Hello! I’m a fairly new DM, and I’m still learning a lot of the mechanics of D&D. My friends and I have been playing the Dragon of Icespire Peak adventure for a couple of weeks. This is our first campaign, and it’s going fairly well. I’ve been learning a lot as a DM, but there are still lots of things I don’t know, and I was hoping that I could ask for a little help about making a side quest. During their last quest, one PC in the party got captured by orcs, and lost his hand while being interrogated. He lived, and was rescued by the party, but now he has to go on without a hand. Knowing my friend, I think he’s going to look for a way to get his hand back! I don’t want it to be a huge quest, but I also want the party (or just the one player) to put in some effort to get a new hand. I’ve been dabbling a little with making dungeons and a few quests of my own, but for something like getting back a hand, I simply don’t know what things can do that. I don’t know how hard, or even how easy it should be for a PC to bring back their hand, and what kinds of magic can do that. I was thinking it would either have to be magic, or some kind of metal prosthetic, but this is where I ask for help! Any ideas or opinions on how I should continue?
Regenerate is a level 7 spell, so it won’t be easy for these low level folks to come by. The mistake was in you cutting his hand off. PCs should not be maimed at low levels since it’s virtually impossible to recover from. It’s not terrible that you did it, you’re learning, and it is fixable. To fix it, maybe have a friendly level 15 or higher cleric cast the spell on him. Or like you said, some kind of magic hand could be really cool and flavorful. But again, probably you shouldn’t have cut his hand off, so you shouldn’t make it too hard to replace. Unless I’m understanding your post wrong, and he lost it through his own mistakes and bad decisions. In that case, he should face the consequences and it’s perfectly reasonable to make make him work hard for it.
Regenerate is a level 7 spell, so it won’t be easy for these low level folks to come by. The mistake was in you cutting his hand off. PCs should not be maimed at low levels since it’s virtually impossible to recover from. It’s not terrible that you did it, you’re learning, and it is fixable. To fix it, maybe have a friendly level 15 or higher cleric cast the spell on him. Or like you said, some kind of magic hand could be really cool and flavorful. But again, probably you shouldn’t have cut his hand off, so you shouldn’t make it too hard to replace. Unless I’m understanding your post wrong, and he lost it through his own mistakes and bad decisions. In that case, he should face the consequences and it’s perfectly reasonable to make make him work hard for it.
Thanks for the advice. Some of it was his fault, and some of it was mine, but I’ll definitely try to keep that in mind next time.
Regenerate is a level 7 spell, so it won’t be easy for these low level folks to come by. The mistake was in you cutting his hand off. PCs should not be maimed at low levels since it’s virtually impossible to recover from. It’s not terrible that you did it, you’re learning, and it is fixable. To fix it, maybe have a friendly level 15 or higher cleric cast the spell on him. Or like you said, some kind of magic hand could be really cool and flavorful. But again, probably you shouldn’t have cut his hand off, so you shouldn’t make it too hard to replace. Unless I’m understanding your post wrong, and he lost it through his own mistakes and bad decisions. In that case, he should face the consequences and it’s perfectly reasonable to make make him work hard for it.
Thanks for the advice. Some of it was his fault, and some of it was mine, but I’ll definitely try to keep that in mind next time.
Sometimes you just don’t grow the hand back. And you “Role” will it. (Pun intended).
good learning experience about actions have consequences. And consequences’ solutions aren’t always easy.
5percent makes a good point. Most classes and builds (most anything save a two handed weapon build or two weapon fighting, I think) can still be viable with one hand. Might want to give disadvantage on something like a climb check, but generally it could still work fine.
It should be fairly easy to get the gnomes in Gnomengarde to construct him something. Fibblestib and Dabbledaub could tinker up a hand if they can tinker up a Sanity Ray. (He’d just be extra susceptible to the Heat Metal spell for as long as he uses the metal hand.) In exchange for the hand, they could require the party to clear the Tower of Storms location. A nasty half-orc priest of Talos (Moesko) stole their enlarging ray. “We were testing it out on boulders near the road. He happened by, and when he found out what we had, he cast a Thunderwave. While we were on the ground he took the ray and ran off.” They want the party to track him down and get the ray back. They know there’s a temple to Talos on the coast. Try looking there. Moesko used the ray to enlarge the grean glowing heart-beacon in the Tower. It can be recovered in the room where the party finds and fights him. If they bring the ray back, they’ll build him a custom hand as an even trade.
So, all you need to invent to get yourself out of this is an Enlarging Ray that can be found and returned from a location that needed a better adventure hook to be used anyway.
Wondrous Item, common (requires attunement by a creature missing some or all of a limb)
This artificial limb replaces a hand, arm, foot, leg, or similar appendage that was lost or removed. While the prosthetic is attached and attuned to you, it functions identically to the body part it is replacing. You can detach or reattach it as an action, and it can’t be removed by anyone else.
If you have multiple prosthetic limbs, they count as a single magic item with regard to the number of magic items you can attune to.
Weapon (any one-handed melee weapon), common (requires attunement by a Warforged)
An armblade is a magic weapon that attaches to your arm, becoming inseparable from you as long as you're attuned to it. To attune to this item, you must hold it against your forearm for the entire attunement period.
As a bonus action, you can retract the armblade into your forearm or extend it from there. While it is extended, you can use the weapon as if you were holding it, and you can't use that hand for other purposes.
Wondrous Item, common (requires attunement by a Warforged)
A wand sheath clamps onto your arm and imparts the following benefits:
The wand sheath can't be removed from you while you’re attuned to it.
You can insert a wand into the sheath as an action. The sheath can hold only one wand at a time.
You can retract or extend a wand from the sheath as a bonus action. While the wand is extended, you can use it as if you were holding it, but your hand remains free.
If a sheathed wand requires attunement, you must attune to the wand before you can use it. However, the wand sheath and the attached wand count as a single magic item with regard to the number of magic items you can attune to. If you remove the wand from the sheath, your attunement to the wand ends.
Does he have to get HIS hand back? The first thing I think of is The Hand of Vecna. Which you should NOT give him but you could whip up some kind of magical hand to give him that is much less powerful hand. They are in a dungeon and open up a tomb but all that’s in it is a perfectly preserved hand.
The Helping Hand: lets you cast the guidance cantrip once per day (or maybe at will) But the downside is it’s like a bugbear hand or something that doesn’t match his body at all.
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Hello! I’m a fairly new DM, and I’m still learning a lot of the mechanics of D&D. My friends and I have been playing the Dragon of Icespire Peak adventure for a couple of weeks. This is our first campaign, and it’s going fairly well. I’ve been learning a lot as a DM, but there are still lots of things I don’t know, and I was hoping that I could ask for a little help about making a side quest.
During their last quest, one PC in the party got captured by orcs, and lost his hand while being interrogated. He lived, and was rescued by the party, but now he has to go on without a hand. Knowing my friend, I think he’s going to look for a way to get his hand back! I don’t want it to be a huge quest, but I also want the party (or just the one player) to put in some effort to get a new hand. I’ve been dabbling a little with making dungeons and a few quests of my own, but for something like getting back a hand, I simply don’t know what things can do that. I don’t know how hard, or even how easy it should be for a PC to bring back their hand, and what kinds of magic can do that. I was thinking it would either have to be magic, or some kind of metal prosthetic, but this is where I ask for help! Any ideas or opinions on how I should continue?
Regenerate is a level 7 spell, so it won’t be easy for these low level folks to come by.
The mistake was in you cutting his hand off. PCs should not be maimed at low levels since it’s virtually impossible to recover from. It’s not terrible that you did it, you’re learning, and it is fixable. To fix it, maybe have a friendly level 15 or higher cleric cast the spell on him.
Or like you said, some kind of magic hand could be really cool and flavorful. But again, probably you shouldn’t have cut his hand off, so you shouldn’t make it too hard to replace.
Unless I’m understanding your post wrong, and he lost it through his own mistakes and bad decisions. In that case, he should face the consequences and it’s perfectly reasonable to make make him work hard for it.
Thanks for the advice. Some of it was his fault, and some of it was mine, but I’ll definitely try to keep that in mind next time.
Sometimes you just don’t grow the hand back. And you “Role” will it. (Pun intended).
good learning experience about actions have consequences. And consequences’ solutions aren’t always easy.
Watch me on twitch
5percent makes a good point. Most classes and builds (most anything save a two handed weapon build or two weapon fighting, I think) can still be viable with one hand. Might want to give disadvantage on something like a climb check, but generally it could still work fine.
That’s true, it might work to let him go on with only one hand. It could be a good point of character development.
He could eventually get one of the magic prosthetic hands from the Ebberon book.
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That’s an actual thing? I may have to look into that...
Well, in my game I would make a basic quest to travel to some local temple with powerful cleric. On a way to temple some small encounters.
sounds fun. send me the link, as i need new quests, despite ur awesome onnes 9i go through them fast)
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BobTheAlmighty, I dont have that quest in written format. It was just an idea.
i know, if you do, let me know. i was joking
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It should be fairly easy to get the gnomes in Gnomengarde to construct him something. Fibblestib and Dabbledaub could tinker up a hand if they can tinker up a Sanity Ray. (He’d just be extra susceptible to the Heat Metal spell for as long as he uses the metal hand.) In exchange for the hand, they could require the party to clear the Tower of Storms location. A nasty half-orc priest of Talos (Moesko) stole their enlarging ray. “We were testing it out on boulders near the road. He happened by, and when he found out what we had, he cast a Thunderwave. While we were on the ground he took the ray and ran off.” They want the party to track him down and get the ray back. They know there’s a temple to Talos on the coast. Try looking there. Moesko used the ray to enlarge the grean glowing heart-beacon in the Tower. It can be recovered in the room where the party finds and fights him. If they bring the ray back, they’ll build him a custom hand as an even trade.
So, all you need to invent to get yourself out of this is an Enlarging Ray that can be found and returned from a location that needed a better adventure hook to be used anyway.
This artificial limb replaces a hand, arm, foot, leg, or similar appendage that was lost or removed. While the prosthetic is attached and attuned to you, it functions identically to the body part it is replacing. You can detach or reattach it as an action, and it can’t be removed by anyone else.
If you have multiple prosthetic limbs, they count as a single magic item with regard to the number of magic items you can attune to.
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with pleasure, IamSposta!
Enjoy my magic items, spells, monsters, my race, and a few feats. And GIVE ME FEEDBACK... or else.
Like what I say?
⬐ Just press this little guy right here.
If you give it to them, you might even eventually grant them access to one of these:
An armblade is a magic weapon that attaches to your arm, becoming inseparable from you as long as you're attuned to it. To attune to this item, you must hold it against your forearm for the entire attunement period.
As a bonus action, you can retract the armblade into your forearm or extend it from there. While it is extended, you can use the weapon as if you were holding it, and you can't use that hand for other purposes.
A wand sheath clamps onto your arm and imparts the following benefits:
If a sheathed wand requires attunement, you must attune to the wand before you can use it. However, the wand sheath and the attached wand count as a single magic item with regard to the number of magic items you can attune to. If you remove the wand from the sheath, your attunement to the wand ends.
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Did you get the free ones DDB is giving out? There are 4, with I think 2 more coming.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/quarantine
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IamSpota, https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/dungeons-dragons-discussion/dungeon-masters-only/43718-list-of-free-dnd-campaigns
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Cool
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Does he have to get HIS hand back? The first thing I think of is The Hand of Vecna. Which you should NOT give him but you could whip up some kind of magical hand to give him that is much less powerful hand. They are in a dungeon and open up a tomb but all that’s in it is a perfectly preserved hand.
The Helping Hand: lets you cast the guidance cantrip once per day (or maybe at will) But the downside is it’s like a bugbear hand or something that doesn’t match his body at all.