RPG Superstar 2013 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2011 Top 16
|
Now I don't know about you but as useful as the recent Sage advice in #352 was on Regeneration and lost limbs I'm in a quandry... How did those Trolls and Ogre Magi lose said limbs in the first place???
Unlike 2nd ed. where you could lop off a Trolls arms on a Nat 20, 3.5 doesn't have rules to cover that. The only exceptions being the Sunder rules for the Kraken and Hydra and the Vorpal weapon enhancement.
So what's the deal?
-I am a Vrock, I'm a Tanar'ri.
DM flavor, probably. I generally allow dismembering on criticals, if it's not incredibly overpowering to the creature in question.
(disarming a Troll is something the thing can live with; as is beheading a skeleton. It's a whole different story for a human.)
And then there is always the 'hey, it's unconsious. Let's hack it up a bit.'
It happens a lot in my games, actually. Sometimes it scares me =/
You could use flesh to stone, then break off a piece of the statue. Then, you use stone to flesh to turn them back into a creature so you can taunt them about their missing arm.
:D
I think it's Wizards being squeemish about limb removal. The closest you get is the Vorpal enchantment, which got nerfed in 3.5 (it used to be on critical hits, now it's specifically on natural 20s).
It also has to do with called shots, which also aren't implemented in 3rd edition.
There are a lot of house rules out there for how to do called shots - I suggest using a feat (I believe one was posted on these very boards) - but I use action points, so if a PC wants to do it, they can spend a point to emulate the feat.
As for limb removal...
I would suggest that a called shot that dealt more than 20% of the target's total (not current) hit points (or maybe a called shot that criticals, unless one of the prerequisites for called shots under your rules is a critical hit) might force a Fortitude save (DC typically 10 + damage dealt, but I'd rather it be 10 + 1/2 attacker's HD + attacker's Str modifier), failure resulting in the removal of the limb.
However, there's reason to be leery of this... implement it and expect PCs to create characters focused on dealing called shots to the neck. There are two ways to discourage abuse of this tactic (as valid as it may be) - 1) use it against them just as much as they use it against your NPCs. Heck, keep a tally sheet if you must (might even be fun to keep a record of lost limbs...). 2) Include nonmagical equipment that protects, similar to the fortification enchantment, but specifically against called shots (e.g. gorget, codpiece, etc.). It wouldn't negate critical hits, but it would help prevent area specific injuries and limb removal. Certain armor (especially heavy armor) would automatically have this protection, though it could be bought separately (perhaps as much as 50 gp for light armor, 100 gp for medium, and 200 for heavy). As for the amount of protection one provides, I would imagine that 5% per point of armor bonus would be sufficient. A magical enhancement could improve this (perhaps a +1 equivalent bonus enhancement that bestows 15% per 2 points of armor bonus?). Discuss.
TK
Here's the feat I was talking about (though the poster suggests allowing it as an action similar to sunder and trip, which does sound reasonable considering the system he uses):