a-Body-Part/Prosthetics

Has anyone played with any of these? They look interesting, but the pricing seems off in some cases. Like the Clockwork Arm for 500 gp that effectively gives a +2 to strength for the purpose of attack bonus and damage when attacking with that arm.

[Anodai]

I would adjust the pricing on that, at very least, and/or impose a dex penalty, or remove the strength bonus, or give it a flat strength score. If you attached it to a 120 pound elf wizard, maybe it'd make them stronger, but on a half-ogre barbarian, its a poor substitute for his powerful, natural arms.

The clockwork leg, described as 'very expensive,' is 800 gp, and functions just as good as a real leg. Prosthetics in the 21st century aren't that good, and while there isn't a gp to $ exchange rate (to my knowledge...) would be a lot more costly.

As a whole, they should be either a lot more expensive, less effective, or a combination of the two IMO.

[grarrrg]

Has anyone played with any of these? They look interesting, but the pricing seems off in some cases. Like the Clockwork Arm for 500 gp that effectively gives a +2 to strength for the purpose of attack bonus and damage when attacking with that arm.


As a whole, they should be either a lot more expensive, less effective, or a combination of the two IMO.

Well, they are (presumably) balanced by the fact that they can be Sundered.
The Clockwork Arm has 10 Hardness and 30 HP.

But I agree that they are VERY poorly balanced.
A fair number of them give a "+5 Circumstance bonus to Intimidate".
+_5_?? Really?

Also, I found the "Prosthetic Armor" section amusing:

Rather than granting an armor class bonus...armor for prosthetics instead increases the hardness and hit points of the prosthetic...

Adamantine armor adds:
DR 1/-, +20 hardness and +10 hit points to a prosthetic arm.
DR 1/-, +20 hardness and +20 hit points to a prosthetic leg.


The designer of these apparently doesn't quite understand what Hardness does...

[Laniius]

So in other words it looks like these aren't very good.

Does anyone know of anything that's relatively low cost for prostheses?

I'm running with a house rule where a PC can choose to take a major scar (from the scar table in the adventure guide) to avoid going below zero, once per day.

I plan on running with the massive damage scarring rules as well, but since massive damage only kicks in with 50 damage, I figured I'd do this as well to let my PCs get in on the scarring fun.

Problem is, I don't want my party to be COMPLETELY ****ed, i.e. a two-handed fighter losing an arm, without a prosthetic option.

Perhaps if I made the clockwork arm no better or worse than his original arm?

As to the gp to real-world currency, remember that a pound of gold in the pathfinder universe is worth 50 gp.

Currently, gold is valued (according to wikipedia) at $1410/troy ounce, and the lowest value on wikipedia is $37/troy ounce in 1970. A troy ounce is 31.1034768 g.

I'm too tired to math out the conversion right now.

[grarrrg]

So in other words it looks like these aren't very good.

Well, the IDEA is sound. But the BALANCE is out of whack (on this particular set of items anyway...).
Giving a Clockwork Arm no real Bonus (or a noticeable Penalty) should be fine.

[molten_dragon]

So in other words it looks like these aren't very good.

Does anyone know of anything that's relatively low cost for prostheses?

Look at it this way. A scroll of regenerate would regrow ALL of the target's lost limbs, exactly as functional as they were before (no bonuses or penalties) for 2,275 gp. Now most of the time, the character won't have more than one lost limb that needs to be replaced, but they might, so maybe a prosthetic that functioned exactly as the replaced limb would cost 1500-2000 gp? With that as a base point, you could start figuring out cheaper versions that come with drawbacks, or more expensive versions that give bonuses on top of replacing the functionality of the limb.

[Slipperychicken]

Peg legs. Hook hands. Haft lock if you're a two-hander. Quit whining, you're a pirate now.

...


Can you make an unarmed strike with a peg leg?

[Cirrylius]

Can you make an unarmed strike with a peg leg?

*shrugs* Worked for Cherry Darling.

[molten_dragon]

Peg legs. Hook hands. Haft lock if you're a two-hander. Quit whining, you're a pirate now.

Except that makes no sense in-game when you have (relatively) easy access to better options. Real life pirates didn't have hooks and peg legs because they were pirates, they had them because those were the best prosthetics available at the time.

[Slipperychicken]

Except that makes no sense in-game when you have (relatively) easy access to better options. Real life pirates didn't have hooks and peg legs because they were pirates, they had them because those were the best prosthetics available at the time.

Most people are making 7 silver a week, 10 silver if they're hitting DC 20 Profession checks (which is quite a feat for a commoner). Quite a bit of that goes to food, taxes, and other living costs, not to mention recreation.

A 500 gold prosthetic? Nine and a half years salary for the 99%. That's not "easy access", that's the in-game equivalent of half a million US dollars.



EDIT: The PCs can afford it because they're diving into the unknown and saving the world from strange horrors beyond time and space, in the settings most lethal job ever. And they're the best of the best, they should have that much cash because they're doing the worlds most dangerous and important job.

[molten_dragon]

Most people are making 7 silver a week, 10 silver if they're hitting DC 20 Profession checks (which is quite a feat for a commoner). Quite a bit of that goes to food, taxes, and other living costs, not to mention recreation.

A 500 gold prosthetic? Nine and a half years salary for the 99%. That's not "easy access", that's the in-game equivalent of half a million US dollars.



EDIT: The PCs can afford it because they're diving into the unknown and saving the world from strange horrors beyond time and space, in the settings most lethal job ever. And they're the best of the best, they should have that much cash because they're doing the worlds most dangerous and important job.

That's precisely the point though. We're not talking about commoners, we're talking about the PCs. And 2,275 gp (or 910 if they can find an NPC to just cast it for them) is not much money for a PC, even at fairly low levels (it's only ~25% of WBL for a level 5). That's why your "peg legs, hook hands, quite whining you're a pirate now" comment makes absolutely no sense. Why should the PCs be satisfied with a hook (and all the penalties that come with it) when they can just spend a modest amount of money to have the limb regrown?

[grarrrg]

EDIT: The PCs can afford it because they're diving into the unknown and saving the world from strange horrors beyond time and space, in the settings most lethal job ever. And they're the best of the best, they should have that much cash because they're doing the worlds most dangerous and important job.

QUICK! Someone stat up Mike Rowe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Rowe)!

[Slipperychicken]

That's precisely the point though. We're not talking about commoners, we're talking about the PCs. And 2,275 gp (or 910 if they can find an NPC to just cast it for them) is not much money for a PC, even at fairly low levels (it's only ~25% of WBL for a level 5). That's why your "peg legs, hook hands, quite whining you're a pirate now" comment makes absolutely no sense. Why should the PCs be satisfied with a hook (and all the penalties that come with it) when they can just spend a modest amount of money to have the limb regrown?

Ah, that's where the confusion comes from. I was assuming the PCs couldn't afford Regeneration because they were really low level, since that's the only time prosthetic limbs could be seriously considered.



QUICK! Someone stat up Mike Rowe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Rowe)!

Dirty Jobs: Dungeon Diving? :smalltongue: