Handicapped PCs or NPCs

[Ginglebrix]

For story rich flavor purposes, how does one create a character with physical handicaps?

If I wanted her base speed to be lowered from 30 to 20 or 10, is it as easy as saying such? RAW, am I required to take 1 level in oracle with the lame curse? Is there an example or guideline somewhere that I have missed?

I am free to house rule on this matter, and it could be as easy as making caps on STR or DEX or CON; however, I am interested in hearing your collective thoughts, ideas, or builds for characters with physical handicaps. Has anyone done this before? Are their characters in APs or modules that could be used as a guideline?

For example: deformed legs or arms, cerebral palsy, etc.

I am not interested in hearing condescending or ridiculing remarks of such real life people. No trolls allowed. This is a serious question for a group of middle aged veteran gamers that appreciate diversity and roleplaying opportunities.

[GM_Solspiral]

I have an NPC with a 3 Strength and 7 Con due to ALS who was also a Synthesist summoner looking for a cure. At 3 strength you can barely move your own weight.

Mule chords and an Anthaul belt helped. He believes he needs a wish spell to remove his sickness. There's a few possible cures I'm thinking about.

I wrote the character because I watched my father in law waste away from ALS and I wanted to sort of give him a new life in fiction. At some point I'll blog the fiction, there's quite a bit of it.

[mechaPoet]

There is a somewhat related precedent in the Skull and Shackles Player's Guide regarding pirate-y wounds. Here are some of the ones that could be considered for physical disabilities:

Loss of finger (for every 3 fingers lost, –1 Dex)
Impressive wound (–1 Con)
Loss of eye (–4 penalty on all sight-based Perception checks)
Loss of leg (speed reduced to half, cannot charge)
Loss of hand (cannot use two-handed items*)
Loss of arm (–1 Str, cannot use two-handed items*)
*doesn't affect spellcaster's somatic components

Obviously these are more along the lines of "a shark ate my hand," but it's a start I suppose. There's also a trait in there that gives you a peg leg since childhood background, and waives the penalties for such. Make of that what you will. As with GM_Solspiral's example, custom ability scores (perhaps penalties, lowered caps, and lowered minimums) could work to represent what you're looking for.

I think the Oracle curses (aside from the more mystical ones) are also a good place to take from. You could just apply the curses to a given character (with some appropriate re-flavoring) without requiring any Oracle levels. An example could be adapting the Tongues curse for characters with speech impediments, causing them to be unable to speak understandably when stressed (i.e. in combat), but without having them speak whatever planar language the curse would actually come with. Maybe let any actual Oracle players treat their disability as their curse; you can use the existing ones, write new ones, decide whether you want them to still come with increasing benefits (and at what rates), etc.

[Ginglebrix]

Thank you for the advice, and I am sorry to hear about your father in law, GM SolSpiral.

Specifically, this is a Kingmaker campaign. And all 5 players are getting the Leadership feat for free, plus a couple extra cohorts, to represent their knights, followers, apprentices, house guard captains, servants, and other individuals of varying value to a noble lord/lady.

I made several NPCs for them to interact with and recruit, etc. But I am starting to feel awful repetitive. Each player will have at least 5 separate NPCs with PC class levels to use or interact with. All other persons will be NPC class template regulars.

To make up for that, I am including a leper knight of the Sepulchre, at least one physically incapable person that everyone will be overprotective of and probably underestimate (this is where my original question comes from), young squires, and a few children, etc. just to mix it up.

If all followers are 4th-6th lvl fighter types with only differences in name, it will be a quite forgettable experience and a big waste of my time.

My players eat up all the diversity I throw at them and get quite immersed in the lives of memorable NPCs. Makes for great gaming.

[Odraude]

While cool ideas, there aren't any rules for physical handicaps. That's something you'll have to homebrew as a GM. Some of them would be easy, like amputees or deaf people. Others would be difficult, like blindness. With blindness especially, it's probably best to go for a more Daredevil/Zatoichi approach, with aspects of blindness going away with training.

[TanithT]

Leslie Fish said it best, I think.

The Cripples' Shield Wall

Consider the plight of the one-legged knight
As he braces his crutch with his shield;
He’ll stand still and wait till you come for the bait,
Then you’ll find that the bastard won’t yield!
Do you knock his one leg down, there’s still no relief,
He’ll crawl down the field with his sword in his teeth;
And the reach of his sword-arm defies all belief
Where he fights in the Cripples’ Shield-Wall.

Beware the old dame who’s arthritic and lame,
So knee-sprung she barely can stand;
But her hands and her eye are still steady and spry –
She’s the best crossbow-shot in the land!
With a repeating crossbow and war-arrow blade
She can pierce any armor that’s ever been made –
Be glad she’s not drawn to the highwayman’s trade!
She just fights in the Cripples’ Shield-Wall!

Pray do not go near the knight who can’t hear:
Though he can’t tell command-calls at all,
He reads signs from his friends, and his post he defends
With a lightning-fast seven-foot maul!
They say when it’s whirling it raises a breeze,
And the head on its chain has been known to break trees –
So when he starts swinging, the prudent man flees
Where he fights in the Cripples’ Shield-Wall!

No profit you’ll find from the knight who is blind.
He can hear you twelve paces away:
He’ll listen off-hand till he’s sure where you stand,
Then his bill-hook reaps far more than hay!
He can fight in the forest, the river, the plain,
With his hearing unhampered by dark, fog, or rain –
He must know his ground, but he’ll sure bring you pain
Where he fights in the Cripples’ Shield-Wall!

Watch out in the fight for the cripple-armed knight
Whose hand can’t swing up – only down,
For he’ll watch through the dance till he spies a good chance,
Then his downstroke will cost you your crown!
His shield-arm will raise up his sword-arm, and then
He’ll watch for a chance with his downstroke again –
You know that he’ll strike, but you never know when,
And he fights in the Cripples’ Shield-Wall!

Beware, I implore, all ye masters of war
Who prefer to draft healthy young boys;
For the blind, halt, and lame can be good at this game,
When well-placed, defending the toys.
They’ve learned their art well, and they strike hard and true –
If they’ve something to prove, then they’ll prove it on you!
The last line on Earth that you’d want to drive through,
You can swear, is the Cripples’ Shield-Wall!
Beware of the Cripples’ Shield-Wall!

- Leslie Fish

[GM_Solspiral]

There's sort of some rules in the opener for Wrath of the Righteous. The heroes pick up 3 npcs one is blind one is crippled.

The blind one simply has the blinded condition until his eyes get regenerated. The crippled one cannot move more than 15 ft a round I think.

[Chengar Qordath]

GM_Solspiral wrote:

There's sort of some rules in the opener for Wrath of the Righteous. The heroes pick up 3 npcs one is blind one is crippled.

The blind one simply has the blinded condition until his eyes get regenerated. The crippled one cannot move more than 15 ft a round I think.

That does bring up an interesting issue with playing any kind of handicapped PC. Eventually, you'll get access to healing magic that should be able to fix most common disabilities. Presumably, the Oracle's curse is an exception to magical healing, since it's part of the whole oracle package.

[GM_Solspiral]

For your leper knight maybe he can have a ring of regeneration(1) which undos the damage done by the disease. He'd gladly give it over to a PC if they could find a more permanent cure and make a plot item. Maybe a witch in the woods says she can cure him if she can use a cyclops eye willingly sacrificed. They could find that vordraki kept his eye pickled in a jar.

For Kingmaker, I'm a big fan of mixing in monstrous races as options. Simply let go with CR in place of levels for monsters.

[Odraude]

Chengar Qordath wrote:

GM_Solspiral wrote:

There's sort of some rules in the opener for Wrath of the Righteous. The heroes pick up 3 npcs one is blind one is crippled.

The blind one simply has the blinded condition until his eyes get regenerated. The crippled one cannot move more than 15 ft a round I think.

That does bring up an interesting issue with playing any kind of handicapped PC. Eventually, you'll get access to healing magic that should be able to fix most common disabilities. Presumably, the Oracle's curse is an exception to magical healing, since it's part of the whole oracle package.

Regenerate would only really work on injuries. Born blindness or deafness probably wouldn't work. Maybe a limited wish.

[GM_Solspiral]

Figured since I mentioned it here the aforementioned fiction.

[sunshadow21]

Your original ideas seem like a perfectly good way to handle this. Simply lowering the various stats and/or imposing conditions like blindness or deafness while giving a handicap as a reason is perfectly acceptable. Let magic heal it or not according to the nature of the disability or disease.

[GreenThumb]

Just for some idea inspiration. In my current campaign the DM created a unique ability for my alchemist. I can derive a one hit wonder sort of poison from the essence of a body. The process of which causes sensory harm to my character. When I collect the poison he rolls a to see which of the five senses is the affected, then rolls again to see the effect.

My character has lost taste and smell for similar durations of 10 - 15 minutes. However over time the frequent use of this leads to chronic disruptions, which could be but not limited from complete loss of an entire sense. I had an interaction with an NPC who taught me this ability and he lost his sight from doing this too much.

I think unique handicaps are definitely welcome. The more hindrances your character has the better you feel when overcoming adversity. Forget trying to meta game. Go play Grand Theft Auto if you want a power trip RPG.