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D&D 5E Lingering Injuries

damnbul

First Post
I plan on implementing this option, but I want to expand it. I like the list provided in the DMG, but I want to have a different option for each number on a d20. Any ideas what to add? Thank you for any suggestions provided :)
 

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Dislocated shoulder - disadvantage str/dex checks and attack rolls involving your arms. Can't cast any bonus action spells involving somatic components.

Broken Jaw - disadvantage on all checks involving speech, 50% chance to miscast spells with verbal components (spell doesn't take effect, instead roll on wild surge table)

Lose an ear/burst eardrums - disadvantage on all Perception (Wisdom) checks involving hearing.

Sucking wound - disadvantage on stealth checks, plus Festering Wound features.
 

The lose an arm/hand option could easily be expanded into 3 options: lose arm, lose hand, lose 1d4-1 fingers.

Concussion/head trauma: suffer -1 to two of the mental stats.
 

-Fractured/broken/damaged hand, foot, arm, eye, etc options - cant use them until heal by lesser restoration, greater restoration or 6th level or higher healing magic or 2 months downtime (ie a toned down roll 1-3).
-Break or damaged held item or armour (cant use, or disad until repaired) .... not a wound as such, but still a meaningful setback that might have a duration longer than 1 fight. For magic gear, cant break this way, just damage.
- Concussion: stunned 1 round
- Knocked out: make a death save, if fail, unconscious until someone spend action to rouse awake or healing magic
- Strain/tear: lose d4 str, dex or con, until lesser/greater restoration or 2 weeks downtime
- Fractured skull: lose d4 int, wis or cha until lesser/greater restoration or 1 month downtime
- System shock: gain 1 level of exhaustion
- Rattled: Frightened until make Wis or Cha DC 10 save
- Swelling of the brain: Gain a long term madness (fixed per madness rules).
- Amnesia: lose last 2d10 hours memory. restore via greater restoration or 6th level+ magic
- Lose/damaged ear: similar to eye, but affects hearing related checks (maybe also balance?). Lose both = deaf.

Yeah I think the injury table could have been much more fleshed out.... But I'm VERY glad we at least have something we can work with. I hope they give us an expanded 20 point or percentile table in a future unearthed arcana - that would be SWEEET
 


I was actually hoping for something a bit less granular, and not quite so painful. I mean, maybe they expect that Regeneration is going to be available in the campaign world, but my games are unlikely to go that high or have NPCs with that much power. I was thinking about using the following for lingering wounds.

You suffer a lingering wound whenever you receive a critical hit. Only critical hits can cause a lingering wounds, and critical hits do not cause any extra HP damage (unless specified by another ability). When you suffer a critical hit, roll 1d20 to see what breaks: 1-3) Left Leg; 4-6) Right Leg; 7-9) Left Arm; 10-12) Right Arm; 13-18) Torso; 19-20) Head. A broken leg reduces speed by half, a broken arm cannot be used to carry anything, a broken torso requires a check to do anything, and a broken head is a KO.

Then, make a Constitution save (DC 15) to determine severity. If you succeed in the save, then the effect is only temporary, and will go away after a week (or 1d4 minutes, if you were knocked out). If you fail the save, then the effect lasts until you get a Lesser Restoration.
 

Arthritis in the knee: Disadvantage on forced marches, but can make a Constitution check to determine upcoming storms (as if making a Wisdom [Survival] check).
 

You suffer a lingering wound whenever you receive a critical hit. Only critical hits can cause a lingering wounds, and critical hits do not cause any extra HP damage (unless specified by another ability). When you suffer a critical hit, roll 1d20 to see what breaks: 1-3) Left Leg; 4-6) Right Leg; 7-9) Left Arm; 10-12) Right Arm; 13-18) Torso; 19-20) Head. A broken leg reduces speed by half, a broken arm cannot be used to carry anything, a broken torso requires a check to do anything, and a broken head is a KO.

This will have the overall effect of making your campaign a lot more deadly since the PCs will be exposed to way more crits over the course of your campaign than your monsters will ever be. It also makes lower CR monsters quite deadly. My character was crit 3 times in 2 rounds last session, this rule would've basically killed him outright.
 

This will have the overall effect of making your campaign a lot more deadly since the PCs will be exposed to way more crits over the course of your campaign than your monsters will ever be. It also makes lower CR monsters quite deadly. My character was crit 3 times in 2 rounds last session, this rule would've basically killed him outright.
Interesting. I would not have foreseen that. That is definitely not the intent.

Really, there's nothing on here that's actually lethal, though. The worst is just getting KO'd for the fight. Even having both of your arms broken, and needing to make a check to take any strenuous action, is just a setback. Even then, it's extremely unlikely that you'd have both arms or both legs broken before you could get a Lesser Restoration.

Contrast with three critical hits in two rounds, using the standard rules, which begs the question of how you survived all of that damage.
 

I intend on only using this option if and when players/monsters take over 3/4 of there HP in damage from a single hit (not a full attack). Should not be often, but when it does it will be significant. But in every way magically corrected when the appropriate spell is cast.
Again Ty for your ideas. Keep them coming :).
 

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