Honestly, looking at this along with the current versions of the magical prosthetic/ersatz eye I think one of my biggest issues is just the worldbuilding blip it creates since they’re all only classed as Common magic items; 100 gp for something that covers the vast majority of the utility Regenerate- a 7th level spell- which should cost about 20,000 gp per the PHB to get someone to cast for you is quite the bargain. If we take all this at face value, then it either seems like there should be a lot of these floating around all over the place or all the magic item shops have no concept of supply and demand when they’re selling their very limited stock of such items. Heck, at this point it’s only 500 gp to regain utility in all 4 limbs and both eyes. That’s 2.5% of the suggested price of the spell!
It’s hardly the end of the world or game, but it’s a very dissonant tone when the price for this kind of fix is either a fairly substantial fortune or something that looks to be within a middle-class person’s means. IMO unless the setting is explicitly supposed to be an idealized one that’s at least headed towards post scarcity, the items should at least be in the same neighborhood as the spell cost-wise. This has nothing to do with gatekeeping starting builds, but the cost to value ratio on these items is pretty mind-boggling from even a casual analysis. If a player had some hook-up or was able to jury rig something for themselves before the campaign starts that’s between them and the DM- it’s already a decent boost to printed starting income for them to get at any of these at the current price- but for the day to day image of a setting it’s weird that limb replacement is so accessible.
To draw a real world parallel, what would be the cost difference between a standard (dare I say common) prosthetic limb and experimental stem cell treatment to regrow lost body parts? I don't think having 100gp prosthetics and 20,000gp level 7 spells co-existing creates any kind of narrative wrinkle.
Or look at how we have Nissan's and Ferrari's or Target and Sak's. Accessible and luxury solutions to needs can co-exist.
A quick bit of googling suggests the price range on a prosthetic leg is $3,000 to $70,000. For wheelchairs, they start at about $500 while the "Quickie Q700-UP Sedeo Ergo Standing Powered Wheelchair" starts at $30,000—that's not even the most advanced wheelchair available, just the most advanced one I could find with a price.
Basically it's a non-issue narratively if you keep in mind that just because a cheap solution exists, that doesn't mean that quenches all demand for expensive solutions.
Except you get exactly the same utility out of the cheap solution and the expensive one here in almost all cases- magical prostheses perfectly restore function and this new item gives what? A 5-10ft penalty to maybe two or three core species picks? If the common magic items incorporated handicaps to performance your comparisons would have a point, but they exist specifically to remove any such handicaps so they’re effectively the same as your stem cell treatment.
Why are we talking about worldbuilding conflict and then pointing exclusively to mechanics? Are you ignoring the fact that people might want the "luxury" solution of a level 7 spell to regrow their lost limb because it does just that? Regrows their lost limb! They don't need to use a prosthetic because they get their limb back. From a purely utilitarian perspective, sure, there's no point going for the expensive option when the cheap one checks almost all the same boxes. But that assumes every individual in your setting operates from a purely utilitarian perspective without ego or desire.
People wanting to play disabled characters that represent their disability tend to think Regenerate isn't empowering:Rather, it tends to be seen as erasure.
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DM, player & homebrewer(Current homebrew project is an unofficial conversion of SBURB/SGRUB from Homestuck into DND 5e)
Once made Maxwell's Silver Hammer come down upon Strahd's head to make sure he was dead.
Always study & sharpen philosophical razors. They save a lot of trouble.
Am I reading things correctly that this works on basically any character? So a beast master ranger could equip it on his beast of the sea to make it mobile on land.
All-terrain shark!
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
People wanting to play disabled characters that represent their disability tend to think Regenerate isn't empowering:Rather, it tends to be seen as erasure.
And now there's an official alternative. Reason to celebrate I'd say!
It's the complaining that the alternative is affordable / accessible for low level characters / NPCs that's weird.
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People wanting to play disabled characters that represent their disability tend to think Regenerate isn't empowering:Rather, it tends to be seen as erasure.
DM, player & homebrewer(Current homebrew project is an unofficial conversion of SBURB/SGRUB from Homestuck into DND 5e)
Once made Maxwell's Silver Hammer come down upon Strahd's head to make sure he was dead.
Always study & sharpen philosophical razors. They save a lot of trouble.
All-terrain shark!
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
And now there's an official alternative. Reason to celebrate I'd say!
It's the complaining that the alternative is affordable / accessible for low level characters / NPCs that's weird.