OK - so starting to spool up the new campaign, which is going have a blend of High Magic and Renaissance level technology, blended into a rudimentary techno-magic.
I have a character proposal for a Gnomish Gunslinger character ( I already green-lit the Gunslinger class ), but he wants his character to have a techno-magical prosthetic arm ( due to an ill-fated experimentation attempt ) - which I think is an interesting spin on things.
Any suggestions for interesting effects, or balanced mechanics, for such a device?
I can already see some possible benefits this character would accrue due to the nature of the prosthetic ( he could, for example, realistically plunge his hand into boiling water with no pain or damage ) - how would one balance this?
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Personally, I would let the player have their cool robot arm, but wouldn't mess with any mechanics at all. It works just like a regular arm, but looks cool and is maybe a conversation piece. If they say "I can plunge my robot hand into boiling water no problem!" you can say "No, it will damage the delicate clockworks of the arm."
I'm one of those DMs that lets all players pick a feat at level 1. If you do something similar, you could make the arm a feat and give it comparable "powers." Like, maybe it has an integrated set of thieves' tools, so it gives you +1 Dex and expertise in thieves' tools. If everyone's getting a feat, this doesn't unbalance things.
Agree with just leaving it as a normally functioning arm, at least to start with. Whatever small benefits he gets (like the boiling water) will be offset by the fact that he has a metal arm. By that I mean that it's probably pretty rare, and from an RP standpoint, he's going to be extremely easy to identify. If he makes any enemies, it'll be a lot easier for them to find the "metal arm guy".
One of my players has a metal arm. I homebrewed it for him and based it on the mizzium apparatus from Ravnica. He was 6th level when he got it, so it was fine from a balance perspective. If he had started at level 1 with an arm, I would have just made a basic version that he could upgrade later. Another place to look is the Eberron material on warforged. There are some good ideas in there for items and weapons that can be built in. They are starting level options for warforged and don't throw off balance.
I hadn't considered the identification issue - but that's well spotted.
I'm also wondering how I'll handle damage and healing - although healing magic seems to work just fine with Warforged characters without modification.
I actually like the idea of there being minor game mechanic bonuses ( and balancing penalties ) for this, but perhaps they have enough on their plate just being a level 1 character ( at least for the first session ).
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
When my player started using the arm, we had a quick side discussion about it. We specifically talked about the damage and healing aspect of it. I told him that if he is using it like he would his normal arm, then incidental damage would be covered by HP, and that it would "heal" when he was healed. That prevents us from having to track every little type of damage that it takes, when it would need to be repaired, etc. Kind of like how weapons are dealt with in 5e...sure, your sword is taking a beating just by being used, but there is that RPG suspension of disbelief in item damage. If you use it as intended, it's going to last the life of your character. However, I did tell him that if he did something stupid with it I would absolutely change my mind on that. If a player told me "I'm going to use my fancy magic sword as a crowbar to try and pry this adamantine door open." then I definitely would roll (with a heavy penalty) to see if it broke. Similarly, if my player with the arm said "I'm going to stick my arm in this lava to see if there is an item underneath", I would do the same.
It could be a work-in-progress king of thing, causing it malfunction when doing certain tasks or in a damaging situation. It could call for a roll, or just say it broke. That can be a limiter on the arms power. You could also make it a magic item, and then let all the other players get a very minor magic item (Something very minor, such as goggles that give +1 to sight checks when underwater.).
OK - so starting to spool up the new campaign, which is going have a blend of High Magic and Renaissance level technology, blended into a rudimentary techno-magic.
I have a character proposal for a Gnomish Gunslinger character ( I already green-lit the Gunslinger class ), but he wants his character to have a techno-magical prosthetic arm ( due to an ill-fated experimentation attempt ) - which I think is an interesting spin on things.
Any suggestions for interesting effects, or balanced mechanics, for such a device?
I can already see some possible benefits this character would accrue due to the nature of the prosthetic ( he could, for example, realistically plunge his hand into boiling water with no pain or damage ) - how would one balance this?
Thanks :)
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
Personally, I would let the player have their cool robot arm, but wouldn't mess with any mechanics at all. It works just like a regular arm, but looks cool and is maybe a conversation piece. If they say "I can plunge my robot hand into boiling water no problem!" you can say "No, it will damage the delicate clockworks of the arm."
I'm one of those DMs that lets all players pick a feat at level 1. If you do something similar, you could make the arm a feat and give it comparable "powers." Like, maybe it has an integrated set of thieves' tools, so it gives you +1 Dex and expertise in thieves' tools. If everyone's getting a feat, this doesn't unbalance things.
Agree with just leaving it as a normally functioning arm, at least to start with. Whatever small benefits he gets (like the boiling water) will be offset by the fact that he has a metal arm. By that I mean that it's probably pretty rare, and from an RP standpoint, he's going to be extremely easy to identify. If he makes any enemies, it'll be a lot easier for them to find the "metal arm guy".
One of my players has a metal arm. I homebrewed it for him and based it on the mizzium apparatus from Ravnica. He was 6th level when he got it, so it was fine from a balance perspective. If he had started at level 1 with an arm, I would have just made a basic version that he could upgrade later. Another place to look is the Eberron material on warforged. There are some good ideas in there for items and weapons that can be built in. They are starting level options for warforged and don't throw off balance.
I hadn't considered the identification issue - but that's well spotted.
I'm also wondering how I'll handle damage and healing - although healing magic seems to work just fine with Warforged characters without modification.
I actually like the idea of there being minor game mechanic bonuses ( and balancing penalties ) for this, but perhaps they have enough on their plate just being a level 1 character ( at least for the first session ).
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
When my player started using the arm, we had a quick side discussion about it. We specifically talked about the damage and healing aspect of it. I told him that if he is using it like he would his normal arm, then incidental damage would be covered by HP, and that it would "heal" when he was healed. That prevents us from having to track every little type of damage that it takes, when it would need to be repaired, etc. Kind of like how weapons are dealt with in 5e...sure, your sword is taking a beating just by being used, but there is that RPG suspension of disbelief in item damage. If you use it as intended, it's going to last the life of your character. However, I did tell him that if he did something stupid with it I would absolutely change my mind on that. If a player told me "I'm going to use my fancy magic sword as a crowbar to try and pry this adamantine door open." then I definitely would roll (with a heavy penalty) to see if it broke. Similarly, if my player with the arm said "I'm going to stick my arm in this lava to see if there is an item underneath", I would do the same.
It could be a work-in-progress king of thing, causing it malfunction when doing certain tasks or in a damaging situation. It could call for a roll, or just say it broke. That can be a limiter on the arms power. You could also make it a magic item, and then let all the other players get a very minor magic item (Something very minor, such as goggles that give +1 to sight checks when underwater.).
Lol...my players are absolutely getting +1 underwater perception goggles next. Worth it just to see the looks on their faces.