How to re-attach a severed leg

[Walk Hard]

Basically title. Party member had a leg chopped off for reasons.
What options do we have to re-attach his leg?

[MrStabby]

Sovereign Glue.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

I'd argue Greater Restoration should probably work. It's the same spell level as Raise Dead, so it should be powerful enough, while being one of those catch all spells you can use for healing magic not otherwise specified.

[Walk Hard]

We had. A look at greater restoration, but then regenerate actually mentions reattaching limbs but at 7th level that seems kinda high for it

[DeTess]

If it's only been unnattached for a couple of minutes at most, an argument could be made for a simple healing spell. Limbs can generally be saved irl if a doctor can reattach it quickly enough.

[Unoriginal]

Basically title. Party member had a leg chopped off for reasons.
What options do we have to re-attach his leg?

You need a Regeneration spell.


We had. A look at greater restoration, but then regenerate actually mentions reattaching limbs but at 7th level that seems kinda high for it

Severed limbs are a big deal.

[Walk Hard]

A bigger deal than reviving someone from the dead though?

Are there any rules around prosthetics?

[Silly Name]

Give them one of those arm cannons from Rising from the Last War, except it's a leg cannon?

[Sigreid]

A bigger deal than reviving someone from the dead though?

Are there any rules around prosthetics?

Actually, Artificer's have infusions for artificial limbs and organs.

Edit: for purely mundane I would personally allow a normal wooden leg until they get the option for a replacement or regrow. I'd handle it with a 5' movement penalty for a short time like a month or a level depending on how fast your party levels and after that just treat it as flavor. And the player would know up front that the movement penalty was temporary, and how temporary.

[nickl_2000]

Kill them completely, use mending to re-attach the limb since it's an object now that it's dead, then cast raise dead (only a 5th level spell slot instead if a 7th).


If your DM will let you from a timing prospective mending takes 1 minute to cast, revivify has to happen within 1 minute of death. If it could be timed perfectly it could be done with a 3 level spell slot and 300gp of diamonds.

[Lunali]

Kill them completely, use mending to re-attach the limb since it's an object now that it's dead, then cast raise dead (only a 5th level spell slot instead if a 7th).


If your DM will let you from a timing prospective mending takes 1 minute to cast, revivify has to happen within 1 minute of death. If it could be timed perfectly it could be done with a 3 level spell slot and 300gp of diamonds.

Throw in gentle repose to buy you plenty of time.

[nickl_2000]

Throw in gentle repose to buy you plenty of time.

There you go. Kill your friend and gentle repose him. Have someone cast mending since your friend is now an object. The revivify him.

a Cantrip, a 2nd level spell, and a 3rd level spell with a 300gp diamond cost. Easily doable by a 5th level party.

[KorvinStarmast]

Throw in gentle repose to buy you plenty of time. You read my mind.

There you go. Kill your friend and gentle repose him. Have someone cast mending since your friend is now an object. The revivify him.

a Cantrip, a 2nd level spell, and a 3rd level spell with a 300gp diamond cost. Easily doable by a 5th level party. I think you'd need to cast mending more than once.

Mending / Transmutation / Casting Time: 1 minute / Range: Touch Components: V, S, M (two lodestones)
Duration: Instantaneous
As long as the break or tear is no larger than 1 foot in any dimension, you mend it, leaving no trace of the former damage. This spell can physically repair a magic item or construct, but the spell can’t restore magic to such an object. how is that tear measured? I guess as long as the leg (where it was severed) isn't over a foot in diameter, this works. Hmmm.

[nickl_2000]

You read my mind.
I think you'd need to cast mending more than once.
how is that tear measured? I guess as long as the leg (where it was severed) isn't over a foot in diameter, this works. Hmmm.

Gentle Repose gives you 10 days. I'm pretty sure you have plenty of time :smallbiggrin:

[Chalkarts]

Digigrade Cyberlimb with Raptor claws.

But seriously, I always thought that was the sort of thing Greater Restoration was made to do.

[KorvinStarmast]

Digigrade Cyberlimb with Raptor claws.

But seriously, I always thought that was the sort of thing Greater Restoration was made to do.

... reduce the target’s exhaustion level by one, or end one of the following effects on the target:

• One effect that charmed or petrified the target
• One curse, including the target’s attunement to a cursed magic item
• Any reduction to one of the target’s ability scores
• One effect reducing the target’s hit point maximum

Ring of Regeneration:

Ring, very rare (requires attunement)
While wearing this ring, you regain 1d6 hit points every 10 minutes, provided that you have at least 1 hit point. If you lose a body part, the ring causes the missing part to regrow and return to full functionality after 1d6 + 1 days if you have at least 1 hit point the whole time.

Regenerate

7th level transmutation
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: Touch
Components: V, S, M (a prayer wheel and holy water)
Duration: 1 hour
You touch a creature and stimulate its natural healing ability. The target regains 4d8 + 15 hit points. For the duration of the spell, the target regains 1 hit point at the start of each of its turns (10 hit points each minute).
The target’s severed body members (fingers, legs, tails, and so on), if any, are restored after 2 minutes. If you have the severed part and hold it to the stump, the spell in tantaneously causes the limb to knit to the stump.

[Cicciograna]

If your DM will let you from a timing prospective mending takes 1 minute to cast, revivify has to happen within 1 minute of death. If it could be timed perfectly it could be done with a 3 level spell slot and 300gp of diamonds.


Throw in gentle repose to buy you plenty of time.

It's not even necessary.
As per the last Sage Advice Compentium (https://media.wizards.com/2020/dnd/downloads/SA-Compendium.pdf), page 19:


You choose the targets of a spell when you complete casting a spell, not when you start.

You can start casting mending while your friend is still alive, kill him in the last round of the 1-minute casting time, finish casting mending on a now valid target, and then you have a full minute to cast revivify, without having to time perfectly or spend resources on additional slots.

[NRSASD]

Speaking as the DM for a PC who just lost her hand, regenerate is the spell you're looking for.

Arguably kill/mend/raise could work, but I'd argue you would need to dump a ton of healing magic on them too to ensure all the nerves/veins/squishy bits reconnected properly.

Another method that worked in our campaign was just buckets upon buckets of healing magic. The party had to get a cursed necklace of strangulation off a PC (same one that lost her hand), so they gently, carefully "decapitated" her. The necklace was trying to constrict her throat so they carefully sawed through her neck while pouring 3x her max hp in healing magic into her. Technically her head never became detached at any point, so I ruled a regeneration was unnecessary in the face of multiple heals and such.

[nickl_2000]

Arguably kill/mend/raise could work, but I'd argue you would need to dump a ton of healing magic on them too to ensure all the nerves/veins/squishy bits reconnected properly.


Killjoy :smallbiggrin:

I would allow this at the table still though, as it take preparation and the PC has to trust their allies to do it right. Frankly it could make for some incredible Roleplaying opportunities of the PC freaking out about dying, and the secretly evil PC "accidently" screwing up the mending spell so that it wasn't done in time and the first PC stays dead.

[micahaphone]

Take 14 levels of Undying Warlock

[Ashrym]

A bigger deal than reviving someone from the dead though?

Are there any rules around prosthetics?

It was a DC medicine check for prosthesis. Artificers have infusions for magical prosthetics.

[Chugger]

Historically, severed limbs required regeneration spell or ring to re-attach or grow anew - iirc most versions of DnD have worked this way going back to the beginning or near it (I started a few years in, in the mid-to-late 70s - and we homebrewed a lot).

Any time someone needed a big cleric spell, like Raise Dead, Regeneration, Resurrection and so on - we generally went to a temple and started a bargaining process, whatever version we were playing. The party can have options (i.e. the DM can offer choices if he/she wants): maybe the party is charged a lot of gold for a casting of the spell - or the player is - or maybe the party agrees to magically bind themselves to doing a quest for the temple (often going out to recover something important - or to rescue a lost priest - or to kill some annoying monster). If the party has already voluntarily helped this temple, the priests may grant the party or player a break and cast the spell for cheap (or even for free).

Another option is for a retired adventurer who owns a ring of regeneration to "rent out" use of his ring, though I always wondered why someone would run the substantial risk of having their ring stolen (maybe they really need the money and have a system to protect their ring).

Another option is to make a deal with a patron (and perhaps agree to take some warlock levels) - and the patron fixes the severed limb.

Another option is to quest to find a legendary magic spring in a far-away enchanted glade that, if you've done some special thing or tossed in some special substance (2000 gp of powdered sapphire?) and dip your stump in the magic water - your limb grows anew (but is PURPLE!).

Questing for a potion or scroll of regen is an option.

Anyway, this is historically how this was typically handled. I should do a podcast or call-in show - Ask A Grog !! :D (grognard)

[Amnestic]

If I'm DMing I'd be loathe to let a cantrip (Mending) and a 3rd level spell (Revivify) accomplish the same thing as a 7th level spell. Given the complexity of a severed limb compared to, say, fixing a vase, I'd probably require a Medicine check on the part of the Mending caster to make sure that they don't reattach it wrong.

A Cleric 10+ can also try divine intervention once a day to grab Regeneration from their god, and on average they should have it within a week or so of attempts.

[JackPhoenix]

Prosthetic limb is a common magic item from Rising from the Last War, but it requires attunement. Still likely more accessible than Regeneration, especially in Eberron, where magic that high-level is basically non-existent.