How do you lose limbs?

[Cipher Stars]

Regeneration and such things, spells, ect, they all reference lost limbs.

But as it is, you can get attacked by a butcher's knife the size of your entire leg and you'd never lose a limb. So what's the point of them? You will never lose a limb, so why is for example the ring of regeneration so expensive or such high levels?

Surely there must be a way to lose, so what the devil is that way?
The only thing I can think of would be some vorpal weapon that hacks off you head... in which case that 90,000 ring of regeneration is hardly useful.

[Edge of Dreams]

I think it's mostly a hold-over from the old days of AD&D when you had crit and fumble tables that could result in lost limbs. Also, there's the idea that a GM could do that sort of thing to you if he wanted to with the right monster ("The Frost Giant lifts the Wizard off the ground and...roll dice... rips his arm clean off!"). However, most GMs don't bother attacking players with anything other than what is directly in the game mechanics, often for fear of getting yelled at by players.

[docnessuno]

- Houserules
- RP consequences
- Traps
- Specific items

[Chilingsworth]

Specifically, in an earlier ed (I think it was 2nd ed.) there was a magic item called a sword of sharpness, which acted kinda like a vorpal weapon, except it hacked limbs off instead.

[Cipher Stars]

So pretty much just whenever the DM thinks it would be appropriate :/

[sreservoir]

casting finger bolts?

there are definitely spells which call for losing limbs, in any case. possibly spells which cause loss of limb, too.

[Chilingsworth]

So pretty much just whenever the DM thinks it would be appropriate :/

Kinda, mostly it's a holdover from earlier edditions.

Although, if the hand and eye of Vecna are in play, it might be relevant.
(the head would just mean death, requiring a ressurection spell.)

[Phelix-Mu]

I believe that there is a spell, wither limb, in Book of Vile Darkness, and there are probably a couple other obscure spells where this could happen. Otherwise it is purely plot-related (you have to put your arm in the giant wolf's mouth while your friends chain him up).

[Sgt. Cookie]

Let's just say that buying budget Vorpal enhancements is a bad idea.

[navar100]

It's verisimilitude. You have Heal which cures all injuries, diseases, and hit points. You have Restoration to cure lost levels. You have Resurrection to cure death. You need something to restore lost limbs for consistency.

Regenerate is handy if you have a pet Hydra.

[nedz]

You guys have obviously never encountered a fake Hand of Vecna. That's a good way of loosing a hand.:smallbiggrin:

[Cipher Stars]

(you have to put your arm in the giant wolf's mouth while your friends chain him up).

I'm sure Týr would love such a spell.


Oh well. I'll just have to remember to include limb severing abilities or skills.

How would you frame a check to have a giant rip someone's arms off... some kind of strength check or bite attack...

[Chilingsworth]

I'm sure Týr would love such a spell.


Oh well. I'll just have to remember to include limb severing abilities or skills.

How would you frame a check to have a giant rip someone's arms off... some kind of strength check or bite attack...

Well, if you do it with an existing attack form, you could use the sunder rules as a basis, I suppose. (iirc, sunder doesn't allow severing/destruction of limbs by RAW, so you'd have to modify it for your purposes.)

[Phelix-Mu]

According to the wookiee, a certain kind of creature or creature type of a certain size should have a break DC. If you are strong enough and have the creature pinned or otherwise helpless, you can just pull off parts.

Using normal weapons to sunder body parts in combat would have the be nerfed somehow, otherwise it stands to be extremely powerful as a tactic.

[Acanous]

Pretty sure there's rules for sundering Hydra heads. I think they intended those rules to be applicable for limbs as well, but never got around to balancing and implimenting them.

[prufock]

Pathfinder has the Sever maneuver.

[Glimbur]

You guys have obviously never encountered a fake Hand of Vecna. That's a good way of loosing a hand.:smallbiggrin:

Not as dangerous as the Head of Vecna, though.

[Slipperychicken]

Pathfinder has the Sever maneuver.

Those rules are incredibly brutal, to say the least. And it makes severing far too easy for the lasting penalties it incurs, especially if you track encumbrance.

[nyarlathotep]

Those rules are incredibly brutal, to say the least. And it makes severing far too easy for the lasting penalties it incurs, especially if you track encumbrance.

It is 3rd party.

[SowZ]

It has only come up once in my games. (My D&D games. I mostly run other systems, many of which have limb loss sub-systems.) Specifically, a character had been bit by a ghoul. (Houserule, anyone bit by a ghoul who goes to sleep wakes up as a goul.) The bite knocked him out. The ranger decided on some 'quick thinking' and hacked the unconscious sorcerer's arm off. He was none to pleased by this favor.

[Monodominant]

The reason non-homebrew rules rarely use limb loss (or losing an eye, ear etc) is that PCs stick around while NPCs often dont.

So for the few 'awesome times' you would get to chop of the BBEG hand to make him drop his weapon or in general be really cool and nasty you would have to face the return of playing a character that would end up without hands, legs, ears, eyes and teeth when various adversaries use the same type of attacks against you.

Its okay to RP a guy with an eye patch or maybe one hand but its hard to be heroic when your party is given the monicker "The Heroic Cripples" after a couple of adventures and traps.

[Pilo]

by the way, could someone give me a link to a way to add wounds and injuries rules to D&D?

[ShurikVch]

Clutch of Orcus (Clr 3) - lose heart (BoVD, pg. 88)
Grim Revenge (Sor/Wiz 4) - lose arm (BoVD, pg. 97)
Heartclutch (Clr 5) - lose heart (BoVD, pg. 97)
Gutwrench (Undead Sor/Wiz 8) - lose guts (BoVD, pg. 97)
Lahm’s Finger Darts (Corrupt 2) - lose finger (BoVD, pg. 98)
Seething Eyebane (Corrupt 1) - lose eyes (BoVD, pg. 103)

Decerebrate (Psion/wilder 7) - lose part of brain (XPH, pg. 90)

Vile Rebellion (Sor/Wiz 7) - lose arms, legs and torso (Dragon #300, pg. 57)

[SowZ]

Clutch of Orcus (Clr 3) - lose heart (BoVD, pg. 88)
Grim Revenge (Sor/Wiz 4) - lose arm (BoVD, pg. 97)
Heartclutch (Clr 5) - lose heart (BoVD, pg. 97)
Gutwrench (Undead Sor/Wiz 8) - lose guts (BoVD, pg. 97)
Lahm’s Finger Darts (Corrupt 2) - lose finger (BoVD, pg. 98)
Seething Eyebane (Corrupt 1) - lose eyes (BoVD, pg. 103)

Decerebrate (Psion/wilder 7) - lose part of brain (XPH, pg. 90)

Vile Rebellion (Sor/Wiz 7) - lose arms, legs and torso (Dragon #300, pg. 57)

And here, ladies and gentlemen, we have the guys speaking faux-latin in wizard robes infinitely more competent at taking off people's arms than the guy strong enough to lift a car wielding a five foot long sword...

[Sacrieur]

I played a half-demon barbarian that took some glee to rip limbs off of people's bodies in the middle of combat. It had the nice effect of demoralizing the other foes.

They really didn't survive much longer than that, so I can't think restoration would have been much use.

You can also lose limbs if you're petrified and some breaks off your arm.

[searlefm]

one time i was DMing a player of mine managed to get them self cough by the bad guys(a Lch) by playing the lone hero givign the othere time to run from a zombie horde.
although the party did manage to save him in the next session i had the Lich pull one of hie eye out and curse him to regenerate would not work,
the party got in just in time as the Lich started to remove the second one managed to defeat the Mid boss quite easily with outs its Hordes of zombies or combat buffs and then restored one of his eyes.

the next campaign i did with the same characters that player (a paladin) got a new eye in but i had to homebrew it as a magic artifact, because they refused to accept a flesh graft

[Zubrowka74]

Not as dangerous as the Head of Vecna, though.

There's a story somewhere about a DM who used this and two players died trying to "place" it but I'm too lazy to search for it. Pretty epic comedy if you ask me!

[Sacrieur]

Heh, a regenerate spell on some guy with a magical mithral arm trying to smash you could be useful.

[mistformsquirrl]

I actually created a homebrew ruleset to address exactly this kind of thing < . .> here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=116417).

It's not perfect, but it's definitely one way to lose limbs!

[SowZ]

There's a story somewhere about a DM who used this and two players died trying to "place" it but I'm too lazy to search for it. Pretty epic comedy if you ask me!

Three, actually. http://www.blindpanic.com/humor/vecna.htm The other poster was probably referencing it, it is a Steve Jackson story so fairly well known. (: