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View Full Version : Prostheses: Mechanics and Major Wounds



Inkidu
2013-05-18, 03:17 PM
This is for my setting, Alabastra (which can be found around here in various forms). This is D&D-3.5-based, by the by.

So I've been tooling around with various wounds systems and this is very broad-strokes and kind of nebulous at the moment. However, there are three categories of debilitating wounds:

Temporary: A general loss of stats or skills for a period of time, but it will reverse itself given time and healing. (i.e. burns to the hand would confer a penalty to that hand, and any skill that takes two hands (lockpicking, use rope) would suffer a -2 penalty. A -2 to hit with two handed weapons.

Major: A permanent wound that could only be cured by a potent cure spell. These include things like improperly set bones, major piercing wounds, horrendous burns. They would normally confer a small but permanent hit to a stat-score (usually the physical ones). They could also generate random rolls for pains interrupting skill use and whatnot.

Catastrophic: What better way to prove what a bad ass hero your character is by having him survive and otherwise lethal blow.

These basically include amputations of a wrist or larger. I know right now that I only want them conferred on critical hits. They could only be healed by the most potent spells and within a limited amount of time. (xd4 hours or something). They would confer stat loses as well as the inability to walk or wield items properly.

If you're thinking that this might seem too harsh, well... you're right. It's an attempt to get players to not think of HP as something that protects you from the bitter clutches of Dolmascus (my setting's god of death) until the -10 mark. It's supposed to make them think about situations just a little more and to spend more time healing.

However, I do allow a fix non-magical (well maybe not entirely) answer. Clockwork prostheses. That's right. You can pay certain people to forge you a replacement limb. Any limb is replaceable in this fashion: Hands, feet, forearms and forelegs, entire arms and legs, eyes, ears, gills, and wings.
(For my merfolk and buteos, winged-humanoids).

The average one restores a catastrophic wound to full functionality. However, if you can pay for it there are masterwork versions that can confer a stat bonus. They can also be outfitted with several hidden blades from Complete Scoundrel, or small spikes. as well.

They typically don't allow AC bonuses, but they could if one forgoes a shield. Also they could break (see wounding above but apply more breaking).

I'm using the wounding system in Unearthed Arcana as a base for the wounding system, but I would like to hear what everyone here would do with and how they would implement such a system.

zabbarot
2013-05-19, 09:33 AM
Considering some of the other games I've played with permanent injury rules these aren't actually that harsh. What sort of price point are you putting on a standard prostheses? The other games that come to mind usually have cheaper versions available early on that give you a small minus to some stat or other, but at least allow you to move again, so that's something to keep in mind.

Also might be nice to add some fluff things, like maybe low level healing spells leave scar tissue. Only really strong magic leaves no mark of the wound.

Kiren
2013-05-19, 10:39 AM
I would allow either a reflex or a fortitude save against limb loss. Passing the save downgrades the damage to a break.

Inkidu
2013-05-19, 02:31 PM
Considering some of the other games I've played with permanent injury rules these aren't actually that harsh. What sort of price point are you putting on a standard prostheses? The other games that come to mind usually have cheaper versions available early on that give you a small minus to some stat or other, but at least allow you to move again, so that's something to keep in mind.

Also might be nice to add some fluff things, like maybe low level healing spells leave scar tissue. Only really strong magic leaves no mark of the wound.Well, it's kind of hard to have really serious permanent injuries in a game where magic is real. :/ Still, I tend to be downright miserly with gold, so it's actually quite hard to heal up in my by just buying a bunch of potions and healing services.

The plan is to make it so as you dungeon crawl you get a bunch of small injuries that build up issues with your skills and whatnot. The permanent wounds were meant to represent a career of wounds so to speak. Catastrophic are generally the rarest.

As for the prices. I'm not sure. I know that masterworks will cost you upwards of 1,500 gold, and the basic ones will be around 800 to 1000.

smoke prism
2013-05-19, 04:21 PM
Anyone one els get a fullmetal alchemist vibe from this. But seriously it seems pretty fair to me. It should stop players from thinking that there indestructible .