Hey guys, so I just had one of my players pitch me an idea for a character in my campaign, and it's very loose, but he wants to play a one armed character who can have some sort of ethreal ( or something) arm that is pretty much only used in combat. I had a few ideas, but I'd appreciate some imput from more experienced and knowledgeable people.
While I know there are spells for this kind of thing, I didn't want to limit him as a player too much because I know that he would end up getting frusterated. He is a play to win type person, so I want to keep him on a similar level as the other characters. So I came up with a few ideas to circumvent him having to use his spell slots to do things he could do if he had both arms. Things like blood magic, an enchanted arm of armor that can be attached to the severed appendage, or some sort of life force spell rather than spell slots occured to me.
The only one I really like, and that makes the most sense, is an amulet or something of the like that turns into a metal arm(like it turns into liquid metal and acts as an arm) that has a certain amount of life per long rest. So say... 2 hours a day. I haven't done any research into time constraints, but the idea would be that he can use it as an arm for the exampled two hours, and split it up or the extended period, but any time over that and it can either just stop working or I can start adding exsaustion levels. I kinda like the latter because it adds an element of danger for overuse, but I dont know if it would be another posibility for an unfair situation.
I asked him if he'd want it to act as a normal arm or to have levels like a class ability, and he liked the idea of it having cool abilities and level up as a class ability. My thought was to replace a class ability with the arm and level it up in correlation, similar with the class ability it is substituted for. Would that work, or are there obvious issues? Thoughts? Ideas? I'd like to work with the player's ideas if possible, so imput is appreciated.
The idea is interesting, but, as you say, the application can be a bit difficult.
The first idea that came to my mind is a magic item, needing attunement by a creature with minimum 14 WIS (so you substantially make it "cost" one attunement slot) and having special abilities based on level. Once activated it can either take the form of an arm made of force energy, or metal or any other aesthetics your player prefers, and I'd make the activation last a number of turns equal to double their WIS modifier (minimum of 4) each long rest, this way you can make it powerful, but not too freely usable as to become OP. WIS can be exchanged for any other Ability, if you prefer, but I like the idea that the item is tied to the user's force of will (which Wisdom is usually associated to).
As to substitute a class ability for this, the above proposition should be balanced enough to allow avoiding the need to do that to balance it out, imho. It's an early boost, but if you balance well the additional "powers" the arm has, it will quickly even out with the rest of the party getting other magic items, I think.
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
Could just go with the thematic instead of trying to make special rules. In my home game there's a lizardfolk with an artificial arm made of the bone and muscle of creatures he found (He's a lizard folk). He gains neither a bonus nor a hindrance for it, but it makes the rp interesting.
Could just go with the thematic instead of trying to make special rules. In my home game there's a lizardfolk with an artificial arm made of the bone and muscle of creatures he found (He's a lizard folk). He gains neither a bonus nor a hindrance for it, but it makes the rp interesting.
KageAcuma, while I agree there is no reason to complicate, and I actually suggested the same thing, he had been kinda hoping for some cool abilities. He had suggested some things in the first place, but it wasn't cohesive enough so I just broke it into catagories for him so I could get a clearer picture of what he was wanting. He will go with whatever I decide so long as it's fair, but he will be disappointed. I'd like to try accomidating players ,if possible, for creative content, as that is a tone I hope to encourage with people who play in my game. It is a solid point though, as complicating things is a pit I tend to fall into often, and from what I hear a lot of DMs struggle with the same thing. Thanks!
The idea is interesting, but, as you say, the application can be a bit difficult.
The first idea that came to my mind is a magic item, needing attunement by a creature with minimum 14 WIS (so you substantially make it "cost" one attunement slot) and having special abilities based on level. Once activated it can either take the form of an arm made of force energy, or metal or any other aesthetics your player prefers, and I'd make the activation last a number of turns equal to double their WIS modifier (minimum of 4) each long rest, this way you can make it powerful, but not too freely usable as to become OP. WIS can be exchanged for any other Ability, if you prefer, but I like the idea that the item is tied to the user's force of will (which Wisdom is usually associated to).
As to substitute a class ability for this, the above proposition should be balanced enough to allow avoiding the need to do that to balance it out, imho. It's an early boost, but if you balance well the additional "powers" the arm has, it will quickly even out with the rest of the party getting other magic items, I think.
LeK, that is a thought. I like it, but I'm unfamiliar with how it would work in gameplay. I can probably figure it out or have the expert of our group help me wrap my brain around it, but I'll pitch it to the character and see what he thinks. Thanks for the imput!
The idea is interesting, but, as you say, the application can be a bit difficult.
The first idea that came to my mind is a magic item, needing attunement by a creature with minimum 14 WIS (so you substantially make it "cost" one attunement slot) and having special abilities based on level. Once activated it can either take the form of an arm made of force energy, or metal or any other aesthetics your player prefers, and I'd make the activation last a number of turns equal to double their WIS modifier (minimum of 4) each long rest, this way you can make it powerful, but not too freely usable as to become OP. WIS can be exchanged for any other Ability, if you prefer, but I like the idea that the item is tied to the user's force of will (which Wisdom is usually associated to).
As to substitute a class ability for this, the above proposition should be balanced enough to allow avoiding the need to do that to balance it out, imho. It's an early boost, but if you balance well the additional "powers" the arm has, it will quickly even out with the rest of the party getting other magic items, I think.
LeK, that is a thought. I like it, but I'm unfamiliar with how it would work in gameplay. I can probably figure it out or have the expert of our group help me wrap my brain around it, but I'll pitch it to the character and see what he thinks. Thanks for the imput!
kuregarose3
Just to give an example, from lvl 1 to lvl 3 a possible "power" could be, aside from being able to interact with the environment and use two-handed weapons, to have the arm produce a shield-like surface with the expenditure of a reaction or bonus action, with which the character is automatically considered proficient and that gives the same +2 bonus to AC while active (but wouldn't allow the use of two handed weapons, just like a normal shield). This shield, additionally to any other power you'd like to give the arm, might later in the levels improve, and be able to also act as the Shield once or twice every short rest, or something along those lines.
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
To go off this you could make the arm abilities into feats, letting him gain advantages without it overshadowing the other players. As a feat he could have a shield option in his arm, letting him weild a two handed weapon with a +2 to ac at the cost of an ASI, or something similar.
That way game wise its him altering and enhancing his arm over time while giving him that extra bit he's looking for.
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Hey guys, so I just had one of my players pitch me an idea for a character in my campaign, and it's very loose, but he wants to play a one armed character who can have some sort of ethreal ( or something) arm that is pretty much only used in combat. I had a few ideas, but I'd appreciate some imput from more experienced and knowledgeable people.
While I know there are spells for this kind of thing, I didn't want to limit him as a player too much because I know that he would end up getting frusterated. He is a play to win type person, so I want to keep him on a similar level as the other characters. So I came up with a few ideas to circumvent him having to use his spell slots to do things he could do if he had both arms. Things like blood magic, an enchanted arm of armor that can be attached to the severed appendage, or some sort of life force spell rather than spell slots occured to me.
The only one I really like, and that makes the most sense, is an amulet or something of the like that turns into a metal arm(like it turns into liquid metal and acts as an arm) that has a certain amount of life per long rest. So say... 2 hours a day. I haven't done any research into time constraints, but the idea would be that he can use it as an arm for the exampled two hours, and split it up or the extended period, but any time over that and it can either just stop working or I can start adding exsaustion levels. I kinda like the latter because it adds an element of danger for overuse, but I dont know if it would be another posibility for an unfair situation.
I asked him if he'd want it to act as a normal arm or to have levels like a class ability, and he liked the idea of it having cool abilities and level up as a class ability. My thought was to replace a class ability with the arm and level it up in correlation, similar with the class ability it is substituted for. Would that work, or are there obvious issues? Thoughts? Ideas? I'd like to work with the player's ideas if possible, so imput is appreciated.
kuregarose
The idea is interesting, but, as you say, the application can be a bit difficult.
The first idea that came to my mind is a magic item, needing attunement by a creature with minimum 14 WIS (so you substantially make it "cost" one attunement slot) and having special abilities based on level. Once activated it can either take the form of an arm made of force energy, or metal or any other aesthetics your player prefers, and I'd make the activation last a number of turns equal to double their WIS modifier (minimum of 4) each long rest, this way you can make it powerful, but not too freely usable as to become OP.
WIS can be exchanged for any other Ability, if you prefer, but I like the idea that the item is tied to the user's force of will (which Wisdom is usually associated to).
As to substitute a class ability for this, the above proposition should be balanced enough to allow avoiding the need to do that to balance it out, imho.
It's an early boost, but if you balance well the additional "powers" the arm has, it will quickly even out with the rest of the party getting other magic items, I think.
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
Could just go with the thematic instead of trying to make special rules. In my home game there's a lizardfolk with an artificial arm made of the bone and muscle of creatures he found (He's a lizard folk). He gains neither a bonus nor a hindrance for it, but it makes the rp interesting.
This shield, additionally to any other power you'd like to give the arm, might later in the levels improve, and be able to also act as the Shield once or twice every short rest, or something along those lines.
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
To go off this you could make the arm abilities into feats, letting him gain advantages without it overshadowing the other players. As a feat he could have a shield option in his arm, letting him weild a two handed weapon with a +2 to ac at the cost of an ASI, or something similar.
That way game wise its him altering and enhancing his arm over time while giving him that extra bit he's looking for.