If a character's arm is mangled from an old injury, and he breaks it again to reset it and has it healed, does it return to the mangled condition or has he just fixed an old hindrance?
If a character's arm is mangled from an old injury, and he breaks it again to reset it and has it healed, does it return to the mangled condition or has he just fixed an old hindrance?
The only rules that account for this kind of thing are the called shot rules.
Arm
Arms are the manipulating limbs of a creature, including tentacles. Wings are also considered to be arms for purposes of a called shot. Called shots to the arm are easy (–2 penalty).
Called Shot: A called shot to an arm deals no additional damage, but for 1d4 rounds, any attack rolls, ability checks, or skill checks made using the wounded arm take a –2 penalty. A flying creature shot in the wing must make a Fly check to avoid descending involuntarily (Core Rulebook 96).
Critical Called Shot: A critical hit to the arm deals 1d4 points of Dexterity damage and 1d4 points of Strength damage. A successful Fortitude saving throw halves the ability damage (minimum 1 point to each attribute). The target also suffers the effects of a called shot to the arm for 1d4 minutes.
Debilitating Blow: A debilitating blow deals 1d6 points of Dexterity damage and 1d6 points of Strength damage. The blow renders the arm useless until healed unless the target succeeds at a Fortitude saving throw. If the saving throw fails by 5 or more, the arm is severed or otherwise mangled such that only regeneration or similar effects can repair it. The target also suffers the effects of a called shot to the arm (if the arm remains usable) for 2d6 minutes.
You are describing either the effect of a critical called shot - which will heal on its own in time - or a debilitating blow - which requires 'regeneration or a similiar effect'. There is never a need, by RAW, to break an arm to set it.
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Pathfinder, by default, is pretty vague on the effects of specific body parts getting injured and the damage this wreaks on your character's abilities.
Going with the Called Shots rules above should be sufficient. I think they're pretty good, if you want to get into that level of detail.
I would say that Restoration or even Lesser Restoration should be able to permanently fix a bad arm, however.
I always think of the cure line of spells as supernaturally sped up natural healing, scars and all.
I like the idea of regeneration healing the arm, but not standard cure spells. Of course that's a pain in the ass for a lower level character.
The subject's severed body members (fingers, toes, hands, feet, arms, legs, tails, or even heads of multiheaded creatures), broken bones, and ruined organs grow back.
There's plenty of wiggle-room in regeneration to imply that standard cure spells don't necessarily fix broken bones or ruined organs (eyes/ears/etc).
I like the idea of regeneration healing the arm, but not standard cure spells. Of course that's a pain in the ass for a lower level character.
The subject's severed body members (fingers, toes, hands, feet, arms, legs, tails, or even heads of multiheaded creatures), broken bones, and ruined organs grow back.There's plenty of wiggle-room in regeneration to imply that standard cure spells don't necessarily fix broken bones or ruined organs (eyes/ears/etc).
All effects I have seen that create specific injuries (which is just the called shot rules and the less than official critical hit deck) specifically state what will cure the specific injury; usually, is is regeneration or "a similiar ability" (sometimes, though, remove blindness/deafness in the case of eye/ear injuries).
The injured arm is just in the character's back story in this instance because its an npc we met in the kingmaker storyline, and it wasn't caused by anything in game. I was just curious if his injury could be healed this way, and using regeneration or restoration makes sense.