What do you think it would be its effect on an amputee?

Is there any game logic for why a 5th level spell that can reverse petrification can't do more to exhaustion than reduce it by one level?

I understand that "exhaustion" is mainly a mechanism for controlling Barbarians, but has any attempt been made in-game to justify why it's harder to reverse than blindness or paralysis?

Goodness knows that legends and fantasy tales are full of both people and potions that can give people heart and make them functional again.

Quote from frons79 >>

What do you think it would be its effect on an amputee?

Unless the amputee is suffering from a loss to their ability scores or hit point maximum, it would have nil effect. Regenerate is the spell for repairing limbs in that way.

Nothing unless they're suffering from an effect that this spell ends.

To regain lost limbs, one would want the Regenerate spell. (Reincarnate, Resurrection or True Resurrection could also work but require dying which isn't great)

Super random questions, but I need some clarification about the capabilities of Greater Restoration. First off, does it clear any harmful oddities listed that the caster/recipient is not aware of? And this may be a bit… grim, but if a character had a terminal illness, would Greater Restoration be able to cure it?

Quote from KaptainKittens >>

In the description of Bestow Curse it mentions that a Remove Curse will end the effect, but doesn't mention Greater Restoration, however Greater Restoration lists ending the effects of a curse on a target in its description. Does that mean it can remove a curse applied from Bestow Curse?

yes, Greater Restoration can undo the effects of a Bestow Curse spell. Bestow Curse is a curse, as it says in the description. This spell says it can end one curse affecting the target. Specific rules beat general rules, even if Bestow Curse does not specifically mention this spell, this spell can still affect it.

Look at how lycanthropy is described in the Monster Manual:

A remove curse spell can rid an afflicted lycanthrope of the curse, but a natural born lycanthrope can be freed of the curse only with a wish.

here we see that remove curse is one of the spells that can cure an afflicted lycanthrope, but notice how it does not say that is the only way an afflicted lycanthrope can be cured

By contrast, they explicitly spell out that a natural born lycanthrope can be cured only with a wish spell, in other words that no other effect in the game can affect it.

Look at inclusive vs exclusive language, greater restoration could fix someone bitten by a werewolf, it could not fix someone born a werewolf

Quote from frons79 >>

What do you think it would be its effect on an amputee?

they would still be an amputee, but they would no longer be charmed/ petrified/ exhausted/ whatever ailment you are trying to fix.

If you are looking for a spell that can restore limbs, regenerate, reincarnate, True Resurrection and clone could all do that at varying costs, but 90% of them require you to technically die and be brought back from the dead and cost like a bunch of gold (except regenerate, but there you need to have kept the arm around)

alternatively you could use certain magic items to get the job done, including the humble Prosthetic Limb (assuming you have the right sourcebook for that one).

Or maybe you could work with your DM if you are a wizard to create an unique homebrew 5th level spell that fixes limbs and does nothing else (after all all these higher level spells also have secondary purposes to them) perhaps borrowing some inspiration from the "spell research" system of 3.5e.

This spell does not do what you might think it does, but that is by no means something that should stop you from doing that thing

Quote from TerrorTheCat >>

Super random questions, but I need some clarification about the capabilities of Greater Restoration. First off, does it clear any harmful oddities listed that the caster/recipient is not aware of? And this may be a bit… grim, but if a character had a terminal illness, would Greater Restoration be able to cure it?

 that really depends on the DM and the exact nature of the illness, but at the very least this spell might be helpful in alleviating some of the symptoms of the illness.

If the terminal illness in question is just a really bad bacteria/ virus infection that the person's immune system simply cannot fight off on it's own, then Lesser Restoration would probably be able to fix that, and since this is supposed to be the "Greater" version of that spell most DM's will agree that the effects of lesser restoration can be included in the effects of greater restoration.

 if the terminal illness/ condition is magical in nature/ some kind of curse (such as one that is slowly going to turn you to stone over the course of a month) then such things are totally within the capabillities of the spell, no worries about it.

 if it is genetic/ something you are born with, you might once again be screwed

as for targeting things the caster did not know about, the spell only fixes one "thing" at a time, it cannot both fix a reduced ability score and also cause your hit point maximum to return to normal with a single casting of the spell, you would have to cast the spell multiple times for that.

and also the caster chooses the "category" of thing that it is fixing each casting, they decide that for this casting i am going to end one effect causing the target to become charmed or petrified.

It's sorta implied that the caster must pinpoint an specific effect they are trying to cure, but if that is not the cast and the only thing they choose is the whole category thing, then it is indeed possible for an effect the caster was not aware of to be fixed.

For instance maybe two people had used magic to charm the person but you were only aware of the fact he is petrified, your spell might "hit" one of those charm effects instead. You might try to fix a reduction to the affected creature's strength score, unaware that their intelegence score has also been magically reduced, thus "accidentally" fixing that problem instead. Or maybe your dm might decide that the sheer magical energy involved in reducing somebody's exhaustion level by 1 also neutralizes the disease by accident. Who knows, work with your DM, figure out what makes the best story and go from there

So, I think it'd be fun to be a vampire/werewolf going on a quest to remove it. But it's kinda redundant if this can remove the curse. Any thoughts or ideas to work around it for a better story?

A DM I play with has lycanthropy as a much more virulent curse.  You need to mix the blood of the one that cursed you with 25gp of powdered silver.  Then drink it under a full moon followed by a Remove Curse or Greater Restoration spell.  

You can always homebrew that it is more than simply casting a spell.  I'd at least give them a chance to figure it out before they spend the material components for this spell though.

Thank you. That's a very good idea.

Quote from Fuzzydragon >>

only one lvl of exhaustion? so a lvl5 spell is less effective than a case of red bull.....it is less expensive just to kill your party member and rez him than cure multiple lvls of exhaustion in this way!

 Pretty sure revivify doesn't actually take away exhaustion, except the one level needed to bring you back.

CokeLock: Use a Warlock with Celestial Origin, get this spell. Multiclass into Sorcerer. Get 15 Spellslots per long rest as you never have to take a long rest (you have to use 1 to get rid of one level of exhaustion). So this spell is inherently broken, I guess. 

 A calm emotions spell can suppress the effects of madness, while a lesser restoration spell can rid a character of a short-term or long-term madness. Depending on the source of the madness, remove curse or dispel evil and good might also prove effective. A greater restoration spell or more powerful magic is required to rid a character of indefinite madness.

Good point, it's kinda crazy paladins don't all get this spell.

Hi Websterhunter, if this idea still has interest for you, then you can do it  with a werewolf character. Van Richtens Guide to Ravenloft introduced the Loup Garou. The Loup Garou has a stronger form of lycanthropy, where you can easily build an entire quest/adventure around it.

yes

Personal opinion here - Greater Restoration should not remove petrification. Stone to Flesh is a 6th level spell. I spell that has multiple possible effects (GR) should be higher level than a spell that only gives a single effect (StF), especially if that single effect is one of the multiple effects

I see a lot of comments questioning why it only removes one level of exhaustion, so here is my kinda rambly and semi coherent theory: exhaustion is caused by overworking both your body and soul, and so just dumping healing energy doesn’t work, sure if can repair any tissue damage, but it can’t replace the lower energy used over a prolonged period of time for revitalizing muscles, nor can it process memories for you. So, greater restoration can restore only one level of exhaustion because a) dumping energy all at once will just make you burn through it quickly, whereas periodically re-uping your healing will prolong the overall duration of the benefits and b) when exhausted your short term memory gets overloaded because you can’t process everything while conscious, and so greater restoration needs to make you process you memory in one round, but if it does too much the information will overload you and send you down for a while.

Hmm, No rules for casting at higher level. 

Personally I would allow it to cure more than one effect.  In Addition I would allow multiple targets.  So as a 6th level spell you could end 2 effects on one creature or one effect on two creatures.  7th Level would be three effects spread how you'd like.  

This would allow removing of multiple levels of exhaustion or removing petrification from Multiple allies.  Although You'd have to move them close together so you could touch them all upon casting.