What to do about a character with only one hand?


Advice


2 people marked this as a favorite.

Hey, everybody. One of my players plays a goblin ninja. We use the Critical Hits Deck and last game session, her character's hand got chopped off!

We all thought it was pretty cool. But I would like to give her a way to get her hand back. Or some cool magical replacement. Maybe a magical hand like Corwin from Moorcock's novels. Or maybe even a cool prosthetic claw thing like the bad guy in Enter the Dragon used while fighting Bruce Lee.

I know I could just have them get access to a Regenerate spell. But I was wondering what cool ideas you guys might have. Something that would turn a handicap into something cool an memorable.

Any ideas?


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Any limb attachment should be viable with a qualified crafter, maybe make one with changeable attachments like capt. hook from peterpan. Hook, punching dagger, poison vial, claw hand. lock pick attachment, things like that.


2 people marked this as a favorite.

Magic hand....permanent woodshape effect wooden hand...prosthetics..

Liberty's Edge

1 person marked this as a favorite.

You could adapt a one hit die permanent animated object for the hand.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Hook Hand?

Prosthetics?


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Grapple claw hand prosthetic. Standard action to fire and retract the line pulling the wielder to its target point (say 20 or 30 feet of range). Also could snag items within a certain size limit. The Ninja Claw Grapple would of course be near silent in operation. A fun bit of utility but not game breaking.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

There are third-party prosthetic rules on the Pathfinder OGC Site.

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/other-rules/variant-rules-3rd-party/4 -winds-fantasy-gaming/The-Loss-of-a-Body-Part/Prosthetics


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Unlighted wrote:
Grapple claw hand prosthetic. Standard action to fire and retract the line pulling the wielder to its target point (say 20 or 30 feet of range). Also could snag items within a certain size limit. The Ninja Claw Grapple would of course be near silent in operation. A fun bit of utility but not game breaking.

But you're required to yell "GET OVER HERE" every time you use it or suffer a 50% miss chance. lol

Scarab Sages

Jubal Breakbottle wrote:

Hook Hand?

Prosthetics?

Groovy


2 people marked this as a favorite.
Pharmakon wrote:

Hey, everybody. One of my players plays a goblin ninja. We use the Critical Hits Deck and last game session, her character's hand got chopped off!

We all thought it was pretty cool. But I would like to give her a way to get her hand back. Or some cool magical replacement. Maybe a magical hand like Corwin from Moorcock's novels. Or maybe even a cool prosthetic claw thing like the bad guy in Enter the Dragon used while fighting Bruce Lee.

I know I could just have them get access to a Regenerate spell. But I was wondering what cool ideas you guys might have. Something that would turn a handicap into something cool an memorable.

Any ideas?

I hear Vecna might have something for you...

Liberty's Edge

A variant zombie from your friendly neighborhood necromancer could also work. ;)

Scarab Sages

Skulls and Shackles has some optional rules for players with missing limbs, big scars, etc. Fun stuff. I believe those are in the player's guide, which is a free download.

Lantern Lodge

You could have a scizore attached. That you will always be armed or have a shield bonus!

Liberty's Edge

Could the character affect a cheesy fake Asian accent?
THE CRAW


Last time I had a character with a missing hand he used a locked gauntlet and never let go of his weapon. Later had it enhanced to work like a regular hand. I always wanted to go the magi-tech cyborg hand route, but that doesn't come up everyday... for some reason.


A friend and I came up with these for his character.

Fist of the Rza.

It's basically a rip off of Man with the Iron Fists mixed with Mr. Winks from Hellboy II.


Fav'd for mentioning Moorcock.

You could have a "hand-grenade" like Frankenstein from Deathrace 2000.


I was going to come in here and tell you that you were doing hings wrong, that D&D (and bu extension, all combat-heavy RPGs) are based on a foundation of "pain is fleeting", comment on the difference between AD&D and 3.x vis-a-vis "life is cheap".... but then I realized that the entire thread was about traveling on the road of awesome and my b*@%*ing would be useless. Rock on, everybody.


Does she have any UMD skill? I would put a little cannon on there with a couple of wand slots so she looked like mega-man. Pull and twist to change the effect.

Edit: sorry, scratch the wand slots. Just make it use activated, x-times/day ray blasts. Pull and twist to change the ray being activated.


Have him make a Construct to wear as a gauntlet.


A regeneration potion in the next loot cache?


Thanks everyone for the awesome replies! I've gotten lots of cool ideas, that of course I can't share on the messageboard for fear of my player seeing.

However, now at least I'm "armed" for my next session. Get it? Armed?

I know, horrible joke.


Just be careful with unusual, cool ideas. They might be unusual and cool, but in some cases simply destroy the entire character concept. A TWF with feats and ability scores geared towards TWF suddenly having a hand that can shoot a ray but can't handle a dagger anymore might seem cool, it probably doesn't make her entirely happy though

If your character is one to go with the flow, and accepts such stuff, then cool. However it might be an idea to make the option of a simple regenerate available in addition to the cool idea. Maybe at a somewhat higher cost than the other, but that way your player won't feel like you're herding her character into a direction she doesn't want to go.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

Set the character up to fight a corresponding CR construct and watch the sparks fly. Clockwork, robot, android, golem... she'll WANT THAT HAND!!!


1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pharmakon wrote:

Thanks everyone for the awesome replies! I've gotten lots of cool ideas, that of course I can't share on the messageboard for fear of my player seeing.

However, now at least I'm "armed" for my next session. Get it? Armed?

I know, horrible joke.

We are always happy to lend a hand.


Don't play with ridiculous stuff like that?


strap a dagger or spear tip to it for combat situations. Out of combat you could be Jamie Lannister and get a golden hand.


How about a Construct Limb?

Construct Limb wrote:

Requirements: Craft Construct, Craft Magic Arms and Armor, animate objects, Small or Tiny construct

CR increase: none

Cost: 27,000 gp

This modification can be performed on a Small or Tiny construct, such as an iron cobra or a homunculus. The creator modifies the construct such that she can slip it over her arm and control its actions as part of her own. The construct limb retains any melee attacks that the construct has, and the creator can use special attacks as if she were the construct (using the construct’s attack statistics and effects), but treat the creator as the creature making attacks for the purpose of determining attacks of opportunity and other actions that could be triggered by an attack made by the creator.

The limb also provides the wearer with limited protection in combat, roughly equivalent to that of a heavy steel shield. The wearer is considered proficient in this shield. The wearer retains the remainder of her abilities.

A construct limb counts as a heavy steel shield for purposes of determining AC, weight, Dexterity modifiers to AC, and chance of arcane spell failure.

Pick a suitable construct, and go to town.

/cevah

Shadow Lodge

Dervish Dance?

Grand Lodge

Unfortunately, now you can't kick after you punch.

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

Um. A chainsaw?

And multiclass into gunslinger to get a boomstick.

Or witch to get a broomstick.

Or become nigh invulnerable and battlecry "SPOON!!!!" Tick.

Grand Lodge

Well, the Gnomes have the Ripsaw Glaive, which is a chainsaw on a stick.

DM let's you, just remove stick, and attach to arm.


blackbloodtroll wrote:

Well, the Gnomes have the Ripsaw Glaive, which is a chainsaw on a stick.

DM let's you, just remove stick, and attach to arm.

That requires winding to do any chainsawing.

Spoiler:
Alternatively, graft a smurf onto the stump.


Take some levels of monk for drunken master and attach an everfull mug to your stump


Pathfinder Maps Subscriber

The freshly published Player Companion: Magical Marketplace has a Clockwork Prosthesis on the top left of page 23.

A Goblin is humanoid (sorta), so he's able to use one. It must be fitted by someone trained to do so. The goblin must make a Fort save and will take some Con damage.

It has some advantages such as allowing his unarmed strikes with that hand to be lethal rather than non-lethal (assuming he doesn't already have IUS). He gets +10 to his CMD against disarm attempts targeting things held in that hand.

Since it's just a hand and not the whole arm, I personally wouldn't give him the added lifting capacity, but that's just me.

Grand Lodge

I'd give the character a liquid metal replacement with the Transformative weapon property. One minute it's a hand, the next it's a +1 mithral dagger. That could lead to some awesome titles from terrified villians.


A hand of pure magical force. Grasping hand and permenancy, maybe with shrink object depending on the specifics of the grasping hand. Now you have an invisible hand with a faint blue outline that works like a regular hand. Call the hand "Bigby" for bonus points.

Or just get a magic glove. :)


In my longest-running tabletop campaign the party blacksmith (he was a strange player, but a good one) ended up being petrified and having a hand snap off when they transported him. He took the penalties for about two months without complaining, turned the whole thing into an opportunity for some fantastic roleplay, and when offered the chance at having a magical replacement hand accepted it, used it for a few games, and then cast it aside - he said that his character was one handed and would stay that way.

Like I said... odd guy.

Anyway, I guess what I'm saying is however you choose to replace said hand, allow your little goblin to try some problem solving and social encounters first. He may rise to the challenge - good roleplay can come from unexpected hindrances.

Dark Archive

In the new magical marketplace, clockwork prosthetic are listed.


Necromancer offers to graft a zombie/ skeleton limb to the stump.
Pro: you now have a somewhat brand new hand
Con: your hand works just fine for combat but social situations confuse the simplistic magic powering it. It will stab things you dislike, and unless you keep an eye on it that might extending to people that you would like to stab but know you should not.
Like say that pompous noble who keeps insulting your adventuring groups intellect.

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder First Edition / Advice / What to do about a character with only one hand? All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.