Post by Cosmichorror on Feb 14, 2010 22:51:16 GMT
I was reading through the Libris Mortis after searching for it for several minutes and finally finding it being hidden by another book (Elder Evils), and got to the section on grafts. Normally these magic items require the recipiant to lose a limb or other part of their body to replace with the graft, making the process largly volountary. If all of your arms work, why bother looking for another one?
So as a sort of way to make grafts more important, and also to help save unlucky PCs, not to mention the often forgotten Regenerate spell, I've come up with the following house rule:
Dismemberment
When a character is struck by a critical hit that would instantly kill them, either by reducing their HP below -10 or by dealing massive damage, the character may opt instead to suffer dismemberment in place of death. The GM decides which limb is destroyed (or simply roll a d4 and assign the limbs to each number). The character then falls to -1 HP (but is not stablized automatically). If the damage that caused the dismemberment was slashing, then the lost limb is still intact, but severed and could possibly be reatached. All other damage types destory the limb too much to be reused.
A character who has lost an arm cannot wield two-handed weapons and cannot perform most actions that require two hands (Such as lock picking). If the arm lost was the character's main hand, then the character takes the usual -4 penalty when using their remaining arm. GM's may allow the character to, after some time, to reduce or even eleminate this penalty. If the limb lost was a leg, the character can only stay upright with a balance check (DC 15) and suffers all of the effects of fighting while balancing. Also, the character's movement speed drops to 5ft and cannot use the jump or tumble skills.
So, thoughts, comments?
So as a sort of way to make grafts more important, and also to help save unlucky PCs, not to mention the often forgotten Regenerate spell, I've come up with the following house rule:
Dismemberment
When a character is struck by a critical hit that would instantly kill them, either by reducing their HP below -10 or by dealing massive damage, the character may opt instead to suffer dismemberment in place of death. The GM decides which limb is destroyed (or simply roll a d4 and assign the limbs to each number). The character then falls to -1 HP (but is not stablized automatically). If the damage that caused the dismemberment was slashing, then the lost limb is still intact, but severed and could possibly be reatached. All other damage types destory the limb too much to be reused.
A character who has lost an arm cannot wield two-handed weapons and cannot perform most actions that require two hands (Such as lock picking). If the arm lost was the character's main hand, then the character takes the usual -4 penalty when using their remaining arm. GM's may allow the character to, after some time, to reduce or even eleminate this penalty. If the limb lost was a leg, the character can only stay upright with a balance check (DC 15) and suffers all of the effects of fighting while balancing. Also, the character's movement speed drops to 5ft and cannot use the jump or tumble skills.
So, thoughts, comments?