character with 5+ draconic grafts

[LostDeviljho]

this thread pertains to a character with Draconic Grafts as described in Races of the Dragon p. 126

now, RAW outright states that a single character cannot have more than one draconic graft on a particular portion of the body (head, skin, flesh, legs, and arms), and cannot have more than five grafts total. however, it also mentions rumors of creatures that surpass this limit.


Rumors of attempts to bypass these biological limits abound, but such monstrosities -for that is what such creatures invariably become- rarely live long.

this implies that it is possible, although probably a very bad idea and something most players would never do willingly.


so here's my question: what kind of penalties would a character having to many grafts have to deal with? how would a player roleplay something like this? how would it fit into the rest of the game world and what impact might it have?

[weckar]

They would probably take daily damage to mental ability scores. Save penalties. Creeping insanity.

[Fizban]

Not the answer you're looking for, but those restrictions (and hp costs) are entirely arbitrary because someone decided grafts were too powerful. Most grafts are just a normal magic item at double price, the same increase as making one unslotted. The inability to pass it around or sell it easily should already make up for the fact that they're harder to lose. While the various stat or skill penalties make enough sense and can compensate for the stacking abilities the new graft categories give you (DR/magic for dragon IIRC), I don't see why you would lose hit points when the graft literally replaces the lost body part with better function than it had before, with living tissue that regenerates if you are raised from the dead! Why does that tissue not count as hit points!? Originally grafts had no such restrictions: you could stitch as much of whatever you wanted to anyone and as long as it wasn't a fiendish wing graft they'd be no crazier than they were for agreeing to the procedure. In fact, most of the printed grafts still fall under this: Fiend Folio, Libris Mortis, and Lords of Madness only list a gp cost and no restrictions. It's only the Eberron and Races of the Dragon grafts that I can think of which use the new penalties, they're rarely any fancier, and the hp cost isn't worth it on those interesting enough to use. Why yes, I do rant about this often.

The actual answer you're looking for is probably to borrow the Half-Golem template rules (MMII). If you graft a golem limb onto someone they become a half-golem and have to make a save to avoid losing their mind and becoming a mindless construct. Over-grafting or mixing grafts would presumably do the same thing, but turn them into a bestial aberration instead (dropping int to 1 or 2 and making them unplayable). Obviously I disagree with this since the graft restrictions are just there to slap penalties on people that are interested in alternative overpriced magic items because in dnd anyone who's different has a cha penalty. Anyone who actually takes the Graft Flesh feat (restricting you to one specific brand of graft) is pretty much a sucker, it's like taking craft arms and armor and only being allowed to make +1 flaming longswords and kukris: ridiculously specific and half of them aren't even what you want.