Born with no arms?

[LazarusLong42]

I have to jump in on the side of 'viable' here. I mean, I can even come up with a good backstory:

The character in question is the son of a noble, and in fact his only heir; his wife died in childbirth while having X and, grieving his loss, he would not allow the doctors to take the child away "for its own good." The noble bought his child a hand of the mage early in life, allowing the child to learn to manipulate at least small objects. Although he couldn't lift heavy objects or learn to use a sword, he could still wipe his own butt, and learned to perform fine motor tasks relatively well with his feet.

As he grew up, his father tried to shield him from the ridicule of the other children, but that shielding could only ever go so far. X slowly realized, though, that his mind was more than a match for the brawn of other children, and he honed his psionic abilities slowly, hurting the bullies himself, or turning them against each other.

Even as an adult, after inheriting his manor, the other lords and ladies found him repugnant--he was barely welcome at court, and those who were there would look away when he was around. And his mind slowly turned to revenge.

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Wow, that took all of ten minutes... I could probably do better. The character's plenty viable. Sure, -8 or -12 to a bunch of skills, auto-fail a bunch of other skills, but I'd give him +4 to Balance, +4 vs Bull Rush (bull rush does not require arms; it has everything to do with leg strength), and let him make the somatic components work with his feet. (I can't remember if psionics has S components).

He'll never be a rogue, but he makes a good psion or sorcerer. Perhaps even a bard.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

but I'd give him +4 to Balance,

Arms have everything to do with balance. They serve the same function as a highwire artist's long pole.

+4 vs Bull Rush (bull rush does not require arms; it has everything to do with leg strength),

Arms are absolutely required for a bull rush. Imagine trying to tackle somebody without arms. Unless you attack him from behind, or he's blindfolded, you're just going to slide to one side and fall on your face.

and let him make the somatic components work with his feet.

If the DM is willing to alter the nature of magic to accomodate an armless man (i.e. allowing delicate somatic components to be done with toes instead of hands,) then sure. Otherwise, no.

Okay...I've got to stop this. Clearly some people think such a character is just fine, and others believe such a character would be at an extreme handicap. I think I've made my position annoyingly clear at this point, so I'll bow out now and let others argue further.

 

[Brisk-sg]

If the DM is willing to alter the nature of magic to accomodate an armless man (i.e. allowing delicate somatic components to be done with toes instead of hands,) then sure. Otherwise, no.

I would think that if other types of creatures that do not have the use of human hands can learn to cast spells, that someone could in theory (and a hell of alot of effort) learn his own version of spells that could be cast using toe/foot movement instead of finger/hand movement. Metamagic feats also suggest that there are more then one way to cast a spell, otherwise how could a Still spell work?

Also, I think an NPC of this type is feasable (though his life would have been very exceptional), especially if you assume he got his XP primarily through non-combat methods (which basically is DM fiat in most games since it is not well spelled out in the DMG on how much you give for non-combat).

 

[ThirdWizard]

I would think that if other types of creatures that do not have the use of human hands can learn to cast spells, that someone could in theory (and a hell of alot of effort) learn his own version of spells that could be cast using toe/foot movement instead of finger/hand movement. Metamagic feats also suggest that there are more then one way to cast a spell, otherwise how could a Still spell work?

If he wants to cast spells, he should have to find a master who could teach an apprentice without arms. Someone who uses their hands would probably not know how to use their feet to cast.

 

[ARandomGod]

Why do you even need a torso? Disembodied head of Destruction! And you can collect a nice assortment of stylish hats, too.

There's a book. Jack the Bodiless.

Oh, and swimming can be done very well indeed without arms. Most fish, in fact, do not have arms. I'd recommend the an armless person use the dolphin "stroke". That's done with arms firmly at your side. Or, in this case, ignoring arms altogether.

(PS, and with flight you still might need to swim. Flight spells have no effect underwater.)

 

[LazarusLong42]

ThirdWizard: Hence the reason sorcerer or psion would be much more likely than wizard.

Pendragon: You make some interesting points. On Bull Rush, we're thinking of two different things... I was thinking of defense against a Bull Rush, which is all about stability. Actually initiating a Bull Rush... well, besides the fact that a Wiz/Sor who does so is going to die painfully anyway, yes, you're right. In fact, I wouldn't allow an armless character to initiate one, only to defend against it.

As for casting spells... well, he could always use Natural Spell, tweaked a little bit.

 

[ARandomGod]

If he wants to cast spells, he should have to find a master who could teach an apprentice without arms. Someone who uses their hands would probably not know how to use their feet to cast.

This is true. He'd probably be taught only spells with no somatic component, and spell theory. Then he would have to research alternate versions of spells using somatic components that he could perform. Unique spells all his own. On the other hand, all that spell research is likely to make him better with those spells.

Hell, if you're not researching cantrips before you can cast first level spells, you're not a MAGE!

Er.. umm, sorry, cloak camp flashback. But I digress. I haven't played a lot with psion powers, but a quick look at the SRD suggests strongly that there are no somatic or material components required to manifest powers.

 

[apsuman]

Why do you even need a head? Disembodied Brain of Distruction and you can collect a nice assortment of stylish jars, too.

Why do you even need a brain? Disembodied Consciousness of Distruction! And you can collect a nice assortment of awarenesses, too.

 

[Pbartender]

*AHEM!*

You know, a good alter self spell will take care of all his problems for 10 minutes per caster level.

If I were this fellow, I'd begin as a 1st level Sorcerer with the Eschew Materials and Still Spell feats. As I increased in levels, I'd just be certain to incude mage hand, open/close, unseen servant, floating disk, alter self, polymorph and telekinesis in my known spell list. When possible, I'd get the spells made permanent or built into magic items.

 

[Storm Raven]

Pendragon: You make some interesting points. On Bull Rush, we're thinking of two different things... I was thinking of defense against a Bull Rush, which is all about stability.

And I would assess a stiff penalty on an armless character trying to defend against a bull rush. An armless character isn't more stable than a character with arms, he's less so: he doesn't have his arms to use as counterweights to stabilize his stance, he doesn't have the ability to use his arms to deflect an onrushing attacker and avoid taking the full force of the attack and so on. Similarly, an armless character would suffer a significant penalty to resisting trip attacks.