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I have a player that has been partially inspired by the characters of Ivar on Vikings and Wendal on Fear the Walking Dead to play a disabled halfling cavalier (order of the paw).
I'm looking for advice on two fronts, mechanics & addressing/portraying this topic.
I'm not really aware of anything rules wise on the mechanics that may have been written, but I am leaning towards a -5 AC/TAC and half movement when out of the saddle with a possible bonus feat or bonus feat for the mount to represent the heightened training the character will have put in to have the dog/wolf serve as his legs. I am aware that depending on the type of disability (nerve damage/lack of sensativity) thing like damage could be problamatic in the real world, but I don't think we want to get into that level of detail.
As far as covering the disability at the table, I have a pretty good socially aware group, but I don't personlly have any experience with this specific form of disability and wanted to know if there was any specific advice out there.
Thanks
From the social aspect all I can offer is that it's a person with a disability, not a disabled person.
I would give a bonus feat (maybe even two) as this could easily count as a flaw.
I hope it goes well. Props to your player for wanting to try out such a unique character.
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powerdemon wrote: From the social aspect all I can offer is that it's a person with a disability, not a disabled person.
I would give a bonus feat (maybe even two) as this could easily count as a flaw.
I hope it goes well. Props to your player for wanting to try out such a unique character.
Thanks for the terminology advise - just the pointers I am looking for.
Happy to help.
When not on his mount, I would make his speed 5 and make him prone.
I wouldn't dock Dex since his upper body still works fine. Not having working legs wouldn't affect your accuracy with a bow and such things.
I wouldn't worry much about AC while mounted. You can still lean away from attacks.
It really strikes me that he should be mostly run as usually while mounted. It just gets complicated when not mounted. He should have his mount have a trick to help him get into the saddle. Then if he gets dismounted in combat, the wolf/dog can help scoop him back into the saddle.
When occupying both arms and riding a horse, you need to use your legs to guide the horse. So, he either needs to have a free hand for the reins or a very specially trained mount to respond to verbal commands.
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I agree regarding Dex, that's why I am thinking a flat AC/TAC penalty when dismounted instead of a Dex penalty, and will go with the above mentioned -5 unless someone gives me a better suggestion.
Unless I am mistaken, Halflings have a base speed of 20 (I'm not near by books at the moment), so halving it would be 10, but as I think about it that assumption was based on having both arms to move, which would preclude combat, so a 5 seems more reasonable in combat situations. Completely hadn't thought of the prone thing yet, so good catch on that one.
The special trick idea is a good one, and I will mention it to the player, maybe even allow it to be trained without costing against the max tricks.
I would make him go full on realistic.
If the cause is nerve damage, you’re probably looking at somewhere between partial and full urinary and fecal incontinence. Sometimes you’ll also be looking at weakness in the trunk muscles, depending on where in the spine the damage is. (And when I say damage, I don’t just mean ‘Everything from L3 down doesn’t work.’ You could be looking at actual mechanical damage, or spina biffida, or cauda equina, or spinal stenosis. Hell, it could also be one of many disorders that break the myelin on your nerves.)
Next, a decision should be made (in the case of nerve damage) if the result is a flaccid paralysis, or one with abnormal (and uncontrollable) muscle tone. Some patients present with enough tone to break the steel extensions running from a legrest to a footrest on a wheelchair.
Now, if your legs cannot bear weight, and you don’t have a device that will help you stand periodically, you’re going to lose bone density in your legs. That means that banging your leg on a tree while riding your wolf is likely to leave you with a fracture, if not a worse break. Worse, you might not even know about it, if you have no sensation, which means someone else needs to notice it, or you’re going to die from an infection.
Back to those weakened trunk muscles: Your ability to breath and pump blood around your body is going to be inhibited. Without complex positioning equipment on your wolf to help you sit correctly, you’re going to compound those vital function deficiencies, as well as develop a combination of spinal kyphosis, lordosis, and scoliosis.
After that, let’s talk about pressure ulcers. Your player will need to either move his legs around and change his position himself, or have a party member do it, otherwise you’re looking at pretty quick skin degradation. Without treatment or prevention, the tissue will die and you’re looking at bone necrosis.
To sum up: There’s a reason why you don’t hear about a lot of heroes in Ye Olden Tymes with mobility disorders. There’s also a reason why a decent wheelchair with cushions designed for you will cost you $7,000 for a manual chair, or well over $100,000 for a super fancy power chair.
It'd be a lot simpler and closer to what you might want, if he lost his legs at the knee, instead. Then he'd still need the mount for mobility, but wouldn't be quite so limited in other required ways.
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I'll definitely pass on the reality of such a condition, and the lose of legs to some accident or monster is always a possibility as an alternative.
The decision on which way to go with his character will be up to the player (an the comfort level of the players at the table), and if he goes with a form of paraplegia instead of loss of legs, we will hand wave the majority of the real-world medical concern. I mean no disrespect to real-world suffers of said conditions by this, just as the many other game appropriations of real world concepts/cultural touchstone are not intended as disrespectful. I also respect anyone else who disagrees with this position.
Thanks to everyone for the advice and have a blessed day...
Also consider that the regenerate spell is pretty affordable to buy, if you can find a caster willing and able to cast it.
Melkiador wrote: Also consider that the regenerate spell is pretty affordable to buy, if you can find a caster willing and able to cast it. This is very true. You could make it a curse in this case. But even that can be broken. You could have an agreement with the player that they won't use the spell for that.
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It has occurred to me that a paraplegic character could be simulated by the stats of a standard merfolk who lacks the Aquan language, a swim speed, and the ability to breathe water.
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I don't think remove curse, regeneration, and wishes will be much of a concern. We are much more a group of role players vs roll players and tend to focus more on the story telling experience than mechanical benefits anyway. As a group whoever DMs doesn't tend to penalize suboptimal choices while rewarding character driven choices. Since his legs not functioning and the bond he forms with his chosen mount are what he wants to emphasize, I doubt he will every seek to change that unless he wants to explore how suddenly being independently mobile will affect the character dynamics.
If this is a voluntary, RP diven choice then easy: no penalties while riding, always prone when not riding. Dismounted s/he could sit in a chair, or use one hand to hold onto something and stay upright, but those aren't really combat options.
If you want to throw a mechaical benefit in, a bonus to ride and/or handle animal checks, extra tricks known for their mount, an extra trait dealing with mounts would be easy to implement.
How high of level do you think the pcs will get?
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We are planning on the first half of the Ironfang invasion AP, so probably to 10th level or so, after that we will see.
So, I once played as a Character without hands. While not quite as severe as being paralyzed from the waist down I've had some experiences with missing a limb or two while playing.
The biggest part of playing this kind of character and telling this kind of story is to properly display the injury. I'd avoid anything that reduces the character's independence (outside of their mount obviously) while at the same time taking pains to make others in the game world sympathetic/dismissive of them.
Indeed, the social aspect should be a huge part of the disadvantage of this injury. Having NPCs always comment about how tough things must be for them, how kind the party is to give the little guy a chance, even go so far as to make "make a wish" comments. More ruthless characters might outright call the injured character the weakest link of the party or suggest that culling them might be better than letting them live.
Sorta X-man/Mutant-y
Make the character NEED to prove himself just as capable as the rest of the party, heck make it so they need to prove themselves MORE capable than the rest of the party. Place the bar two steps higher for them, because thats the kind of stigma that comes from a truly disabling injury.
I know that doesn't help on the mechanics side, but if the injury is just mechanical it won't feel nearly as satisfying to overcome for the player. As, ultimately, that is the story they want to tell.
I have multiple sclerosis, so I can barely walk. I generally use a walker at home, and a wheelchair when I'm out. I just cannot understand why someone would want to play this. Why go out of your way looking for trouble?
Why do people want to play a guy who’s rather good at swinging a sword when you could play a guy who can rewrite reality? Different people enjoy playing all kinds of random things.
Melkiador wrote: Why do people want to play a guy who’s rather good at swinging a sword when you could play a guy who can rewrite reality? Different people enjoy playing all kinds of random things. I know that, but I don't really understand it. I live with it. I can't imagine wanting to pretend to live with it.
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Andrew Besso wrote: Melkiador wrote: Why do people want to play a guy who’s rather good at swinging a sword when you could play a guy who can rewrite reality? Different people enjoy playing all kinds of random things. I know that, but I don't really understand it. I live with it. I can't imagine wanting to pretend to live with it. I can completely understand why you would question why my player would want to play such a character having lived your experience. I won't try to put words in his mouth other than to pass on what he has already expressed to me. Mainly that he want the challenge, the experience, and the present a different kind of heroism. I can't say how any person with a real world disability would feel regarding this other than he definitely doesn't mean any offense and opened the character concept up to a table veto in case it overstepped the bounds of anyone at the table. In this case it didn't. Two other times characters have vetoed characters when it come to close to personal experiences (neither of which I will pass on as they are intensely personal).
Thank you for you post and have a blessed day...
I totally understand that he means no offense. I am not offended or insulted, just puzzled. I think he will learn from the experience.
EDIT: I would not veto the character. But I might point out that the Americans with Disabilities Act does not apply on Golarion. :-)
Please express my support and best wishes to your player.
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Thanks, I will pass on your best wishes.
As an aside it does fascinate me how GOlarion can be both more progressive and less than our world. Most places LGBT is a non-issue but be born under 3' foot tall and its ok to enslave or commit genocide on whole tribes of creatures (the entire clear the caverns of "evil" humanoids always bugs the crap out of me).
Racism between imaginary races causes much less triggering/ hurt feelings than portraying discrimination against groups that actual players identify with.
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